Such facts furnish simply a confirmation of the general philological and historical principle, according to which the whole alphabetic system of the Egyptians, as well as other nations, grew out of a syllabic one: or, in other words, that certain signs, originally syllabic, were gradually selected by them out of the whole number, to express тà πρŵта σтоιɣεîa, the simple alphabetic sounds. It may also be, that, when two vocal signs are joined together, they were (at least originally) intended to express a diphthong: but this admits of another explanation, namely, that the second sign indicates that the vowel is to be sounded long or double ; as in German the plural or feminine article, pronounced di (dee), is written at present die, and in Old High German diu. Lastly, the vocal signs hitherto considered as homophones may have expressed originally a specific aspiration of the vocal sound in question. We have already quoted Lepsius's remarks as to the peculiar aspiration probably attached to the "eagle." Here, again, Dr. Hincks has made some valuable observations. He seems to have proved that the " arm expresses the sound of a strongly guttural a like the Ain of the Hebrew alphabet. We have much pleasure in making this acknowledgement, although we cannot adopt his explanation of the writing of the Egyptian word which answers to the Coptic naeiō, great, and is expressed by a "pike" followed by the "arm" alone, or by the "arm and eagle," and therefore supposed to have been nāā in Old Egyptian. Dr. Hincks explains this group as "the great Ain," which means (as he identifies this Ain with the o sound) "the great O, or Omega." Few persons, I believe, will be satisfied with this extraordinary explanation. Dr. Hincks, indeed, seems doubtful of it himself, for he offers it with a certain degree of hesitation. This, as it seems to me, is the full extent to which any possible value can be assigned to Dr. Hincks's discoveries. BUNSEN. Carlton Terrace, April 24. 1848. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. |