favor of the first (Kopp, Bilder und Schriften, ii, 147; Hoffmann, Gram. Syr. p. 61) are based on the very early civilization of Babylon ; on numerous passages which attribute the discovery to the 2dpot, Syri, and
ALPHABET
176
ALPH^EUS
X«\<^i7<n (quoted in Hoffmann, 1. c.) ; and especially on the existence of a Babylonian brick containing an inscription in characters resembling the Phoenician. To these arguments Gesenius has replied most at length in the article Paldographie, in Ersch and Gru- ber's Allgemeine Encyclopadie.
Nearly an equal number of ancient authorities might be cited as testimonies that the discovery of letters was ascribed to the Phoenicians and to the Egyptians (Walton's Prolegomena, ii, 2). And, in- deed, there is a view, suggested by Gesenius {Paldo- graphie, 1. c), by which their rival claims might, to a certain extent, be reconciled — that is, by the supposi- tion that the hieroglyphical was, indeed, the earliest kind of all writing; but that the Phoenicians, whose commerce led them to Egypt, may have borrowed the first germ of alphabetical writing from the phonetic
hieroglyphs. There is at least a remarkable coinci- dence between the Syro-Arabian alphabet and the phonetic hieroglyphs, in that in both the figure of a material object was made the sign of that sound with which the name of the object began. See Alpha. But, if this theor}' were true, it would still leave the Phoenicians the possibility of having actually develop- ed the first alphabetical writing ; and that, together with the fact that the earliest monuments of the Syro- Arabians have preserved their characters, and the unanimous consent with which ancient writers ascribe to them the transmission of the alphabet to the Greeks (Herod, v, 58 ; Diod. Sic. v, 74), may make the proba- bilities preponderate in their favor. — Kitto, Cyclop. On this assumption, the following table exhibits the probable derivation of the alphabets of the three lead- ing types, the Shemitic, the Indo-Germanic, and the
HEHREW.
Greek.
English.
No.
Form. j Name.
No.
Form.
Name.
No.
Roman.
Italic.
1
X
A'leph.
1
A a
Al'pha.
1
A a
A a
2
is
Beyth.
2
B ft
Be'ta.
2
B b
B b
3
a
Gi'mel.
3
r 7
Gam'ma.
T
G S
G g
4
i
Da'leth.
4
A 3
Del'ta.
4
D d
D d
5
n
He.
5
E €
Ep'silon.
5
E e
E e
G
i
Vav.
F
Bugam'ma.
G
F f
F f
T
t
Za'yin.
G
z K
Ze'ta.
2G
Z z
Z z
8
n
Cheyth.
T
H n
E'ta.
S
11 h
II h
9
a
Teyth.
8
G 3-orO
The'ta.
( 9
I i
I i
10
i
Yod.
9
1 '
Io'ta.
J J Y y
Y y
11
3 (final -|)
Kaph.
10
K K
Eap'pa.
11
K k
K k
12
b
La'med.
11
A \
Eamh'da.
12
L 1
L I
13
12 (final d)
Mem.
12
M M
Mu.
13
M m
M in
14
3 (final •))
Nun.
13
N v
Nil.
14
N n
N n
15
D
Sa'mek.
18
2 o- (final O
Sig'ma.
3
C c
C c
16
'J
A'yin.
15
O o
Om'icron.
15
O o
O o
IT
5 (final t\)
Te.
1C
n 7T
Pi.
10
P p
P p
18
S (final y)
Tsadey'
19
P
Koph.
Tor a
Eoppa.
IT
Q q
Q q
20
1
Eeysh.
IT
P P
Eho.
IS
R r
R r
H
b
Sin. Shin.
?l
San.
19
S s
S s
22
n
Tav.
19
T T
Tau.
20
T t
T t
(Compound)
14
S f
Xi.
(21
U u
U it
!] (as "mater lectionis")
20
Y v
U'psilon.
J 99
11!
V v W w
V v W iv
5 (without Dagesh)
21
<i> 0
Phi.
0 (harder sound)
22
X X
Chi.
24
X x
X x
(Compound)
23
* l/,
Psi.
i (as u mater lectionis")
24
n u>
O'mega.
modern European, as represented by the three forms of character employed in this work, namely, the He- brew, Greek, and English, to which all the others bear a well-known and mostly obvious relation. The sounds attributed to them respectively, however, were in many cases different. Another and more funda- mental variation arises from the fact that in the He- brew all the letters are regarded as consonants, "the vowels being designated by certain additional marks called " points," of late invention. See Hebrew LANGUAGE. For a view of the printed characters of all languages with their powers, see Ballhorn, Alpha- bete orientalischer und occidentalischer Sprachen (Leipz. and Lond. 1859). This (and still more the above) classification must be understood as applying only to the written symbols, and not to the etymological af- finities of languages, which depend upon national deri- vation. See Ethnology.
Alphabetical Poems. Hymns.
See Abecedarian
Alphce'us ('AX^atof), the name of two men.
1. The putative father of James the Less (Matt, x, 3; Mark iii, 18; Luke vi, 15; Acts i, 13), and hus- band of Mary, the sister-in-law of our Lord's mother (John xix, 25) [see Mary] ; for which reason James is called "the Lord's brother" (Gal. i, 19). See James. A.D. ante 2G. It seems that he was a (per- haps elder) brother of Joseph, to whom, on bis de- cease without issue, his widow was married according to the Levirate Law (q. v.). By comparing John xix, 25, with Luke xxiv, 10, and Matt, x, 3, it appears that Alphtms is the Greek, and Cleophas or Clopas (q. v.) the Hebrew or Syriac name of the same person, ac- cording to the custom of the provinces or of the time, when men had often two names, by one of which they