THE SOURCE OF THE MODERN ENGLISH (ROMAN) ALPHABET. 69 
there cannot be a doubt but that each of these families forms a true 
class. Some of the chief peculiarities of Semitic languages are 
as follows : 
(1) They are written from right to left. 
(2) They have no letters to express vowels. 
(3) They have four or five consonants not found in any Aryan 
language. 
(4) They arrange their characters in that peculiar string of 
letters called the ‘‘ Alphabet.” 
Comparatively little is known of the genealogy of Semitic 
languages. The principal languages of the family are: Phceni- 
cian, Chaldee, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Arabic. Of these, Hebrew 
possesses the alphabet that has undergone the least alteration 
since the roth century before Christ. It is for that reason the 
best adapted for showing the connection between Semitic 
alphabets and the Greek alphabet. 
Before, however, coming to that it will be interesting to see the 
system of letters that was in use in Aryan languages. Aryans 
did not string their letters one after the other in the manner of 
(for want of a better word) the Shemites, but they arranged them 
according to their pronunciation by the different organs of speech, 
in a very scientific classification. The following is the system of 
letters used in the Sanskrit language, which is the parent of all 
Aryan languages. 
Vowels : 
meats 1,150, UW; ri, rf; lri, Irf; e, ai; 0, au. 
Consonants :* 
Surd. Sonant. Nasal. 
Guttural ... a es afer Gli aire-y kine: 
Palatal ... ee Ci) wecstel ae Chi 
Dental... ... qs Bid i trae ql) hy se ea yi 
Labial on ait Di. Ss wiaeby pes 
Semivowel 3: y Eu v. 
Sibilant... EY sh Ss. 
Aspirate... one h. 
* The aspirated surd and sonant consonants, and the Cerebral letters have 
been omitted for the sake of simplicity. 
