[§ 163]. With these preliminaries we may investigate the details of the Roman alphabet, when we shall find that many of them stand in remarkable contrast with those of Greece and Phœnicia. At the same time where they differ with them, they agree with the English.
| Order. | Roman. | English. | Greek. | Hebrew. |
| 1. | A | A | Alpha | Aleph. |
| 2. | B | B | Bæta | Beth. |
| 3. | C | C | Gamma | Gimel. |
| 4. | D | D | Delta | Daleth. |
| 5. | E | E | Epsilon | He. |
| 6. | F | F | Digamma | Vaw. |
| 7. | G | G | — | — |
| 8. | H | H | Hæta | Heth. |
| 9. | I | I | Iôta | Iod. |
| 10. | J | J | Iôta | Iod. |
| 11. | K | Kappa | Kaf. | |
| 12. | L | L | Lamda | Lamed. |
| 13. | M | M | Mu | Mem. |
| 14. | N | N | Nu | Nun. |
| 15. | O | O | Omicron | Ayn. |
| 16. | P | P | Pi | Pe. |
| 17. | Q | Q | Koppa | Kof. |
| 18. | R | R | Rho | Resh. |
| 19. | S | S | San | Sin. |
| 20. | T | T | Tau | Tau. |
| 21. | U | U | Upsilon | — |
| 22. | V | V | Upsilon | — |
| 23. | W | Upsilon | — | |
| 24. | X | X | Xi | Samech.[[43]] |
| 25. | Y | Y | Upsilon | — |
| 26. | Z | Z | Zæta | Zain. |
[§ 164]. The differences of this table are referable to one of the following four heads:—a. Ejection. b. Addition. c. Change of power. d. Change of order.
a. Ejection.—In the first instance, the Italians ejected as unnecessary, letters 7,[[44]] 9, and 11: zayn (zæta), teth (thæta), and kaf (kappa). Either the sounds which they expressed were wanting in their language; or else they were expressed by some other letter. The former was probably the case with 7 and 9, zæta and thæta, the latter with 11, kappa.
b. Addition.—Out of the Greek iôta, two; out of the Greek upsilon, four modifications have been evolved; viz., i and j out of ι, and u, v, w, y, out of υ.
c. Change of power.—Letter 3, in Greek and Hebrew had the sound of the g in gun; in Latin that of k. The reason for this lies in the structure of the Etruscan language. In that tongue the flat sounds were remarkably deficient; indeed, it is probable, that that of g was wanting. Its sharp equivalent, however, the sound of k, was by no means wanting; and the Greek gamma was used to denote it. This made the equivalent to k, the third letter of the alphabet, as early as the time of the Etruscans.
But the Romans had both sounds, the flat as well as
the sharp, g as well as k. How did they express them? Up to the second Punic War they made the rounded form of the Greek Γ, out of which the letter C has arisen, do double work, and signify k and g equally, just as in the present English th is sounded as the Greek θ,[[45]] and as dh;[[46]] in proof whereof we have in the Duillian column, MACESTRATOS = MAGISTRATOS, and CARTHACINIENSES = CARTHAGINIENSES.
Thus much concerning the power and places of the Latin c, as opposed to the Greek γ. But this is not all. The use of gamma, with the power of k, made kappa superfluous, and accounts for its ejection in the Etruscan alphabet; a fact already noticed.
Furthermore, an addition to the Etruscan alphabet was required by the existence of the sound of g, in Latin, as soon as the inconvenience of using c with a double power became manifest. What took place then? Even this. The third letter was modified in form, or became a new letter, c being altered into g; and the new letter took its place in the alphabet.