ABSTRACT
Writing is the foundational technology for shaping speech into languages (Einzelsprachen). In the ninth century the stratum of literati, or people with a command of writing, was narrow and largely contained to the former territories of the Roman Empire south of the Danube and to the Frankish Kingdom in the west. The sole extant traditions of writing, which left considerable numbers of codex-style manuscripts (or books as we know them), was limited at that time to the Greek language written in the Greek alphabet, the Latin language written in the Latin alphabet, the Hebrew language written in the Hebrew abjad (consonantry), and the Arabic language written in the Arabic abjad. These four traditions of literacy were intimately connected to the interrelated monotheistic (Abrahamic) religions of Eastern (Orthodox) Christianity, Western (Roman Catholic) Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. These four different languages and corresponding writing systems were connected to the respective “holy books,” namely, the Greek language original of the New Testament (alongside the Septuagint, or the canonical Greek translation of the Old Testament), the Vulgate (or the canonical Latin translation of the Bible), the Pentateuch (Torah), and the Quran. The faithful of these four religions were expected to pay utmost respect to their respective holy book. Through the practice of regular worship and inscriptions adorning churches, synagogues, or mosques, they could immediately recognize a given holy book by the sight of its writing system, without actually knowing how to read or write it. This or that writing system became a readily recognizable marker or “brand” of a given religion.
