Arapacana Press

Alphabets of the Second Millennium Before the Christ

alphabet : Roman alphabet, used to write Polish, Czech, and Slovak or Slovenian.  Cf. Cyrillic alphabet.

alphabet : [2000-600 bc] Runic alphabet, purportedly devised by Odin.  Runes are traditionally formed with ash twigs, because ash is a strong and overpowering tree, the roots of which strangle the roots of neighboring trees.[1]  Prior to the runes, there were forerunner alphabets called Urrunen.  The oldest surviving Runic inscriptions date from ad 500-800.  Most of the extant inscriptions were written ad 1100-1200.  We have some 2,500 Swedish inscriptions, some 60 Norwegian inscriptions, and about 50 Anglo-Saxon inscriptions.

alphabet : [1700-1500 bc] North Semitic alphabet; the Phoenician alphabet, evidenced by the Ahiram inscription in Byblos, Phoenicia, now Lebanon.  North Semitic alphabets have been in use for 3,500 years, and evolved into Hebrew and many other writing systems throughout the world.

alphabet : [1700 bc] Early Canaanite alphabet, attested by many undeciphered inscriptions found in Palestine in 1929.  Cf. Proto-Byblian script.

alphabet : [1700 bc]  Syro-Palestianian alphabets.

alphabet : [1600 bc] Phoenician, the North Semitic language, that had letters `abcdefghjiklmoqrsuwxyz.

alphabet : [1600 bc] Phoenician linear quasi-alphabet of 22 signs.  The script first appeared at Byblos, and is similar to the syllabic Proto-Byblian script of the Canaanites that has never been deciphered.  Phoenician gave rise to Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew, and all the European alphabets.

alphabet : [1600 bc] Phoenician alphabet, North Semitic alphabet; the most successful, pure alphabet derived from syllabaries.  Two thirds of the letters were borrowed from Egyptian hieroglyphs, but one third came from the Cretan script.[2]  Europë, daughter of Agenor, rode on the back of a bull from Phoenicia to Crete, and took with her the basis for Cretan and Carian scripts.[3]  The earliest Phoenician inscription found to date was written on a potsherd discovered at Bethshemeth, Palestine.[4]

alphabet : [1500-1400 bc] Ugaritic alphabet, a cuneiform system in 30 letters.  Inscriptions were identified at Ugarit, Syria, in 1929.

alphabet : [1450-1400 bc] Mycenaean Linear Script B, 88 phonetic signs deciphered by Ventris and Chadwick in 1953.  Crude forms of this script appeared in Cyprus, Caria, and Lycia.  When Bellerophon departed from Argos, he gave the King of Lycia a tablet covered with signs.[5]

alphabet : [1450-1400 bc, late Minoan] Cretan hieroglyphs, 54 signs which mainly comprised a syllabary, but which were sometimes employed as an alphabet.[6]  The 54 Cretan signs were four more than the 50 Sanskrit signs.  The Mycenaean Greeks adapted the Cretan hieroglyphs to their own needs, and thereby created an alphabet of 22 letters, and later 24 letters.  Cf. Sanskrit.

alphabet : [1000-900 bc] Dorian alphabet of 24 letters, the Greek alphabet that became the parent to all of the Italian alphabets, namely Etruscan, Umbrian, Oscan, Faliscan, and Latin.[7]  Dorian Greek letters evolved from an adaption of the North Semitic alphabet.  Cf. Ionic alphabet [403 bc].

alphabet : [1000 bc] Ras Shamra alphabet, based on cuneiform.  It might have been invented in imitation of the Phoenician system.[8]  Cf. Palaio-Sinaitic.

alphabet : [1000 bc] Proto-Byblian script, the pre-historical syllabic script used by the Canaanites of Phoenicia since the second millenium bc, but never deciphered.  It probably became the basis for Phoenician.  Cf. Early Canaanite alphabet, Palaio-Sinaitic alphabet.

