The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts

The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts......Page 4
Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 18
Editor’s Note......Page 22
Chronology......Page 24
Abbreviations......Page 26
I. The Aims of This Monograph......Page 28
A. Alphabet and Alphabetic......Page 29
C. Proto-Canaanite and Old Canaanite......Page 31
III. The Egyptian Prototypes of the Alphabetic Letter Forms......Page 32
B. Characteristics of Hieroglyphic and Hieratic......Page 34
C. When Consonantal Alphabetic Writing Began......Page 38
D. The Drawings of Egyptian Signs Used in This Study......Page 39
A. Establishing the Typologically Earliest Letter Forms......Page 42
B. Charting the Stances of Letters......Page 44
C. The Drawings of Proto- and Old Canaanite Letters in This Study......Page 45
V. The Acrophonic Letter Names......Page 48
A. The Partial List of Clipped Names from Ugarit......Page 49
C. The Greek Letter Names......Page 50
E. A Late Babylonian School Tablet and the Aramaic Letter Names......Page 51
F. The Names in Classical Arabic......Page 52
VII. The Two Orders of the Letters......Page 53
A. Egyptian Antecedents of 'ālep......Page 56
B. Proto-Canaanite Forms of 'ālep......Page 59
C. The Early Development of Linear Forms of 'ālep......Page 60
D. Stances of Early and Developed 'ālep......Page 63
E. Letter Name......Page 64
A. Egyptian Antecedents of bêt......Page 65
B. Egyptian Forms of O1/O4B, “House”......Page 66
C. Proto-Canaanite Derivatives of O1/O1B......Page 69
D. Egyptian Forms of O4/O4B......Page 71
E. Proto- and Old Canaanite Derivatives of O4/O4B......Page 73
F. Unclassified bêts......Page 75
G. Stances of Proto- and Old Canaanite bêt......Page 76
H. Letter Name......Page 77
I. The Small Discrepancy between the Name *bêt- and the Prototype O4/O4B......Page 78
A. The Egyptian Antecedents of gîmel......Page 80
B. No Early Attestations of gîmel......Page 82
D. Letter Name......Page 83
A. Egyptian Antecedents of ḫarm......Page 84
C. Stance of ḫarm......Page 86
D. Letter Name......Page 87
A. The Early Development of d......Page 88
B. Egyptian Antecedents of dālet......Page 90
C. Proto-Canaanite Forms of dālet......Page 92
E. Egyptian Antecedents of *dag-......Page 93
F. Proto-Canaanite Forms of “Fish”......Page 96
H. Stances of *dag-......Page 100
I. Letter Names......Page 101
B. Egyptian Forms of A28, “Man with Both Arms Raised”......Page 103
C. Proto-Canaanite Derivatives of A28......Page 106
D. Unclassified Forms of hê......Page 108
E. Stances......Page 110
F. Letter Names......Page 111
A. Egyptian Antecedents of wāw......Page 113
B. Proto-Canaanite Forms of wāw......Page 115
D. Letter Name......Page 117
A. Egyptian Antecedents of zayin......Page 119
B. Proto- and Old Canaanite Forms of zayin......Page 121
C. Stances......Page 122
D. Letter Name......Page 123
A. Egyptian Antecedents of ḥêt......Page 124
B. Proto- and Old Canaanite Attestations of ḥêt......Page 126
D. Letter Name......Page 128
A. The Probable Egyptian Antecedent of ṭêt......Page 130
B. Proto- and Old Canaanite Attestations of ṭêt......Page 131
C. Stance......Page 133
B. The Egyptian Hieroglyph D47, “Hand with Curved Palm”......Page 135
C. “Curved Palm”-Type of yôd......Page 136
D. The Egyptian Sign D36, “Forearm”......Page 138
E. “Forearm”-Type of yôd......Page 139
F. Stances......Page 141
G. Letter Name......Page 142
A. Egyptian Antecedents of kāp......Page 143
B. Forms of Proto-Canaanite kāp......Page 146
D. Letter Name......Page 149
A. The Possible Egyptian Antecedent of š......Page 150
B. The Sole Proto-Canaanite Attestation of š......Page 151
C. Letter Name......Page 152
A. Egyptian Antecedents of lāmed......Page 153
B. Proto-Canaanite Forms of “Coil of Rope”......Page 157
C. Unclassified lāmeds......Page 161
D. Stances......Page 162
