Some writing systems have a special sign on which they are based, a hieroglyph. In some languages, it can denote a syllable or sound, in others - words, concepts and morphemes. In the latter case, the name "ideogram" is more common.
The picture below shows ancient hieroglyphs.
Hieroglyphs history
In Greek, the name "hieroglyph" means "sacred letter". For the first time, drawings of a similar plan appeared in Egypt before our era. At first, hieroglyphs denoted letters, that is, they were ideograms, a little later signs appeared that denoted words and syllables. At the same time, it is interesting that only consonants were represented by signs. The name comes from the Greek language, since they were the first to see letters incomprehensible to them on the stones. Judging by the Egyptian chronicles and some myths, the hieroglyphs were invented by the god Thoth. He formed them in order to preserve in writing some of the knowledge gained by the Atlanteans.
An interesting fact is that in Egypt, sign writing has already appeared completelyformed. Everything scientists and the government did only made it easier. For a long time, hieroglyphs and their meaning were incomprehensible to the European people. It was only in 1822 that Chapollion was able to fully study the Egyptian signs on the Rosetta Stone and find their decoding.
In the 50s of the XIX century, some artists working in the style of expressionism and tachisme were very passionate about the East. Thanks to this, a trend associated with the Asian sign system and calligraphy was created. In addition to ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Japanese characters were common.
Hieroglyphic Art
Thanks to the brush (an object used to write signs), it is possible to decorate hieroglyphs and give them a more elegant or formal form. The art of beautiful writing is called calligraphy. It is common in Japan, Malaysia, South and North Korea, China, Vietnam. The inhabitants of these countries affectionately call this art "music for the eyes." At the same time, exhibitions and competitions dedicated to beautiful writing are quite often held.
Hieroglyphs are not only the writing system of some countries, but also a way to express themselves.
Ideographic letter
Ideographic writing is currently common only in China. Initially, it arose in order to simplify writing, to make it more accurate. But in this method, one minus was noticed: such a writing system was not coherent. Because of this, she gradually becameget out of people's lives. Now ideographic writing characterizes Chinese hieroglyphs. And their meaning is in many ways similar to the ancient one. The only difference is the way it is written.
Chinese script
Chinese writing consists of writing hieroglyphs that represent individual syllables and words, as mentioned above. It was formed in the II century BC. At the moment, there are more than 50 thousand characters, but only 5 thousand are used. In ancient times, such writing was used not only in China, but also in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, having a huge impact on the formation of their cultures. Chinese characters formed the basis of national sign systems. And they are still widely used today.
Origin of Chinese characters
The development of Chinese writing not only affected the whole nation, but also had a huge impact on world art. In the 16th century BC, hieroglyphs were formed. At that time, people wrote on the bones and shells of turtles. Thanks to the excavations of archaeologists and well-preserved remains, it became easier for scientists to make out the ancient letter. More than 3 thousand characters were discovered, but comments were given only on 1 thousand. This writing acquired its modern form only after the complete formation of oral speech. Chinese characters are an ideograph that means a word or a syllable.
Japanese script
Japanese writing is based on syllabicsand letters. About 2 thousand hieroglyphs were borrowed from the Chinese peoples for the use of those parts of words that do not change. The rest are written using kana (syllabary). It is divided into two variants: katakana and hiragana. The first is used for words that came from other languages, and the second is purely Japanese. This technique seemed to be the most suitable.
As a rule, Japanese characters in writing are read from left to right, in case of horizontal writing. Sometimes there is a direction from top to bottom, as well as from right to left.
Origin of Japanese characters
Japanese writing was formed through trial, error and simplification. It was difficult for the people to use only Chinese in documents. Now the formation of language is an issue that causes constant controversy. Some scholars attribute it to the time of the conquest of the Japanese islands, while others date it to the Yayoi era. After the introduction of Chinese writing, the oral speech of the nation has undergone dramatic changes.
In the 90s of the 19th century, the government revised all hieroglyphs that combined several types of writing at once, and allowed the use of only 1800 pieces, when in fact there were many more. Now, due to the influence of American and other Western cultures, official speech has practically disappeared, slang is gaining more meaning. Thanks to this, the difference between dialects has decreased.
The Emergence of the Writing System in Japan
When the Japanese government decided to create a language system, the first characters (thisits main medium) were taken from Chinese writing. This event occurred due to the fact that in ancient times the Chinese often lived on the Japanese islands, who brought various things, objects, as well as books. It is not known how Japan's own characters developed at that time. Unfortunately, there is practically no data on this subject.
The development of Buddhism in the country had a strong impact on writing. This religion came thanks to the Korean embassy, which arrived in the state and brought various sculptures and texts of the Buddha. For the first time after the full introduction of Chinese writing into the life of Japan, people used foreign words when writing. However, after a few years, discomfort appeared, as the nation's own language was somewhat different and simpler. Problems were also created when writing proper names, where Chinese characters would be used. This has worried the Japanese for a long time. The problem was this: the Chinese language did not have the words and sounds that needed to be recorded in the document.
The idea of splitting special Japanese words into several parts that make sense was completely unfortunate. In this case, the correct reading had to be forgotten. If not to be distracted by the meaning, then these parts of the word had to be highlighted so that the reader understood that he was dealing with words whose meaning could be neglected. This problem has existed for a long time, and it had to be solved without going beyond the boundaries of Chinese writing.
Some scientists over time began to come up with specialcharacters that could be used to read text written in Chinese in Japanese. Calligraphy meant that each hieroglyph must be placed in a conditional square in order not to violate the boundaries of the entire letter. The Japanese decided to divide it into several parts, each of which played its own functional role. It was from this time that the characters (Chinese) and their meaning for Japan began to slowly fade into oblivion.
Kukai is the man who (according to the legend) created hiragana (the first Japanese script). Thanks to the development in the field of hieroglyphs, special writing systems based on phonetics were created. A little later, by simplifying the form of hieroglyphs, katakana appeared, which became firmly established.
Japan borrowed already at that time an orderly script from China because of their territorial proximity. But developing and changing iconic symbols for themselves, people began to invent the first Japanese hieroglyphs. The Japanese could not use the original Chinese script, if only because there is no inflection in it. The development of the language did not stop there. When the nation became familiar with other systems (based on hieroglyphs), it took their writing elements and made its language more unique.
The connection of hieroglyphs with the Russian language
Now very popular tattoo in the form of Japanese and Chinese characters. That is why it is necessary to find out the meaning of hieroglyphs in Russian before stuffing them on your body. It's best to use the ones that mean"well-being", "happiness", "love" and so on. Before visiting a tattoo artist, it is best to check the meaning in several sources at once.
In Russian-speaking countries, a parody of Asian characters is also popular. Russian hieroglyphs do not officially exist, but only appear on the pages of social networks. They are created thanks to the huge imagination of Internet users. Basically, these signs do not carry a special semantic load and exist only for entertainment. Games have also been invented that are based on guessing which word is encrypted in one or another hieroglyph.