alphabet : [1000 bc] Greek alphabet in 24 letters.  According to Hyginus, the Fates originally invented the initial 7 letters, or the 5 vowels and 2 stops called Alpha, Omicron, Upsilon, Eta, Iota, Beta, and Tau (Α, Ο, Υ, Η, Ι, Β, Τ, or A.B.H.I.O.T.V.).  Palamedes son of Nauplius invented 11 other letters, making a total of 18 letters.  Epicharmus of Sicily added to Greek the 2 letters Theta and Chi (Θ, Χ), letters 8 and 22, making 20 letters in total, but some accounts tells us that he invented instead Psi and Pi (Ψ, Π), letters 23 and 16.[9]  Simonides the Dionysian devotee added four letters to the Greek alphabet, namely Omega, Epsilon, Zeta, and Psi (Ο, Ε, Ζ, Ψ), or letters 24, 5, 6, and 23, but some say he added instead, Omega, Epsilon, Zeta, and Phi (Ο, Ε, Ζ, Φ), or letters 24, 5, 6, and 21.[10]  Thus, by counting the original 7 letters with the additions made by Palamedes (11 letters), Simonides (4 letters), and Epicharmus (2 letters), we arrive at the modern count of 24 Greek letters.  The Greek alphabet formed the bases for the Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian, and Roman alphabets.  Cf. Pelasgian alphabet, Cadmean alphabet, Dorian alphabet.

alphabet : [1000 bc] Aramaic syllabary, the writing system that gave rise of Square Hebrew or ketav meruba‘ ‘square script’ and ketav ashuri ‘Assyrian writing.’  Aramaic was a language spoken in several small kingdoms in Syria and northern Mesopotamia, and the center of Aramaic speech was at Dameshek, now Damascus.  When the Assyrian Empire was reëstablished from the ninth century bc, Aramaean political power gradually disappeared, and Dameshek fell to the Assyrians in 732 bc.  However, Aramaean culture survived and spread eastward with the Aramaean exiles.

alphabet : [1000 bc]  Palaio-Sinaitic alphabet, based on cuneiform, and classed with the Ras Shamra.[11]  Semites living in Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula used this alphabet, but it has never been deciphered.  Cf. Early Canaanite alphabet, Proto-Byblian script.

alphabet : [    ] Sanskrit Devanagari script, a syllabary fully vocalized with vowel markings.  Modern grammarians count 48 letters.  The script was purportedly invented by the Goddess Kali as an alphabetic syllabary in 50 signs, each of which represented one of the 50 skulls she wore as a necklace.  Devanagari was the basis for both of the Japanese syllabaries, namely katakana and hiragana.

alphabet : [    ] Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions, discovered in 1905.

alphabet : [    ] Devanagari alphabet, the Sanskrit syllabary that evolved into a fully vocalized script based on true alphabetic principles.  Some believe that Devanagari arose on the Indian subcontinent independently, but others suggest that its origin may be traced to the same Semitic precursors of Hebrew and Arabic.  Devanagari is used to write Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Sinhalese, Burmese, and Thai or Siamese.  The common Hindi-Urdu language is written with two scripts:  Hindi uses Devanagari, whereas the same language called Urdu uses instead the Arabic alphabet. [return to top]

Alphabets of the First Millenium before Christ

alphabet : [800-700 bc] Early Hebrew, a Phoenician syllabary in 22 symbols.  The original Hebrew script was forgotten, and superseded by Aramaic script during the Babylonian Exile (586-516 bc).

alphabet : [800 bc]  Etruscan alphabet in 26 letters, based upon Greek, and evidenced by the Marsiliana Tablet in Florence, and some 11,000 inscriptions found elsewhere.  The alphabet was first based on the 22 letters of Hebrew, with the Greek addition of 4 letters, making 26 letters total.  The Etruscan script was superseded by the Roman or Latin alphabet of 21 letters.  The Latin alphabet later grew to 23 letters, and then 26 letters.  Early Greek, Etruscan, and Early Latin were uniformly written right to left, in the manner of Semitic writing.

