All Queries:
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Transition Note
Quoted text:
The breakthrough to alphabetic writing seems to have been inspired from quite a different direction. A set of about 28 symbols had been created to signify the days in the lunar month, the gamut of tones in the musical scale, or perhaps both. These signs were applied to the verbal phonemes which became the basis for the Canaanite-Greek-Roman alphabet, which has cuneiform precedents going at least as far back as Ugarit c. 1400 BC.
[Omitted text: Transition from MUSIC chapter to ALPHABET chapter 5:]
Snodgrass
[1] (1980: p. 79) has remarked that “Linear B was essentially an administrative script, used by palace scribes for official documentation, and occasionally by craftsmen… But graffiti hardly appear, and public inscriptions not at all. We infer that very few people could read the script… If it was the almost exclusive preserve of the palace bureaucracies, as seems likely, then their disappearance will have removed its
raison d’être. The early alphabetic inscriptions show a sharp contrast. … They refer to private matters—ownership, entertainment, personal comments; a striking proportion of them are in verse. … and permanent inscriptions on stone follow” “[a]lready before 700 BC.”
Originally here, the author had a note: “Transition from MUSIC chapter to ALPHABET chapter 5:”. We think it might be a suggestion that something from or related to Chapter 5 (Music, Temperament, and Social Concord) belongs here. Can you use this tip and the Key Concepts section of Chapter 4 to fill in what was intended to go here?
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Add Context
Quoted text:
The breakthrough to alphabetic writing seems to have been inspired from quite a different direction. A set of about 28 symbols had been created to signify the days in the lunar month, the gamut of tones in the musical scale, or perhaps both. These signs were applied to the verbal phonemes which became the basis for the Canaanite-Greek-Roman alphabet, which has cuneiform precedents going at least as far back as Ugarit c. 1400 BC.
Snodgrass
[2] (1980: p. 79) has remarked that “
Linear B was essentially an administrative script, used by palace scribes for official documentation, and occasionally by craftsmen… We infer that very few people could read the script… If it was the almost exclusive preserve of the palace bureaucracies, as seems likely, then their disappearance will have removed its
raison d’être. The early alphabetic inscriptions show a sharp contrast. … They refer to private matters—ownership, entertainment, personal comments; a striking proportion of them are in verse. … and permanent inscriptions on stone follow” “[a]lready before 700 BC.”
Can you help add context about what Linear B is? Perhaps you can help add some context about Mycenaean Greek as per Wikipedia if that applies here, as no civilization is specified in or right before the second paragraph quoted above. Context can be added in a footnote or as a link in the chapter body text.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Verify Citation
Quoted text:
H.T. Wade-Gery 1952
Can you help us figure out the full citation for this source so we can add a footnote and a bibliographic note?
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Add Context
Quoted text:
But narratives written in this (non)grammatical format with its agglutinative word formation were difficult to follow for someone who did not already know their basic content. Many functions that today are expressed in writing had to be committed to memory. In sum, cuneiform texts were nowhere near as self-explanatory as are modern books. They are especially hard for modern outsiders coming in cold.
[Omitted text: [an archaic Natural Law to ground social traditions in the rhythms of physical nature.]]
[Unrelated omitted text: As
Chapter 5 will elaborate, it] may not be merely coincidental that the Akkadian sign for water,
mem, occupying the first position in the cuneiform
syllabary described by
Zimmern[3] (1896 see also
Driver[4] 1948: pp. 157–158, subsequently evolved into the Canaanite (and hence Greek and modern) letter m, originally
μῦ, recalling the wavy zigzag line traditionally used to denote water.
Originally written here was a note from the author: “an archaic Natural Law to ground social traditions in the rhythms of physical nature.” If you can help flesh this out and add a paragraph related to the author’s note, please let us know.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Spelling of Term
Quoted text:
the Akkadian sign for water, mem, occupying the first position in the cuneiform
syllabary described by
Zimmern[5] (1896; see also
Driver[6] 1948: pp. 157–158), subsequently evolved into the Canaanite (and hence Greek and modern) letter m, originally
μῦ, recalling the wavy zigzag line traditionally used to denote water.
Can you help us check the spelling of this term? It's mû not mem according to Wikipedia.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Verify Citation
Quoted text:
the Akkadian sign for water,
mem, occupying the first position in the cuneiform
syllabary described by
Zimmern[7] (1896; see also
Driver[8] 1948: pp. 157–158), subsequently evolved into the Canaanite (and hence Greek and modern) letter m, originally
μῦ, recalling the wavy zigzag line traditionally used to denote water.
We guessed at the full citation for “Zimmern (1896)”:
- We guessed that the author’s full name is Heinrich Zimmern.
- We guessed that this was the 1896 publication that Hudson intended to cite: H. Zimmern, “Zur Frage nach dem Ursprung des Alphabets,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Vol. 50 (1896), pp. 667–670.
Can a German-speaker please confirm this is the right citation for this point or correct it if not?
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Verify Citation
Quoted text:
Originally in Chapter 4, this was written as “Driver 1976: 179”: the full citation was missing, and both the year and page numbers were different from what we found: G.R. Driver, Semitic Writing From Pictograph to Alphabet (Oxford: 1948), p. 157–158.
Can you help us to confirm the relevant part discussed here is on pages 157–158 of the text that we cite? It may be a different edition, or possibly the wrong text.
From our research, the author of this text,
G.R. Driver, died in 1975, meaning that the original “1976” may have been either a posthumous edition we could not find that may have different page numbers or a typo. What do you think?
