among the Ionians, [a pasture ground;] p, oúxxos, [sack;] μáhýŋ, maltha, [a mortar ;] ♫, pinna, a little tower on the top of a wall.

5. The Hellenistic Jews alone adopted the names of weights and measures; e. g. oixhos, σútov, and Bagis for, a burgh.

Some other words were first introduced from the Arabic into the Western languages in the middle ages; e. g. 1, Arab. meskeen, [poor,] hence mesquino;, Arab. kittinon, [cotton.]

II. The following examples of coincidence between the Oriental and one or more Western languages belong to the few marks, still left, of close connection which once prevailed between two languages which are now entirely separate, or they are in some cases the result of chance; e. g., [the earth -erde in German, aarde in Dutch, erdh, or yord, in Danish ;], olvos, wine; 7, and, uloyo, misceo, [to mix-mischen in German, mikks in Danish, amichten in Persian, &c.;], riechen, [to smoke;], sex, sechs, E, six;, septem, sieben, seven;, tawaron, Arabic, Taugos, taurus, a bull.

III. Since the identity of these words, especially of those in No. 1, is not to be doubted, some have gone too far, and, from similar terms and phrases in the Greek and Hebrew poets, have concluded there was an actual connection between them. All languages, in the same stage of culture, resemble each other in some points."

See J. A. Ernesti, De Vestig. Ling. Heb. in Ling. Græc. p. 178. Hezel, Griechenland, Alteste Gesch. P. M. Ogerii De Græc. et Lat. Ling. cum Heb. Affinitate. Bauer, Hemeneutica, p. 138. (Bogani) Homerus Ebraizans, Ox. 1658 Lakemacher, Observatt. Phil. pt. iii. p. 300. Rink, De Ling. Orient. cum Græcæ mira Convenientia; Regiomonti, 4to. Pfochen, Diatribe de Ling. Græc. N. T. Puritate.

E.

(See § 30, sqq.)

HISTORY OF THE HEBREW WRITING CHARACTER."

$ 1.

ON THE WRITING OF THE SHEMITISH NATIONS IN GENERAL.

I. Much as the origin of writing, in general, is lost in the darkness of antiquity, and is thereby incapable of being accurately investigated, yet this remains undoubted, that the alphabet of the Phoenicians a Shemitish nation, at least one that spoke a Shemitish language is the parent of many Oriental alphabets, and, also, through the influence of the Greek, of all the Western alphabets." Besides, it is clear, from the names of the Shemitish letters, and the nature of this alphabet, that it was invented by a Shemitish people; and, therefore, the two traditions of antiquity, which ascribe this invention to the Phoenicians, or the Aramæans, have a decided preponderance over the other opinion, less widely diffused, which ascribes that honor to the Ægyptians.

e

II. Amid all the diversities of the numerous Shemitish alphabets, ancient and modern, they all agree in two main features; namely, 1. The alphabet contains only the consonants and the three long

• From Gesenius, 1. c. § 40 in the original. See his Lehrgebäude, § 1, sqq. On this subject we possess no complete and satisfactory work. Much information, however, may be found in the following works: Ed. Bernardus, Literatura Orbis eruditi a Charactere Samaritico deducta; 1689; ed. Carl Morton, 1759. Walton, Proleg. ii. Büttner, Figuræ variæ variæque Formæ Literarum Heb., Syr., Arab; Gott. 1769, fol. See his Comparative Tables of the Writing of different Nations; pt. i. Gott. 1771, pt. ii. 1779, (unfinished.) Eichhorn, Einleit. in A. T. vol. i. Wari, Sketches of the Oriental Writing, in his Allg. Geschichte der morgenlandischen Sprachen, p. 585, sqq. tab. 7-10. Paulus, Memorabil. vol. vi. p. 102, sqq. Nouveau Traité diplomatique, vol. ii. p. 90, of Adelung's German version.

See Herodotus, v. 98. Pliny, N. H. vii. 56. Tacitus, Annal. xi. 14.

d Plin. N. H. v. 12. Lucan. Pharsal. iii. 220.

