Proto-Sinaitic Emoji: Going Full Circle (also Deseret and Shavian for English)

This post can be considered a free version of "Ox, House, Stick" or similar alphabet related trivia.

While bored Ptolemaic Egyptian scribes complicated the hieroglyphs beyond all decipherment, Canaaite turquoise miners kept it at simple acrophonics, albeit reassigned to fit their language. This proved more suitable to commercially oriented Phoenicians to keep their records, and Greeks found it better than their Cypriot syllabary, only repurposing some choking and vomitting sounds for vowels. It got into Italy and Roman Catholic Christians spread it everywhere, and it has become the primary script of anglophonic computers with extra letters J, U, and W. However, people with apparently limited vocabulary and erudition started adding pictographs to their shallow minded inscriptions on virtual walls. Their combinations and deliberate misrepresentations slowly start to evolve syntax. Mind you, they are not those pictographs for international signage. All these conlanging attempts like Blissymbolics, Pikto, or 😀💬 are too forced. Also all Esperantidoj to have a worldwide auxlang that is neither English nor some Vulgar Latin descendant (totally ignoring Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, Indonesian, ...) have failed, as English, Chinese, Hindi, and Spanish reign supreme. Therefore these childish pictures it is. However, it takes a simple acrophonic assignment to reinvent the alphabet again. Let's return to Sinai and Cannan, hopefully the emoji shapes will be cognate with modern Greek letters.

The origins of Brahmi script are very puzzling. Looking at the shapes, they seem to come from even as far back as the OG Cannaite. That means it couldn't have been derived from Aramaic alone, unlike Kharoshti. It even shows some influence of Indus Valley script, thence dead for at least a millennium. The question is, how the scribes had known these earlier forms? Had trade been booming? Had this script been brewing already before Aramaic became distinct? Clearly these Semitic abjads required extensive modding to fit Indo-European and Dravidian languages, so Brahmi and to a lesser extent Kharoshti at least show some creativity unlike Greek. That letter ordering, much more considerate of phonology, has been even stolen by the Japanese.

However, being intellectually lazy leads to more pragmatic solutions. Greeks could still read Phoenician advertising and price tags, while every Brahmic script felt the necessity to change the number digit forms, invent dozens of ligatures that look nothing like the characters they come from, and place the diacritics totally differently, leading to them being incomprehensibly hard to support in computer fonts. Not even as hard as Han, which is just a sequence of squares, which are actually made of barely 300 components. It may have to do with the ISCII encoding model, which was designed for data processing instead of text displaying. This is also the issue I have with many conlangs - they come with a new script no-one will ever use. Similarly, I don't get why each Indic or West African language gets it's own script. Who the hell will have the time to learn and encode all these? Can't they share? My attempt to simplify Latin to make it work like Hangul has led to basically a pigpen cipher, and is maybe unifiable with Canadian syllabics, which is an abugida that uses rotation instead of marks to encode vowels, proving the 4 vowel system superior. I needed to spend barely an hour to learn Phoenician, having known Greek. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and if it is broke, don't fix what didn't need a fix.

Proto-Sinaitic Emojad Oxhouse

Chart is based on Wikipedia article Proto-Sinaitic with augmentations from the 2019 Unicode proposal. Also jan Misali's videos "w" and "c" were of some use. It will be a while before Proto-Sianitic gets added into Unicode so I can add a Proto-Sinaitic glyph column.

Couldn't find these emoji, someone please submit them to Unicode Technical Comittee: fence (gate), goad, peg/column, calyx, profile head, empty bow. Also note that not everything is a colorful emoji everywhere, especially on closed platforms. Anticipatively using some Unicode 14.0 emoji.