alphabet : [700-403 bc] Pelasgian characters used for Greek, and usually called Cadmean.  Diodorus Siculus told us that Orpheus used the Pelasgian alphabet, which originally consisted of 13 consonants, and presumably additional letters for vowels.[12]  In the time of Diodorus, there was some confusion as to whether the number of letters should properly be 12 consonants, or 13 consonants, and the controversy apparently focused upon the Pelasgian letter Ng.  The Cadmeans abandoned Ng as an independent letter, and replaced it with other conventions, such as the medial -gg-.[13]  Cadmus increased the count by 3 letters, making a Pelasgian alphabet of 16 consonants.  Cf. Cadmean alphabet [403 bc].

alphabet : [700 bc] Early Latin alphabet; the Palamedes alphabet with 15 consonants and 5 vowels.  Robert Graves proposed that the ‘Carmenta’ Pelegasian order of the consonants would have been:  B.L.F.S.N., H.D.T.C.Q., M.G.Ng.P.R.[14]

alphabet : [700 bc] Early Latin alphabet, written right to left, the famous Roman alphabet that adapted Etruscan characters to uses in Latin.  The Etruscan letters numbered 26, and were based upon Greek.  Originally Latin used only 21 letters, but these were expanded first to 23 letters, and then to 26 letters.  The order was at first right to left in the Semitic manner, but the Latins changed the order to left to right, about 600 bc.  Cf. Boustrophedon style.  295.

alphabet : [600 bc] Ogham alphabet, per Oxford University; Goidelic alphabet classed as Q-Celt, B.L.F.S.N., H.D.T.C.Q., M.G.Y(Ng).Z.R.,[15] where letter Y =NY =GN =NG.  The Ogham alphabet was originally written vertically bottom to top, typically along a wooden stave marked with a centerline.  The consonantal letters corresponded to the fifteen letters B.L.F(V).S.N., H.D.T.C.Q., M.G.Ng(Y).Z.R.  The 5 vowels were A.O.U.E.I., and the 6 diphthongs were AO.OI.UI.IO.AE.  The Ogham alphabet, originally consisted of 20 letters, as Q-Celtic Ogham, and later expanded to 25 letters, as P-Celtic Ogham.  Cf. Greek alphabet (24 letters).

alphabet : [600 bc] Ogham alphabet per Dr. Macalister; Ogham alphabet classed as Q-Celt; B.L.F.S.N., H.D.T.C.Q., M.G.NG.Z.R.[16]  This alphabet used by the continental Goidels, who migrated from the mainland to southeastern Britain, about 200 years prior to the Belgic invasions from Gaul that introduced the newer P-Celt alphabet in the fourth century bc (400 bc).

alphabet : [600 bc] B.L.F. alphabet, per Brynmor-Jones and Rhys; Ogham alphabet; Goidelic alphabet classed as Q-Celt, for it has letter Q, but no P; the B.L.F. alphabet of 20 letters, or 5 vowels and 15 consonants, namely B.L.F.S.N., H.D.T.C.Q., M.G.NG.FF.R.[17]  Note that letter F stands for a voiced fricative (F=V), whereas the double-letter FF stands for the unvoiced consonant (FF=F).  The Ogham alphabet was preserved in several stone inscriptions found in North Wales, South Wales, the Isle of Man, Ireland, and Scotland.  Cf. Goidelic alphabet, ‘Ogma Sun-face.

alphabet : [586-516 bc] Square Hebrew; ketav meruba‘ [Aramaic]; Aramaic square script. Aramaic-style Square Hebrew evolved into the Hebrew alphabet we know today.  The Hebrew order of letters seems to represent the oldest of all North Semitic orders.  When written in the English-style, left-to-right order, the Hebrew consonants appear as: àáâãäåæçèéë ìîðñòôö÷øùú.  The right-to-left Hebrew order of consonants is:
.......................... úùø÷öôòñðî ìëéèçæåäãâáà.

alphabet : [500 bc] Greek Ionic alphabet of 24 letters.