Diod. Sic. v. 24, Wesseling's notes. Plin. vii. 56. See Tychsen, Bib. d. alten Literatur, vol. v. p. 1, sqq.

Plin. 1. c. Cicero, Nat. Deorum, iii. 23. Plutarch, Sympos. xx. 3. Walton, 1. c. ii. 3. Büttner, 1. c. p. 12.

vowels, (, 7, ",) while the short vowels are expressed by small signs written above the letters, below, or with them, or else are entirely omitted; and, 2. They are all to be read from the right to the left. To the last peculiarity, which extends to all the ancient Oriental alphabets," the Æthiopic forms the only exception; but that certainly does not belong to this stock, and is obviously a character formed later, and by Greek influence." There is no certain trace of Bous

trophedon...

III. Two characters may be easily distinguished among the old Shemitish alphabets, although they flowed from one source:

C

1. The Phoenician character. To this belong, (1.) The inscriptions at Cyprus, Malta, Carpentras, and the coins of the Phoenicians, and of their colonies. It has no vowels, and sometimes divides the words, sometimes not. (2.) The Jewish coin-letter. (3.) The Phoenician-Ægyptian character, with three vowel signs, which Count Caylus deciphered on the mummy rolls. (4.) The Samaritan character, which proceeded from the first, as also the old Greek character, (though the language belonged to a stock entirely different,) sometimes written from right to left, sometimes the reverse, and sometimes in Boustrophedon."

2. The Hebrew-Chaldee character. To this belong, (1.) The square letters. (2.) The Palmyrene character, which appears to be a sort of cursive character derived from the former, without vowels and divisions of words, but with ligatures. The following are

a On the Ægyptians, see Herodot. ii. 36; on the Greeks, Montfaucon, Palæog. Gr. p. 118; on the Etruscans, and the Eugubine tables in the old Greek character, Gruter, Thes. Inscript. vol. i. p. 143. Compare Chishull, Antiq. Asiat. p. 24, and Fabricy, in De Rossi, Spec. Var. Lect., (ed. Schnurrer,) p. 269. Only the arrow-headed characters and the Egyptian hieroglyphics are exceptions. See [Grotefend, Erläuterung der Persepolit. Keilschrift; 1 vol. 4to. 1837,] and in Heeren's Ideen, vol. i. p. 937, sqq.

Ludolf, Hist. Æthiop. lib. ii. c. 2. Wahl, 1. c. p. 632.

After the early and defective attempts to decipher this alphabet, by Scaliger, Rhenferd, Bochart, and Montfaucon, Barthelemy and Swinton acquired great merit in this work, and Dutens and Buttner brought the results of their labors into a form which afforded a critical survey. See the literature of the subject in Ekhel, Doct. Nummorum vett. tom. iii. p. 403; Jahn, l. c. vol. i.; and Heb. Gram. 3d ed. The alphabet by Dutens is engraved in Michaelis, Or. Bib. vol.

viii. p. 17.

d Caylus, Recueil d'Antiq. Egypt. vol. i. p. 65, sq., and vol. v. p. 77, sqq. Buttner, tab. ii. No. 2. Tychsen, 1. c.

Montfaucon, p. 122.

Barthelemy, Reflections sur l'Alphabet et la Langue dont on se servoit

closely connected together, and somewhat more distantly related to the others. (3.) The old Syriac, or the Estrangelo." (4.) The old Arabic, or the Cufic, (a descendant of the latter,) but not the oldest Arabic alphabet, the Hamjaritic, which was, perhaps, the same with the Hebrew.b

§ 2.

HEBREW WRITING. ITS ANTIQUITY AND VARIOUS CHARACTERS.