Symbol name   Meaning                Emoji              Hieroglyph    Ph. Greek

'alp          ox                     🐂 ♉             𓃾 𓃿 𓄀        𐤀  Α 

bayt          house                  🏠                 𓉐 𓉔         𐤁   Β

gaml          throwstick             🪃                 𓌙 𓌚            𐤂   Γ

dag / digg    fish                   🐟 ♓          𓆛 𓆜 𓆝 𓆞 𓆟   𐤃   Δ

dalt          door                   🚪                 𓉿            𐤃   Δ

hillul / he   praise / jubilate      🙌                 𓀠            𐤄   Ε Η Ͱ

waw / uph     hook / fowl            🪝 🐦 🦆 🐓 🦃 🦚 🐔  𓅱 etc.  𐤅   Υ Ϝ

đayp          eyebrow                🤨                𓏭 𓏮 𓁻 𓁼 𓂃   𐤆   Ζ

zayn          sword / oxhide ingot   ⚔️ 🗡️              𓈔 𓈕          𐤆   Ζ

điqq          manacle / fetter       🔗 ⛓️ 🔒                       𐤆   Ζ

hasr          courtyard / mansion    🏡                 𓉗 𓈈         𐤇   Η

hayt          thread                 🧵                 𓎛             𐤇   Η

tab           good                   👌 👍 ✔️ 🙆     𓄤             𐤈   Θ

zil           shade                  🌂 🏖 ☂️ ☔ ⛱️    𓍊 𓋺 𓋼        𐤈   Θ

yad           hand / arm             💪 🦾              𓂝 𓂢 𓂣     𐤉   Ι

kap           palm                   🖐️ 👋 🤚 ✋ 🪬     𓂧 𓂩        𐤊   Κ

lamd          goad                   🪄 🦯 🩼             𓍈 𓍇 𓍉 𓋿   𐤋   Λ

maym          water                  🌊 ♒ 💧 💦 〰     𓈖 𓈗        𐤌   Μ

nahaš         snake                  🐍                 𓆓            𐤍   Ν

samk          peg / column / support 💈 🕹 🥢 ☤ 🔱     𓊽             𐤎   Ξ Χ Ψ

dag / digg    fish? (see above)

3ayn          eye                    👁️ 👁 👀           𓁹 𓁺        𐤏   Ο Ω

ghabi3        calyx                  🧬                 𓎛            (ghayn)

pi3t          corner / foot          🥐 📯 🕫 🤘 🦶 🦵 🦿  𓂋       𐤐   Π

pu            mouth                  👄 🫦               𓂋           𐤐   Π

saday         plant                  🌱 🌿 🪴 🌾 🌽     𓇑 𓇓 𓇗 𓇙    𐤑   Ϻ Ͳ

sirar         bag                    👜 💰 🛄 🛍️        𓎤            𐤑   Ϻ Ͳ

qoba          needle / monkey        🪡 📌 📍 🖈 🐒 🐵  𓊃 𓎗         𐤒   Ϙ Ϟ

qaw           line / cord            🪢                  𓊃 𓎗          𐤒   Ϙ Ϟ

ra'š          head                   🗣️ 🙂 😀 🤬 😬 😂 𓁶 𓁷 𓂉       𐤓   Ρ

šimš          sun                    🌞 ☀️ 🌣           𓇳 𓇴         𐤔   Σ 

sadeh         field / land -> saday? 🏜 🏞 🗺            𓇨 𓇩 𓇫        𐤑   Ϻ Ͳ

thann / thad  bow / breast / lotus   🏹 ♐ 🧘 💠 💮 🪷  𓇨 𓇩 𓇫       𐤔   Σ

táw           mark                   ❌ ➕ ✖️           𓏴 𓏵 𓏶       𐤕   Τ

ghinab        grape -> ghabi3?       🍇                  𓇭           (ghayn)

tha           (undeciphered)

"wavy water"  (undeciphered)

šin           tooth                  🦷                                𐤔   Σ Φ

Recommended sets for descendant scripts

Phoenician

 𐤕  𐤔  𐤓  𐤒  𐤑  𐤐  𐤏  𐤎  𐤍  𐤌  𐤋  𐤊  𐤉  𐤈  𐤇  𐤆  𐤅  𐤄  𐤃  𐤂  𐤁  𐤀

🐂 🏠 🪃 🚪 🙌 🪝 🤨 🧵 👌 💪 🖐 🪄 🌊 🐍 💈 👁️ 🥐 🌱 📌 🗣 🌞 ❌

Hebrew (modernized)

