Latin alphabet
Alfabeto latino
- Date
- c. 600 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Rome, Lazio, Italy
- Credited to
- Latins, from the Etruscan alphabet
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A 21-letter alphabet adapted from Etruscan, itself derived from Euboean Greek, later expanded with Y, Z, J, U and W. It is today the most widely used script in the world.
The oldest witnesses (Praeneste fibula, Lapis Niger, Duenos) range from the 7th to 6th century BC; the Praeneste fibula has been debated as a forgery.
What it led to
- writing of Rome and the Romance languages
- basis of most European and many African and American alphabets
- medieval minuscules and printing types