We are near upon, if we haven't already passed, the anniversary of the most momentous event of Western language. Phonics was invented about 3000 years ago -- about 1000 BC in little Phoenicia. If we had any common decency, we'd have a celebration of some kind. Maybe we could mention it at the 50th Mensa anniversary celebrations at the AG in Houston, or the International Mensa celebration later. Or maybe during the millenial celebrations for the years 2000 and 2001.
Numbers were a part of the Phonics invention. The same symbols were used to count the days at sea, the days of the month, and provided an accounting shorthand for the Phoenician merchants. You see, the symbols had to be written in a certain order for counting. "Alpha, Beta . . . ." became our alphabet. (Greek pronounciation) So without their use as numbers, the order wouldn't matter.
The traders also had contact with many languages along the shores of the Mediterranean. Using Phonics (We really should capitalize it. Would you say "Using british" or "Using american"?) the merchant scholars could write down some of the phrases of their customers for later review. Remembering pronunciations would insure their welcome on the next expedition.
Both the Israelites and the Greeks borrowed the Phoenician system, modified it slightly, and used it to produce literature that is still read around the world today in many translations. The Romans and all other western language groups adopted many Greek words and logic. Language can drift a long way in just a few generations.
Though not a linguist, I can look at the numbers and wonder. Take our word "three":
-- Danish "tre" = 3, "tredive" = 30, "tres" = 60 (Danish must count on their toes!) Greek "treis", Italian "tre", Macedonian, Sanskrit, Russian and Ukrainian "tri", Sindhi "ti", Romany "trin", Slovac "traja", Latvia "tris", Spanish "tres"."Even an idiot can see that. Even I," said Li'l Abner, "can see that." European similarities, Asian and Pacific similarities. Arabian has masculine and feminine forms of some numbers which agree with the referrent (1-2, 11-12) and others which don't (3-10 and units for 13-20). A Paleo-Siberian language - NIVKH - has 26 sets of words for numbers that refer to different categories of objects such as fishing nets, boats, people, animals, small round objects, long thin objects, etc. The Hebrew word for fifteen is "nine & six"; not Phonic, but interesting.
-- Japanese "mi", Chinese "ni".
-- Maori "toru", Samoan "tolu".
-- Sudan "tilu", Sinhalese "tuna", Hausa "uku", Navajo "taa", Quechua "kimsa", Turkish "uc", Hungarian "harom", Hebrew "salos", Persian "se", Pashto "dre", Yiddish "draj", Tibetan "gSum", Thai "sa:m", Zulu "thathu", Telugu "mudu", Somali "saddex".
Back to counting: Phoenicians, Hebrews, Greeks and Arabs used individual letters to stand for various numbers. They used a different letter for each number up to ten, then different letters for 20, 30, 40, etc, and some of the hundreds. Hebrew only had enough letters for one through four hundred, but the Greeks added vowels, and marched up to 900. Arabic added ghayn and got up to 1000.
Could the Hebrews only count to 400? They used alphabetic shorthand accounting up to 400, but they could count lots higher. Numbers in the Bible are always "Phonic", spelled out the way they said them. "Two Hundred Thousand Six" would be 6200, since they wrote from right to left. "Fifty Five Hundred Thousand Three Thousand One Hundred Six" is the biggest number in the Bible, for 603,550 Hebrew families.
Hebrew is closer to Phoenician than any other language. The words "alpha", "beta" and "Phoenicia" are actually Greek words. "Phoenicia" meant "reddish-purple" in Greek, refering to the dye made from seashells in a rather smelly process.
Phonics? How about calling someone on the phone: Is it a reddish-purple phone? No? Then it's not a Greek phone. It must be a Phoenician phone that makes a sound that is telephoned to a distant place. We have a cacophony of phones: phonograph, phone book, antiphone, homophone, polyphone, saxophone, xylophone, megaphone, symphony, wall phone, picture phone, desk phone, portable phone, base phone, car phone.
So why isn't "Phonic" spelled phonetically? Because the Greeks, Romans, middle Europeans, French, Anglo's and US folks have all changed the language over the years. Even if we purify things and "Re-Fonic" everything, five generations from now no one would be able to read our new "fonics". So let's salute the Phoenicians, who changed phonic cuneiform to invent the alphabet.