 ת  ש  ר  ק  צ  פ  ע  ס   נ  מ  ל  כ   י  ט  ח   ז   ו  ה  ד   ג  ב  א

🐂 🏠 🐫 🚪 🙌 🪝 🗡️ 🤺 🧬 💪 🥄 🎓 🌊 🐟 💈 👁️ 👄 🏹 🐒 🗣 🦷 ❌

Latin

A  B  C  Č  D  Đ  E  F  G  H  Ȟ  Þ  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  Ř  S  Š  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  Ž  Ʒ  Ǯ  3  3*

🐂 🏠 🌱 🌿 🚪 🐟 🙌 🐔 🪃 🧵 🧬 👌 💪 🦾 🖐 🪄 🌊 🐍 👁️ 🥐 📌 🗣 😬 🌞 🦷 ❌ 🦆 🐓 🦚 💈 🪝 🤨 🗡️ 🔗 ⛓ 👀 🍇

Greek

Α  Β  Γ  Δ  Ε  ϜͶ  Ζ  ΗͰ  Θ  Ι  Κ  Λ  Μ  Ν  Ξ  Ο  Π  ϺϠ  ϘϞ  Ρ  Σ  Ϛ  Τ  Υ  Φ  Χ  Ψ  Ω  Ͳ    

🐂 🏠 🪃 🚪 🙌 🪝 🤨 🧵 👌 💪 🖐 🪄 🌊 🐍 💈 👁️ 🥐 🌱 📌 🗣 🌞 ☼ ❌ 🐦 🦷 🥢 🔱 👀 🌿

Cyrillic (only Russian)

А  Б  В  Г  Д  Е  Ё  Ж  З  И  Й  К  Л  М  Н  О  П  Р  С  Т  У  Ф  Х  Ц  Ч  Ш  Щ  Ъ  Ы  Ь  Э  Ю  Я

🐂 🏠 🪝 🪃 🚪 * * ⚔ 🤨 💪 🦾 🖐 🪄 🌊 🐍 👁️ 🥐 🗣 💈 ❌ 🐦 🦷 🥢 🌱 🌿 🌞 ☼ 🍇 * * 🙌 * *

* - prepend with 🦾, like 🦾🐂, 🦾🙌, 🦾💪, 🦾👁, 🦾🐦

+ - append 🦾, like 🚪🦾, 🪄🦾, 🐍🦾, 🗣🦾, 💈🦾, ➕🦾

GeSeL (my conlang)

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  '

🐂 🏠 👌 🚪 🙌 🐔 🪃 🧵 💪 🌱 🖐 🪄 🌊 🐍 👁️ 🥐 📌 🗣 💈 ❌ 🐦 🐓 🪝 🌞 🦾 🤨 👀

Note: C is Þ, J can be Klingon S, S is the Samekh sound, W is the Waw sound, Y is a variant of Yod, ' is 3ayn. F and V get KFC'd, like in Latin.

The above charts would be useful only for those who didn't go bonkers with spelling or didn't mutilate the letters to an abhorrent extent. Just Russian Cyrillic was very tough. To reiterate, the emoji selection was based primarily on the letter original shape, pronunciation came second (except GeSeL).

Arabic is a flawed script in terms of available distinct letter forms (had to have dots added), and Square Hebrew doesn't look resilient to bad handwriting. The Phoenicians must have been some geniuses, as no Semitic language has improved on the shapes. However, there are multiple variants of Phoenician, and the best one is the one similar to Greek (Palaeo-Hebrew), not the one with long tails (Punic).

To provide something more useful for modern anglophones, whose spelling consists of more exceptions than rules, below are charts for modern English based on the Shavian (Bri'ish) and Deseret ('Murrican) phonetic alphabet attempts. Note that English vowels are a mess, varying between dialects and accents, and people count diphtongs as distinct vowels due to their origins as long vowels before GVS. Deseret letter names are uncreative. Unifon et al. not considered as it's a Latin mod. Transcribed from Wikipedia and Unicode itself.