Alphabet : [486 bc] Old Persian script, a cuneiform syllabary of 36 characters that expresses an alphabetic system of 25 sounds.  The Achaemenid King Darius I (regnavit 521-486 bc) ordered the script to be devised so that he could have monuments inscribed in the manner of the Babylonian and Assyrian kings.  The first 3 characters were the vowels A, I, U, and the remaining characters were ordered with respect to the vowels, just as Sanskrit letters are ordered.  The script featured 5 additional characters for the words ‘king, country, earth, god, Ahuramazda.’  The numbers represented a simple decimal system based on tens and hundreds.

alphabet : [403 bc] Greek Ionic alphabet of Miletus, which Athens adopted in 403 bc; Classical Greek alphabet of 22 letters.  The original scheme of Greek consisted of merely the thirteen consonants,[18] B.G.D.Kh.L., M.N.S.PH.P., Z.K.R(Rh), and five vowels, and was later expanded to include fifteen consonants, by including T.Th., the unvoiced and aspirate forms of letter D.  The Greeks later added the two letters X.Ps.  Cf. Dorian alphabet [1000 bc].

alphabet : [403 bc, ABC]  Cadmean characters, rearranged into the ABC order, and exhibiting the vowel order A.E.I.O.U. (=1.2.3.4.5.); Greek letters derived from Phoenician, sometimes called Pelasgian characters.  Cadmus is believed to have increased the letters from their original number of 13 letters to 16 letters.[19]  Cadmean script was used in Boeotian Cadmea.[20]  Epicharmus of Sicily added the 2 letters Theta and Chi (Θ, Χ).  The Dionysian devotee Simonides purportedly modified the Cadmean alphabet to conform to the principles of some obscure religion,[21] and the changes of Simonides were formally adopted by the Archon Euclides in 403 bc.  Simonides devised the double-consonants Psi and Xi (Ψ, Ξ), distinguished the short Omicron (Ο) from the long Omega (Ω), and differentiated between the long Eta (Η) and short Epsilon (Ε).

alphabet : [400 bc] Late Etruscan alphabet, the final and classical form of the Etruscan alphabet, consisting of only 20 letters.  Etruscans made no use of letters B and D, because they made no differentiation between the voiced and voiceless stops B and P, D and T, and G and K.  When they also dropped the letters K and Q, the Etruscans used the letter C for both of the stops G and K.  Thus, the Etruscans abandoned the 5 letters B, D, G, K, Q, and one additional letter.

alphabet : [400 bc, later than b.l.n.] Ogham alphabet, classed as P-Celt; Belgic alphabet; B.L.F. alphabet in 20 letters, including the 15 consonants B.L.F.S.N., H.D.T.C.X., M.G.Y.ST.R,[22] where letter X appears as the Greek Χ or χ, in place of Q or P. [return to top]
 

Alphabets of the Common Era

alphabet : [    ] Initial Teaching Alphabet, devised by Sir James Pitman to standardize English script.

alphabet : [1269] Mongolian hP’ags-Pa script, invented in China about 1269.

alphabet : [1400, Middle Ages] Ogham alphabet, P-Celt, O’Sullivan’s B.L.N. alphabet, had 13 consonants, the same number of consonants as the B.L.N. alphabet, but omitted the Q and Z, and included the Ng for letter P.[23]

alphabet : [1400, Middle Ages] Ogham alphabet, Q-Celt, O’Flaherty’s B.L.N. alphabet in 13 consonants, including the letter Q, but excluding the letter P.

alphabet : [1900] International Phonetic Alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic Association.

alphabet : [1900] Roman syllabaries and alphabets devised for native Americans.

alphabet : [1900] Russian Cyrillic syllabaries and alphabets devised for natives of northwestern America.

alphabet : [1997] a modern writing system that has evolved from logo-syllabic and syllabic writing systems of the past.  Phonography may be traced to four major families, namely (1) Sumerian, or Akkadian, (2) Egyptian, (3) Hittite, or Aegean, and (4) Chinese.

