Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1901-09-13


short Study of Interesting Subject.
Our letters are mainly the same as
those used by the Romans, and their
alphabet was one Of several derived
from the Greek, which was formed
from the Phenician. And back OF that
is good deal of guesswork. Very like
ly the Egyptian hieroglyphic and hier-
atic characters formed the base of the
Phenician letter-making. A is the first
letter in all the alphabets that came
from the Pheniean, and in that Ian
guage it signified "ox"; the Greek al
pha" means the same thing, though its
Egyptian hieroglyphic equivalent was
a bird somewhat like the vulture In out
line.
.B" was also the second letter in the
Phenician, as in the Greek. The name
of the character was "beth," meaning
house 1t has less variety Of use than
any other, being more frequently ST.
lent, as in dumb" or debt" In the
original Indio- European or Aryan Ian.
guages "b'' was rarely found.
sc" in the Phenician and Greek had
the value of hard "g," as in "go," and
was similar n the enunciation of *"
as ''g" is now. For a long time the
Latins made sc" do service for both
''k" and "g" No word containing sc"
pronounced as IS" is of Anglo-Saxon
origin, except few misspelled words,
as 'cinder," which was originally "sin-
der"
In the English 3D. has the same place
fourth letter and third eonsonant-as
in the Roman, Greek and Phenician,
and is singularly uninteresting as a
| study.
''E" is an unchanging and aristocrat-
ic conservative. Its form was always
pretty nearly the same as at present.
Its name in Phenician was "he" which
most scholars say signified window.
In it's two quantities, as it met and
in they" it constitutes about per
cent of English utterance.
"F'' in the Phenieian meant peg or
hook, and its value was that of the En-
glish "w" This "w" sound gradually
went out of use in Greek, and the sign
with it. In the adaptation of the al
phabet to Latin use the sign was resur-
rected, and first received the value we
give it.
&c" is a sign Of Italic origin, having
been fabricated by the Romans by add
ing a tail or drop to the Ca transi-
ton very easily detected. 1t never oc-
ours at the beginning of words of An
glo-Saxon origin. In medieval Roman
it stood for 400, and with line over
it for 100000
III" came from the Phenician, and
has had curious history, in which the
cockney Inability to manage it may be
traced. "H" meant 200 in medieval
Roman
'T' may be traced to the Egyptian.
The Phenicians represented 1t rather as
a copsonant, but it was converted to
vowel value by the Greeks, and the Ro-
mans gave it both consonant and vowel
duty.
81" is but another form of the same
letter. They were used indifferently
until about 1880. AS a numeral it had
the same value as 81" but was used
only at conclusion, as viii" for eight.
''Knz is Phenician, and still earlier
Egyptian 1t was little used In classi-
cal Latin, and Is of rare occurrence in
languages derived from the Latin. As
a numeral 1t represented 250.
!" was a lion in the Egyptian hero
lglyphic, figure in the Phenician, and
about its present form in the Greek and
the Latin. 1t is the most sonorous and
continuous-the most purely consonant
lin sound of all our letters. As there
are three Rs" In land colloquialism,
SO there are three "Ls" in nautical
phrase-"lead, latitude and lookout"
1t is conservative, changing little.
.'M" is an ancient and honorable .
Its hieroglyphic equivalent, away back
in Egypt was almost a fieur de lis in
the oval outline of birds head-a f1eur
de lis minus the central branch. AS q
Roman numeral it denotes 1000. For
} merly the brand of "M'' was impressed
on the person of one convicted of man
slaughter. In fragrant cases the brand
/ was dpplleU 10 tue IOTeu0du. LII print
ing it is the square, the quadrate, the
unit Of computation in any body OF
type.
IN" is as old, and the value Of its
: character has been the same through
the whole history of Its USE The sign
has no variety of sounds, and there is
no possible substitute. As a numeral
its value is 80, which becomes 10000
!. when line Is drawn above the letter
80" in the Phenician alphabet repre-
sented peculiarly and-to us-unpro
nounceable cultural, but the Greeks
made vowel Of 1t, though they chang
ed its form to square instead of al
oval It stood for II in the Roman nu
merals of medieval times.
"P" was evolved from the hero
glyphic age, and in all alphabets 1t ha.
stood for the one unvarying sound. L
has no varieties save that it Is silen
at the beginning of a few Greek words
as psalm and pneumatic. It is 400 ii
medieval numerals, and an abbreyia
ton for many things.
"Q' is an ancient Also As sign
was abandoned in Greek. The Latil
| nrnaoryod n fho1yUh ito vol5,a ruoe A.