# Brian E. Colless 2014: The Origin of the Alphabet: An Examination of the Goldwasser Hypothesis

> Brian E. Colless, 2014. 7 records on Mysteries Department cite it. Antiguo Oriente 12: 71-104. Open-access statement of Colless's position: the…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDG4C61RR1/the-origin-of-the-alphabet-an-examination-of-the-goldwasser  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Byblos syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary)Brian E. Colless 2014

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# The Origin of the Alphabet: An Examination of the Goldwasser Hypothesis

Brian E. Colless, 2014.

**Byblos syllabary** Article0

## What it's used for here

Antiguo Oriente 12: 71-104. Open-access statement of Colless's position: the proto-alphabet is a simplification of the Byblos (West Semitic) syllabary, 18 of 22 Phoenician letters have a syllabary ancestor, and Mendenhall's decipherment is defended.

## Cited by on this site 7 records

[Colless reports that 18 of 22 Phoenician letters have a shape ancestor in the syllabary and that his own values…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/evidence/EVD0DEDTQJ3MBDC/colless-reports-that-18-of-22-phoenician-letters-have-a)

Evidence

EVD

[The Byblos inscriptions have no secure archaeological date and may be Iron Age, eight alphabetic letters have no…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEAWATAYJG/the-byblos-inscriptions-have-no-secure-archaeological-date)

Evidence

EVD

[The intermediates between the Byblos syllabary and the linear alphabets are few and obscure, and the proto-alphabet is…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/evidence/EVD0DEDVN83FCDR/the-intermediates-between-the-byblos-syllabary-and-the)

Evidence

EVD

[Brian E. Colless](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/FIG0DEDHYN4HATX/brian-e-colless)

FIG

[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)

The mystery article

MYS

[The Byblos syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary)

The mystery article

MYS

[Where did the Byblos signs come from, and is the script related to the Proto-Sinaitic and Phoenician alphabets?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/questions/QST0DEDQQBGYEW6/where-did-the-byblos-signs-come-from-and-is-the-script)

Question

QST

## Cite it

```
Brian E. Colless (2014). The Origin of the Alphabet: An Examination of the Goldwasser Hypothesis. https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/6787/4/origin-alphabet-goldwasser-hypothesis.pdf
```

[Find it at repositorio.uca.edu.ar](https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/6787/4/origin-alphabet-goldwasser-hypothesis.pdf)

Key

**SRC** 0DEDG4C61RR1

Kind

Journal article

Rights

The publisher's

Kept

31 Oct 2026, for editors

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

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