78 The Rev. Dr. Wall on the Nature, Age, and Origin of the 



Now if it be allowed that proper names are pronounced nearly in the same 

 way in cognate languages, it will be very easy to verify the powers above as- 

 signed to the Ethiopic letters, so far at all events as to show that they are syllabic ; 

 viz. by exhibiting any such words from the text of the Ethiopic version. For 

 this purpose the names David and Abimelech are here selected from the title of 

 Psalm xxxiv., as also Zion and Jerusalem from Psalm li. 19* ; just as they are 

 written in the version in question and in the unpointed Hebrew text, except that 

 the prefixes are in both kinds of writing omitted. After each group of characters 

 the pronunciation is given in Roman consonants and Italic vowels ; but when 

 there is a separate character added to express the vocal part of a syllable, as is 

 sometimes the case in the copies of the Hebrew Bible which are at present extant, 

 then its power is denoted by a Roman vowel, and it is itself exhibited in an open 

 form, to distinguish it from the ancient letters of the group, and mark its adven- 

 titious nature. 



1. Rt-^ (DaW^T) 2. Afl<^A,^ (HaB/MeLeK) 



-m (DaWzD) i'7a^3N (HflBIMeLeK) 



3. a-p-^ (TZeYoN) 4. A.P4,<^A.^ (HzYoRwSaLeM) 



p^s (TZiYON) D'7t»in> (YeRUSHaLeM) 



To apply to the point under examination any of these examples, as for instance, 

 the first of them ; — if we look for the character S, in the Ethiopic alphabet, we 

 shall find it in the series of letters which are in common termed Dent, and in 

 the first column, where the power assigned is Da ; in like manner we shall find 

 X in the series Waw, and third column, with the power W^, and ^ in the series 

 Taw, sixth column, with the power Te. But the vocal part of the powers in the 

 sixth column is very short, except when those powers form the first or penulti- 

 mate syllable of a word ; and when they form the last, it becomes imperceptible 

 like the Shewa quiescent of the pointed Hebrew. According, then, to the re- 

 presentation of the powers of the characters which is given in the table, the 

 group J? *£ ^ expresses the word DaWiT; while, on the other hand, from the 

 position of the same group in the title of Psalm xxxiv. in the Ethiopic version, 



* The number of each Psalm after the tenth is diminished by one (in consequence of the eleventh 

 being joined to the tenth) in the Ethiopic version, which herein agrees with the Septuagint, and 

 differs from the Hebrew. 



