THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
ee
Phénizische Studien, i. 49 sqq., Leipsic, 1856; J. Halévy, Mélanges d’épigraphie et d’archéologie ortentale, p. 179, Paris, 1874). It may be 2. Develop- taken as certain that h developed ment of the from h, s (samekh) from z, t from t. Alphabet. It is improbable that z developed from s if it be true that the meaning assigned to the name of the former is correct. It is also held in some quarters that z and k developed later. This would leave sixteen letters which the Greeks, according to the statements of their grammarians, first received from the Phenicians, viz., a, b, 2, d, ¢, i, k, 1, m,n, ©, pr, s,t, u. But. the remark is in place here that there is no proof that the North Semitic alphabet ever had less than twentytwo letters, to which may be added that the letters which appear in the South Semitic alphabet and not in the North Semitic might easily be represented from the existing letters by means of diacritical signs (D. H. Miller, Epigraphische Denkmdler aus Arabien, p. 19, Vienna, 1889; F. Preetorius, in ZDMG, 1904, 720 sqq.). The arrangement of the letters in the alphabet is witnessed by the alphabetical arrangement in certain poetical pieces, Ps. Cxi., exil., cxix.; Prov. xxxi. 10 sqq.; Lam. 1, as well as by the numerical equivalents assigned to them (Aleph to Téth [Alpha to Theta]=1-9, Yodh to Pe [Iota to Pi] = 10-80, etc.). Variations which appear in the numerical equivalents are easily explicable, while the variations in Arabic and Ethiopic are secondary. The oldest known document in North Semitic is the Moabite Stone (q.v.), and belongs to the ninth century B.c. (ef. II Kings iii. 4 sqq.); it contains essentially the same forms of writing as appear on early Hebrew seals and gems after the eighth century (M. A. Levy, Siegel und Gemmen mit aramédischen, phénizischen, althebrdischen . . . Inschriften, Breslau, 1869; G. A. Cooke, Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, p. 362, London, 1903). The eight fragments found in Limassol and Cyprus mentioned in G. A. Cooke (ut sup., pp. 52-54) and Lidzbarski (Nordsemitische Epigraphik, p. 419) are probably of the eighth century. Of other Phenician inscriptions that of Yehawmilk, king of Byblos, belongs to the fifth or fourth century B.c., and that of Tabnith, priest of Ashtoreth and king of the Sidonians, belongs about 300 B.c.
IV. Aramaic Varieties of Writing and the Hebrew Square Character: From the common North Semitic script there issued not only the South Semitic writing and the Greek alphabet, but also the Aramaic character. The most important changes which took place here are the opening of the closed tops of the letters and a rounding off of many angular
forms. But the oldest of the forms
1. The now under consideration differ either Older Forms. not at all or very slightly from those previously considered, as is shown by
the early Aramaic seals and the three Sendjirli inscriptions. Of the latter, which were discovered in 1888-91 at Sendjirli in North Syria, only one is pure Aramaic—the inscription of Barrekhubh, which dates from the period of Tiglath-Pileser III.; both the others (the Panammu inscription, dedicated to Panammu by his son Barrekhubh, and the rather
older Hadad inscription) are in the dialect spoken in the region. To the seventh or the sixth century belong the inscriptions discovered in 1891 in Nerab, southeast of Aleppo. There is a fifth-century inscription of the priest Zalm-Shezeb from Teimaa, Arabia. In Egypt were composed the stele of Zakkara, of the fourth year of Xerxes (482 B.C.), now in Berlin, and that of Taba, of the fifth or fourth pre- Christian century, now in Carpentras. There are besides numerous Aramaic papyri written in Egypt during the Persiah period, of which especial note may be taken of one of the year 411-410, published by Euting in Mémoires . . . de Vacadémie (Paris, 1903; cf. G. A. Cooke, Text-Book, ut sup., pp. 206- 213). There are others acquired for England by A. H. Sayce and published by Cowley [cf. also A. H. Sayce, Aramaic Papyri Discovered at Assouan, London, 1906]. There are also coins from Tarsus of the fourth century, while from Ptolemaic and Roman times there are numerous inscribed bits of papyri and potsherds. The same development is observable in the lands east of the Jordan and in Palestine. The inscription of Arak al-Emir (half-way between Rabbath Ammon and Jericho), dating probably from the first third of the second century B.c., has the early form of Ayin, the letters Resh and Beth are open at the top, the Yodh has lost a stroke, and He is practically a square letter. The inscription of the priestly family, the Beni Hzyr (cf. I Chron. xxiv. 15) at the “tomb of Jacob” in the valley of the Kedron, of the first century B.c. (earlier according to E. Meyer, E’ntstehung des Judenthums, p. 143, Halle, 1896), has in four of the six letters the later form. The dated Palmyrene inscriptions range from 9 B.c. to 271 a.p., and the rounded and free forms give the impression of ornament. Entitled to mention here because of its extent and content is the Palmyrene and Greek tariff of imposts and taxes of the year 137 A.D. (ef. 8S. Reckendorf, in ZDMG, 1888; Lidzbarski, in Nordsemitische Epigraphik, pp. 463-473; and Cooke, ut sup., pp. 313-340). The Nabatzans (q.v.), though Arabs, used the Aramaic script and language (cf. J. Huting, Nabatdische Inschriften aus Arabien, Berlin, 1885, and Sinaitische Inschriften, ib. 1891). The Nabatzan script was the parent of the Arabic.
The Hebrew “square character” arose from the Aramaic type of writing in part through distinct calligraphic effort. In Palestine, as already seen,
the types existed beside each other in
2. Develop- actual use. General acquaintance with ment of the type due to Aramaic development the Square receives testimony from the time of Characters. Jesus by his words in Matt. v. 18, where the early Canaanitic form of the
Yodh can not bein mind. On the other side, it must be accepted that the Canaanitic script remained fully known in the second Christian century, for the coins of Bar Kokba (q.v.) have their inscriptions in this writing. Bar Kokba, who appealed to the national feeling of the Jews, would certainly not have had recourse to a forgotten script in order to make an appeal to patriotism, especially when that script was essentially the same as what was used by the hated Samaritans. Testimony to the employment of the old form in the second century appears in the