Mdu Nter, A Writing Script Born in Afrika, is the Ancestor of our ABCs.

Mdu Nter, which means ’words of God’ or ‘words of the divine’, was the name the Kemetic people (Ancient Egyptians) gave to their writing system. Those living in Greece called the Kemetic writing system ‘Hieroglyphics’ which is the name commonly used today. In Greek, ‘Hieroglyphics means ‘sacred writing’.

This writing system was made up of pictograhpical symbols, which represented a word or sound in the Kemetic language. Mdu Nter, originating in Kemet, Afrika, is one of the earliest invented written scripts in the world and out of all the independently developed ancient writing systems (Sumeria 3200 BC; China 1250 BC; Mesoamerica 650 BC; Kemet 3200 BC) Mdu Nter is the only ancient script which has influenced the Alphabetic script of various languages commonly used today - English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German etc (all utilizing the Latin script, which has the Mdu Nter script as its foundation) as well as the Arabic, Hebrew, and Brahim alphabet. If it wasn’t for Mdu Nter, various alphabets including our A, B, Cs all the way through Z, would not exist.

The use of signs, pictures, or symbols to represent spoken words or sounds in a language is one of Afrika’s greatest contributions to the world. Prior to this invention, there was a great limitation to the amount of knowledge that could be preserved, communicated, and passed down. Humans can only remember so much, and usually when someone passes away the wealth of knowledge and insight they possessed passes away with them. This all changed when the system of writing was invented. Now for the first time in human history, knowledge and information could essentially be frozen in time through written script.

This meant for the hundreds of thousands of years humans have existed on Earth, it was only 5,000 years ago that those living could cement their beliefs, histories, and knowledge in the world forever; as long as the papers and stones which contained those beliefs could be preserved.

Mdu Nter were symbols beautifully crafted onto stones and paper (another Kemetic invention) to represent the spoken language of the Kemetic people. These various stones and pieces of paper, through the Kemetic written script, contained international treaties between Kemet and foreign powers, the laws of Kemet, poems, scientific achievements, food recipes, medical knowledge, religious beliefs, rituals, spells, songs, biographies, historical events, literature, taxes, legal documents, mathematics, astronomical knowledge and many more important topics. Many of these documents still exists today throughout the world in various museums and libraries.

Mdu Nter was not the only independently developed writing script in the world, as China, Sumeria (Iraq), and the Mayas (Southern Mexico + Guatemala) also developed their own unique writing systems. Yet, no other script in the world today, whether directly or indirectly, has been as influential as Mdu Nter.

Now the question is what was the name of the Man or Woman who invented this new method of preserving knowledge and events? The answer or inventor, according to the Kemetic people themselves, lies not in a person but in a god - Thoth. Their belief is that the gift of writing was a divine intervention, not a human creation.

Mdu Nter, ‘words of the divine’.