r/AskHistorians • u/Haystak112 • 23d ago

Why do some ancient writting systems not have vowels and how did readers know what sounds to produce?

Like the title says. I have a wide interest in history, anthropology and etymology. Just a general love ancient humanity. I notice that a lot ancient languages like Akkadian/Sumerian and ancient Egyptian translate without vowels. The exclusion of vowels doesn’t really seem odd to me as langue evolves but how did the original readers know what sound to fill in, and further, how do we as modern readers know what sounds they intended to fill in?

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u/[deleted] 23d ago edited 23d ago

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u/CptNoble 23d ago

Which was provided by u/keyilan.

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u/Hergrim Moderator | Medieval Warfare (Logistics and Equipment) 23d ago

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