From counting to language: How writing evolved
The earliest version of cuneiform wasn't used to write language at all—it was used to count! And that Sumerian system of counting still influences our counting systems today. Here's the story of Sumerian numerals.
Contents
- Introduction
- Tally counting in proto-cuneiform
- Base-60 counting in Sumerian
- The Babylonian influence today
- 📖 Recommended Reading
- 📑 References
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Introduction
The earliest known writing system is cuneiform, which was first used to write the Sumerian language c. 3300 BCE, and later the Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Elamite, Hurrian, Hittite, Old Persian, and Ugaritic languages as well (Figure 1).
But the earliest version of cuneiform wasn’t used to write language at all—it was used to count! And that Sumerian system of counting still influences our counting systems today.
This is the story of Sumerian numerals.
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The word cuneiform comes from the Latin cuneus ‘wedge’, in reference to the wedge-shaped lines used to write its characters.
