Emojiglyphics: Could emojis be considered today's hieroglyphics?

OK, so you've probably already formed a judgement for this post, souly because of the title...

Well, yeah, it's rediculous.

Hold on, give me a chance to explain.

In this post, I want to compare ancient hieroglyphics to the modern day emoji. I will explore both the similarities and the differences between these unique forms of communication.

When the average person thinks of hieroglypics, they often think of Egypitian hieroglyphics. This is fairly reasonable, since the Egyptian hieroglypic system played an extremely small role in eventually inspiring the Greek alphabet along with the phonetian writing system. The Egyptian hieroglyphic system was used in ancient Egypt in approximately 4000 B.C.E.. It included an alphabet system that used icons, or symbols, to represent letter sounds -

Well, there's one difference. Emojis don't represent letters.

This is true. However, hierogypics could also represent whole words. For example, the word-sign "neb" represented a bowl. This is one way the hieroglypics are similar to emojis. An icon represents a word, event, emotion, or idea.

Okay, that's one similarity. Big deal. Got anything else?

Why yes, of course! We need to talk about what hieroglyphics were used for. Hieroglyphics were used to write things on temple walls. A simpler version, called hieratic, was used for daily business and writing. Hieratic egyptian looked closer to letters, than symbols. However, since it was used for daily activites, we can safely equate it to our emojis.

We use emojis to enhance our conversations. By adding an emoji to my message, I can help you picture exactly what I mean. This is similar, yet not quite the same as hieratic egyptian. Emojis are also usually not required. As previously stated, they enhance a conversation, they don't particularly create one. Heiratic Egyptian was the alphabet. It was how people communicated all of the time.

Conclusion:

Hieroglyphics and Emojis definitely share some similarities, however, it's a stretch to say that emojis are a re-invention of hieroglypics and are used for the same purpose. We simply don't have a need for a symbolic alphabet in our modern day society.

Bibliography:

http://discoveringegypt.com/egyptian-hieroglyphic-writing/egyptian-hieroglyphic-alphabet/

#history #words #languagehistory #egyptian #emojis #hieroglyphics