E. Letter Name......Page 163
A. Egyptian Antecedents of mēm......Page 165
B. Proto-Canaanite Forms of mēm......Page 168
C. Stances......Page 170
D. Letter Name......Page 171
A. Egyptian Antecedents of ðāl......Page 172
B. Forms and Stances of Proto-Canaanite ðāl......Page 173
C. Letter Name......Page 178
A. Egyptian “Horned Viper”......Page 181
B. Proto-Canaanite Forms of “Viper”......Page 185
C. Egyptian “Cobra in Repose”......Page 188
D. Proto-Canaanite Forms of “Cobra in Repose”......Page 192
E. Unclassified Proto-Canaanite nûns......Page 195
F. Stances......Page 196
G. Letter Names......Page 197
A. The Almost Certain Egyptian Antecedents of sāmek......Page 199
B. Early West Semitic Forms of sāmek......Page 201
C. Stance......Page 205
D. Letter Names......Page 206
A. The Single Egyptian Antecedent of ˁayin......Page 207
B. Proto-Canaanite Forms of ˁayin......Page 211
C. Stances......Page 214
A. Egyptian Antecedents of pê......Page 215
B. Forms of Proto-Canaanite pê......Page 218
C. Stances......Page 221
D. Letter Name......Page 222
A. The Proto-Canaanite Consonants *ṣ, *ẓ (and *ḍ)......Page 223
B. The Egyptian Sign M15, “Clumpof Papyrus with Buds Bent Down”......Page 225
C. Proto-Canaanite Derivatives of “Clump of Papyrus with Buds Bent Down”......Page 227
D. The Egyptian Sign M16, “Clump of Papyrus”......Page 228
E. Proto- and Old Canaanite Forms of “Clump of Papyrus”......Page 229
F. Stances......Page 233
G. Letter Names......Page 234
A. The Probable Egyptian Antecedent of qôp......Page 236
B. Proto- and Old Canaanite Forms of qôp......Page 241
C. Stances......Page 246
D. Letter Name......Page 247
A. Egyptian Antecedents of rêš......Page 248
B. Forms of Proto-Canaanite rêš......Page 251
C. Stances......Page 256
D. Letter Name......Page 257
A. Egyptian Antecedents of *θann-......Page 258
C. Proto- and Old Canaanite Derivatives of “Archaic Bow”......Page 259
D. Egyptian Forms of T10, “Composite Bow”......Page 262
E. Proto- and Old Canaanite Derivatives of “Composite Bow”......Page 265
F. Stances......Page 267
G. Letter Name......Page 268
XXVI. ǵain, *ǵa-, ______......Page 271
A. Egyptian Antecedents of tāw......Page 273
B. Forms and Stances of Proto- and Old Canaanite tāw......Page 276
C. Letter Name......Page 280
I. The Egyptian Antecedents of the Proto-Canaanite Letter Forms......Page 296
A. The Range of Egyptian Forms Borrowed......Page 297
B. The Stances of Proto-Canaanite Letters......Page 303
II. Letter Names......Page 309
A. The Meaning of the Names......Page 310
B. Morphology......Page 311
C. Developments through Vocalic Shifts......Page 312
D. Developments and Obscuring through Rhyming......Page 313
E. Development through Clipping......Page 314
A. The Invention of the Alphabet......Page 316
B. The Earliest Alphabetic Inscriptions from Egypt......Page 322
C. The Typologically Earliest Alphabetic Texts from the Sinai......Page 326
D. The Earliest Alphabetic Inscription from Palestine......Page 330
E. Typologically More Developed Inscriptions from the Sinai......Page 331
F. Typologically More Developed Inscriptions from Syria-Palestine......Page 334
G. The Latest Early Alphabetic Inscription from the Sinai......Page 337
A. The Importance of Cattle......Page 338
B. The Correlation of Some Architectural Signs with a Period of Resettlement......Page 339
C. The Prominence of Weapons......Page 341
D. Symbols of the Nile Delta......Page 343
V. The Adoption and Adaptation of Signs Depicting the Human Form......Page 345
VI. Summary: The Relative Simplicity of the Proto-Canaanite Alphabet......Page 347
Appendix 1: The Proto-Canaanite Inscriptions from Egypt, the Sinai, and Palestine......Page 350
I. Groups of Letters......Page 428
II. Two Letters Together......Page 430
III. Single File Arrangement of Letters......Page 432
Select Bibliography......Page 434
Index of Biblical References......Page 460