See also in case it is affected:
this query in Chapter 1, describing how
Chapter 1’s citation of this originally was as follows, with no link:
G.R. Driver, Semitic Writing, From Pictograph to Alphabet (3rd ed., London: 1976).
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Symbol Query
Quoted text:
the Canaanite (and hence Greek and modern) letter m, originally
μῦ, recalling the wavy zigzag line traditionally used to denote water.
There was a missing symbol here; μῦ was our best guess based on page 158 of Driver, but if you know this should be something else, please let us know.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Key Concept Missing in Chapter Body
Quoted text:
This Key Concept is not discussed in this chapter’s body. Can you help us add it to the chapter body discussion and relate it to the chapter thesis? Please include what to add and where in the chapter to add it, and any sources.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Key Concept Missing in Chapter Body
Quoted text:
Lunar symbol: Nisaba of
Umma, the Sumerian patron goddess of scribes, seems to derive from
Inanna
This Key Concept is not discussed in this chapter’s body. Can you help us add it to the chapter body discussion and relate it to the chapter thesis? Please include what to add and where in the chapter to add it, and any sources.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Key Concept Missing in Chapter Body
Quoted text:
Solar symbol: The
Ugaritic cuneiform alphabet of 30 signs
This Key Concept is not discussed in this chapter’s body. Can you help us add it to the chapter body discussion and relate it to the chapter thesis? Please include what to add and where in the chapter to add it, and any sources.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Key Concept Missing in Chapter Body
Quoted text:
peoples speaking alien languages. Instead of resulting in the
Tower of BabelThis Key Concept is not discussed in this chapter’s body. Can you help us add it to the chapter body discussion and relate it to the chapter thesis? Please include what to add and where in the chapter to add it, and any sources.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Key Concept Missing in Chapter Body
Quoted text:
Spells were written down, and Hermes served as their patron in his manifestation as magician.
This Key Concept is not discussed in this chapter’s body. Can you help us add it to the chapter body discussion and relate it to the chapter thesis? Please include what to add and where in the chapter to add it, and any sources.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Verify Citation
Quoted text:
Anton Deimel, Schultexte Aus Fara (Leipzig: 1923)
This citation was a guess. Can a German-speaker please confirm this is the right citation? No full citation was provided.
See also:
this more specific illustration-related query about Deimel.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Verify Citation
Quoted text:
Hans J. Nissen, Mesopotamia Before 5000 Years (Rome: 1988b).
Can you help us verify the year in this citation? It might be 1987 rather than a second 1988 date in Chapter 3’s Bibliography and Chapter 4’s Bibliography per a web search, but we’re not sure.
See
the same query in Chapter 3.
See also
this query affecting
Chapter 3’s Bibliography,
Chapter 4’s Bibliography, the book
Bibliography chapter for Chapter 3, and the book
Bibliography chapter for Chapter 4.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Verify Citation
Quoted text:
the Akkadian sign for water,
mem, occupying the first position in the cuneiform
syllabary described by
Zimmern[10] (1896; see also
Driver[11] 1948: pp. 157–158), subsequently evolved into the Canaanite (and hence Greek and modern) letter m, originally
μῦ, recalling the wavy zigzag line traditionally used to denote water.
We guessed at the full citation for “Zimmern (1896)”:
- We guessed that the author’s full name is Heinrich Zimmern.
- We guessed that this was the 1896 publication that Hudson intended to cite: H. Zimmern, “Zur Frage nach dem Ursprung des Alphabets,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Vol. 50 (1896), pp. 667–670.
Can a German-speaker please confirm this is the right citation for this point or correct it if not?
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Expand Section
Quoted text:
The Alphabet and Writing
The complexity of Ice Age notations increased from c. 28,000 BC to the end of the Ice Age c. 10,000 BC. Paleolithic artifacts were engraved or carved with patterns which often turned out not to be “a non-arithmetic form of observational lunar/solar record-keeping” rather than merely decorative (Marshack 1991: p. 9). Notation from the late European Ice Age—the
Magdalenian period—“is the end product of a long tradition of non-arithmetical astronomical observation and record-keeping.” Marshack found “a developing, highly structured year—ritual, social, and economic.”
Can you help us continue this section and add an up-to-date section on Paleolithic writing systems? And can you help us work it into the body of Chapter 4 with a transition, so this section is not placed below the Chapter 4 Bibliography?
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Citation Needed
Quoted text:
“a non-arithmetic form of observational lunar/solar record-keeping”
Can someone with access to the Marshack 1991 text verify the page number and quoted text? See
query about Marshack 1991.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Verify Citation
Quoted text:
Marshack 1991: p. 9
Can you help us identify which text was meant here so we can add a full citation? We had thought perhaps this was a new edition of
The Roots of Civilization following the original 1972 edition, but we could not find this in that text and need help amending the citations which originally said “Alexander Marshack,
The Roots of Civilization (New York: 1972 and 1990)” with link to
this page.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Citation Needed
Quoted text:
Notation from the late European Ice Age—the
Magdalenian period—“is the end product of a long tradition of non-arithmetical astronomical observation and record-keeping.”
Can someone with access to the Marshack 1991 text verify the page number and quoted text? See
query about Marshack 1991.
Query: 4. Alphanumeric Notation and the Calendrical-Musical Kosmos
Citation Needed
Quoted text:
Marshack found “a developing, highly structured year—ritual, social, and economic.”
Can someone with access to the Marshack 1991 text verify the page number and quoted text? See
query about Marshack 1991.
