158 Rev. Epwarp Hinecxs on the Number, Names, and Powers 
the letter could only be pronounced by itself, when the letter was a vowel, it 
was necessary to add something to it, in order to make it a pronounceable name ; 
and nothing was more natural than that the syllable which the character origi- 
nally expressed should be adopted as the name of that character, when used for a 
letter. Such syllables might be completed either by the addition of the vertical 
line, which, as already explained, denoted that the name of the object was to be 
expressed, or by the addition of the letter which represented the final sound. 
The names of the letters, however, were not ail chosen in this manner. In the 
case of some of them, especially the vowels, we may be pretty sure that the name 
of the letter was not the original syllabic power of the phonoglyph. Indeed, 
some of the characters used as letters probably never represented syllables, 
having been first used as phonoglyphs at the time of, or subsequent to, the 
invention of an alphabet. But even where the character had originally a 
syllabic power, it did not necessarily follow that it was that original syllable 
which was used as its name. The small water vessel, for example, fig. 82, 
originally denoted the syllable Na ; and when followed by an upright line, 
it continued to be so sounded, as in the plural possessive article, and the noun 
signifying ‘‘a place ;” but the name of this character was Nw, it being com- 
pleted by the quail or lituus, as in fig. 83; or, in lieu thereof, being written 
three times, as in fig. 85. These three water vessels are to be read Nu, or, if 
the U be expletive, simply as N. 
It results from what has been said, that the connexion of the expletives which 
attend on some of the letters with these letters, can be explained by the fact of 
these letters originally representing syllables, but that this will not account for 
the use of all the expletives. Ifthe quail represents the sound U, its name may 
have been U; there was no necessity for the expletive pair of nes being added, 
so as to make its name Wi. While, therefore, the original idea of expletive charac- 
ters must have been derived from the original use of phonoglyphs, as representa- 
tives of syllables, the system of expletives in actual use in the ages of the twelfth 
dynasty and of the papyri must have had some other origin. I think there can 
be no doubt that this origin was the circumstance, whatever it was, that gave 
occasion to the continued use of expletives. If there was any reason which ren- 
dered it convenient or desirable to substitute the names of letters for the letters 
themselves, this would render it expedient that ad/ letters should have names, 
