“The ancient Hebrew, clad with mysteries;
The learned Greek, rich in fit epithets,
Blest in the lovely marriage of pure words;
The Chaldean wise; the Arabian physical;
The Roman eloquent; the Tuscan grave;
The braving Spanish, and the smooth-tong’d
French.”
The Hebrew language and letters are derived from the Phœnician, since
Tyre, Sidon, &c. were distinguished cities in the age of Moses and
Joshua. Even Abraham lived in their territory.
Sanscrit is the basis of Hindoo learning, and said to be the first
character.
The most ancient Arabic, called Kufick, so named from Kufa, on the
Euphrates, and is not now in use. The modern Arabic was invented by the
Vizier Moluch, A. D. 933, in which he wrote the Koran.
Armenian is used in Armenia, Asia Minor, Syria, Tartary, &c. It
approaches the Chaldean or Syriac, and the Greek.
Chaldean, Phœnician, or Syriac, ascribed to Adam, Enoch, Noah,
Abraham, and Moses, is the same as the Hebrew.
The Coptic is an alphabet so called from Coptos in Egypt,—a mixture of
Greek and Egyptian.
Ethiopic, or Abyssinian, is derived from the Samaritan, or Phœnician.
The Etruscan was the first alphabet used in Italy, and so called from
the Etrusci, the most ancient inhabitants.
Gothic: the most ancient characters under this name are attributed to
Bishop Ulphilas.
Cadmus, the Phœnician, introduced the first Greek alphabet into
Bœotia, where he settled in B. C. 1500; though Diodorus says the
Pelasgian letters were prior to the Cadmean.
The Greeks called the Phœnicians _Pelasgü quasi Pelagi_, because they
traversed the ocean and carried on commerce with other nations.
Scaliger supposes the Phœnician to have been the original Hebrew
character, otherwise the Samaritan,—which is generally supposed to be
that which was used by the Jews from the time of Moses to the Captivity.
The alphabet of the Sanscrit is called the devanagari.
The Oriental alphabets are the Hebrew, ancient and modern; Rabbinical;
Samaritan, ancient and modern; Phœnician; Egyptian hieroglyphic;
Chinese characters.
The Irish alphabet is the Phœnician.