W ITH 339 ILLUSTRATIONS

T HE
D
th e L e tte rs

in H is to ry

and Im a g in a tio n

Johanna Drucker
A ny copy o f this book issued by the publisher as a paperback is sold
subject to the condition that it shall not by way o f trade or otherwise
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© 1995 Thames and Hudson Ltd, London

First paperback edition 1999

A ll Rights Reserved. N o part o f this publication may be reproduced

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0-500-28068-1

Printed and bound in Slovenia by Mladinska Knjiga

 To my Father,
Boris Drucker,
who showed me that the letters were pictures,

and

to a ll my nieces and nephews

from :

Annie,

Avery,

Buffy,

Christopher,

Dona,

Eliza,

Jessica,

Kieran,

Lauran,

M atthew,

M atthew,

Paul,

Teddy,

W hitney
to

Zachary
A ckn ow ledgm ents:

M any thanks are due to the colleagues, friends and fam ily who provided
advice on prelim inary drafts o f this manuscript: N atalie Kampen, for
ongoing commentary and discussion; D irk O bbink fo r references in the
Classical period; Andrew Gregory fo r translations from Latin and many
details; Brad Freeman for first readings; Paula Gerson for her conscien­
tious help on the medieval period; Gino Lee fo r continual counsel on the
history o f calligraphy and printing, as well as technical advice; Em ily
McVarish fo r interest in a much earlier proposal. Also thanks are due to
Bertrand Augst and Tony Dubovsky under whose generous sponsorship
and support the original research for this project was first undertaken at
the University o f C alifornia at Berkeley in 1980. M arc Treib provided addi­
tional support at that time. Julian Boyd provided references and advice on
sections concerned w ith the late Renaissance, particularly the w ork o f
John W ilkins. M uch appreciation to Robin M iddleton, through whose
machinations this book became more than a proposal. Finally, affectionate
thanks to Jane and Boris Drucker for their enthusiasm and careful reading
o f various portions o f the draft manuscript.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

I T H E ALPHABET IN C O N T E X T
U

II O R IG IN S A N D H IS T O R IA N S
*Z

III T H E ALPHABET IN CLASSICAL HISTORY,

P H ILO S O P H Y A N D D IV IN A T IO N
49
IV G N O S T IC IS M , H E R M E T IC IS M , N E O -P L A T O N IS M
A N D N E O -P Y T H A G O R E A N ISM: T H E ALP H A B E T IN
T H E H E L LE N IS T IC A N D EARLY C H R IS T IA N ERA
72

V CALLIG RAPHY, A L C H E M Y A N D ARS

C O M B 1N A T O R IA IN T H E M E D IE V A L PER IO D
93
VI . T H E KABBALAH
lz9
V II R A T IO N A L IZ IN G T H E ALPHABET:
C O N S T R U C T IO N , REAL C H A R A C T E R A N D
P H IL O S O P H IC A L LANGUAGES IN T H E
RENAISSANCE
*59
V III T H E SO C IAL C O N T R A C T, P R IM IT IV IS M A N D
N A T IO N A L IS M : T H E ALPHABET IN T H E 18T H
C E N TU R Y
199

IX T H E ALPHABET IN T H E 19T H CEN TU RY:

A D V E R T IS IN G , V ISIBLE SPEECH A N D NARRATIVES
OF H IS T O R Y
*39
X 20T H CENTURY: ECLECTIC ISM , T E C H N O L O G Y
A N D T H E ID IO S Y N C R A T IC IM A G IN A T IO N
*79

NOTES
309

B IB LIO G R A P H Y
3U

IN D E X
316
The Pergamon disk
From the invention o f letters the machinations o f the
human heart began to operate; falsity and error daily
increased; litig a tio n and prisons had th e ir beginnings,
as also specious and a rtfu l language, which causes so
much confusion in the w orld. It was on these accounts
that the shades o f the departed wept at night. But, on
the other hand, from the invention o f letters all polite
intercourse and music proceeded and reason and jus­
tice were made manifest; the relations o f life were
defined, and laws were fixed; governors had a lasting
rule to refer to; scholars had authorities to venerate;
the historian, the mathem atician, the astronomer, can
do nothing w ith o u t letters. Were there not letters to
give proof o f passing events, the shades m ight weep at
noonday as well as night and the heavens rain down
blood, fo r tra d ition m ight affirm what she pleased, so
that the letters have done much more good than evil;
and as a token o f the good, heaven rained down ripe
grain the day that they were first invented.

