The Aryan origin of the alphabet : disclosing the Sumero-Phœnician parentage of our letters ancient & modern

SUMERIAN ORIGIN OF LETTERS S & T 45

Fish,! and defined as meaning “‘ Fish, god la of the Deep Waters, Lord or King.” This syllabic sign by dropping its final consonant as previously described becomes Si or S alphabetically ; and in “‘ Semitic’ Phoenician it is used for the simple &,? called Samekh in the Hebrew.

The second form, the plumed crown-sign is seen to be

obviously derived from the Sumerian UU Sa picturing a

plumed crown and defined as “ King,” * disclosing the origin of Egyptian hieroglyph S’w, a plumed or feathered crown (see Plate II, col. 3) and the use of this hieroglyph alphabetically for S’. This Sumerian plume-sign is also seen to be apparently the parent of the “ Semitic ’” Phoenician letter for S’, the so-called Shin of Hebrew, in all of which the sign is given the aspirated S’ value. In view of its aspirated value of S’ or Sh, it is possible that the

“Semitic ’’ Phoenician sign Yw may be a diagrammatic

form of the Sumerian sign S’av, “Garden,” picturing a garden with plants, and shown in my Dictionary, Plate V to be the Sumerian source of the Egyptian hieroglyph S’a, “Garden,” and alphabetic for S’ or Sh. And this Egyptian garden-sign S’a generally resembles the ‘‘ Semitic ’’ Phoenician letter for S’ or Sh.

In the Runes the oldest alphabetic form of the simple S is found, later it was sometimes written with its top and bottom strokes vertically (see Plate II, col. 18 and cp. WPOB. 29); and significantly the letter was called Sig or Sigil. In Ogam the “‘tree-twig” § has four bars on one side of the stem (see Plate II, col. 19). The Old Persian cuneiform appears to use for § the plumed crownsign turned on its right side, and for SA or S’, the S’ar

1 BW. 94. It is the same sign which has the synonym of Num, see Pi, IV.

2 In the Phcenician form the central stroke is omitted above the bars.

® Br. 6839, 6848; BW. 300.