alphabet : [860 ad] Cyrillic alphabet, which Greek missionaries from Constantinople invented for the use of Slavic Christians.  Saint Cyril was such a missionary, and has been credited with having invented the Cyrillic alphabet.  АБВГД, ЕЖЗ, ИЙКЛ,М, НОПРСТ, УФХЦЧШЩЫЭЮЯ абвгд, ежз, ийкл, мн, опрстуфхцчшщъыьэюя.  Cyrillic is used to write Russian, Ukranian, Serbian, and Bulgarian.  The Serbo-Croatians use both the Roman and Cyrillic alphabets, for Roman Catholics use the Roman alphabet, whereas Greek Orthodox Serbs use Cyrillic.

alphabet : [ad 1000] Arabic Naskhi alphabet, the cursive form of Arabic, which became the parent of modern Arabic letters.

alphabet : [ad 132, earlier than BLF]  B.L.N. alphabet, Beth-Luis-Nion alphabet; B.L.N.F.S., H.D.T.C.M., G.P.R., A.O.U.E.I.  The BLN alphabet featured 13 consonants and 5 vowels.  The Irish candidate for ollaveship was required to master 150 cypher alphabets.  It appears that the Thirteen Precious Things, Thirteen Kingly Jewels, and Thirteen Wonders of Britain were mentioned in the Mabinogion as examples of cypher alphabets.[24]

alphabet : [ad 132]  Boibel-Loth alphabet, Babel-Lot, the Essene series of letters, before the time of Gwion.  Emperor Hadrian suppressed the Essenes in ad 132.  As reconstructed by Robert Graves, the order should read, Babel, Lot, Ephron, Salem, Ne-esthan, Hur, David, Telmen, Kohath, Caleb, Moriah, Gad, Gomer, Jethro, Reu, or B.L.F(ph).S.N., H.D.T.K.C., M.G.G(ng).J.R.  Interestingly, a list of five tribes mentioned in Genesis happens to present a list of vowels when the initial letters J are removed:  Jacab, Jose, Jura, Jesu, Jaichin, the Hebraic versions of Jacob, Joseph, Jerah, Joshua, Jachin, standing for the vowels A.O.U.E.aI.  These twenty letters appear to have been a list of all the tribes and clans of Israel, with the exception of these four:  (1) Babel, home of the wise, (2) Mount Moriah, holy to Jehovah, (3) Salem, the city of god, and (4) Ne-esthan the Serpent, sacred to god.  Supposedly, Gwion altered this list to include names from the New Testament, the Book of Enoch, and the mythologies of Rome and Wales.  The formula was apparently based upon a Canopic Greek calendar adopted by the Greek-speaking Jews of Egypt.[25]  Cf. B.L.F. alphabet.

alphabet : [ad 295]  Ogham Craobh alphabet, evidenced in the alphabetic inscription at Callen, County Clare, Ireland.  The order is B.L.N.T.S., H.D.T.C.Q., M.G.Ng.Z.R.[26]

alphabet : [ad 400]  Arabic alphabet, developed as a branch of some earlier, North Semitic alphabet, and has been continuously used to write Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, in all parts of the Islamic world.  The alphabet is used in southern Europe, the Near East, Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia.

alphabet : [ad 405] Armenian alphabet, invented by Saint Mesrob in ad 405.

alphabet : [ad 500] Formello-Cervetri alphabet in 26 letters, or 4 more letters than the 22 letters of Classical Greek.  This seemingly Semitic form of the Greek alphabet was discovered etched on two vases, one in Caere, and another in Veii, Italy.  Both alphabets were written ‘backwards’ in the right-to-left order of the Semitic syllabaries.  Cf. Etruscan, Early Latin.

alphabet : [ad 700] Arabic Kufic alphabet, a bold and formal script devised near the end of the seventh century.

alphabet : [ad 900 Lt, ABC] the letters alpha (A), beta (B), et cetera; the accepted order of the Roman letters that derived immediately from Etruscan, and remotely from Greek; alphabētos [Lt]; grammata [early Gk].  The church father Tertullian (died ad 230) seems to have been the first to use the word alphabētos, and Saint Jerome popularized it.  The Greeks eventually adopted the Latin word alphabet to replace their native word grammata.

