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Oral communication. II. Picture writing. By this mode of communication it is said that the ancient Mexicans transmitted the memory of the most important transactions of their empire. III. Hieroglyphics. These, like pictures, are the signs of things. Ingratitude was indicated by a viper, Wisdom by an ant. A serpent with a hawk's head denoted Nature, and God presiding over it. IV. Syllabic characters, or an Alphabet of the Syllables in the language. This, in convenience, is a great advance upon the other modes of communication, inasmuch as signs of words were used, and not signs of things. V. Letters representing the Sounds in the language. These are called the Alphabet, from Alpha, Beta, the names of the first two letters in the list.

PHOENICIAN, HEBREW, OR SHEMITIC PERIOD.

§ 124. At a certain period the alphabet of Palestine, Phonicia, and the neighboring languages of the Shemitic tribes, consisted of twenty-two separate and distinct letters. The chances are that, let a language possess as few elementary articulate sounds as possible, an alphabet of only twenty-two letters will be insufficient. Now, in the particular case of the languages in point, the number of elementary sounds, as we infer from the present Arabic, was above the average. It may be safely asserted that the original Shemitic alphabet was insufficient for even the Shemitic languages.

In this state it was imported into Greece. Now, as it rarely happens that any two languages have precisely the same elementary articulate sounds, so it rarely happens that an alphabet can be transplanted from one tongue to another, and be found at once to coincide. The Greeks had, in probability, sounds which were wanting in Palestine and Phonicia. In Palestine and Phoenicia it is certain that there were sounds wanting in Greece. The resemblance in the shape of the letters is seen rather in the ancient forms than the modern. Of the twenty-two Phoenician letters, the Greeks took out twenty-one. The eighteenth letter, Tsaddi, was never imported into Europe. Besides rejecting this letter, they changed the manner of writing, beginning at the left and going toward the right; and invented new signs or

letters for such simple, single, elementary, articulate sounds as were not represented. The new signs o, X, v, w, were not mere modifications of the old ones, but new, distinct, and independent letters. In all this there was an improvement. The faults of the newer Greek alphabet consisted in the admission of the compendium &=ps, and the retention of the compendium ks.

THE ITALIAN, OR OLD LATIN PERIOD.

§ 125. The existence of ƒ and q shows that the Italian alphabets were imported from the original Phoenician, or the old Greek; these letters, in the second stage of the Greek alphabet, having been ejected. The first alphabet imported into Italy was the Etruscan, in which the sharp sounds predominate, and B, A, O were ejected. This prepares us for a change, the effects whereof exist in almost all the alphabets of Europe.

For the first

The Roman Alphabet had a double origin. two centuries after the foundation of the city the alphabet used was the Etruscan, derived directly from the Greek and the OLD Greek. This accounts for the presence of ƒ and q. Afterward, however, the Romans modified their alphabet by the alphabet of the Italian Greeks, these Italian Greeks using the late Greek alphabet. This accounts for the presence of v, originating in the Greek Ypsilon.

In accommodating the Greek alphabet to their own language, the Latins recognized the following principles:

I. The ejection of such letters as were not wanted. Thus it was that the seventh letter (Zayn, Zœta) was thrown out of the alphabet, and the new letter g put in its place. Subsequently, z was restored, for the sake of spelling Greek words, but was placed at the end of the alphabet. Thus, also, it was that Thata, Kappa (c being equivalent to k), and the fifteenth letter, were ejected, while and x were never admitted. In after times the fifteenth letter (now xi) was restored, for the same reason that z was restored, and, like z, was placed at the end of the alphabet.

II. The use of the imported letters with a new power. Hence the sixth letter took the sound not of v or w, but of

f; and the eighth, of h. Beyond this the Romans made but slight alterations. In ejecting Kappa, Thæta, and Chi, they did mischief; the same in changing the power of c. The representation of o by ph, of 0 by th, was highly erroneous. The retention of x and g was unnecessary. V and j, two letters whereby the alphabet was really enriched, were mere modifications of u and i respectively. Y also seems a modification of v. Neither the Latin, Greek, nor Hebrew Orthographies were much warped to etymological purposes. It should be observed that, in the Latin, the letters have no longer any Names (like Beth, Bata), except such as are derived from their powers (be, ce). It may now be seen that, with a language containing such sounds as the th in thin and thine, and the ch in the German auch, it is to their advantage to derive their alphabet from the Greek, while, with a language containing such sounds as h and v, it is to their advantage to derive it from the Latin. It may also be seen. that, without due alterations and additions, the alphabet of one country will not serve as the alphabet of another.

THE MESO-GOTHIC ALPHABET.

