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7. ? ?.
8. ? ?.
9. ? T.
10. ? ?.
11. ? ?.
12. ? ?.
13. ? ?.
14. ? ?.
15. ? S?
16. ? ?.
17. ? ?.
18. ? -- A letter called 19. ? koppa, afterwards ejected.
20. ? ?.
21. ? M afterwards S?
22. ? ?.
The _names_ of the letters were as follows:
_Hebrew._ _Greek._
1. Aleph Alpha.
2. Beth Baeta.
3. Gimel Gamma.
4. Daleth Delta.
5. He E, _psilon._ 6. Vaw _Digamma._ 7. Zayn Zaeta.
8. Heth Haeta.
9. Teth Thaeta.
10. Yod Iota.
11. Kaph Kappa.
12. Lamed Lambda.
13. Mem Mu.
14. Nun Nu.
15. Samech Sigma?
16. Ayn O.
17. Pe Pi.
18. Tsadi ---- 19. Kof Koppa, _Archaic_.
20. Resh Rho.
21. Sin San, _Doric_.
22. Tau Tau.
The alphabet of Phnicia and Palestine being adapted to the language of Greece, the first change took place in the manner of writing. The Phnicians wrote from right to left; the Greeks from left to right. Besides this, the following principles were recognised;--
a. Letters for which there was no use were left behind. This was the case, as seen above, with the eighteenth letter, _tsadi_.
b. Letters expressive of sounds for which there was no precise equivalent in Greek, were used with other powers. This was the case with letters 5, 8, 16, and probably with some others.
c. Letters of which the original sound, in the course of time, became changed, were allowed, as it were, to drop out of the alphabet. This was the case with 6 and 19.
d. For such simple single elementary articulate sounds as there was no sign or letter representant, new signs, or letters, were invented. This principle gave to the Greek alphabet the new signs f, ?, ?, ?.
e. The new signs were not mere modifications of the older ones, but totally new letters.
All this was correct in principle; and the consequence is, that the Greek alphabet, although not originally meant to express a European tongue at all, expresses the Greek language well.
-- 162. But it was not from the Greek that our own alphabet was immediately derived; although ultimately it is referable to the same source as the Greek, viz., the Phnician.
It was the _Roman_ alphabet which served as the basis to the English.
And it is in the changes which the Phnician alphabet underwent in being accommodated to the Latin language that we must investigate the chief peculiarities of the present alphabet and orthography of Great Britain and America.
Now respecting the Roman alphabet, we must remember that it was _not_ taken _directly_ from the Phnician; in this important point differing from the Greek.
Nor yet was it taken, _in the first instance_, from the Greek.
It had a _double_ origin.
The operation of the principles indicated in -- 161 was a work of the time; and hence the older and more unmodified Greek alphabet approached in character its Phnician prototype much more than the later, or modified. As may be seen, by comparing the previous alphabets with the common alphabets of the Greek Grammar, the letters 6 and 19 occur in the earlier, whilst they are missing in the later, modes of writing. On the other hand, the _old_ alphabet has no such signs as f, ?, ?, ?, ?, and ?.
Such being the case, it is easy to imagine what would be the respective conditions of two Italian languages which borrowed those alphabets, the one from the earlier, the other from the later Greek. The former would contain the equivalents to _vaw_ (6), and _kof_ (19); but be dest.i.tute of f, ?, &c.; whereas the latter would have f, ?, &c., but be without either _vaw_ or _kof_.
Much the same would be the case with any single Italian language which took as its basis the _earlier_, but adopted, during the course of time, modifications from the _later_ Greek. It would exhibit within itself characters common to the two stages.
This, or something very like it, was the case with Roman. For the first two or three centuries the alphabet was Etruscan; Etruscan derived _directly_ from the Greek, and from the _old_ Greek.
Afterwards, however, the later Greek alphabet had its influence, and the additional letters which it contained were more or less incorporated; and that without effecting the ejection of any earlier ones.
-- 163. With these preliminaries we may investigate the details of the Roman alphabet, when we shall find that many of them stand in remarkable contrast with those of Greece and Phnicia. At the same time where they differ with them, they agree with the English.
_Order._ _Roman._ _English._ _Greek._ _Hebrew._
1. A A Alpha Aleph.
2. B B Baeta Beth.
3. C C Gamma Gimel.
4. D D Delta Daleth.
5. E E Epsilon He.
6. F F _Digamma_ Vaw.
7. G G -- -- 8. H H Haeta Heth.
9. I I Iota Iod.
10. J J Iota Iod.
11. K Kappa Kaf.
12. L L Lamda Lamed.
13. M M Mu Mem.
14. N N Nu Nun.
15. O O Omicron Ayn.
16. P P Pi Pe.
17. Q Q _Koppa_ Kof.
18. R R Rho Resh.
19. S S _San_ Sin.
20. T T Tau Tau.
21. U U Upsilon -- 22. V V Upsilon -- 23. W Upsilon -- 24. X X Xi Samech.[43]
