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

ORDER OF THE ALPHABET 59

seen in Fig. 2 with the necessary modifications in view of the new evidence for the antiquity of the letters U, W, X and Z.

This appears to indicate that originally the letters were arranged for learners in perpendicular rows, according to

ao . o

g 4 & 4 3 2 $ 4 aaa > > 3a

= a 2 a R °o ao fa) Oo oO > 4 Oo A G

Formello, Cadmean Pheenician.

Semitic Pheenician.

Roman.

UWW XYZ

Fic. 2.—Scientific order of the Alphabet Letters (As on a “‘ Horn-book”’ board).

their phonetic class qualities, and that later on they were read transversely across the board, which gave them the apparently capricious and irregular order in the modern alphabet. The old letters, the sibilant S and the liquid