For example: 漢字 from both 日本語 (JP) and 中文 (ZH) are derivative from semantic concepts based on what they saw around them (when both languages were first created), kind of like this:
There’s more examples of it I can come up with such as the following:
Also, both languages allow this writing orientation (R-L vertical):
I mean, they even have words that are “swapable” (mainly how characters are positioned but retain the same definition) as shown:
The thing is, both languages are logographic which allows for this form of conceptualization regarding vocabulary based on “shape”:
That is in contrast with languages that use alphabets (as those are based on sound) while 日本語 (JP) and 中文 (ZH) are “pictorial” if that makes sense, meaning each character conveys a word or concept rather than a single letter that has no inherent definition.
Not anymore. If you go back to ancient times pictograms existed. But as time marched on those got replaced with other alphabets or a way more schematic way of writing.
And historians are guessing.
Supposedly the Hungarian ancient runes are coming from so many places and some in bc3000 were kinda hieroglyphic - but todays way of writing has absolutely nothing left of it.
Tho Hungarian is a special butterfly bc technically not European but Asian Uralic language. And those runes coming from not Europe either.
*Edit: fixed an auto correction