Professor Gelb - a much respected scholar of ancient writings - shows a graph at the beginning of his cited work concerning the development of writing. This graph shows a "proto-Sumerian pictographic" writing before 3,000 BC, which later was subdivided into Sumerian cuneiform, Egyptian pictographic and Proto-Elamite around 3,000 BC, and from these three ancient forms he brings forth the further subdivisions of writings. He mentions the "proto-Semitic" and Phoenician writings from around 1700 BC as a branch of the Egyptian pictographic writing, from which the ancient Hebrew alphabet sprang at around 900 BC. It is beyond the scope of this present note to discuss the further subdivisions of writings. I do have to mention that the "RUNIC" writing he mentions refers here to a system of writing adopted by the Germanic peoples. He originates these from the time of Christ, or from the year 0 of his graph. He does not include the Hungarian ROVÁS, although he makes up for this in his later text, which I quote below:

"The forms are freely invented, with new values, as found in a large number of writings such as Balti, Brahmi, Keltiberian, Korean, Glagolitsa, Hungarian, Numidian, ogham, runic, Yezidi, and many others created in modern times chiefly among primitive societies (p. 144)"[Highlights by the Ed.] A comparative table of alphabets brings only 12 rovás characters of the Hungarian writing under the heading "Ancient Hungarian" without any reference or place and date of origin. (A Study Of Writing, I.J. Gelb,The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, The University of Toronto Press, Toronto 5, Canada, 1952)

[Note: At the time of the publication of his above cited book, I.J. Gelb was Professor at the Oriental Institute and the Department of Linguistics of the University of Chicago.]

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