Re: Bethel?

Amitai <chr04ha@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Leaving Z in place and replacing C with G, and leaving gaps between H
and I, N and O', and P and Q, yields:
A B G D E F Z H... I K L M N... O P... Q R
S T V X

The first four letters of the Hebrew alphabet: "aleph - dalet" clearly
correspond to A - D.

The evolution of western written language is generally believed to be
hierogliphics to semitic abjads to Greek, which then influenced Latin, and
Greek and Latin were consciously used to make Cyrillic, etc... Linguistics
consider Greek to be from the Phoenician abjad (the technical term for
"alphabet"s that only have consonants, from the first four letters
assuming they are: alef, bet, jimmel, dalet). Both Phoenicia and Greece
had major trading fleets in the same parts of the Mediterranian. IOW,
Greek /is/ ultimately semitic in origin, but not necessarily Hebrew.

Tangent:
In India, each symbol in the abjad was given an ammendation for the
vowel, producing a syllabary (one symbol per syllable). If you've ever
seen Indian writing, with that dark line across the top that connects
(nearly) ever letter in a word, there is a parallel (predecessor) in
how the Torah is written.

In order for the line of text to be straight, Jewish scribes historically
etched a line across the parchment. The tops of the letters (minus the
head of the lamed and tags) are drawn as hanging from this line. Think
also how many letters have "heads" meant to go along the bottom of the
etched line, from the top curved off the vav, to the head on a gimel,
that aren't scrictly needed for identifying the letter (like the beis
or kaf, where it's clearly a defining feature) but emphasize that dotted
line across the top of Hebrew text.

E, a vowel, is not needed in Hebrew, so it is used for the aspirated
"heh".
F is not needed either, as its sound is produced by the undotted
"peh", so it is used for the related, softer sounding "vav".

Which means these two are causally reversed. Hebrew and Phonecian had
semivowels in those position that Greek didn't need, therefore they used
the semivowel to represent the nearest full vowel.

But the mapping you provide is generally accepted, with that caveat that
you're pointing the transitions between pairs in the wrong way.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

--
Micha Berger It's nice to be smart,
micha@xxxxxxxxxxx but it's smarter to be nice.
http://www.aishdas.org - R' Lazer Brody
Fax: (270) 514-1507
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: What am I missing without mutt?
    ... but I think that you mean Latin ... Although, technically speaking, Latin is in fact of Greek ... In the sense that a print script has no connected letters? ... does (it's the only way to write Hebrew), ...
    (Debian-User)
  • Re: Why did Greeks use theta to transliterate Semitic names?
    ... Greek had in 1000 BCE twofold ... The Greeks chose these letters to represent their *unaspirated* ... he used for every hebrew kpt only the ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Magdalenian (year seven)
    ... Arnaud Fournet alias yangg popped up in sci.lang ... The Coptic alphabet has 31 letters, ... Letter number 24 of the Greek alphabet is omega. ... (or a pair of horns). ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Mummies found in Outer Hebrides: Kings of Ireland
    ... an important chapter in the history of Greek art and Greek ... "treasure-cities" built by the forced labor of the Hebrew ... Finally, when the last reeds were used up, the bricks ... Tell Defenneh is a large mound, or group of mounds, ...
    (soc.genealogy.medieval)
  • Re: Pronunciation of "Amen"
    ... Now it's borrowed by English ... who is to say how Aramaic or Hebrew was pronounced ... > I asserted in my earlier post that "amen" was a Greek loanword. ... > to the Greek language what the OED is to the English language. ...
    (alt.usage.english)