alphabet : [ad 900, ABC] Alap-Braut-Curi alphabet, invented by Nemninus the Briton.[27]  The letters appear in the ABC Latin order, but some minor alterations seem to indicate some clever formulae linked to the Greek and the Ogham alphabets.  The order is:  A.B.C.D., E.F.G.H., I.K.L.M.N., O.P.Q.R.T.S., U.X.E.Z., AE.ET.EU.AU.EI., with two unexplained syllables Kenc, Elau.[28]  Robert Graves reconstructed the Greek letter names in this manner:  (A) Alap, Braut, Curi, Dexi; (E) Egin, Fich, Guidir, Huil; (I) Jechuit, Kam, Louber, Muin, Nihn; (O) Or, Parth, Quith, Rat, Traus, Sung; (U) Uir, Jeil, Ofr, Zeirc; (AE) Aiun, Estiaul, Egui, Aur, Emc; (+) Kenc, Elau.

alphabet : Arabic, written right to left:..........................
ÔËÑžº¶²®ª¦¢~xtpljged`XTOLA

alphabet : Cherokee syllabary, invented by Sequoya after 1820.

alphabet : Cypher alphabets.  Cf. B.L.N. alphabet.

alphabet : Disc alphabet, wherein Tinne, Tinnus, or Tannus, stands in the uppermost and central position, as the ruling letter.  The order is A.O.U.E.I. for the five days that initiate the year, and 15 consonants to represent a division into 5 seasons of 72 days each, namely (A)B.L.F., (O)S.N.H., (U)D.T.C., (E)Q.M.G., (I)Ng.Z.R.[29]  The symbolism corresponds to the five dolmen stones and the general design of Stonehenge.[30]

alphabet : Egyptian forms of writing, namely the hieroglyphic, hieratic, demotic.

alphabet : Essene Sacred.  Cf. Boibel-Loth alphabet.

alphabet : Formello-Cervetri.  Cf. alphabet [ad 500].

alphabet : Goidelic letters, the Irish letters which derived their name from the Greek linguist Gadel.  Feniusa Farsa, King of Scythia, was the grandson of Magog, and desired to master all of the 72 languages that arose after Babel, so he established a university at Magh Seanair, near Athens, and appointed 72 persons to learn each of the languages.  Feniusa presided over the university in a triad of regents that included Gadel and Caoith.  Gadel learned Irish, and divided his subject into 5 dialects, namely (1) Fenian for soldiers, (2) poetic Irish for senachies, (3) historic Irish for bards, (4) medical Irish for physicians, and (5) common Irish.  Irish legend holds that this collective of scholars standardized the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin letters.[31]

alphabet : Semitic scripts, including Akkadian, Amorite, Ugaritic, Proto-Byblian, Palaio-Sinaitic, and the Phoenician-style quasi-alphabets of Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and Aramaic. [return to top]

Consonants

Ch.Th.Pe.Ph.Xi. : consonants aspirate.

consonants aspirate : Ch.Th.Pe.Ph.Xi.  These double consonants run in a series matching the double vowels, or diphthongs, namely Ea.Oi.Ui.Io.Ae >EAOIUIOAE.  Cf. WVIVW.

consonant B : Beth : [BLN] number five (5) in Irish counts; the first letter of BLN and BLF alphabets.  The leading consonant B was linked to the Queen of the Pentad, otherwise called the Mother of the mother sounds, the vowel U of Midsummer, which stands for the null value (0) in Irish counts.  Cf. Buana the Goddess.

consonant C : Coll : [BLN] number nine (9).

consonant D : Duir : [BLN] number twelve (12).

consonant F : Fearn : [BLN] number eight (8).

consonant G : Gort : [BLN] number ten (10), logically connected to Beth (5) and Uath (0), represented by the letter H (Uath).  As one in a genealogical series of leading letters, Gort stands in the eleventh generation (11:), but is fifth (5th) in descent from the proband Uath (0), and tenth (10th) in descent from the progenitor Beth (5).

