人类在需要什么东西的时候就会凭借自己的知识解决问题，同样，在需要记载事情的时候，发明了文字。文字的类型很多，流传下来的就是我们现在见到的这些，但是不能说是最好的和最实用的。知识是没有极限的，我们现在所学习到的知识是19世纪任何一位伟大的人物的知识量的数倍，但是我们已经落后了，现在的孩子在40岁之前所学习的东西可能还不够应付生存。关于这个问题已经在人类知识的极限论点上有很大的忧虑观点出现，人发现的事情越多，发明的东西越多，以及知识量的增长越快，对一个人生命周期的考验越大，毕竟人学习也是需要时间的，但是知识量却在每天增加，在《第三次浪潮》中剖析了对劳动的人进行分类的历史概念，在今天的古典文化例如《四库全书》的学习方面只能作到“荟要”等等。
关于这个问题有点跑题了，但是文字承载的功能对这个问题应该是有帮助的。

参考文献：《第三次浪潮》《在北大听讲座》《红学我见》等

The Origins of the English Language　英文的起源

Why English Got So Screwed Up?　英文为何会搞得如此紊乱？
你有没有想过，为什么牛肉要说beef而不直接说cow
meat（牛的肉）？还有，为什么英文中有这么多不同的单字表示相同的意思？例如wrath、anger和ire，还有wish和desire。你是否曾苦读英文规则到再也忍受不了，结果却发现这些规则总是有例外？那么继续看下去吧，你就会了解为什么英文会搞得这样乱七八糟。

1) wonder (v.) 奇怪，好奇
2) beef (n.) 牛肉
3) meat (n.) 肉
4) wrath (n.) 震怒
5) ire (n.) 忿怒，怒火
6) desire (v., n.) 渴望
凯尔特人（公元前两千年至公元四十三年）
凯尔特人（Celt作[k]的发音）是英国最早的住民。他们留下来一些地名，例如以韦尔斯神祇Lllud命名的伦敦。他们说的语言称为凯尔特语。但是，凯尔特语流传至今的并不多，因为后来来自欧洲的安格鲁萨克逊人用自己的语言英语取代了凯尔特语。现在还听得到说凯尔特语的少数几个地方有苏格兰、爱尔兰和韦尔斯。

1) replace (v.) 取代
The Romans (43 A.D. - 450 A.D.)
Like the Celts, the Romans did not speak English. They spoke Latin,
which is the 1)base of the French language. Because the Romans came
to England before the Anglo-Saxons, Latin 2)originally had little
3)influence on English, but that changed later when the
French-speaking Normans 4)invaded England.

罗马人 (公元四十三年至公元四五○年)
跟凯尔特人一样，罗马人也不说英文。他们说的是拉丁文，也就是法文的基础。由于罗马人比安格鲁萨克逊人早登陆英国，因此拉丁文原本对英文没发生什么影响。不过后来讲法文的诺曼底人入侵英国，情况就改变了。

1) base (n.) 基础，基本
2) originally (adv.) 原来，起初
3) influence (n.) 影响
4) invade (v.) 侵略，入侵
Roman influence on the English language was usually 1)confined to
city names, 2)architecture and 3)religious words. When the Romans
went back to Italy, they left behind many well-built cities and
roads. They changed the Celtic city Lllud into Londinium, which was
later called London. They called their great roads streets, giving
us this word. And they left behind 4)monasteries with 5)priests who
gave 6)mass, all Latin words.

罗马人对英文的影响通常只局限于都市名称、建筑，以及宗教用字。罗马人返回意大利时，留下许多建筑精良的城市和道路。他们把本来名叫Lllud的凯尔特城市改名为Londinium，也就是后来的伦敦。他们将自己建造的宏伟大道称做street，这个单字就是这样来的。他们还留下了「修道院」以及做「弥撒」的「神父」，这些都是拉丁文。

1) confine (v.) 限制
2) architecture (n.) 建筑
3) religious (a.) 宗教的
4) monastery (n.) 修道院
5) priest (n.) 僧侣，神父，祭司
6) mass (n.) 弥撒
The Anglo-Saxons (450 A.D. - 850 A.D.)
Celts, Romans and then Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons were the first
English speakers. They were actually many 1)tribes of the same
people. The Angles came from a land called Engle and spoke a
language called Englisc. That's where we get the words England and
English. Experts call their language Old English. It was closely
2)related to German.

安格鲁萨克逊人 (公元四五○年至公元八五○年)
先是凯尔特人，再来是罗马人，然后就是安格鲁萨克逊人。安格鲁萨克逊人是第一个说英文的民族。他们其实是分散成许多部落的同一个民族。安格鲁人来自一个名为Engle的岛屿，他们说的语言叫做Englisc。England和English这两个单字就是由此演变出来的。专家称他们的语言为古英文，跟德文十分接近。

1) tribe (n.) 部落
2) expert (n.) 专家
3) relate (v.) 与有关
Old English was very different from English spoken today. 1)Grammar
rules were different and 2)vocabulary wasn't the same. It would be
hard for a modern English speaker to understand Old English. Because
Old English was like German, 3)nouns were made 4)plural by adding
-en to the end of a word. You can still see this in words like men,
women, children and 5)oxen. Some words 6)disappeared, like firen,
which meant 7)crime. But the most 8)frequently-used English words
9)remain the same. Words like be, water, strong, he, him, of, for,
and and on are all from Old English.

