Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1898-01-22
ALPHABET ODDITIES.
ORIGIN or MANY or THE LETTERS WE
USE IN PRINTING.

Resemblance Of the Letter M to an Owl.
photography of Coffee Years Ago--Ec-
centric Devices Made by Peculiar Ar
engagements of Letters.
TO invent and bring to perfection the
score or 80 of spoken sounds which we call
All alphabet have proved to be the most
nrduous enterprise on which the human
iatelleet Las ever been engaged Its
achievement tasscd the genius of the three
most gifted races of the ancient world 1t
was begun by tho Egyptians, continued
hy the Seniites and finally perfected by
the Greeks
Writing began with kilograms (pictures
representing either things or thoughts),
which afteTward developed into phono-
grams (tlH graphic symbols of sounds).
Although our own writing has reached
tho alphabetlc stage, yet we still employ
n number of Photographic and topographic
signs. Tho dlgits l. H. III stood as pic
lures of fingers. The V was from the fin
gers collected and the thumb apart Wv
or X represents the two hands, while Nv
and vi are only pictures of the hand, with
the subtraction or addition of finger.
kilograms 5000 years old, and which we
ON, are such printers signs as tho index,
exclamation and parallel.
If tho history of any ono of our alpha
bette symbols be traced back, it will be
found to resolve itself ultimately into the
oonyentionalized picture of some object
The letter NJ, for instance, was the pic
turo Of an owl, the conventionalizing
process of 1000 years having left only the
two peaks, which are the lineal descend
ants Of the two ears of the owl, still re-
tanning between them not inapt repre-
sentatlon of the beak, while the vertical
strokes arc all that remain of the outlines
OF tho breast
The letter is derived from tho horned
Egyptian asp, the two bars being the sur
yival Of the two horns, while the vertical
stroke represents the body.
The letter Y descended from the same
picture, the two horns and body being re-
tanned. Then, too in those days there
was four horned asp, which has come
down to us in tho letter w, the four strokes
necessary to its making representing the
four horns, although 5000 years seem to
have been a few too many for the body
yet that of Kansas grasshopper may be
found supplemented b. tho people 5000
years from now.
Tho letter was originally the picture
of an eagle, Egypt being the eagles real
homo land, and r was taken from pic
turo of the human mouth. d was evolved
from a picture of the hand, and so on
through the pictorial origin of all our let
tors.
The immediate parentago of our Eng
lish alphabet is most difficult to deter
mine. By a series of easy steps the forms
of no ba I,af
him on this printed page may be traced
back for some 25 centuries. These "Ro-
man types" rs they arc appropriately
called, have not varied appreciably in their
forms from the types used at Rome and
Venice by the italian printers of tho flf-
tcenth century.
The puzzlo of all English literature is
giving 20 letters an arrangement by which
they will present some new impression to
the mind. The moro brilliant that ar
rangement tho moro successful the writer.
Tho writers of the English dictionary alone
have been able to fit moro than 10, 600
words constructed from these letters with
out much effort. The language is said to
contain 100, 900 The confusion of Eng
Hsh sounds and letters is well illustrated
by spelling coffee without one correct let
ter-kaupby which spelling is nearer the
original than the one in use, for pam
phlet was printed in Oxford in 1869 on
1.-The Nature of the Drink Kauphy, or
Coffee
Many eccentric devices of literature de-
pend upca the peculiar arrangement of
letters. Sonio of these have fine sound
ing names and are recognized as famous
reoreat!oi ) CT tho learned The palm
dromo, which is line that reads back
ward aGl forward, is one of the most diff
cult OF all f2at5 Of letter juggling and
has engaged The attention Of tho worlds
clevercst brains.
The aaagrar has occupied most pre-
tcntious place in literature Wits and
wiseacros Of tho eden times hooked into
tho names and pl-ecs for satires and for
omeDs. Several CstY0HqalQrs have used
anagrams TO sceUrA thQcrcditof discoveries
which they Ga3 net y ISL to reveal. Louis
XIII rotaiRel il his service an anagram-
matist naaod Thomas Bullion, with pen
sion Of l,&00 Hyrcs. 1t was deemed a
prophecy Of fate " hen it was found that
The Eairo Of Louis de Boucherat could be
srausposod to "est Ia couche du roi'' lis
the mouthpicco CT the king); that of
Francis dc Veloys to ode facon suis royal'
(of roy6 strain). The fascinating Marie
Touchet procured a liberal pension for the
writer who dcduoed from her name 'Je
charmo tout" Il charm alD.-Detroit Free
Press.