332 Form of the Pehlevi Alphabet [June, 



alphabets in Lichtenstein's Tentamen Palaeographies Assyrio-persicce. 



15. M and il, a. This letter has so strong a likeness to the Hebrew 

 y ain, that I have been tempted at once to assign to it the sound of 

 broad a, without any positive example in any of the Greek names of 

 princes to warrant it. Indeed, the ain being unknown in the Greek, 

 it could not naturally express any member of that alphabet in the 

 names of Greek princes, which may account for its absence there ; but 

 in the native words, its use is almost constant, and it frequently pre- 

 cedes "P, forming the diphthong do so prevalent in Zend words. It is 

 moreover identical in form with the a of the sculptured Pehlevi inscrip- 

 tions in Persia. No instance occurs of its beginning a word. 



Several other letters are met with, for which counterparts in Greek 

 cannot be so easily assigned. Some seem to be mere variations of form ; 

 but the knowledge of them will be essential before the writing on the 

 cylinders can be decyphered. 



16. % seems to terminate words, and may therefore be equivalent to T. 

 On the coin PI. XX. No. 32, the combination tpio occurs, which bears 

 a strong resemblance to the word malak, as written in the ordinary form 

 of Pehlevi ; but if two languages were exhibited on one coin, the dis- 

 tinction would have been more marked. 



17. I, in some cases seems a badly written *1 : in others it takes the 

 place of i, n ; as in TciUJ minano. In some examples it would be best 

 explained as a vowel, as in the first syllable of Eucratidou . . IT, also 

 found written. . . . I 1 ? ; and both these forms approach that of the 

 Pehlevi vowels e and u. 



18. Hv. This letter may naturally be supposed to be a variation in 

 writing of *\, which I have imagined to be the letter k, or d, affected 

 with the vowel mark i ; but so many examples may be shewn in which 

 they represent t or ti, that perhaps both forms should be properly 

 given to that letter. 



19. f . This letter constantly occurs on the Pherrou coins, and on 

 them only. It may be the H-n inverted ; but as the form P also occurs 

 once on the coins, and very frequently on the cylinders, it can hardly 

 be denied a distinct existence. I have no authority for its value. 



20. S. This letter is found representing the Greek ^ in Antimachou ; 

 it has a considerable likeness to the ch of the common Pehlevi. 



21. Ji. The curve at the lower end of the second stroke of this letter 

 alone distinguishes it from the P, orp ; on the cylinders it generally has 

 thecurve : the tailis there extended below the line, and sometimeslooped. 



22. '"h, may be a variation of the supposed s, T ; or it may be 

 the k affected by a vowel mark : it is a common letter on the cylinders. 

 Sometimes the hook is introduced on the opposite side of the stem, 

 thus y\ , and this form may be a different vowel affection of the "\ or k. 



