of the Letters of the Hieroglyphic Alphabet. 219 
the nature of expletives generally in the first part, I need not waste time in 
proving that the eag/e ought to be considered as an expletive, and not as a vowel 
transferred from its proper place in the middle of the word. I admit, however, 
that this character was first used as a syllabic sign for HA. It was the plant of 
the North, which was considered as the front, as the East was regarded as the 
right, and so with the other cardinal points. Ha was the old Egyptian word for 
“front; and hence the syllabic value of the character which preceded its alpha- 
betic value. In the earliest times it was, I believe, exclusively an ideograph. In 
a stele of Mr. Harris’s (H. I. 1), which appears to be of the third age, the word 
signifying “naked,” which I read Hai, is written as in fig. 170; the last charac- 
ter being a determinative sign following words signifying anything connected 
with clothing. The syllabic sign is here completed in the fifth manner, by pre- 
fixing H1. Ata later period this word was written as in fig. 171, the syllabic 
sign being completed in the fourth manner by adding A 1. ‘This is the form 
given by Champollion (Gr. p. 203) from different copies of the Ritual. On the 
sarcophagus of Seti I., S. E. I. 66, the preposition Ha, before (Copt 9,2.), which 
is sometimes expressed by this character alone, is completed both in the third and 
in the fourth way. The present character occurs in many other words, which 
are sometimes written with the eag/e after it, and sometimes not. If the princi- 
ple of expletive characters were not already established, it might be difficult to 
prove that this eagle was not a part of the words ; but, that principle being ad- 
mitted, it is more natural to suppose it an expletive, and the case of Tog, already 
mentioned, seems conclusive. It was used alphabetically in the fourth period, 
if not in the third. 
41. A lion’s front (H4; h 4) is used, like the last character, to express the 
fore part of any thing. Originally, it was ideographic, and continued to be used 
so in the word ha or he, “ the front,” which is expressed by the character, either 
alone, or more commonly with a semicircle after it, denoting that the word is of 
the feminine gender, or a semicircle and vertical line. It was used, however, as 
an alphabetic character in the word Hay, where the arm follows it, which signi- 
fies “a chief, leader, or beginning ;” and in HiT, or rather HeTI, “a heart,” 
fig. 172, which is in Sahidic 9,7, as well as 9,HT. The distinction which the 
Egyptians made between this word and Me, fig. 52, has not, I believe, been 
yet ascertained. The latter may have been regarded as the organ of thinking, the 
2E2 