Deseret emojibet easyale

Name          Emoji                        Glyph  Cognate

easy freeze gear   ❄️ ⚙️                    𐐀 𐐨     e

day  ale chain    🗓 🌞 ☀️ 🍺 🍻 ⛓️      𐐁 𐐩     E

far                                         𐐂 𐐪

for pawn      ♟️                            𐐃 𐐫    O

own                                         𐐄 𐐬    O

nook booze boobs  🍒                        𐐅 𐐭    OO

it                                          𐐆 𐐮    I

bed            🛏️                           𐐇 𐐯    

ash bad and                                 𐐈 𐐰   

body                                        𐐉 𐐱    W

cut up         🔪 ✀ ✂ ✄ ⬆                𐐊 𐐲    U

book look      📕 📖 📗 📘 📙 📚 👁 👀   𐐋 𐐳    q

either line right island ➡  🏝️ 👁️           𐐌 𐐴    ei

soap boat        🧼 🛥️                       𐐍 𐐵

who wheel wave      🛞 ☸️ 〰  whale       𐐎 𐐶    W

yeet yingyang        ☯️                    𐐏 𐐷    Y

ha hand head         😃 😅 😆  🖐️  🗣️          𐐐 𐐸

pee pita peanut peace 🍆 🫓 🥜 ☮           𐐑 𐐹    P

bee            🐝                           𐐒 𐐺    B

tea            ☕ 🫖 🧋                     𐐓 𐐻    t

deer           🦌                           𐐔 𐐼    D

cheese  qi     🧀                           𐐕 𐐽    C

jesus jeep jar ginger[U15]   ☦ ✝️ 🫙        𐐖 𐐾    g

'kay           👌 👍 ✔️                     𐐗 𐐿

gay            🌈                           𐐘 𐑀

fee            💰 💲 💳 💴 💵 💶 💷      𐐙 𐑁    F

victory        ✌️ cup                       𐐚 𐑂    B

them                                        𐐛 𐑃    L

thee the                                    𐐜 𐑄    đ

ass see sea scissors   🍑 ✂️                𐐝 𐑅    S

zeal                                        𐐞 𐑆

ash shalom shit ship   ✡️  🛳️               𐐟 𐑇    a

regime                                      𐐠 𐑈    S

error          ❌                        𐐡 𐑉

elf love        🧝 ❤️                         𐐢 𐑊    L

ember mic       🎙️                           𐐣 𐑋    C

end                                        𐐤 𐑌    N

length yingyang     ☯️                       𐐥 𐑍    N

oi (cunt)      👋 🖐 🙋 🫡 🛢️              𐐦 𐑎    WI

you            🫵                           𐐧 𐑏    OIO

Shavian Emojibet pipetut

OG Name     Quikscript  Emoji                                    Shavian  

peep        pipe          tobbaco pipe / instrument / bird         𐑐

tot         tut           Tutankhamon                              𐑑

kick        kick          leg                                      𐑒

fee         fife          -> fee                                   𐑓 

thigh       thoth         leg                                      𐑔

so          sis           young woman                              𐑕  

sure        shush         check mark / finger over mouth           𐑖  

church      church        ⛪                                       𐑗

yea         yo-yo                                                  𐑘

hung        inkling       rope 🪝                                  𐑙

bib         bob           book                                     𐑚

dead        deed          skull                                    𐑛  

gag         gig           instrument / bdsm                        𐑜

vow         valve          pinky promise  / index+middle / valve?  𐑝

they        thither         family                                 𐑞

zoo         zoos          animal - elephant, zebra,                𐑟

measure     zhivago       measuring tape / ruler / doctor / nurse  𐑠

judge       judge         auction hammer                           𐑡

woe         win-win       ✌️  cup                                  𐑢

ha-ha       ha-ha          -> ha                                   𐑣

loll        loll           -> ha / loitering? / tilted painting    𐑤

mime        mime           theatre mask / pantomime                𐑥

if          if                                                     𐑦

egg         ed             egg                                     𐑧

ash         ash            ✡ / chimney                             𐑨

ado         ado                                                    𐑩

on          on                                                     𐑪

wool        wool            sheep                                  𐑫

out         out                                                    𐑬

