From picture-writing to the alphabet

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Where two letters came from

   Letter today	Greek name	Earlier Semitic name and meaning	Thought to come from
   A	alpha	aleph, the word for ox	an Egyptian hieroglyph of an ox's head
   B	beta	bet, the word for house	an Egyptian hieroglyph of a house

   Each early letter was named with a word that begins with that letter's sound. The word alphabet comes from alpha and beta, the first two Greek letters.

2. 1.

   What did the early Semitic name aleph mean, Esme asks?

   • Alpha
   • Ox
   • The letter B
   • House
3. 2.

   Bet was the word for house and begins with a b sound. Why was the letter for b named bet, Jun asks?

   • Its name starts with the sound it stands for
   • The Greeks named it
   • Houses were drawn as B
   • Bet means the letter B
4. 3.

   Luz's friend says the Phoenicians invented the alphabet. What is the best reply?

   • Disagree: there was no alphabet
   • Not quite: they adapted an earlier alphabet
   • Disagree: the Romans invented it
   • Agree: they made it up from nothing on their own
5. 4.

   Alpha and beta mean nothing in Greek, but aleph and bet mean ox and house. What does that suggest, Milo asks?

   • The Greeks made up the names
   • The names came from Latin
   • The Greeks borrowed the names from earlier letters
   • Ox and house are Greek words
6. 5.

   The chart says A is thought to come from a hieroglyph of an ox's head. Which claim is careful, Noah asks?

   • A came from Chinese characters
   • A has no history
   • A probably came from an ox-head sign
   • A was drawn from a real ox in 1050 BCE
7. 6.

   Pia traces the letter A. Which path is right?

   • Ox-head sign → aleph → alpha → A
   • Ox-head sign → A, with no steps
   • Alpha → ox-head sign → A → aleph
   • A → alpha → aleph → ox-head sign
8. 7.

   Ren traces the letter B. Which path is right?

   • House sign → B, with no steps
   • Bet → B → beta → house sign
   • House sign → bet → beta → B
   • B → beta → bet → house sign
9. 8.

   Which step in the path added vowel letters, Tala asks?

   • The step from Phoenician to Greek
   • No step: vowels were written from the start
   • The step from hieroglyphs to Proto-Sinaitic
   • The step from Greek to Latin
10. 9.

    Ari's note says, "Phoenician had 22 letters, and five of them were vowels." Which fix is right?

    • Change "Phoenician" to "Chinese"
    • Change "22" to "26"
    • Leave it: alphabets need vowels to work well
    • Change it: all 22 were consonants
11. 10.

    Bo's note says, "The word alphabet comes from aleph and house." Which fix is right?

    • Change "house" to "ox"
    • Leave it: aleph is in the chart
    • Change "aleph and house" to "alpha and beta"
    • Change "alphabet" to "cuneiform"