158 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 
inscriptions this character wants one of its extremities, and assumes 
the form of the figure 4. The Etruscan has two forms for the powers 
of M. The long sounds, ma, mo, mu, are represented by a circle or 
O, which frequently has an intersecting line, or by a diamond or 
square. Etruscan scholars have taken this to represent the Greek 
theta. It is, as I have already indicated, the Aztec matlacth, 
denoting ten, but represented by a figured circle or square, which 
may have meant a shield originally. This is a very common Hittite 
emblem, and occurs in the many groups which I have read mati, 
king.” The feebler sound of M, mi, me, 1m, em, is represented by 
a character not unlike the Italic m, which has correctly been read as 
such.*!. This I have not found in Aztec. As a hieroglyphic it must 
have denoted a ridge of mountains, and the Basque mendi, a moun- 
tain, was probably its original. It 1s common in Hittite, and the 
Cypriote mi is in accordance with it. The Etruscan character which 
coincides in shape with the Roman M, has not the sound of that 
letter. Indeed, this has been discovered by Etruscan students from 
a comparison of texts, so that they have made it the same as 8, with 
the power of the Roman s. But this character, set forth variously as 
M, 8, Z, and a division sign set perpendicular, has the values, na, 
no, nu. In Aztec it has lost its broad sound, being the ne of nett, 
an arm. As an arm, these sounds are frequently represented on the 
Hittite monuments. The Corean 7 has also a form more resembling 
the arm, which the Etruscan was compelled to modify, lest it should 
be mistaken for sa, etc. The Cypriote ne is identical with the 
Etruscan character which I have compared to a perpendicular division 
sign. It was probably of phallic origin. Though common in 
Hittite, it is of rare occurrence in Etruscan. ‘To denote the weaker 
powers of N, ne, ni, en, in, the Etruscans employed a symbol iden- 
tical in form with the Roman E. For this I have no Aztec equiva- 
lent, and, although it appears in Asia Minor, India, and elsewhere, 
has often been pointed out, and as the vocabularies of these Siberian tribes coincide with the 
Aztec. See afew examples in my paper on the Aztec and its connections, already referred to. 
30 In the Hittite inscriptions. See a brief essay entitled ‘‘ A translation of the principal 
Hittite inscriptions yet published.” For the inscriptions themselves see Transac. Soc’y Bib. 
Archaeol., Vol. VII., Part III, p. 429 seq. The word mati king frequently occurs in the 
inscriptions, and is represented by a shield-like oval on its side, bisected perpendicularly by 
three lines, followed by a representation of a basket. ; 
31 This character does not belong to the Chalcidian Greek alphabet, nor does it occur in any 
Latin or other Italic mscriptions, save the Umbrian, Oscan and Faliscan, which are almost 
identical with the Etruscan. 