consonant H : Uath : [BLN] null value (0), logically linked to Beth (5) and Gort (10).  The zero-value consonant H stands in the position of a proband, as the great-great-great-grandson of Beth, or the fifth (5th) in descent from the progenitor.  When progenitor and proband are both counted, the proband’s station falls in the sixth generation (6:) Cf. vowel U.

consonant L : Luis : [BLN] number fourteen (14).

consonant M : Min : [BLN] number six (6).

consonant N : Nion : [BLN] number thirteen (13).

consonant P : Peth : [BLN] number seven (7).  In a linear and inclusive series of relatives, wherein the proband and his descendant are both counted, the proband Uath (0) in the present generation stands in the first generation (1:), with respect to Peth (7) in the seventh generation (7:).  Counting from the progenitor Beth (5), the letter Peth belongs to the twelfth generation (12:).  Thus, the twelfth letter Peth (7) stands for some future generation (12:), or the supposed great-great-great-great-grandsons of the present and living proband Uath (0), or letter H (6:).  Predecessors of the proband are represented by the set of the first five letters (B.L.N.F.S.), or the first generation (1:) through the fifth generation (5:), and are relegated to the past.  The progenitor Beth (5) is fifth in ascent from the proband Uath (0), and gives rise to all the consonants that follow.

consonant R : Ruis : [BLN] number fifteen (15), representing extinction and death.  The letter R was the final letter of the original BLN alphabet of 13 letters, and therefore stood for the unlucky generation (13:) which is likely to meet its extinction.  Statisticians tell us that an average surname should exhibit a longevity of approximately 600 years.  Female births, and premature deaths of male offspring, tend to erode the patrilineal foundations for reckoning unilineal descent.  Therefore, mathematical probabilities tell us that each patrilineage should find its eventual extinction at some remote time in the future, perhaps as many as 600 years, or conceivably 900 years.  We already know that many patrilineages are short lived, and forgotten, ranging in age at extinction around 30 to 300 years, and that several patrilineages survive for periods falling in the middle range of 300 to 600 years.  Frequently, we find that marriages and alliances have been made to renew and revive patrilinies, and that these important affinations sometimes result in variant surnames, or hyphenated surnames, or composite names, such as Alloway Strange, L’Estrange Styleman le Strange, Strangeways.  Extinction in the thirteenth generation, represented by the letter R, occupies the station of the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of the proband, his son in the seventh degree.  This remote descendant is purely hypothetical, for mathematical chance might defeat his potential existence.  The alphabetic arrangement equates the letter Ruis (15) with ultimate extinction, but suggests nonetheless that the letter R is the cyclical conclusion of a progressive-regressive series, running from Beth (5) to Uath (0), to Gort (10), and finally to Ruis (15).  The hard and soft consonants are arranged to show an exhalation of soft consonants and fricatives and semi-vowels, an apex or climax of hard consonants and the aspirate, and an inhalation of guttural or soft consonants and a final semi-vowel.

consonant S : Saille : [BLN] number sixteen (16).

consonant T : Tinne : [BLN] number eleven (11).

M.G.Ng.Ss.R. =6.10.13.16.15. : consonants gutteral.

consonants gutteral : M.G.Ng.Ss.R. =6.10.13.16.15. >13.16.31 =29+31 =60.  The M series of consonants that reflects the B series of consonants in the reverse, regressive direction.  Cf. B.L.F.S.N., =5.14.8.16.13.

B.L.F.S.N. =5.14.8.16.13. : consonants labial.

