Letter symbolism

Letter symbolism concerns the symbolic meaning and value of letters (graphic signs representing a phoneme or group of phonemes in written language), whether read or written, in alphabetical script or elsewhere. While the meaning may not be immediately apparent, studying the symbols can reveal the significance of each letter.
Letter symbolism is the study of the alphabet as a symbol, exploring its ability to represent analogically, convey meaning, and carry values beyond its practical or material function. It involves examining letters as symbols (symbology) or systems (symbolic), as well as their capacity for designation, meaning, and potential influence (symbolism). Each letter typically holds its own symbolism, representing the essence of things or their fundamental nature, as evident in Greek etymology (e.g., A symbolizes the beginning).
On the other hand, for those who insist on the view that signs are arbitrary, letter symbolism may be considered as pure delirium. St. Augustine, in On Christian Doctrine (II, 24), expresses his desapproval of what he perceives as superstition: "The letter X, which is made in the shape of a cross, means one thing among the Greeks and another among the Latins, not by nature, but by agreement and prearrangement as to its signification; and so, anyone who knows both languages uses this letter in a different sense when writing to a Greek from that in which he uses it when writing to a Latin. And the same sound, beta, which is the name of a letter among the Greeks, is the name of a vegetable among the Latins."
Letters, pictograms (used by American Indians, Eskimos, African Bushmen, and Oceanians), conventional signs (such as totemic signs, taboos, and magic signs), ideograms (like those used by the Mayas, Ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians, and Chinese), and syllabic scripts (such as Brahmi and Phoenician scripts) are all forms of written communication. "The general term 'letter' is used to designate each graphic element of which an alphabet is made up and which are used in alphabetic scripts." Letters, therefore, only concern alphabetical writing (Greek and Roman alphabets, the Ogamic script used by the Irish and Welsh in the 5th century, the Runic script of the Germans, the Glagolitic alphabet of the Slavs in the 9th century, Hebrew in the 2nd century BC, and Arabic scripts from the 10th century BC, etc.).
Some letters are conventional, others are directly symbolic. For example, the "o" symbolizes the mouth.
Symbol, symbolism and symbology. Symbolic and symbolism are interconnected concepts. 1) "The symbol is a concrete sign evoking by a natural relationship something absent or impossible to perceive" (André Lalande, Technical and Critical Vocabulary of Philosophy). 2) Letter symbolism encompasses the ability of letters to signify, influence, or activate, as well as their interpretive potential. 3) Symbolic concerns the signifying system of letters: on the one hand, they together form a system, a whole, a set, a complex; on the other, each one enters into a network (each one calls its opposite, its nearer, etc.).
Semiotics: syntax, semantics, pragmatics. The semiotic approach, since Charles W. Morris, has examined three perspectives to analyze to letters: 1) syntax (the relationship between letters), 2) semantics (the meaning of letters, what they indirectly designate, by natural analogy) [either the signifier/signified relationship, or the sign/referent relationship], 3) pragmatics (the use of symbolic letters in communication).
Sound, figure, name: The philosopher Ramus (Gramere, 1562, p. 24), impressed by the inventions of printing, distinguishes three aspects in letters: sound, figure, and name. For example, the printing character V refers to a sound (pronounced "Vi"), a figure (written V, v), and a name (V is called "Vee", in Ramus's time: "Vau").
To understand the symbolism of letters, it may be beneficial to explore how humans have associated letters with other elements in similar domains (such as geometric figures, sounds, colors, etc.). Additionally, examining how certain synesthesias operate (connections between sensations like form and color, sound and color, etc.) can provide insight into the symbolic nature of letters.
Greek magical texts sometimes say that the seven vowels symbolize the seven planetary gods. According to Plutarch, A is linked to the Moon, to the note B, to Monday; E: Mercury, C; H: Venus, D; I: Sun, E; O: Mars, F; Y: Jupiter, G; omega: Saturn, A.
In Dogme et Rituel de Haute Magie (1854, English: "Dogma and Ritual of High Magic"), Éliphas Lévi was the first to establish correspondences between the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the 22 paths to wisdom according to the Kabbalists' Sefer Yezira, and the 22 Tarot cards.
A grapheme → color synesthete testifies: "I often associate letters and numbers with colors. Every number and letter is associated with a color in my head. Sometimes, when letters are written on a piece of paper, they will appear briefly in color if I am not concentrating on them. For example, "S" is red, "H" is orange, "C" is yellow, "J" is yellow-green, "G" is green; "E" is blue, "X" is purple, "I" is pale yellow, "2" is brown, "1" is white. If I write SHCJGEX or ABCPDEF, these letters will form a rainbow as I read them."