Henry N oel Humphreys

The O rigin and Progress o f the A rt o f Writing, 1853
I

THE ALPHABET IN CONTEXT

In some form or other the letters we recognize as the alphabet have been in
continuous use for more than three thousand years. Currently, the alpha­
bet is more widespread than any other system o f w ritten language. A fu ll
account o f its origin and development has only been pieced together dur­
ing the 20th century, and the obscurity o f this history through the many
centuries o f its use has fostered much speculation about the origin and
symbolic value o f the letters. Thus, in addition to serving as an efficient
means o f representing many spoken languages, the alphabet has also
served as a set o f symbols whose distinct visual characteristics have pro­
voked a plenitude o f imaginative projections. These symbolic interpreta­
tions o f the visual forms o f the letters o f the alphabet provide a rich record
o f cultural history and ideas which interweave the domains o f philosophy
and religion, mysticism and magic, linguistics and humanistic inquiry. The
investigation o f alphabet symbolism forms the central focus o f this study,
but a few parameters and terms must be defined before proceeding w ith
discussion o f that m aterial.
First it is im portant to define the term alphabet and understand the
characteristics which distinguish the alphabet from other forms o f w riting.
Secondly, the concept o f alphabet symbolism, or the interpretation o f the
alphabet as a symbolic form , needs clear demarcation. Finally, a brief out­
line o f other w ritin g systems which are non-alphabetic in nature provides
a context w ithin which the alphabet can be appreciated.
The basic principle o f alphabetic w ritin g is to represent a single sound
o f a spoken language by a single letter. This phonetic w ritin g system is at
best an approxim ation. The orthography o f English, fo r instance, is notor­
iously plagued by inconsistencies and peculiarities which generations o f
reformers and pedagogues have struggled to correct. But while w ritten
forms are continually changing and evolving, never more rapidly than
under the influence o f computers, the tenacity o f the alphabet bespeaks its
im portant place w ith in human culture. W hile there are many examples o f
the invention o f w ritten signs used to mark ownership, record agricultural
cycles, make accounts and chart astronomical events, it is the phonetic
principle which is the unique characteristic o f the alphabet. N o other w rit­
ing system has the capacity to represent the. sounds o f spoken language
w ith such efficient and adaptable means.
In addition to serving as the means to record speech or ideas in w rit­
ing, the letters o f the alphabet also constitute a set o f visual symbols.
These shapes and features have played a part in the decipherment o f their
history and transmission and have inspired imaginative interpretations
o f their apparent or hidden meanings. To engage w ith the history o f
symbolic values attached to the visual form o f the letters requires charting
 two parallel histories: one, attitudes toward the function o f language, and
the other the concept o f the symbol.
Language has conventionally been considered an instrum ent o f com­
munication. W riting is generally considered a more or less adequate
means o f transcribing language so that it may serve its communicative
function. But throughout history, the letters o f the alphabet have occa­
sioned imaginative speculation about the possible hidden value o f their
visual form . In oracular and ritu a l practices, mystic and kabbalistic doc­
trine, Gnostic and humanistic beliefs, the letters have been considered as
fundamental elements o f the cosmos, or o f divine or human knowledge.
The attributes o f their visual forms have been assigned values which
extend far beyond their capacity to function as the orthography (mere
spelling or spoken sound) and instead have allowed them to be construed
as indices o f the most profound mysteries o f the universe. W hile most o f
the historical symbolic values attached to letter forms in these interpreta­
tions would be discounted by contemporary scholars, the history o f such
conceptions provides a fascinating insight into the history o f ideas. The
interpretation o f the letter V as produced by the oracle at Delphi and
detailed in a record by Plutarch may have little to te ll us about the concrete
historical lineage o f the fifth letter o f our alphabet but serves to reveal
much about Greek concepts o f symbolic form .
As w ritten forms, the letters o f the alphabet have been used for cen­
turies in the production o f w ritten and printed documents. M any visually
inventive versions o f letter forms have been produced, and as a device for
the arrangement o f pictorial elements, the alphabet has enjoyed the atten­
tion o f calligraphic artists, type designers, and mystics. I shall not dwell
extensively here on alphabet use that is purely decorative in nature, or
attaches no extra meaning or value to the character o f the letters, or gives
no insight into intellectual thought. Instead, the focus o f this study has
been on the interpretation o f the alphabet as a symbolic m atrix whose let­
ters are assumed to encode in their visual shape the history o f their o ri­
gins, o f some fundamental cosmological or philosophical tru th , or some
mystic or ritu a l power. This research moves far afield from the domain o f
archaeological debate and linguistic inquiry, into the realm o f im agination
and philosophical speculation, but the framework for understanding these
symbolic interpretations must be established in the history o f the serious
and systematic inquiry into the actual origin o f the alphabet.
Fewer than a dozen instances o f the invention o f w ritin g are recorded
in human history. O f these, most occurred in and around the ancient Near
East: cuneiform in Sumer (3100 BC - all dates given here are general),
Proto-Elamite (3000 BC), H ittite hieroglyphics (1500 BC), Egyptian hiero­
glyphics (3000 BC), and the Cretan-M inoan pictographic and linear
scripts (2000 BC, but w ith a considerably earlier date for the carved seals
from which they are derived). O f other ancient w ritin g systems, including
the glyphs o f pre-Columbian America (the earliest examples date to
300 AD ), Indus valley scripts (2000 BC), Easter Island proto-w riting and
 The Alphabet in Context

