Alphabet (from Alpha, and Beta, the two first letters of the Greek alphabet), is the series of characters used in writing a language, and intended to represent the sounds of which it consists.
The English alphabet, like most of those of modern Europe, is derived directly from the Latin, the Latin from the ancient Greek, and that from the Phoenician, which again is believed to have had its origin in the Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Hebrew alphabet also having the same origin. The names of the letters in Phoenician and Hebrew must have been almost the same, for the Greek names, which, with the letters, were borrowed from the former, differ little from the Hebrew. By means of the names we may trace the process by which the Egyptian characters were transformed into letters by the Phoenicians. Some Egyptian character would, by its form, recall the idea of a house, for example, in Phoenician or Hebrew beth. This character would subsequently come to be used wherever the sound b occurred. Its form might be afterwards simplified, or even completely modified, but the name would still remain, as beth still continues the Hebrew name for b, and beta the Greek. Our letter m, which in Hebrew was called mim, water, has still a considerable resemblance to the zigzag wavy line which had been chosen to represent water, as in the zodiacal symbol for Aquarius.
The letter o, of which the Hebrew name means eye, no doubt originally intended to represent that organ. While the ancient Greek alphabet gave rise to the ordinary Greek alphabet and the Latin, the Greek alphabet of later times furnished elements for the Coptic, the Gothic, and the old Slavic alphabets. The Latin characters are now employed by a great many nations, such as the Italian, the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the English, the Dutch, the German, the Hungarian, the Polish, etc, each nation having introduced such modifications or additions as are necessary to express the sound of the language peculiar to it. The Greek alphabet originally possessed only sixteen letters, though the Phoenician had twenty-two.
The original Latin alphabet, as it is found in the oldest inscriptions, consisted of twenty-one letters; namely, the vowels a, e, i, o, and u (v), and the consonants b, c, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, x, z. The Anglo-Saxon alphabet had two characters for the digraph th, which were unfortunately not retained in later English; it had also the character ae. It wanted j, v, y (consonant), and z. The German alphabet consists of the same letters as the English, but the sounds of some of them are different.
Anciently certain characters called Runic were made use of by the Teutonic nations, to which some would attribute an origin independent of the Greek and Latin alphabets. While the alphabets of the west of Europe are derived from the Latin, the Russian, which is very complete, is based on the Greek, with some characters borrowed from the Armenian, etc. Among Asiatic alphabets, the Arabian (ultimately of Phoenician origin) has played a part analogous to that of the Latin in Europe, the conquests of Mohammedanism having imposed it on the Persian, the Turkish, the Hindustani, etc. The Sanskrit or Devanagari alphabet is one of the most remarkable alphabets of the world. As now used it has fourteen characters for the vowels and diphthongs, and thirty-three for the consonants, besides two other symbols. Our alphabet is a very imperfect instrument for what it has to perform, being both defective and redundant. An alphabet is not essential to the writing of a language, since ideograms or symbols may be used instead, as in Chinese.
In the English language there are twenty-six letters, A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y and Z, these twenty-six letters occur in use most disproportionately. At the start of the 20th century the proportion of use was as follows, but this will vary as new words, particularly scientific names are added to the English language:
E - 1000 , T - 770, A - 728, I - 704, S - 680, O - 672, N - 670, H - 540, R - 528, D - 392, L - 360, U - 296, C - 280, M - 272, F - 236, W - 190, Y - 184, P - 168, G - 168, B - 158, V - 120, K - 88, J - 55, Q - 50, X - 46, Z - 22
However, as an initial letter, the proportionate use was very different, with the most popular initial letters being:
S - 1194, C - 937, P - 804, A - 574, T - 571, D - 505, B - 463, M - 439, F - 388, I - 377, E- 340, H - 308, L - 298 and R - 291.
The most commonly occurring end letters are R, S, T, and D. Research Alphabet
Hieroglyphics (so called from the Greek hieros, sacred, and glypho, I engrave), is a term originally applied to the inscriptions sculptured on buildings in Egypt, in the belief that the writing was confined to sacred subjects, and legible only to the priests. The term has also been applied to picture-writing in general, such as that of the Mexicans and the still ruder pictures of the North American Indians.