There are two levels to the art of deciphering (identifying and interpreting) symbols and their code: deciphering requires knowledge of the code, while deciphering does not. More decoding techniques are available.
The first technique is shape symbolism. Geofroy Tory (Champ fleuri de la vraie proportion des lettres antiques, 1500) believed that letters, created through divine inspiration, were constructed using straight lines and circles. "Look at the shapes of letters. They are made up of straight lines and curves. In traditional symbolism, the straight line is linked to masculine polarity and the curve to feminine polarity. This ‘sexual’ particularity of letters and numbers is not accidental for those who know that everything couples according to laws and codes that make chance a decoy. Complementary polarities enable productive ‘self-fertilization.’
The second technique is the repertoire. First, identify the objects bearing a given letter and beginning with a given letter; and second, find out what they have in common.
The third technique is the system. Examine the relationships with other letters. To which letter is the A in a given word opposed, coupled, or similar?
The fourth technique is the science. What do traditions (proverbs, myths, tales, etc) and scholars (philosophers, theologians, iconographers, historians, etc.) have to say?
The fifth technique involves esoteric procedures, that are part of the Kabbalah and constitute the "science of letters," or the "combination of letters" (hôkhmat ha-zeruf), which was particularly developed by Abraham Aboulafia at the end of the 13th century. In this system, "every letter is a name in itself" (Eleazar of Worms). Reuchlin defines Kabbalah as "a symbolic theology in which letters and names are not only the signs of things but also the reality of things.” The Kabbalistic combination of letters involves three processes:
In Jewish mysticism history, the Sefer Yezira (Sepher Yetsirah, Book of Creation) is a highly enigmatic text, perhaps dating from the 2nd century, written in Babylon. According to this brief and enigmatic text, the world is made up of ten principles, called sefirot (numerations), which correspond to the ten numbers of the decimal system, from 1 to 10. These 10 sefirot are linked by 32 paths, namely the first 10 whole numbers and the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, divided into 3 mother letters (alef, mem, shin), 7 double letters (consonants that produce a hard or soft sound depending on whether or not they include a dagesh: bet, gimel, dalet, kaf, pe, on the one hand; kaf, pe, resh, tav, on the other), and 12 single letters.
The most famous text challenging letter symbology is the Quran, in its second surah: "Alif, Lam, Meem. This is the Book in which there is no doubt, a guide for the righteous. Those who believe in the unseen…" Alif, Lam and Meem are three letters.
Swedenborg declared: "The language of celestial angels sounds very much in vowels U and O; and the language of spiritual angels in vowels E and I."
One important use of letter symbolism concerns magic. According to the pseudo-Paracelsus of the Archidoxis magica: "Signs, characters [occult writings and symbols], and letters have their force and efficacy. If the nature and proper essence of metals, the influence and power of the heavens and planets, and the meaning and disposition of characters, signs, and letters, harmonize and concur simultaneously with the observation of days, times, and hours, who then, in the name of heaven, would prevent a sign or seal [astrological image] made in this way from possessing its force and faculty of operation?"
In the 10th century, Ibn Wahshiya wrote a work widely read by magicians on eighty-seven magical alphabets: Connaissance longuement désirée des alphabets occultes enfin dévoilée.
From the thirteenth century onwards, magic books were filled with magical alphabets. Christian magicians relied on quotations from the Gospels to justify their beliefs, and to write their texts: "I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God" (Revelation, 1, 8), "Before heaven and earth pass away, not an i [iota, in Greek], not a dot on the i will pass from the Law, until all is fulfilled" (Matthew, 5, 18), "I am the way and the truth and the life" (John, 14, 6): Via, Veritas, Vita, "In my name [Jesus] they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues" (Mark, 16, 17), "God raised him from the dead... This very Name [Yahweh, the sacred Tetragrammaton] has given strength" (Acts, 3, 16-16).
The secret alphabets of Abbot Trithemius (1462–1516), in Steganographia, are used as much for cryptography as for angelic magic.
John Dee, famous English mathematician, magician, and author of Monas Hieroglyphica (1564), stated:
Johann Michael Moscherosch (1601–1669) had one of his characters say: "When I wake up in the morning (...), I recite a whole alphabet; all the prayers of the world are included" (Wunderliche und Warhafftige Geschichte Philanders von Sittewald, 1642, p. 701).
Grimoires feature letters of the alphabet. To prevent hemorrhaging, the magician proposed this rite: