It is the standard script of the English language and is often referred to simply as "the alphabet" in English. It is a true alphabet which originated in the 7th century BC in Italy and has changed continually over the last 2,500 years. It has roots in the Semitic alphabet and its offshoot alphabets, the Phoenician, Greek, and Etruscan.

It is generally believed that the Latin alphabet used by the Romans was derived from the Old Italic alphabet used by the Etruscans. That alphabet was derived from the Euboean alphabet used in Cumae, which in turn was derived from the Phoenician alphabet.

The word alphabet, from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet— alpha and beta —was first used, in its Latin form, alphabetum, by Tertullian (2nd–3rd century ce), a Latin ecclesiastical writer and Church Father, and by St. Jerome.

The first alphabet per se was invented by the Phoenicians circa 1000 BC. This is now considered the origin of the Latin alphabet as we know it, although there were some notable differences.

In the century since the discovery of those first scratched letters in the Sinai mines, the reigning academic consensus has been that highly educated people must have created the alphabet.

The alphabet as we understand it today has its earliest known roots in the ancient Near East, with the Proto-Sinaitic script that emerged in the Sinai Peninsula.

However, the exact origins of the Latin alphabet now used by billions of people are relatively unknown, and very few people are actually aware that the Latin alphabet itself finds its roots in an older form of Greek writing.

The earliest example of the Latin alphabet in use is called the duenos inscription and comes from the sixth century BCE, 2,500 years ago.

In case you’re wondering where the word “alphabet” comes from: the Latin alphabet was invented by the Semitic countries to the East of the Mediterranean Sea. The Greeks adopted and adapted this alphabet; the Etruscans and Romans of Latium later did the same.

The basic concept of the Latin alphabet as one that evolved from that of the Greeks after it was introduced to Italy (by Greeks) is clearly true. However, the manner in which this came to be is far more complex than claimed by Roman mythology.