ah          ah             exclamation mark                        𐑭

roar        roar            lion                                   𐑮

nun         nun              🧕                                    𐑯

eat         eat                food / chopsticks                   𐑰

age         age              old man                               𐑱

ice         ice              🧊                                    𐑲

up                         arrow                                   𐑳

oak         oak             tree                                   𐑴

ooze        ooze             slime / mud / puddle                  𐑵

oil         oil            🛢️  america                            𐑶

awe         awl            🌞                                     𐑷

are         are                                                    𐑸

or          or                                                     𐑹

air         air           blowing / fan / radio                    𐑺

err                        -> error                                𐑻

array       earth           planet                                 𐑼

ear         ear            ear                                     𐑽

ian                       donkey                                   𐑾

yew         yew           🫵 🦄                                    𐑿

            llan            saint / cross / 🦙               

            loch            lake / nessie              

            ax             🪓                     

            exam           school?                      

NATO emojibet alphabravo

Since some words were too abstract, I had to get creative or use older version. Deliberately corrected the misspellings of Alpha and Juliet.

Letter                         Emoji                         

Alpha       Alpha Romeo / DEC Alpha / transparency / the ox

Bravo / Beta      OK / thumb up / house

Charlie / Coca      Chocolate / soda

Delta / Data / Dixie / David   river / door / computer something / ✡️

Echo         speaker, mountains

Foxtrot      dance??? / fox

Golf / Gold        golf ball / golf stick / gold

Hotel        hotel / bed

India / Italy / Indigo   some food / rickshaw / poop / blue something

Juliet         woman / jew

Kilo           weight / scales

Lima / London    oyster / lime / limousine / Eye, westminster, tower brigde

Mike / Metro       🎙️  Wazowski / subway

November / Nectar       leaf / 9 / 11 / 9/11 / thanksgiving / turkey / flower

Oscar          award / cup

Papa / Polka          pope / father / another dance

Quebec             some food

Romeo           boat / row / man

Sierra          ⛰️ 🏔️ / casino

Tango          dance??? / tanned / solarium

Uniform / Union        cop / soldier / link

Victor          ✌️

Whiskey / Washington / White      glass of whiskey / white house / white square

X-ray / eXtra          x-ray

Yankee           cheese

Zulu / Zebra            african something / zebra

Decimal / Point   big dot / sun

Dash             running man

Stop             octagon

Greek spelling emojibet astirvyron

Very necessary to spell math formulae. Apparently the Greeks seem to like Byron for financing their revolution.

Greek       English      Emoji            

αστήρ       star         ☀️ ✡️ ✳️ ✴️ ⭐

Βύρων       Byron        boy / poem / thermometer / sombrero

γαλή        cat

δόξα        glory        praise

Ερμής       Hermes       man

Ζευς / Ζωή  Zeus / Zoe   lightning / zombie

Ηρώ         Hero         superhero

θεά         goddess      superheroine / woman??? (no deities for Emoji)

ίσκιος      shadow

κενόν       blank

λάμα        blade        sword / knife

μέλι        honey        jar 🫙

ναός        church

Ξέρξης      Xerxes       300 / king

οσμή        smell

Πέτρος      Peter        rock ⛰️ 🏔️

ρήγας       king         prince / personwithcrown / crown

σοφός       wise         lightbulb

τίγρης      tiger

ύμνος       hymn         notes

Φωφώ        Fofo         girl

χαρά        joy

ψυχή        soul

ωμέγα       big O

Getmanian text-to-speech spelling emojibet otterbee

Names for consonants were based upon their alphabet name. Names for vowels were chosen to feature that vowel in the middle. Names for diphthongs are mostly brownfield. There's not *that* many emoji. In keeping with the Proto-Sinaitic tradition, even this otterbee contains some weapons.

