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The Invention of the Alphabet

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From Egyptian to Phoenician
From Phoenician to Greek
From Greek to Latin

Figure 2a: From Phoenician to Modern Hebrew and Greek

Phoenician Symbol
(ca. 700 BCE)
Modern Hebrew
Symbol
Semitic
Name
Approximate
Semitic Sound
Greek Symbol
(ca 700 BCE)
Modern
Greek Symbol
Greek
Name
'aleph
glottal stop
(catch in voice)
alpha
beth
b
beta
gimel
g in glory
gamma
daleth
d
delta
he
h
epsilon
("plain e")
waw
w
---
digamma)
zayin
z
zeta
heth
 
eta
teth
 
theta
yod
y in yellow
iota
kaph
k
kappa
lamed
l
lambda
mem
m
mu
nun
n
nu
samekh
s
xi
`ayin
pharyngeal consonant
(gagging sound)
omicron
("little o")
pe
p
pi
tsadhe
ts
---
san
qoph
rough k
---
qoppa
resh
r
rho
shin
sh
sigma
taw
t
tau
waw
w
upsilon
("plain y")
             
 
phi
         
 
chi
         
 
psi
         
 
omega
("big o")

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