Phoenician |
Latin (passed via Etruscans to Roman Alphabet) |
||||
Sign |
Names in Phoenician, Arabic & Hebrew |
Meaning |
Phone |
Latin |
History |
|
Aleph |
Ox |
A |
A |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent
alryngeal consonant ('), or glotal stop. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed
the sign from Phoenician and reversed its form, changed its name to Alpha and
made the sign stand for the vowel A. |
|
Beth, Bait |
House |
B |
B |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent b
consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician and
inverted/reversed its form, changed its name to Beta and made the sign stand
for the consonant B. |
|
Gimel, Gamel |
Camel |
G |
C,
|
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent g
consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician and
reversed/curved its form, changed its name to Gamma and made the sign stand
for the consonant G. |
|
Daleth, Dal |
Door |
D |
D |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent d
consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician and
reversed/curved its form, changed its name to Delta and made the sign stand
for the consonant D. |
|
He |
Window |
H |
E |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent h
consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician and
reversed its form, changed its name to Epsilon and made the sign stand for
the vowel E. |
|
Waw |
Hook |
W semi- |
F |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent w
semi- consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician
and reversed/altered its form, changed its name to Digamma and made the sign
stand for the semi- consonant W. |
|
Heth, Hait |
Wall |
H |
H |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent h
laryngeal consonent. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from
Phoenician and removed the upper and lower bars, changed its name to Eta and
made the sign stand for the consonant H. |
|
Yodh, Yad |
Hand |
Y semi- |
I,J |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent y
semi- consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician
and removed its bars, changed its name to Iota and made the sign stand for
the vowel I. |
|
Kaph |
Hand |
K |
K |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent k
consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician and
reversed/altered its form, changed its name to Kappa and made the sign stand
for the consonant K. |
|
Lamedh, Lam |
Goad |
L |
L |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent l
consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician and
reversed/altered its form, changed its name to Lamda and made the sign stand
for the consonant L. |
|
Mem, Mai |
Water |
M |
M |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent m consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician andreversed/curved its form, changed its name to M???? and made the sign stand for the consonant M. |
|
Nun |
Fish |
N |
N |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent n
consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician and
reversed/curved its form, changed its name to Nu and made the sign stand for
the consonant N. |
|
Ayin |
Eye |
3 |
O |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent 3
laryngeal consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from
Phoenician but had no use for its sound in Indo-European. They called Omikron
and made the sign stand for the vowel short O. |
|
Pe |
Mouth |
P |
P |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent g
consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician and
reversed/curved its form, changed its name to Pi and made the sign stand for
the consonant P. |
|
Qoph |
Monkey |
Q |
Q |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent q
voiceless velar. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician
and altered its form, changed its name to qoppa and but had no use for its
sound in Indo-European so they used it for the sound K. |
|
Resh, Ras |
Head |
R |
R |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent r
consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician and
reversed/altered its form, changed its name to |
|
Sin |
Tooth |
Sh |
S |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent
sh consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician and
reversed/curved its form, changed its name to Sigma and made the sign stand
for the consonant S. |
|
Taw, Tah |
Mark |
T |
T |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent t
consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician and
slightly altered its form, changed its name to Tau and made the sign stand
for the consonant T. |
|
Waw |
Hook |
W semi- |
UV W |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent w
semi- consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician
and altered its form, changed its name to Upsilon and made the sign stand for
the vowel bare U. |
|
Samekh, Sheen |
Fish |
S |
X |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent s
consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician and
altered its form, changed its name to Xi and made the sign stand for the consonant
X. |
|
Zayin |
Sword |
Z |
Z |
Around 1700 B.C. this letter was used to represent z
consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign from Phoenician as is,
changed its name to Zeta and made the sign stand for the consonant Z. |
Sources:
1.
Faulmann, Carl. 1990 (1880). Das Buch der Schrift. Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn. ISBN
3-8218-1720-8
2.
Fossey, Charles. 1948. Notices sur les caractères étrangers anciens et modernes
rédigées par un groupe e savants. Nouvelle édition míse
à jour à l’occasion du 21e Congrès des Orientalistes. Paris:
Imprimerie Nationale de France.
3.
Garbini, Giovanni. 2001. “The question of the alphabet” in The
Phoenicians, ed. Sabatino Moscati. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1-85043-533-2
4.
Healey, John F. 1990. The early alphabet. (Reading the past).
London: British Museum. ISBN 0-7141-8073-4
5.
Ifrah, Georges. 1998. The universal history of numbers: from prehistory to
the invention of the computer. London: Harvill Press. ISBN
1-86046-324-X
6.
Imprimerie Nationale. 1990. Les caractères de l’Imprimerie Nationale. Paris: Imprimerie
Nationale Éditions. ISBN 2-11-081085-8
7.
McCarter, P. Kyle, Jr. 1975. The antiquity of the Greek alphabet and the early
Phoenician scripts. Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press. (Harvard Semitic Monographs; 9) ISBN 0-89130-066-X
8.
Nöldeke, Theodor. 1904. Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft. Strasburg.
9.
Powell, Barry B. 1996. Homer and the origin of the Greek alphabet.
Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0-521-58907-X .
10. Robinson,
Andrew. 1995. The story of writing.
London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-01665-8
11. Rumford,
James. 2002. There is a monster in the
alphabet. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-22140-9
12. C.
A. Briggs, “Critical Theories of the Sacred Scriptures in Relation to their
Inspiration,” The Presbyterian Review, II (1881), 573f.
13.
B. Kennicott, Vetus Testamentum
Hebraicum, cum variis lectionibus, 2 vols. (
14. Robert
Dick Wilson, “The Textual Criticism of the Old Testament,” The
15.
Frederic Kenyon, Our Bible and
the Ancient Manuscripts, (4th ed. New York, 1940), p. 44.
16. William
Henry Green, General Introduction to the Old Testament — The Text (New York, 1899), pp. 153, 165.
17.
“The Old Testament and the
Archaeology of
18. Driver,
Godfrey, http://www.bible-researcher.com/
19.
Rölig, Friedrick.
Phoenician Forms, 1970.
20. Powerll, Table of Phoenician and Greek Letterforms,
1996.
21. Nódeke,
Theodore. Reconstruction of Character
names.
22.
www.phenoecia.org