古英文跟今天说的英文大相径庭。文法规则不同，字汇也不一样。今天说英文的人很难听得懂古英文。因为古英文跟德文很像，所以同样都是在名词字尾加上-en来表示复数。这个现象在以下这些单字中还是看得到：men、women、children还有oxen。也有一些字已经消失了，像firen，意思是「犯罪」。但是有许多最常用到的英文单字仍然没有改变，诸如
be、water、strong、he、him、of、for、and 还有on，全都来自古英文。 1) grammar (n.) 文法
2) vocabulary (n.) 字汇
3) noun (n.) 名词
4) plural (a.) 复数
5) oxen (n.) 牛（单数为 ox）
6) disappear (v.) 消失
7) crime (n.) 犯罪
8) frequently (adv.) 经常
9) remain (v.) 保持
The Vikings (A.D. 850 - A.D. 1066)
Most students of history like to read stories of the Vikings, also
called the Norse or Norsemen. This is because Viking 1)soldiers were
big 2)scary people with 3)blonde hair who wore 4)helmets with large
5)horns on them. They went to war all over Northern Europe, creating
a large 6)empire that included the eastern part of England. They
were 7)vicious fighters, and wherever they went, they'd 8)destroy
churches and towns and kill the 9)inhabitants.

维京人（公元八五○年至公元一○六六年）
大多数念历史的学生都喜欢阅读维京人的故事。维京人又称为古挪威人。他们的故事吸引人，因为维京士兵个个都一头金发、魁武吓人，还戴着有巨角的头盔。他们在北欧各地发动战争，建立强大的帝国，版图囊括英国东部。他们是凶狠的战士，所经之处，教堂、城镇都被摧毁殆尽，居民也惨遭杀害。

1) soldier (n.) 士兵
2) scary (a.) 可怕的
3) blonde (a.)（头发）金黄色的
4) helmet (n.) 头盔
5) horn (n.) 角
6) create (v.) 创造
7) empire (n.) 帝国
8) vicious (a.) 恶毒的
9) destroy (v.) 毁灭，摧毁
10) inhabitant (n.) 居民
Many Norse words replaced Old English words. Examples include egg,
sky and window, which 1)literally meant wind eye. Or pairs of
English and Norse words were both used with the same or 2)slightly
different meanings. An example of this is the English wrath and
Norse anger. Although both mean the same thing, the word wrath feels
stronger. And the English sick means exactly the same thing as the
Norse ill.

许多古挪威字汇取代了古英文字汇。这样的例子包括，egg、sky与window。window字面上的意思是wind
eye（风之眼）。或者一个英文字和一个古挪威字并存使用，意思相同或差别不大。例如英文的wrath和古挪威语的anger。虽然两个字的意思一样，不过wrath的感觉比较强烈。还有，英语的sick跟古挪威语的ill意思完全相同。

1) literally (adv.) 字面上
2) slightly (adv.) 轻微地
The French-Speaking Normans (1066 A.D. - 1399 A.D.)
When the Normans invaded England, the vocabulary of Old English had
an Anglo-Saxon base with words borrowed from Norse and Latin. But
that all changed when French-speaking kings 1)took over. From 1066
A.D. until 1399 A.D., no king of England spoke English as a 2)native
language. Because the kings and the 3)courts were all Norman, French
became the 4)official language of England. The common people,
however, still spoke English. It took about four hundred years for
these two languages to become one.

说法文的诺曼底人（公元一○六六年至公元一三九九年）
诺曼底人入侵英国的时候，古英文的字汇是以安格鲁萨克逊语为基础，还有一些单字来自古挪威语和拉丁语。不过，当那些说法文的国王接管英国时，情况发生了很大的变化。从公元一○六六年到一三九九年，英国没有一位国王是以英语为母语的。因为国王与朝臣都是诺曼底人，所以法语变成了英国的官方语言。但是一般平民百姓还是说英文。四百年后这两个语言才融合为一。

1) take over (v.) 接管
2) native (a.) 本地出生的
3) court (n.) 宫庭
4) official (a.) 官方的，正式的
You can see the language 1)divide in common nouns, such as the
English cow and French beef. The Normans, who liked to eat beef,
used the French word. English common people, who took care of the
animals, kept the English word. Another example is the French 2)pork
and English pig. The grammar changed as well. English people started
adding the French -s to the end of a noun to make it plural. The
list of English words that come from French 3)roots is 4)endless.
Examples include ire, close and 5)reply. Desire is the French word
for English wish.

你可以在普通的名词中看出这个语言之间的分歧，例如英语的cow和法语的beef。诺曼底人喜欢吃牛肉，用的是法语单字。英国老百姓照料牲畜，保留了英语的cow字。另外一个例子是法语的pork和英语的pig。文法亦发生改变。英国人开始在名词字尾加上法文的-s来表示复数。来自法文字根的英文单字不胜枚举，像ire、close还有reply等等都是。法文字desire的意思就是英文的wish。

1) divide (n.) 区分，分水岭
2) pork (n.) 猪肉
3) root (n.) 根，字根
4) endless (a.) 无尽的，无穷的
5) reply (v., n.) 回答，答复
1)Complcation
English has a 2)complicated history. It is a 3)combination of many
different languages that have been coming together for over 1,500
years. Today, only about one-sixth of Old English words are still
used. The rest are 4)foreign words. Moreover, Modern English has
been influenced by the languages of almost every country in the
world. This may start to give you an idea as to why English is so
screwed up. So, anybody want to go for an English lesson?


复杂化
英语演进的历史很复杂。它是许多种语言历经一千五百多年的结合而产生的。今天大概只有六分之一的古英文单字仍在使用，其余的都是外来语言。此外，现代英文还受到世界上几乎每一个国家的语言影响。这样你大概可以开始了解为什么英文会搞得乱七八糟了。那么，有谁想去上英文课吗？

1) complicated (a.) 复杂的
2) combination (n.) 组合，结合
3) foreign (a.) 外国的，外来的

好

我想是从画画而来吧，不管什么语言，最早的文字一般都是象形文字。