Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-23
STONESMAY CLEAR
ALPHABET'S ORIGIN
IL New inscriptions Are
Found by C. U.-HarVard
Joint Expedition.

Amid the ruins OF the temple Of
Hathor, Egyptian goddess Of love and
beauty, on the plateau Of Serabit-el-
Khaden In the Sinai desert, q Joint ex-
petition Of Catholic University and
Harvard University has Just discovered
II new inscriptions on stones, which
may go far to clear up the origin Of
the alphabet.
The discovery, reported to Catholic
University by Rev. Dr.. Roman r. Butin
Of the faculty, Is likely TO establish con-
cluSively that the Phoenician alphabet,
from which Hebrew, Greek, Roman and
modern European scripts are derived
and the invention of which was one Of
the great forward steps Of the human
race, was taken over from the Egyptian
hieroglyphicS by Semitic worknen in
the nearby mines approximately 1000
B. @.
These curious markings on stone,
with characters like Egyptian hero
glyphicS but which could not be trans
lated according to their Egyptian
values, were discovered In 1904 by Sir
Flinders Petrie, English explorer, who
made copies Of them. They remained
q mystery until 1918, when two English
scholars announced that they were
notifications Of the Egyptian picture
writing into arbitrary signs standing
for consonants Of the Semitic tongue.
Munster Translated Them.
Then the discovery vas taken up In
Germany, where Prof. Grimme Of Nun
ster translated them and made the SEN
Sational announcement that they con-
tanned the names Of Moses and the
Egyptian princess who rescued him from
hall A~-arA -
furnished Q remarkable authenttflc
Of the scriptural account Of the Jewish
Sojourn IN Egypt.
This Interpretation was open to much
dispute, due to the vagueneSs Of the
signs themselves, Is photographed by
Petr1e. Now 1t Is generally diScredited.
but 1t created q demand for the re-
examination Of the writings themselves.
Petrie declared he had forgotten the
exact location where he found the
stones.
It was not until the Spring of 1877
that two Harvard professors, KirSopp
Lake and Robert p. Blake, visited the
Serabit Plateau and rediScovered all Of
Petrie'S flnds but one. On their return
they conferred with Prof. Buttn, who
was then head Of the American School
Of Oriental Studies In Jerusalem and an
accomplished Semitic scholar. Father
Butin deciphered the inscriptions. but
there was so little material that It was
decided to return to the place later.
Personnel Of Expedition.
The present expedition consists Of DR..
Butin, Profs. Lake and Blake, DR.. De-
buck Of the University Of Leyden, Hol-
land; DR.. Silvia, q fellow Of the Gug-
genheim Foundation. and Father Bar
roiS Of the Dominicans Of Jerusalem. It
reached the deSolate plateau on Feb
rtlary after q three-day camel trek
through the Sinai Desert. :.
The newly discovered material doubles
the total Of the script characters which
VIII be studied on their return. The
expedition found evidence that the
Egyptian and Semitic populations kept
apart, since monuments with inScrip-
lions of the two people were not found
together.
The Sinai inscription, according to
DR.. George r: Duncan, noted Washing
ton orientalist, make 1t possible to trace
directly many Of the characters Of the
English alphabet back to the pictures
Of things which they were originally.
The letter A, DR.. Duncan said, Is an
easy illustration. When man first began
to write, he explained, he expressed his
ideas entirely In pictures. This method
still is In use among savage peoples.
If the writer wants to say that q man
Is being chased by o bull, he will draw
q picture Of . bull following q running
man, and the idea Is clear.
Was q Clumsy Method.
This was q clumsy method. especially
since every one Is not enough OF an
artist to draw either q man or o bull
50 that they viii not be mistaken. So
gradually q Simplifcation I'm the draw
ings took place, resulting In characters
which could be drawn rapidly and the
Of which was commonly agreed
upon. Each character stood for q
word.
The Egyptians had reached this
stage. Instead of drawing . complete
picture Of bull, the writer only drew
the head and horns In q standardized
form. The Hebrews in Egypt probably
had no hierogIyphics of their own and,
In order to write, tried to adopt those
Of the Egyptians, but the difference In
language made this difncult. So some
forgotten genius got the idea OF taking
the Egyptian pictures and making them
stand for Semitic sounds, composing
words rather than whole words.
Egyptian Evolution.
The Egyptian character standing for
bull" was o stilted drawing OF o head
and horns. The Semitic word for
bull" was "aleph." The diScoverer
Of the alphabet simply took the picture
and made it stand arbitrarily for the