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Product Identifiers
PublisherForgotten Books
ISBN-101331912458
ISBN-139781331912453
eBay Product ID (ePID)222798593
Product Key Features
Book TitleOrigin and Varieties of the Semitic Alphabet : with Specimens (Classic Reprint)
Number of Pages68 Pages
LanguageEnglish
TopicAncient / General
Publication Year2015
IllustratorYes
GenreHistory
AuthorJohn C. C. Clarke
FormatTrade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Height0.1 in
Item Weight3.7 Oz
Item Length9 in
Item Width6 in
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Intended AudienceTrade
TitleLeadingThe
SynopsisExcerpt from The Origin and Varieties of the Semitic Alphabet: With Specimens Many of these pictures, which are called hieroglyphics, are mere outline figures. As the number of writers increased, the demand for haste, the lack of skill, the use of papyrus, or waxed or powdered tablets and the pen and stylus, produced out of the hieroglyphs a set of broken and distorted outline forms, which con stituted a new and now arbitrary alphabet. In the time of the Shepherd kings, this kind of writing, which is called hieratic, had lost much of its resemblance to the hieroglyphs out of which it was formed. Such an alphabet was adopted by some Semitic people, and by them imparted to the various tribes of Syria. Of this alphabet, in the first thousand years of its use, we have no specimen, and no one can tell what changes it may have undergone in that period. When this is con sidered, it is remarkable that the likeness of the Semitic alphabet to Egyptian prototypes is very distinct. It was probably not a' copy of any one style or type of the hieratic alphabet, for instance like that of the papyrus Prisse, but was made in part of familiar hier atic forms, and in part of forms in hieratic style containing the main features of several hieroglyphs which represented the same sound. It was thus partly a ser vile imitation, but may have embraced a few new arbitrary elements. But the, descent of the Semitic alphabet from the Egyptian cannot be Correctly traced without taking into account many considerations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works., Excerpt from The Origin and Varieties of the Semitic Alphabet: With Specimens The first edition of this little book was a reprint from the forms of The Hebrew Student, in which the first part was published in June, 1883. By a series of accidents the forms were destroyed in Chicago, and the tables in St. Louis, and a printed edition lost. Hence a second edition appears before much of the first is distributed. The publication of the second part unchanged in Hebraica at Morgan Park affords facilities for this edition. It is published mainly for distribution among the writer's personal and scholastic friends. Since the printing of the first edition Dr. Taylor has published his superb work, "The Alphabet," a monument of erudition to which I desire to pay a tribute of respect, while I am unable to accede to his approval of De Rouge's schedule of the Egyptian prototypes. It will be observed that in the essay I write "Semitic" in deference to common custom arising from the Greek and Latin tongues, but in the tables I write "Shemitic" in accordance with my own conviction that while scholars like Lenormant are writing Sheth and Noach the time has come when we should respect the Shemitic aspirates. This book is written principally as an historical study. Much of its substance was published in the Bibliotheca Sacra, Andover, in April, 1874, under the title History in Alphabets. The tables are selections from similar ones which the writer has made, embracing most of the known ancient and modern alphabets of the world. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."
