1372: Abstraction from Pictographs Sep 14, 2018

All of the major writing systems began with images rather than letters. Even while there are a wide array of writing systems described here, all either originated from others or were originally abstracted from pictures. This was partly practical, since most writing was for simple commercial transactions, but also because the idea of representing words—which are already pretty abstract—by representing only the sounds with arbitrary symbols is not a quick logical step to make, as history has proven.