302 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



expressing the same letter by two different signs, and by the Sep- 

 tuagint, who render n sometimes by e, sometimes by k. The 

 same n with the so-called " Pattach genubhah " is even by the 

 Rabbis taken for a vowel. Add to this that the Old Testament 

 expresses n sometimes by the vowels N- n (e), \i). y (oj. i {o). some- 

 times by the guttural J, as will be seen in Gesenius's Lexicon. 

 Hence it is probable that the generic name oi c/iei (septum) was 

 pronounced like echet in t-^vhto (sepire, dare sepimentum). See 

 PI. xxxii. 452, b. 



This singular ambiguity of some Hebrew letters explains the 

 strange phenomenon that some hieroglyphs, originated from the 

 Hebrew alphabet, signify sometimes the first vowel, sometimes 

 the first consonant of their names. See the author's Gram. ^g. 

 p. 9, No. 17. Hence, e.g., the handle of a knife (Gram. ^Eg. 

 PI. 48, No. 606) signifies sometimes ??, sometimes a, because of 

 its name Ijy (anat), alligavit. 



At present, of course, it is impossible to make out exactly in 

 what words y and n signified either consonants or vowels, but in 

 general we have to remember that they were consonants in all 

 those words in which the LXX and the Fathers of the Church 

 expressed them by consonants ; further, where the Old Testa- 

 ment itself substitutes guttural consonants ; furthermore, in such 

 words in which the Arabians and Ethiopians rendered them by 

 consonants; and, finally, in certain Hebrew words preserved in 

 the Greek, Latin, and other languages. 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 



So far as the hfxj. did/.sxzoc of the Egyptians and the gradual 

 corruption of older languages is concerned the following rules are 

 to be borne in mind (see p. 201} : 



d and _p go over to y. w. n. ■ Comp. tics.t = foot ; fi£T = qcoT = otot, 

 abstergere, delere ; fi^i = -\iM. forre ; r~1l3 (kokab) = Ciotp (sivj. 



J, and all the other gutturals 5;, ^, y. st, pi- ■*• "2- «■• V- p- adopt the 

 following softer sounds : 



I. //, and hence nearly all Memphitic words containing A (Pl), have §_ 

 instead of 3 in the Sahidic. Comp. moreover: caput = Haupt = otooiviT 

 (howit) ; cavallus = havallo, X3n (chuba) = own ^^tofi, y^jj* (kapo) = 

 owfi = ^oq, npn (chaqh) = ocjki, Dnn (charam) = ^oj'A.w, rh'S, (kelach) 

 = -flwJj = Qji\-^, non (chamed) = ^AVOT, ]'0n = (chamak), 91JW.2S., p3 

 (kohen) = ooivT, TJ (gir) = ^ip, Oin (chut) = owe, T«: (gid) = ojtc = 

 catena, kettle; nnn (chatah) = §^otc, ICJ (gatar) = §coTp, etc. etc. 