other miscellaneous attempts o f brief duration, only Chinese characters

have survived into contemporary use.
The alphabet was probably invented between 1700 and 1500 BC by
speakers o f a Semitic language in the geographic area which serves as a
bridge between the ancient civilizations o f Mesopotamia and Egypt. The
term Semitic dates from the 18th century AD, when it was derived by
European scholars from the name Shem, one o f the sons o f Noah, to refer
to the group o f languages o f which Arabic and Hebrew are now the best-
known living examples. C ontrary to popular usage, it does not describe an
ethnic, racial or cultural group, but a linguistic fam ily whose members
dominated the region between the Sinai to the south, through the area
known as the Levant along the coast o f the Mediterranean, north through
present-day Syria and Asia M inor, and east to the mouth o f the T igris and
Euphrates valley. (There are exceptions, and the region was not linguisti­
cally homogenous; the Persians spoke an Indo-European language, for
instance, as did the H ittites).
The people who occupied this region were known as Canaanites, after
the biblical designation o f ancient Palestine as the land o f Canaan. The
term Canaanite is rather loosely used, but conventionally includes the
Phoenicians, early Hebrews, and the Semitic-speaking people o f Palestine.
In philological terms, Canaanite indicates one o f the two main branches
o f the northwestern Semitic language, o f which the other is Aramaic. Both
branches were represented by early alphabets. The Phoenicians, who were
responsible for the stabilization and spread o f the alphabet, were a
Canaanite group who spoke a Semitic language, occupied the coastal
regions, and had extensive m aritim e trade routes throughout the
Mediterranean between 1300 and 900 BC.
In company w ith Chinese characters, which made their first appear­
ance in N o rth China around 1700 BC, the alphabet provides the forms by
which all living languages are w ritten. Alm ost w ithout exception, every
V k
A% 8 l l w
existing w ritin g system derives from one or the other o f these sources. A ll
■
« iff VMl/i A other w ritten forms have disappeared either under the influence o f cultural
exchange, colonization, assim ilation, or linguistic evolution. Thus all
H1 ■' 5
f* ft alphabetic w riting, whether C yrillic, Devanagari, Arabic, Hebrew, Latin,
t % it Is 1
$# Greek, Tibetan, Javanese or Bengali, or any o f the many other alphabetic
forms, derives from a common source in the Sinai in the second m illenni­
f Bt' Gifts' um BC. The non-alphabetic Chinese characters provide the w ritten forms
m Kv >" for the rest o f the w orld’s languages, beginning w ith the Tibeto-Chinese
f H ijs* I t. ■- A S
language fo r which they were invented.
In spite o f the vast variety in contemporary visual appearance which is
the result o f centuries o f specialized adaptation, all alphabetic forms share
a ^ z m i the same origin and possess sim ilar structural properties: they consist o f
Fanciful version o f the origin of about tw enty-four to th irty signs used to represent the sounds o f spoken
Chinese characters (Karl language. The record o f this single point o f origin, the borrowing of
Faulman, llfu strirte Geschichte Egyptian characters to compose a system o f notation adequate for the
derS chrift, Leipzig, 1880) linguistically (and culturally) distinct peoples o f the ancient Near East,
was partially preserved in biblical and classical literature, and the history
o f debates on the origins o f the alphabet forms the subject o f the follow ing
chapter.
It was in large part efficiency and economy o f means which distin­
guished the early alphabet from non-alphabetic scripts. W ith a very lim it­
ed number o f w ritten signs, alphabetic w ritin g can be used to represent
almost any spoken language. Languages o f the Semitic language group
were the first to be w ritten in alphabetic form , particularly those in use in
the Sinai peninsula, along the litto ra l extending up through present day
Israel, Lebanon and Syria to Asia M inor, and through areas o f ancient
Palestine. But the alphabet proved readily adaptable to Indo-European and
other languages, and contacts first brought about through the systematic
invasions o f the Levant by tribes from the N orth and East beginning in the
late 13th and early 12th centuries BC promoted rapid spread o f this w rit­
ing system and the first adaptations o f these letter forms to non-Semitic
languages. The alphabet is now used to w rite all the many branches o f
Indo-European languages - Romance languages, Germanic, Balkan,
Slavic, Indian and Indonesian, as well as the Finno-Hungarian languages,
and can be used to transliterate unrelated linguistic groups, such as East
Asian languages, as well. In many cases such adaptations were fostered by
the zealous dedication o f Christian missionaries - the G othic alphabet
invented in the 3rd century AD by the Bishop W ulfila being one o f the first
such examples — or by trade and commercial interests. The current exten­
sion o f alphabetic scripts being effected by electronic media and the rela­
tive efficiency o f the alphabetic keyboard is only the latest in a long series
o f such diffusions.
W hile the alphabet is phonetic in nature, this is not true o f all other
w ritten language. W riting systems - to proceed to the third o f my points
outlined above - may also be logographic, in which case the w ritten sign
represents a single word, or ideographic, in which ideas or concepts are
represented directly in the form o f glyphs or characters. The Chinese lan­
guage was long believed to belong to this latter category, as were Egyptian
hieroglyphics, though in fact both systems combine phonetic and logo-
graphic modes, w ith an occasional ideographic sign. The alphabet and
many o f the cuneiform and pictographic scripts in use in Mesopotamia
and the Mediterranean were syllabic; they made use o f a single sign to rep­
resent combinations o f consonant/vowel or vowel/consonant. A syllabary
generally consists o f many dozens o f signs, and is thus more clumsy and
complex ,than an alphabetic system. Completely ideographic scripts do
not exist, though many proto-w riting systems are based on ideographic
principles which bypass the representation o f language or linguistic struc­
tures in order to record complex thoughts in visual form . Such ideograph­
ic w ritings occur in cultures which have neither developed nor seemed to
require a w ritten language, though attempts to invent purely ideographic
w ritin g systems have been made. In particular, such inventions were a
m ajor passion o f philosophers o f the 17th century when such polymaths
 The Alphabet in Context