§ 126. In the third century the Classical Alphabets were applied to a Gothic Language. I use the word Alphabets, because the Moso-Gothic Letters are borrowed from both the Latin and the Greek. Their form and order may be seen in Hickes' Thesaurus and in Lye's Grammar. With the Greek they agree in the following particulars: 1. In the sound of the third letter being not that of k (c), but of the g in gun. 2. In retaining Kappa and Chi. 3. In expressing the simple single sound of th by a simple single sign. This sign, however, has neither the shape nor the alphabetical position of the Greek Thata. With the Latin they agree, 1. In possessing letters equivalent to f, g, h, q, y. 2. In placing z at

the end of the alphabet.

The Moso-Gothic alphabet seems to have been formed on eclectic principles, and on principles sufficiently bold. Neither was its application traversed by etymological views. Its influence can not easily be traced, except, perhaps, in the case of the Anglo-Saxon letters p and p, upon any other al

phabet; nor does it seem to have been acted upon by any earlier Gothic alphabet.

THE ANGLO-SAXON ALPHABET.

§ 127. What sort of an alphabet the Gothic languages possess, we know; what sort of alphabet they require, we can determine. For the following sounds (among others), current in the Gothic, either one or both of the Classical languages are deficient in corresponding signs: 1. The th in thin; a sign in Greek (0), but none in Latin. 2. The th in thine; a sign neither in Latin nor Greek. 3. The ch in the German auch; a sign in Greek (x), but none in Latin. 4. The flat sound of the same, of the probable sound of the h in purh, leoht, &c., Anglo-Saxon; a sign neither in Greek nor Latin. 5. The sh in shine; a sign neither in Greek nor Latin. 6. The z in azure; a sign neither in Greek nor Latin. 7. The ch in chest; a sign neither in Greek nor Latin, unless we suppose that, at the time when the Anglo-Saxon alphabet was formed, the Latin c, in words like civitas, had the power which it has in the present Italian of ch. 8. The j in jest; a sign neither in Greek nor Latin, unless we suppose that at the time, &c., g had the same power that has been indicated with respect to c. 9. The sound of the kj in the Norwegian kjenner, viz., that (thereabouts) of ksh; a sign neither in Latin nor Greek. 10. The English sound of w; a sign neither in Latin nor Greek. 11. The sound of the German ü, Danish y; no sign in Latin; probably one in Greek, viz., v. 12. Signs for distinguishing the Long and Short Vowels, as e and n, o and w; wanting in Latin, but existing in Greek. In all these points the Classical Alphabets (one or both) were deficient. To make up for their insufficiency, one of two things was necessary: either to coin new letters or to use conventional combinations of the old.

In the Anglo-Saxon Alphabet (derived from the Latin) we have the following features: 1. C used to the exclusion of k. 2. The absence of the letter j, either with the power of y, as in German, of zh, as in French, or of dzh, as in English. 3. The absence of q, a useful omission, cw serving instead. 4. The absence of v; u, either double or single,

being used instead.

5. The use of y as a Vowel, and of e as y. 6. The absence of z. 7. Use of uu as w or v, Old Saxon. 8. The use, in certain conditions, of ƒ for v. 9. The presence of the simple single signs þ and 8, for the th in thin and the th in thine.

Of the Anglo-Saxon Alphabet we may safely say that it was insufficient. The points wherein the Latin Alphabet was improved, in its adaptation to the Gothic tongues, are, 1. The admission of p and ; 2. The evolution of w out of u.

THE ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD.

§ 128. Between the Latin Alphabet, as applied to the Anglo-Saxon, and the Latin Alphabet, as applied to the Norman French, there are certain points of difference. In the first place, the sound-system of the language (like that of the French), derived from the Latin, bore a greater resemblance to that of the Romans than was to be found among the Gothic tongues. Secondly, the alphabets of the languages in point were more exclusively Latin. In the present French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, there is an exclusion of the k. This is not the case with the Anglo-Norman. Like the Latins, the Anglo-Normans considered that the sound of the Greek was represented by th; not, however, having this sound in their language, there was no corresponding sound in their alphabet. The greatest mischief done by the Norman influence was the ejection from the English Alphabet of p and . In other respects the alphabet was improved. The letters z, k, j, were either imported or more currently recog nized. The letter y took a Semi-vowel power, having been previously represented by e, itself having the power of i. The mode of spelling the Compound Sibilant with ch was evolved.

THE RUNIC ALPHABET.

§ 129. The original number of the Runic letters is sixteen, expressing the sounds of f, u, p, o, r, k, h, n, a, i, s, t, b, l, m, y. To these were added four Spurious Runes, denoting e, x, æ, ö, and eight Pointed Runes, after the fashion of the pointed letters in Hebrew.

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