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 

 0, 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 matlactli, 

 denoting ten, but represented by a figured circle or square, which 

 may have meant a shield oi-iginally. 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, im, 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 meiidi, a moun- 

 tain, was probably its original. It is 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 S, with 

 the power of the Roman s. But this chai-acter, set forth variously as 

 M, S, 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 oieitl, 

 an arm. As an arm, these sounds are frequently repi-esented on the 

 Hittite monuments. The Corean n 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 appeai-s in Asia Minor, India, and elsewhere, 



has often been pointed out, and as the vocabularies of these Siberian tribes coincide with the 

 Aztec. See a few 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 inscriptions, save the Umbrian, Oscan and Faliscan, which are almost 

 identical with the Etruscan. 



