72 THE SOURCE OF THE MODERN ENGLISH (ROMAN) ALPHABET. 
HEBREW. GREEK. FRENCH. 
ra) 2h) = uamedh > yee: Af dtambda:> 2 mes ] 
rg, » - Mem Beokice pe ta od WS m 
14. 3 INI eee pe Ne a OE Eres n 
18s. 2) paitekha. “10k, Fes GS! Den) 4) 2 poe — 
TOS MS eae ese 6 “Omicren** co) 
Ly. oe abe Sari a Rie stl eee p 
16.0 °S," sagen asa tn SN yh Se eee — 
TOPCO Me eins kate em Naik 82 q 
(6 iain i aia a p RO ees r 
oi te ole. (SHIN) <2. @- DIgMin. Pr, aanteee S 
aie Wien LE bl Sl ue sess 7 Tau t 
In adapting the Semitic alphabet for expressing their own 
language, the Greeks would be met by two chief difficulties. First, 
there are no letters in Semitic languages for representing vowel 
sounds ; second, there are in all Semitic languages at least three 
sounds which do not occur in Greek—namely, the sounds repre- 
sented by the Hebrew letters 1 (cheth), y» (ayin), ? (koph).* 
We shall see how this difficulty was dealt with. 
The first Hebrew letter is the nearest approach to a vowel that 
Semitic languages admitted; yet it is not a vowel, but closely 
resembles the “smooth breathing’ of the Greek language. It 
represents the effort made in the throat on pronouncing any of the 
vowel sounds 4, i, 6. The Greeks have turned this into the short 
vowel a, as in our word “and,” and the corresponding letter in 
French closely resembles it in sound. The power of the second 
Hebrew letter is that of our b; that of the second Greek letter, as 
pronounced by modern Greeks, is v, and that of the second French 
letter corresponds with the Hebrew letter. It is probable, how- 
ever, that the ancient Greeks pronounced their (3 as we pronounce 
our b. The power of the third Hebrew letter is g (hard), that of 
the third Greek letter the same, while the corresponding French 
*In Arabic there are five sounds foreign to Aryan languages — namely, 
&, & & , and the Hemzeh. Each of these sounds is unpronounceable 
by Europeans, except after long and arduous practice. 