Three different modes of writing were used by the ancient Egyptians, the Hieroglyphic, the Hieratic, and the Demotic. Pure hieroglyphic writing is the earliest, and consists of figures of material objects from every sphere of nature and art, with certain mathematical and arbitrary symbols. Next was developed the hieratic or priestly writing, the form in which most Egyptian literature is written, and in which the symbols almost cease to be recognizable as figures of objects. Hieratic writings of the third millennium BC are extant. In the demotic or enchorial writing, derived directly from the hieratic, the symbols are still more obscured. The demotic was first used in the 9th century BC, and was chiefly employed in social and commercial intercourse.
Down to the end of the 18th century scholars failed to find a clue to the hieroglyphic writings. In 1799, however, Bouchard, a French captain of engineers, discovered at Rosetta the celebrated stone which afforded European scholars a key to the language and writing of the ancient Egyptians. It contained a trilingual inscription in hieroglyphics, demotic characters, and Greek, which turned out
to be a decree of the priests in honour of Ptolemy V, issued in 195 BC. The last paragraph of the Greek inscription stated that two translations, one in the sacred and the other in the popular Egyptian language, would be found adjacent to it.
The discovery of an alphabet was the first task. The demotic part of the inscription was first examined by De Sacy and Akerblad, and the signification of a number of the symbols ascertained. The hieroglyphic part was next carefully examined and compared with the demotic and Greek. At last after much study Champollion and Dr. Thomas Young, independently of each other, discovered the method of reading the characters in 1822, and thus provided a clue to the decipherment of the ancient Egyptian writing.
Hieroglyphic characters are either ideographic, i.e. using well-known objects as symbols of conceptions, or phonetic, i.e. representing words by symbols standing for their sounds. The phonetic signs are again divided into alphabetical signs and syllabic signs. Many of the ideographic characters are simple enough; thus the figure of a man, a woman, a calf, indicate simply those objects. Others, however, are less simple, and convey their meaning figuratively or symbolically.
Water was expressed by three zigzag lines, one above the other, to represent waves or ripples of running water, milk by a milk-jar, oil by an oil-jar, fishing by a pelicanseizing a fish, i.e. fishing; seeing and sight by an eye; and so on.
The nature of the phonetic hieroglyphs, which represent simply sounds are more diffuclt to explain. Characters represent sounds, thus a picture of a knee represents a K sound. A lioncouchant represents the L sound. A reed represents the E sound The reed is doubled to represents the diphthong 'ai'. A noose represents the O sound. A mat represents the P sound. An eagle represents the A sound. The hand represents the T sound. A semicircle is found at the end of feminine proper names, and is the Coptic feminine article T.
The researches of Champollion satisfied him of the existence of homophones, or characters having the same phonetic value and which might be interchanged in writing proper names. The mouth, represents the R sound. The egg is found at the end of proper names of women, and is a feminine affix. The hook represents the S sound Vowels were only regarded by the Egyptians as they were needed to avoid ambiguous writing.
