1885.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 87 



touched upon here. The following may serve as explanation 



to the chart: 



1st letter: Egyptian "eagle" — A; becomes a consonant in 

 Phren., Aram., and Hebrew, ^ ; changes to vowel in Greek, 

 Coptic, Latin, and English. Pronunciation the same through- 

 out (in Shemitic with more guttural force). 



2d letter: Egypt, unknown kind of "bird," really a syllabic 

 sign = ba (symbol of the human soul), but also used as letter 

 b = B; obtains in theSliemitic pronunciation of b or bh, 3^; 

 Greek, Coptic, Latin, and English have pronunciation B. 



3d letter: Egypt, "vessel with handle" =K or G; obtains 

 in Shemitic pronunciation g or gh, ^^ ; Greek and Coptic g; 

 Latin C with K sound; English C (= S or K). 



4th letter: Egypt, "palm of hand" = D; obtains in Shemi- 

 tic pronunciation d or dh, ^"| ; Greek-English D. 



5th letter: Egypt, "fence or hedge" = H; in Shemitic h or 

 silent h, jT],"^ ; Greek-English E (by dropping the aspirate). 



6th letter: Egypt, "snake" = F; in Shemitic like our W, 

 "], and servile letter for vowels 6 and u \']\ in Greek a di- 

 gamma (in ancient inscriptions only); Coptic F (going back 

 to original Hierogl.); Latin, English "F. 



7th letter: Egypt, "newly-fledged bird," really syllabic sign 

 for dza = Z (= dz); in Shemitic, z, ]; Greek, Coptic, and 

 old Latin Z; is dropped in Latin in this place, and G put in 

 its place (related to C); English G. 



8th letter: Egypt, "sieve" = CH (pronounced like Greek 

 and German ch, with rough guttural sound); remains ch in 

 Shemitic, Y] ; Greek makes of it a long, heavy e (= our long 

 a); Coptic takes the Greek e, and also goes back to the Hiero- 

 glyphic to get its ch sound; Latin goes back to the orig- 

 inal aspirate sound, and makes of it our H; English H. 

 This letter was used by the Greeks for another purpose. By 

 taking the first half, and rounding the corner, they received 

 their rough breathing \ and by taking the other half, they 

 obtained the smooth breathing ', that is, our H and our 

 silent H. 



9th letter: Egypt. " pair of tongs (?) " = TH; in Shemitic almost 

 like our th, ^; Greek and Coptic and Old Latin th; dropped 

 in Latin and English. 



10th letter: Egypt, "two lines "=I; becomes a consonant in the 

 Shemitic, 1, and servile letter for long i; a vowel in Greek- 

 English. English adds J: I before consonants, J before vowels. 



11th letter: Egypt. "basket" = K; in Shemitic K or Kh 3"^T; 

 Greek-English K. ' 



12th letter: Egypt. "liou"=L7; remains L throughout. 



