88 



of Hebrew 



letters severally when aspirated, and omitting it when they are unas- 



pirated. 



The sounds represented by bh, gh, dh, kh, ph, and th, are equally 

 simple with those represented by b, g, d, k, p, and ti Of course, 

 these combinations of letters do not express the composition of the 

 sounds. Indeed the French, in expressing several of them, make 

 use, with equal propriety, of an s or z, instead of an h ; yet in favor of 

 our mode of representation it may be said, (1.) that these letters, by 

 the common consent of grammarians, are called aspirates; (2.) that 

 the Greek &, <p, and x, actually arise from combining <r, <r, and *, se- 

 verally, with the spiritus asper, and are expressed in Latin by th, ph, 

 and ch (=kh); (3.) that gh is also used by the Irish for this pur- 

 pose, and that the others bh and dh are formed analogically ; and 

 (4.) that this mode of representation has been adopted in part by 

 many grammarians and in full by Professor Stuart. 



III. The letters, a, j-j, i, and ■*, frequently quiesce, i, e, lose their 

 sound in that of the preceding vowel point. In order to exhibit this 

 peculiarity, it is proposed to omit the quiescent letter, and to place 

 a circumflex mark, as a sign of prolongation, over the preceding 

 vowel . 



This course has been adopted by De Sacy in reference to the qui- 

 escent letters in Arabic, which he terms letters of prolongation* See 

 his Gram. Arabe, tome i. p. 27, 33, 63. 



IV. Letters which are otiant, i. e. absolutely mute, may be entire- 

 ly omitted. 



V. tt moveable and y have sounds which cannot be represented 

 by Roman letters. Yet they differ so essentially from quiescent and 

 otiant letters, that it is necessary to represent them in some way. The 

 Roman a and Roman o have been selected as the most appropriate 

 signs, for reasons which will appear hereafter. 



VI. To distinguish letters which have nearly the same sound, 3 

 may be represented by k and p by k, to by s and o by s, n by t and 



obyt. 



By this dot we indicate that another character is used in the ori- 

 ginal Hebrew, but not at all the difference of sound. This plan has 

 been adopted, in analogous cases, by Richardson in his Persian and 

 Arabic Dictionary. 



VII. The long vowels, except when followed by a quiescent, may 

 be marked with (") ; when followed by a quiescent, with a pointed 

 circumflex ( A ). 



