m represents a man’s body and arms or wings from the top of b and d, or the elbow part of the body, up to the neck, and the world, forms, and things, as surrounding and belonging to man, as shall be further explained amongst the particles. It sounds the same in all languages. n is the thighs, with the parts above them, forming a traverse line, and the vacancy betwixt the same when extended, signifying to be in, or in existence or possession, having f and d for its auxiliaries, but before the vowels or springs it expresses a negative or privative; and it has no particular sound.
Ỻ, L, λ, are T or man’s legs, once put together, separated, and as divisors of T, which signifies space or extension, are expressive of particular lengths and breadths, and their places, qualities, &c. The L or λ is sounded as eel or îl and Ỻ has an aspirate hissing sound in the Welsh, Spanish, and some other dialects.
The letters r, ϱ, ρ, Ρ, R, represent animals and their parts, and their mouths as the place of sound; S being added to P, as a sound, forms R, the sound as well as part of an animal; and they are all to be sounded as in viper, except where they happen to be radical letters, and then with an aspirate h as in rhyme. The S, σ, Z, are also letters of sound, but express no part of man, and are rather the shape of some animal of the serpentine kind, the waving of the breath or water, &c. They have two sounds, the hard and soft, as in loss, zone. This explanation of letters, together with what has been given already in my former treatises, and shall be added amongst the particles, will, it is to be hoped, be deemed satisfactory, as to the sense and origin of letters, and the sacred characters; notwithstanding the pretensions lately set up for those of irregular lines, curves, and windings, which can express but few things, and the remarks of another ingenious gentleman, as to the non-entity or insignificancy of the Hieroglyfics; his enquiry having been confined to the vulgar sorts, or the paintings or engravings of animals, &c. when it now appears the Hieroglyfics consisted only of those few sacred or secret characters. The hints and specimens here given of the method of combining the hieroglyfic figures, being as compleat as the press will admit of; and a process thereof, thro’ the whole of the English language, considering the corrupt state of languages, tho’ the English is as capable of an hieroglyfic combination as any, requiring much loss of time, trouble, and expence, and perhaps the aid of a Hunter and a Hill, and some other reasons occurring, the author hopes he shall be excused for proceeding no further at the present, in the combination of characters.
Of Particles and Syllables.
A Particle is a simple articulate sound and sign of one or two characters or letters; but a syllable sometimes by the cutting off of vowels, becomes a combination of more letters, which is yet commonly pronounced as a simple articulate sound; there being a natural relation and agreement betwixt the signs and sounds of letters, and ideas and things. Particles and syllables were originally framed according to their hieroglyfic shape, the natural sounds of ideas and things, and the sense and value of letters, as has been already explained; and therein the quantity of the action of sound was measured and proportioned to the motion, action, or energy of the thing to be expressed, as the high, loud, acute, or short accent, for an active or energic particle, and the low, grave, and long, for a passive, substantive, or a negative one.
And altho’ some letters, as a, e, y, p, t, and some particles in words are so fixed by the addition of y, ty, ive, and other terminations, as of themselves to be always substantive and long, as to quantity and accent; yet those passive and long letters and particles, by the addition of an active vowel, consonant, or particle, will become active and short. Hence the best way of spelling or pronouncing must be to divide the particles of compound names according to the original manner of their combination, sense, and sounds, and when a vowel is cut off, its consonant, with the remaining vowel, or with the most valuable, if there should be any doubt, as in the following examples, ex-ec-ra-ble, co-re-spond-ing, pro-ble-m-at-ic-al-ly, un-ec-spect-ed-ly, prin-ce, o-af, o-ther, o-ver, ub-iqu-i-ty. Those sorts of names and their compounds according to their significations and nature in language, are distinguishable into the following sorts, viz. Articles to substantive and identify names; nouns substantive, or the names of substances; pronouns, which collectively express nouns and antecedent parts of sentences; adjectives, which are added to the names of substances, to express their qualities and accidents; actives, or the names of actions, verbs, energies, and affirmatives of being, acting, and feeling; adverbs or additional words, to express quantities, qualities, distances, modes, and energies of actions and things, with their degrees; prepositions to denote and connect situations, and conjunctions or connectives of names, proportions, and sentences.
As the right apprehension of the hieroglyfic primitive language very much depends on a clear illustration of particles, which as sorts of compound letters, together with the primitive hieroglyfic letters, comprehend all the materials of the first universal language, the following addition is here made to what has been already published on the etymology of particles; the radicals being placed in each class before their inflections and transponents. Ab, eb, af, ef; ba, be, fa, fe. These express the generas and species, as well as causes and effects of animal life, beings, and growth of the earth and water, both male and female, as in ab-ba, eb-riety, af-ect, ef-ect, ba-by, be-an, fa-ther, fe-male, fa-ar-am-er, ba-ar-en-ess.
Ib, if, bi, fi. These are expressive of the qualities flowing from above, like the sun’s rays upon man and inferior beings, and their return of life, as in l-ib-eral, l-îf, bi-le, fi-eld.
Ub, uf, bu, fu. These are the springs or returns of the above qualities in man and other beings, as in ub-erty, h-uf, bu-d, fu-el, ub or springing upwards.