H.D.T.C.Q. =0.12.11.9.14. : consonants dental and aspirant.

consonants dental and aspirant : H.D.T.C.Q. =0.12.11.9.14. >(0+11+12)+(9+14) =23.23, =56.  The H series of consonants stands correlative and opposite the A series of vowels, A.O.U.E.I. =1.4.0.2.3.

consonants labial : B.L.F.S.N., =5.14.8.16.13. >8.19.29 =8+(5+14)+(16+13) =56.  This B series of consonants that reflects the M series of consonants in a forward and progressive direction, and mirrors the regressive M order, as its reverse or obverse aspect.  Cf. M.G.Ng.Ss.R. =6.10.13.16.15. [return to top]

Vowels

A the vowel :

vowel A : [=1] New Year; number one (1) in Irish counts; the symbol of origin.

vowel E : [=2] Autumn; number two (2) in Irish counts; the denotation to two autumnal activities, namely rutting and combat.

vowel I : [=3] Winter; number three (3) in Irish counts; the denomination for death.  Extinction may be symbolized by the three-headed bitch, variously named the Three Graeae, Three Fates, or Three Furies.  Three lineal relatives in a row happen to stand for three generations of the past, present, and future, and their juxtaposition suggests trans-generational succession and inheritance.

vowel O : [=4] Spring; number four (4) in Irish counts; the holistic circle standing for duplication, and four-fold increase.  The symbolism mirrors the structure of an Ahnentafel of ancestors, so it suggests lineal reverence, as well as the births of grandchildren and progeny.

vowel U : [=0] Summer; null (0) in Irish counts.  The letter U has no value in Irish counts, and therefore is believed to represent the apical or climactic link between the vowels and the consonants.  Thus, the pure vowel U corresponds to B the first consonant of the BLN and BLF alphabets.  The verdant and leafy Midsummer vowel U is the Queen of the Pentad, and was first written V, so it

vowels, Beth-Luis-Nion : A.O.U.E.I., =1.4.0.2.3, the matristic Pentad of vowels, wherein female letters occupy the inner stations, whereas male or opposite-sex letters stand on the outside.  The order stands for a seasonal sequence of five parts, namely the New Year (5 days), followed by Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.  The vowels are arranged as one progressive pair (A.O.) standing for creation and exhalation, the annual climax (U) of midsummer, and a recessive pair (E.I.) standing for inhalation and death.  The odd and even numerical values create a symmetry, relative to the value zero or null (0) at the center.  The opposite-sex pair of letters A.O. stand for the numbers 1.4. (1+4 =5), and the opposite-sex pair of letters E.I. stand for the numbers 2.3. (2+3 =5).  The arrangement suggests the Pentad, or Pentagon or Pentangle, the five-point star, and seems to depict the bifurcations of a human body.  From the body extend two pairs of limbs, the arms and legs, which further divide into five digits each, either five fingers or five toes.  The advent of a zero value (0) enabled logicians to devise Arabic numbering, based on 10 numbers, zero through nine (0 - 9).

vowels, Cadmean and Latin : A.E.I.O.U., =1.2.3.4.0, =1.2.3.4.5, the patristic Pentad. [return to top]

Diphthongs

vowels double : Ea.Oi.Ui.Io.Ae >EAO.IUI.OAE.  These diphthongs correspond to the consonants aspirate, namely Ch.Th.Pe.Ph.Xi., for the series matches the double consonants.  Cf. consonants aspirate, WVIVW. [return to top]

Letters Easily Confused

B, P : the voiced and unvoiced labial stops.  Etruscans did not differentiate between voiced and unvoiced stops.  Arabian and Indian alphabets subdivide these two consonants with aspirates (Bh, Ph), thus doubling the range of choices (B, Bh, P, Ph).  Cf. V, F.
P, B : Cf. B, P.
D, T : the voiced and unvoiced dental stops.  Etruscans apprehended these two letters as the same consonant, whereas Arabs added aspirates to increase the same two letters to four (D, Dh, T, Th).
T, D : Cf. D, T.
F, V : Cf. V, F.
V, F : the voiced and unvoiced labial fricatives.  It is easy to confound these two letters, but equally easy to confuse them with labial stops B, P.
J, Y :
Y, J :
V, W :
W, V :
O, D : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
D, O : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
I, J : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
J, I : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
J, T : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
T, J : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
I, T : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
T, I : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
L, S : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
S, L : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
H, K : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
K, H : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
M, W : two majuscule letters similarly shaped.
W, M : two majuscule letters similarly shaped. [return to top]