and on the Mode of expressing Numerals in Cuneatic Characters. 251 
quently, that, when two characters were used to express one syllable, it was not 
certain that they commenced with the same consonant, as I had before assumed ; 
for the latter might equally well be a /abial or guttural, lengthening the pre- 
ceding wv or ?. This led me to a new analysis of the name of Nebuchadnezzar, 
which I formerly read, as it occurs in the first line of the great inscription of 
the E. I. C., Nabu.k’.ku.r.ra.sa.ar.ra, and now Nabu.k’.ku.ba.ru.ba.sa.ra, 
with the values of three characters altered, including a very important one, the 
sixth in the word. The change in the value of this character, No. 66 of my 
former paper, shewed me that I had erred in assuming that the words signifying 
“great,” in E. 1 and 6, were transcriptions of the Median words ersa and 
ersarra ; and I was thus led to seek other values for the characters in these words 
which I had valued under this misconception. This led me to other rectifications ; 
and, in conclusion, observing the greatly increased resemblance to the Semitic 
dialects which the language assumed in consequence of these changes, I thought 
it best to alter the vowel notation, substituting e, equivalent to the Hebrew 
Sheva, for the w of my former alphabet. The simple characters, then, consist 
of consonants followed by these two vowels, a (-) and e(.). The other vowels 
are represented by combinations of these with each other, with or without the 
intervention of certain semivocal labials and gutturals, distinguished in the 
alphabet by having a ¢ prefixed to them Thus, a.be is aw, or d (+); a.ge, é 
(--); e.be or e.ba, % or 6; and e.ge or e.ga,7; while the short vowels pro- 
ceed from the concurrence of two e’s, the latter of which becomes mute, while 
the former is generally to be sounded as 2, but occasionally as other short vowels. 
Further researches may, perhaps, supply more accurate rules; but I feel confi- 
dent that, by following these, the pronunciation will be attained in a very 
approximate manner. ‘The concurrence of two equivalent syllables will be 
readily seen to be analogous to the Hebrew dagesh. It is found, however, in 
cases where dagesh could not occur in Hebrew, as in ne.ne, when initial. 
Here, I have little doubt, the duplication has the effect of lengthening the 
vowel, or detaching it from any syllable containing e that might follow. I read 
the above n’n2, or n’né ; ne.ne.be must be read n’né. be, not n’neb. 
I class the letters in six divisions, labials, gutturals, dentals, nasals, linguals, 
and sibilants. Some of these are subdivided, as will be seen in the alphabet 
given on the following page. 
Derae 
