1863.] ]_'J9 [Chase. 



9. £3. Tetli, meaning unknown. The archetypes are all employ- 

 ed to represent the sun.* Forms somewhat similar are sometimes 

 used for the mouth. The Egyptian character for "splendor," is 

 sometimes written nearly like D, and sometimes nearly like the fourth 

 archetype. 



10. \ Yodh, " hand." The third archetype sometimes signifies 

 " to put aside ; to reject." The other three are different forms of the 

 hieroglyphic hand. 



11. 2. Kaph, "hollow hand." The Chinese characters signify 

 " hollow ; opening or separating ; branching." The first and second 

 forms are sometimes used for a hand in the act of grasping; the 

 fifth, which is one of the modifications of Had. 75, Muh, "a tree," 

 appears to be the archetype of the sixth and seventh alphabetic K's. 



12. 4. Lamedh, "to instruct; expert." The archetypes are all 

 forms of Rads. 9 and 10, which are both called Jin, and are both 

 evidently modifications of a single radical. The ordinary definitions 

 are "man; high;" but "top; head or covering," appears probably 

 to have been the primitive meaning. The same primitive often 

 assumes the form of R [PI. II, 1. 20, figs. 1, 3]. The phonetic con- 

 nection of L and R, renders it probable that the ideas of " instruc- 

 tion " and " head " may have been associated in the minds of the 

 inventors of the alphabet. 



13. 0. Mem, " water." The first three Chinese forms denote 

 ''water" or "a channel." The fourth and fifth represent a bud or 

 shoot. The sixth is one of the forms of Rad. 119, Me, "rice," to 

 which reference has already been made. 



14. J. Nun, "fish; snake." Archetypes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6, are 

 different forms of the Chinese character Nae. M. Abel-Remusat,f 

 in a letter to Baron Humboldt, treats somewhat fully of its various 

 meanings, all of which seem to involve the idea of flowing, connec- 

 tion, or continuance. The third and fourth forms might easily be 

 imagined to represent fishes or snakes, but it seems more probable 

 that they were derived from the hieroglyph for " water," which is 

 one of most common Egyptian representatives for the sound of n. In 

 some Chinese words (the word King, for instance), water is depicted 

 under a gradation of forms, some of which are precisely like the 

 Egyptian. The Egyptian hieroglyph for " Nile" or " river," is made 

 up of two characters, one of which resembles the Chinese Nae, and 



* v. ajite, n. 



t Nouveau Journal Asiatique, Vol. XI, pp. 273-282. 



