404 
NOTE ON THE HEBREW ALPHABET AND VOWEL POINTS. 
By the Rev. C. Graham. 
Gesenius remarks, that il However dissimilar the Shemitish written cha- 
racters may now appear, they have undoubtedly all come, by various modifi- 
cations, from one and the same original alphabet, of which the truest copy 
now extant is the Phoenician, from which also the Ancient Greek, and through 
it, all other European characters, were derived.” Of the Hebrew letters now 
in use, called the Assyrian or Square character, in which the manuscripts 
of the Old Testament are written, he says, “ They are not of the original 
form. On the coins of the Maccabean Princes is found another character, 
which at an earlier period was probably in general use, and which bears a 
strong resemblance to the Samaritan and Phoenician letters. The square 
letter may also be traced back to the Phoenician ; but it has most agree- 
ment with certain Aramaean inscriptions found in Egypt and at Palmyra.” 
Gesenius remarks, what one would think ought to be obvious to every one, 
that “ the antiquity of the letters is clearly proved by Hie alphabetical poetic 
compositions in Ps. xxv., xxxiv., xxxvii., cxix. ; Lam. i. to iv.” 
Again, he says, u Both the names and the order of the letters (with a 
trifling alteration) passed over from the Phoenician into the Greek, in which 
the letters, from Alpha to Tau, corresponded to the ancient alphabet. 
“ When the Hebrew ceased to be a spoken language, and the danger of 
losing the correct pronunciation. .... continually increased, the vowel-signs 
or points were invented, which minutely settled what had previously been 
left uncertain. 
“ This vowel system,” he says, “ has, probably for its basis the pronuncia- 
tion of the Jews of Palestine, and its consistency, as well as the analogy of 
the kindred languages, furnishes strong proof of its correctness, at least as 
a whole. Its authors have laboured to exhibit by signs the minute grada- 
tions of the vowel sounds, carefully making even half-vowels and helping 
sounds, spontaneously adopted in all -languages, yet seldom expressed in 
writing.” — See Introduction to Gesenius 1 s “ Hebrew Grammar ,” from the 
fourteenth German edition, enlarged and improved by Dr. E. Rodiger, 
translated by Dr. B. Davies. 
