ORIENTAL LANGUAGES. 



51 



but were introduced at a later period, and probably since the Chris- 

 tian Era. The diacritical signs or points, both vowels and accents, 

 now generally received, and employed, by Hebrew scholars, are of 

 still later origin ; dating back only to about the seventh century of 

 our era. The present Hebrew alphabet is as follows : 



12. ?. Lamedh, I. 



D D. Mem, m. 



p. Nun, n. 



0. Samekh, s. 



y- Ayin, o. 



*1 D. Pe, ph. 



px. Tsadhe, ts. 



p. Qoph, q. 



-i. Resh, r. 



v. Shin, sh. 



1. 

 2. 

 3. 



4. 



5. 



6. 



7. 



8. 



9. 

 10. 

 11. 



-p. 



Aleph, .......... a. 



Beth, ............ bh. 



Gimel, .......... gh. 



Daleth, .......... dh. 



He, ............ h. 



Vav, ............ v. 



Zayin, .......... z. 



Hheth, .......... hh. 



Tet, ............. t. 



Yodh, ........... y. 



Kaph, ........... kh. 



13. 

 14. 

 15. 

 16. 

 17. 

 18. 

 19. 

 20. 

 21. 

 22. 



n. 



Tav, 



th. 



The letters bh, gh, dh, kh, ph, and th, by the addition of a point 

 on the left, called a ddghesh, are changed to b, g, d, k, p, and t : 

 and sh, with a point placed over the left branch, instead of the right, 

 is pronounced like s. The letters a, h, v, y, and o, are frequently 

 silent, or mere aspirations ; their sound being taken or sustained by 

 the vowel points. When two characters, in the above alphabet, are 

 given for one letter, that on the left is used only at the end of words. 

 The principal vowel points, attached succes- 

 sively to the letter a, for example, vary its 

 pronunciation, as shown in the margin. The 

 names of the Hebrew letters, are signifi- 

 cant Hebrew words ; as aleph, (pronounced 

 ah-lef), an ox ; beth, a house ; gimel, (or ghimel}, a camel ; and so 

 of the rest. 



The following, is the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis, in 

 Hebrew : and it should be read from right to left ; as indicated by 

 the numbers, attached to the words. 



a baw or boh ; a bah; 

 z or a bay ; a bee , 

 a bo ; a boo ; a beh. 



nxi 



nx 



ana 2 



TT 



The pronunciation of this verse according to Stuart, would be, 

 ^Bt'raisheeth z bawraw 3 Eloheem *aith b ha > shawmayeem 6 ve'aith 

 7 haw'awrets. The signification of the words, is as follows, *In 

 the beginning, (from raisheeth, a beginning) ; 3 created ; 3 the Deity, 

 (in the plural number) ; 4i 5 the heavens, (aith being a sign of the 

 accusative or objective case, and ha the article the} ; 6 ' 7 and the 

 earth : (ve signifying and ; awrets, the earth ; and aith, and ha, as 

 just before mentioned). The Rabbinic, language of the later Jews, 

 is a dialect of the -Hebrew; but written in somewhat different 

 characters. The Syriac is also a dialect of the Hebrew, written in 

 a peculiar character, and still used in worship by the Nestorian 

 Christians. The Phoenician language, allied to these, was that of 

 Tyre and Sidon, and of Carthage : and from it, Cadmus derived the 

 Greek alphabet. 



The Jlrabic language, by means of the Koran, has been pre- 

 served unchanged for ages ; and has spread as widely as the Mohame- 

 dan religion. It has many words in common with the IJebrew ; 