There are groups of hieroglyphs of which one element is an ideographic sign, to which a phonetic complement is added to indicate the pronunciation of the ideographic sign. The words of a text could be written in hieroglyphs in three ways: 1. By phonetic hieroglyphs, 2. By ideographic hieroglyphs; and 3, by a combination of both. According to Ebers, in the perfected system of hieroglyphics the symbols for sounds and syllables are to be regarded as the foundation of the writing, while symbols for ideas are interspersed with them, partly to render the meaning more intelligible, and partly for ornamental purposes, or with a view to keep up the mystic character of the hieroglyphics. Research Hieroglyphics
Capercailzie, capercaillie, or cock of the wood, is the wood grouse (Tetrao urogallus), the largest of the gallinaceous birds of Europe, weighing from 9 to 12 Ibs. In the male the neck and head are ashy black, the wings and shoulders brown with small black dots, the breast variable green, the belly black with white spots, the rump and flanks black with zigzag lines of an ashy colour, and the tail-feathers black, with small white spots near their extremities. The female, about one-third less than the male, is striped and spotted with red or bay, black and white, and has the feathers of the head, breast, and tail of a more or less ruddy hue. It is common in northern Asia, in parts of Russia, and throughout Scandinavia. For some time it was almost or wholly extinct in Great Britain, but was successfully re-introduced during the 19th century. Research Capercailzie
Croquet is an open-air lawn game which was introduced into England around 1850. Croquet is played with balls, mallets, hoops, and pegs on a level area, which should be at least 30 yards long by 20 yards wide. The iron hoops (shaped like the letter U) are fixed with their two ends in the ground, arranged in a somewhat zigzag manner over the ground; they are usually ten in number. The posts or pegs (two, in number) are placed at the near and far end of the field respectively, marking the starting and turning points. The game may be played by any number of persons up to eight, either individually, or arranged in couples or in sides. The object of the players is to drive with the mallets the balls belonging to their own side through the hoops and against the posts in a certain order, and to prevent the balls of their opponents from completing the journey before their own by playing them against those of the enemy, and driving them as far as possible from the hoop or post to be played for; the player or players whose balls first complete the course claiming the victory. Research Croquet
Early English architecture was the first of the pointed or Gothic styles of architecture that prevailed in England. It succeeded the Norman in the reign of Richard I (1189), and continued to the end of the reign of Henry II in 1272, a period of 123 years when it gradually merged into the Decorated style - some argue that the early English style continued until 1307.
One of the leading peculiarities in this style is the form of the windows, which are narrow in proportion to their height, and terminate in a pointed arch, resembling the blade of a lancet. Throughout the early period of the style they are very plain, particularly in small churches;
but in cathedrals and other large buildings the windows, frequently combined two or more together, are carried to a great height, are richly and deeply moulded, and the jambs ornamented with slender shafts. On the eastern and western fronts of small churches the windows are often combined in this manner, with a circular window above and a richly moulded door below; but in large buildings there is often more than one range of windows, and the combinations are very various. Though
separated on the outside, these lancets are in the interior combined into one design, thus giving the first idea of a compound window.
The doorways are in general pointed, and in rich buildings sometimes double; they are usually moulded, and enriched with the tooth-ornament. The buttresses are often very bold and prominent, and are frequently carried up to the top of the building with but little diminution, and terminate in acutely-pointed pediments, which, when raised above the parapet, produce in some degree the effect of pinnacles. In this style, likewise, flying-buttresses were first introduced, and the buttresses themselves much increased in projection owing to the comparative lightness of the walls, which required some counter-support to resist the outward pressure of the vaulting.
The roof in the Early English style appears always to have been high pitched, and the towers surmounted by lofty pointed spires, as at Salisbury Cathedral. In the interior the arches are usually lancet-shaped, and the pillars often reduced to very slender proportions. As if to give still greater lightness of appearance, they are frequently made up of a centre pillar, surrounded by slight detached shafts, only connected with the pillar by their capitals and bases, and bands of metal placed at intervals. These shafts are generally of Purbeckmarble, the pillar itself being of stone, and from their extreme slenderness they sometimes appear as if quite inadequate to support the weight above them. Some of the best examples are to be seen in SalisburyCathedral.
The architects of this style carried their ideas of lightness to the utmost limits of prudence, and their successors have been afraid to imitate their example. The abacus of the capitals is generally made up of two bold round mouldings, with a deep hollow between. The foliage is peculiar, generally very gracefully drawn, and thrown into elegant curves; it is usually termed stiff-leaved, from the circumstance of its rising with a stiff stem from the neck-mould of the capital. The trefoil is commonly imitated, and is very characteristic of the style. The mouldings of this style have great boldness, and produce a striking effect of light and shade. They consist chiefly of rounds separated by deep hollows, in which a peculiar ornament, called the dog's-tooth, is used, whenever ornament can be introduced. This ornament is as characteristic of the Early English as the zigzag is of the Norman. Research Early English
The Norman style (also known as the English Romanesque) is a style of Romanesque architecture which arose in the tenth century but is typical of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and is characterized by great massiveness, simplicity, and strength, with the use of the semicircular arches, heavy round columns, and a great variety of ornaments, among which the zigzag and spiral or cable-formed ornaments were prominent. Research Norman Style
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Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
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