Our examples of M. de Rougé's method may be taken from the letters b and h.
b. The Egyptians had two signs for this, the "leg,"
which is the normal sign, and the "crane" (see Fig. 2 in foregoing table), which letter should be taken as the prototype of the Phœnician (see Fig. 2, col. iii.). The reason may be that the sound of the first symbol seems to have been nearer to v than to b, the "crane" being used as the equivalent of beth in the translation of several Semitic names, such as Berytus (Beyrout) and Khirba. The hieratic trace of the "leg" would, moreover, be easily confused with that of some other letters, such as the "chick" and the "arm," and would therefore be inconvenient for adoption. The Semitic character
differs from its hieratic prototype
in having acquired a closed loop. The closed form is so much easier to write that the change presents no difficulty. But there is a curious bit of indirect evidence which seems to show that the Semitic in its earlier form was open, something in the shape of an
