New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-11-22
THE ENGLISH ALPHABET.
ITS BEGINNINGS TRACED INTO THE
MISTS OF ANTIQUITY.
CURIOUS SYMBOLISM OF soME OF IT'S LETTERS
SOME OF IT'S GLARING INCONSISTENCIES
JUGGLING WITH ITS CHARACTERS.
From The Detroit Free Press

JCGGblNG WITH ITS CHARACirho
From The Detroit Free Press
of handy symbols for the expression of spoken
sounds. which we cali an alphabet has prove, to
nsGt has been ensaEs Its ne
Of the "e Wora Il begun By
Egyptians; continued by the Semites and finally
From certain Egyptian. hieroglyphic pictures
which were In use long before the pyramids, it Is
every letter of our modern English ALPHABET: to
recount the history and to Investigate the trans,
formation OF these ancient phonograms through
the period Of six thousand years during which they
hsorca connection between a the varSu sns
Ing aiphabets OF the world.
senting either things or thonghts) which afterward
DEVELOPED into phonograms (the graphic symbols
Although our own writing has, reached the al:
hoRRahcs and s n The ds
IL III stood as pictures OF fingers.
apS w or 'ss e ws s1 han
while " and VI are only pictures Of the hand
showing no possibility. OF improving on are such
siIe signs as the INDEX 'A''ama'" ana par
To these may be added certain shop signs. such
Which was and sgpGant telegram Of the
II the noS S Of te y
be traced back It will be found to resolve itself
object INTO Is ha de
continued usage during so many centuries. the mod
fest features derived from the primitive picture
from which It has descended.
owl the conventionallzing process of six thousand
years having left only the two peaks which are
stlll retaining between them not napt representa-;
h that remain " Of the ~ Outlines 1 Of the breast "
II mankind is inclined TO see laugh ,o on the 9 ,S.
case tho owl probably feels capable OF siippressing
any such gayety by blinking men attention TO the
FCyptan asp, the bars being the survival or
tho two horns while the vertical strokes represent
The letter descended from the same 4,pp ctg gGe
those hG aH: aa sGS being @
has come down to us in the letter w tie Tour our
6 sorss to s skn ass To
| been a few too many for the body, yet that OF
Kansas grasshopper may be found suppIemen'ed
The letter A was originally the picture Of an
least American OF all birds. Egypt being the eagles
real Homeland and was taken .f from gSrurs
picture of the hand. and so on through the pictorial
The immediate parentase of our English alphabet
is most difficult to determine BY a series Of easy
sees before him on this printed page may be traced
back for five and-twenty centuries; These
have varied appreciaby In their forms Of Of the
p pTss ss Of the S fSa 1e Century VIC
The Roman capitals now used are practically pStIS
the iHird century b {, Thus !. appears that our
sh shabss Is member Of hat great hn
was vas originally, coierminous: Or nearly 50: With
mi Of the oSsSssce EP Re Roman ana
II Is surprising 10 find how little change has been
| divided the Oldest semitic inscriptions from the
present day. The essential features In the outline
SriSuty in tho Characters used by the King OF
Moab - ,,.. ,,...,,r. :. Giving
| twenty-.ix letters an Arrangement by which they
viii preset some new impression TO the hem MIND dne
| fui the writer The writer's OF the English dc
tionary alone been able 20 At more than forty
thousand words. constructed from thesss letters
| without much effort: the language Is said to con-
| A, our alphabet now stands-even after six thou
sand Of o1ts STRING 1c 81 snsS ar
po,11y FOR bss csr ' ca as Be- pngned s
Is vel SS sP %hDs
f f5r fpamphie printed in oxford y 1859 on
The arstlcaily bad Orthography Of many of, Of our
funny writer's made possible by the on shrns a
OF naturally funny bad spelling are perhaps equal
"cer,Yo. obse mo " yoIs KUN IN &c me rrb hey
| The following. received by schoolmaster was
likely to be misunderstood: ,. .
| "sur-As you are man OF no'ese 'ntcnd 70
inter my son in your skull
Here IS \ bill sen, 10 gentleman;
''A''''''' Pade-J. Jaxn
Tho Items arc not apothecarcs articles, rs might
| be- supposed. but merely "A horse half day and
! Man eccentric devices OF literature depend on
the peculiar arrangement OF letters. SOME OF these
| have fnc-soundns names, and are recognized as
which IL line that reads alike backward and for,
! ward Is OF the most difficult OF all feats OF
| ictter-iugsng. and has engaged the attention OF
| tho worlds cleyerest brains. -,
| While IN exile Napoleon was asked by an Eng
G ion" AND II re p E5a ~
| ,ba pIv bacl IL.
| ''si Nummi immunis" The foHowing sentence is
only pallndrome bu, e1traord 1nis IN 0'her
| ThIs spells the same backward and forward; all
the hrst letters OF the words spell me nrst word
the second letters OF the words sps' me secon n
| Nth The last letters spell the last word me next
TO the last OF each word spell tho next word, and
The h., al has Occupied most pretentops
| Mace In literature. wits and wseacres OF the
olden times looked into the names ana places TOT or
used anagrams TO secure the credit OF discoveries
which they did not wish to reveal. Louis Mi
retained u his service an M ma named
| Calvin calls himself by the anagrammatic name
OF Aculrus in the title OF his Institutes" printed
| OF learning In the time OF Charlemagne and sub
| stituting for (he letters In those DAYS 9eing
e9uivacnp, the name Is an anagram Tor 0ayinus nus
| found that the name Of Louis dc Bouherat could
be transposed to est Ia boIcne on E2 Ms tHs
| Veloys TO de tacon suis royal" tol royal strain;
| The fascinating Marie Touchct procured liberal
pension for the writer who "a Heduced from her
| But history doesn't mention anything ABOUT Ma
poleon Bonaparte pensionirg the transpoSer OF MS
| name Into bona rapta leno pone" rascal yield up
| your stolen possessions
|