* Early Writing Systems: The earliest writing systems, like cuneiform and hieroglyphics, didn't represent sounds in a straightforward way. They were more like picture-based systems.
* The Alphabet: The invention of the alphabet, attributed to the ancient Greeks, was a major step towards phonetic writing. However, early Greek alphabets didn't have consistent one-to-one sound-symbol mappings.
* The Roman Alphabet: The Romans adopted the Greek alphabet and standardized it, making it more phonetic. Their writing system, which became the basis of modern Western alphabets, was a major influence on spelling.
* Sound Change: Over centuries, languages change, and sounds shift. These changes weren't always reflected in spelling, leading to inconsistencies.
* Standardization: Throughout history, various groups have worked to standardize spelling, creating dictionaries and grammar rules. This has led to more consistent, but not always perfectly phonetic, spellings.
So, there wasn't one "inventor" of spelling. It was a long process of evolution, influenced by the development of writing systems, the nature of language, and efforts to standardize usage.