CUNEIFORM

system of writing used in the ancient Middle East. The name, a coinage from Latin and Middle French roots meaning wedge-shaped, has been the modern designation from the early 18th century onward. Cuneiform was the most widespread and historically significant writing system in the ancient Middle East. Its active history comprised the last three millennia BC; its long development and geographic expansion involved numerous successive cultures and languages; and its overall significance as an international graphic medium of civilization is second only to that of the Phoenician-Greek-Latin alphabet.