The narrations in Genesis do not contain the smallest trace of the art of writing. Even tradition (which elsewhere places important inventions so much higher than historical criticism will allow) does not seem to have claimed such an antiquity for this art. On the contrary, we find there the same means are used to preserve the remembrance of remarkable events that other uncultivated people employed before the invention of writing; such as heaps of stones, trees, altars, &c., which were named after the event. (Gen. xxi. 33, xxxi. 46, xxxv. 7, 1. 11.) The first trace of Hebrew writing is found in the stone tables of the Law of Moses, (Ex. xxxi. 18,) but it appears in such a manner that it seems to bear the mark of historic truth in itself. After this, mention is frequently made of writing; for example, the inscription on the ornaments of the high priest, (Ex. xxviii. 9;) on Mount Ebal, (Deut. xxvii. 12, Josh. viii. 52;) even larger literary writings, (Num. xxxiii. 2, Deut. xxxi. 24, Josh. xviii. 9, xxiv. 4, 26.) The latter, and some earlier passages, (Ex. xvii. 14, xxiv. 4,) are liable to the attacks of historical skepticism; for the analogy of other nations teaches us that it is a very long step from the mere knowledge and first use of alphabetical writing to a ready use of it, and an application to literary purposes, for which centuries are often requisite....

Since the first certain trace of the art of writing is found after the

autrefois à Palmyre; Paris, 1754. Swinton, in the Philosoph. Transactions, vol. xlviii. pt. i. p. 690. Büttner, tab. i. No. 1. See the engraving in Michaelis, Gram. Syriaca. The oldest inscription belongs to 49 B. C., the latest to the 3d century A. C. The language is Syriac.

a

Michaelis, 1. c. p. 14.

b Niebuhr, Arabia, p. 94, sq. Pococke, Spec. Hist. p. 155.

We can say nothing of the rabbinic fables, which ascribe this and other arts

to Adam and the patriarchs. See Münster, on Gen. ii.

d Goguet, Origine des Loix, vol. i. p. 172, in German version.

e Vater, Comment. in Pentat. vol. iii. p. 522, sq. De Wette, Archäologie, p. 346.

Wolf, Proleg. ad Homerum, p. lviii., sq. and lxvi., sq.

Ægyptian period, the conjecture is natural and easy that the Hebrews received their alphabetic characters in Ægypt; and this is the more probable, if that land is considered the cradle of the art, or, at least, to have possessed it at an early date. Some, therefore, have been inclined to pronounce the above-named Phoenician-Egyptian character to be the oldest alphabet of the Hebrews." But it cannot be proved that any alphabetic characters were used in Ægypt before the Persian age, and, since hieroglyphics prevailed, it is exceedingly improbable; and it is, therefore, much more credible that, about this time, alphabetic writing passed over from the Aramæans, or Canaanites, to the Hebrews, with whom they were related by their language, and especially since it is not improbable that, during the bondage in Ægypt, other tribes of the Hebrews were wandering, with nomadic freedom, on the frontiers of the Egyptians. (1 Ch. vii. 21.)

The characters in which we find remains of the old Hebrew written at this day, are of three kinds, one of which belongs to the Hebrew-Chaldee, and two to the Phoenician character. Some general notice of them may precede the inquiry upon their mutual relation.

1. The common character of the Jewish manuscripts of the Bible is called square letter, from the form; or, more commonly, the Assyrian character. The Talmud gives the reason of this latter name correctly, because it came from Assyria with the Hebrews. But here Assyria is to be taken in the broader sense of Chaldee and Babylonia, as it is often done in the Bible and the classics; and, therefore, this is justly called the Chaldee square letter. . . . .

2. The character in Hebrew inscriptions on the Jewish coins struck under the reign of Simon, the Maccabaic prince, (era of the

Such is the opinion of R. Simon, Deyling, and others. See Eichhorn, § 61, 879.

Eichhorn, Gesch. d. Lit., (1805,) vol. i. P. 14.

Bertholdt, p. 160. De Wette, 1. c. p. 31.

d Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p. 241. Philol. Theol. 235. See, also, the Talmud. Gemar. Sanhedrim, fol. 21, c. 2.

Num. xxiv. 22. Comp. Bertholdt, p. 793. Herod. i. 78, 105. Strabo, v. p. 743. Persia is included in this term by later writers, e. g. Ezra vi. 26. . . . . . The letters of the inscription on the grave of Sardanapalus are called Chaldee (Athen. xii. p. 529) and Assyrian by the same writer, p. 469. The Assyrian writing on the pillars at the Bosphorus is called Persian by Strabo, xv. p. 502. See Jablonski, 1. c. vol. iii. p. 130.