This has to make do with only 10 vowels and a limited number of dedicated diphthongs. I cannot differantiate between E and "AE" properly, so "AE" is merged with EE. You can use Ä or Ë for "AE". Schwa transcribes as ' or as if stressed or E. There are 3 free letters C, Q, and X, pinyinesquely assigned to Kh, Ch, and Sh, respectively. Obvious bias towards Czech accent. Example: Ð beyž hyú impresd ól, inclyúding ð Frenč kwín, wú hrd ðet simfoni egén, jast es yaŋ Óþr wontid.

Name                                       Emoji        Letter

up / otter / onion                         ⬆️ 🦦 🧅         A

yarn / star                                🧶 ✡️ ✳️ ✴️ ⭐   Á AA

bee / beaver                               🐝 🦫          B

cheese  church  chain chipmunk             ⛪ ⛓️ 🐿️       Č CH Q

deer                                       🦌             D

dharma                                     ☸              Đ DH

bed / bet / egg                            🛌 🛏️ 🥚      E

bad/sad/mad/land // again/chair/air        🪑             É EE

FFFFFFFUUUUU fee  fox  fog                  🦊 🌫️            F

ghee / gay / garlic / gun                  🧄 🔫          G

age / heli / helmet / hedgehog / hot        🔞 🚁 🪖 🦔 🌡️ 🌶️   H

loch                                                      Ȟ KH C

if                                                        I

eagle / beetle / gear / freeze             🦅 🪲 ⚙️ ❄️      Í II

jay / giraffe / jar / ginger[U15]                🦒 🫙          J

'kay / kebab / key                          🥙 ✔️ 🗝️          K

elm / elk / elf / hell / llama / love / left 🧝 🦙 ❤️ ⬅️    L

'em / milk / man / mango                   🥭 🥛         M

hen  nest  hay                             🪹 🪺            N

length/sing/donger/bong/gong/king/wing[U15]      🤴 🫅          Ŋ NG

?on / old                                  🧓👴👵🧔     O

door / ore / more / bore / pawn            🚪 ♙ ♟       Ó OO

pee/pie/pita/peanut/peace/pickaxe/pump/pencil 🍆 🥧 🫓 🥜 ☮️ ⛏️ ⛽ ✏️ ✒️ 🖊️ 🖋️ P

are / rocket / rifle / rock                🚀 🙬 🥆 🪨 ⛰️ 🏔️  R

bird                                       🐦            RR (vocalic)

ass / see / sea / scissors / sun           🍑 ✂️ ☀️         S

shit / ship / shark / shrimp / shrine      🚢 🛳️ ⛴️ 🛳 🦈 🦐 ⛩️  Š SH X

tea / t-rex / tent                         ☕ 🫖 🧋 🦖 ⛺ 🏕️   T

broth / thorn                                             Þ TH

book / look / wood                         🪵             U

oops / ooze / boobs / goose[U15]            🍒             UU

vee / victory                              ✌️                V

we/wheel/double you/waffle/whiskey/window  🛞 🧇 🥃 🪟 〰 🌬️    W

why / wide / yeehaw / yoyo                 🤠 🪀          Y

zebra / zombie                             🦓 🧟         Z

measure                                                   Ž ZH

eye / island / ice / write / right         👁️ 🏝️ 🧊 ✍️ ➡️        AY

ale / razor / scale / plane                ⚖ ✈️ 🛩️       EY

ion / maior / ius / donkey[U15]                            IY

oicunt / oil / toilet / oyster             🛢️ 🚽 🦪       OY

gooey                                                     UY

owl mouth down                             ⬇️             AW

euro                                                      EW

pew                                        🔫            IW

oat / boat / lotion / soap / envelope / hole 🛥️ 🧴 🪙 🧼 ✉️ 🕳️   OW

uwu                                                       UW

Extra emojis, mainly with presentation sequences:

🌍🌎🌏🌕🌜🌫🌬🍸🍽🎗🎙🎛🎞🎬🏄🏆🏊🏌🏔🏘🏚🏜🏞🏳🐈🐕🐯👂👆👇👈👉👎👽💣💳💻💿💾📪📫📬📭🔈🔍🔒🔓🕶🕸🖕🖖🖥🖼🗑🗝🚔🚲🚹🚺🚼🛣🛤🛥