service in a speech which they term Chaldaic, Te their doctrinal books in a Caracter peculiar to themselves. To the ensuing alphabet, which was only used by the Jews during their Captivity, Chaldean alphabets, we shall once more shew that now in use, commonly called the Hebrew; in connection with the Samaritan, of about the same age as that which we have already given as us ed by Abraham. The Samaritan Alphabet, With the Chaldaic, or Modern Hebrew. The Samaritan alphabet given above is a series of small letters, supposed to have been brought from the Egyptians. That on the next page was, however, thought by Dr. Morton to be more correct. + In the Hebrew this letter is a radicak This letter is servile in the Hebrew. banks of the Euphrates, and they gave way to the modern Arabic in rented by the Vizeer Moklah,* early in the tenth Century; excepting that they are still used occasionally for the titles of books and public inscriptions, and are called by the Arabians Lisan-ennahui, or the Grammatic Language, in contradistinction to the common Arabic, which is denominated Lisan-elumma, or the Language of the People. The Arabic now in use is written from right to left, and their alphabet, as will be hereafter shewn, is composed of twenty-eight letters; six more than are contained in either the Syriac or the Hebraic. The Arabs have also a character composed of the letters Lam and Alif, which they denoi ninate Lamalif; it has the power of La, in English. The numeric value of the letters is the same as in the Hebrew; and the six extra characters, are employed like the Hebraic elongations and finals, in carrying on the series of numbers from 400, where the twentysecond letter stops, to 1000. Indeed, these latter six characters, are varied only by their points in appearance, and by a guttur al or aspirate in sound, from their primitives which occur earlier in the alphabet. The Arabians use five orthographical points for the government of their characters. Humz, on the letters Alif, Vav, and Ye, doubles the vowel. W sla or Ousla, is set upon Alif, to shew that its own sound is merged in that of the succeeding letter. Madda, is placed upon Alif, to render it long, and it is used also as a mark of abbrevation. Giezma, on a consonant makes it qui escent; and Taschdid, doubles the character on which it appears. There are also in the Arabic tongue three grammatical signs, denominated Tanouin or Nunnations of which Oun signifies the Nominative case; An, the Accusative; and In, the Genitive, Dative and Ablative. There are of course many other points and peculiarities in this extensive tongue; much of which the Arabs suppose to he lost; but it would be impossible in the present instance to give more than a very few hints concerning a language which is so copious as to contain upwards of 80 expressions for honey, 200 names for a serpent, 500 for a lion, and more than. 1000 for a sword. Indeed, the Arabians believe, that no uninspired person can ever perfectly understand it. The modern introductory work on this subject, is Richardson's Grammar of the Arabic Language, Lond. 1801, Quar to. We now proceed to shew the present Arabic alphabet, *The intrigues of this Vizeer, who lived under the Caliphs Moct: wler, Caher-Billah, and Badhi-Billah occasioned him to under, go three capital sentences of the Law. He first lost his right hand, then his left, and lastly his tongue. He complained however chiety of his first loss, since with that hand he had thrice copied the Kan, and his nianuscripts were esteemed the most perfect models of writing. premising only, that as in most of the Eastern tongues, the characters assume a different shape according to their situation, whether initial, medial, final or single. With respect to the sound of the letters, we have added an english word to each character, containing a similar sound, which is pointed out by being put in italic. |