Bishop John Wilkins's philo­

sophical script (John Wilkins,
An Essay Towards a Real
Character and Philosophical
Language, London, 1668) S rH 0* n .8 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
0 0 1 H -, * ^ A-s 1 c rp /
O ur Parent who art in Heaven, T h y Name be Hallowed, T hy
12 13 14 1$ 16 17 18 192021 22 23 24 2$ 26
o • « u y /L ' 4 A / 4 - ,
Kingdome come. T h y W ill be done, fo in E arth as in Heaven, G ive

28£HJ) 272829 3031 32

w .. £ •• rJ }_ |
33
j
34 35 36 37 383940 41 42 43
v • 0 W j
c to u$ on this day our bread expedient and forgive us our trefpaQTes as
17x S) * 44 45 4647 48 495<> 51 52 535455 56 57 58
o ... ••• ° ^ u> , - * L ,^ H " i
" ill *u r we forgive them who trefpafs agaioft us» and lead us not in to
-nr? “ x t 59 606162 63 64 65 60 67 68 69 70
uxi / <z ** „ r / J«§J » '
" xA " x i tem ptation, b ut deliver us from e v il, fo r the Kingdome and the
*1^ - x t X
71 72 73 74 7576 77 78 79 * 0.
“ x -£=£ -►f* 0f< UU, , / LAJ o a. L tf q j t i^
Power and the G lory is thioe, fo r ever and ever, AmcQ.So be it.
»| *)J X X Eeea i . C ~\)
-
as the Bishop John W ilkins proposed their own idiosyncratic inventions.
“ IS x
W ilkins’s intention was to organize all human knowledge into a single log­
” ^
X X ical hierarchy and then to invent a w ritten character capable o f communi­
cating this knowledge directly to the eye. Inspired in part by a misunder­
• X
standing o f the nature o f hieroglyphic signs, such experiments provide
considerable revelations about the concepts o f symbolism and basic
premises o f human knowledge assumed by their designers. Contemporary
42x [ r 1 designers, such as Adrian Frutiger, continue to search for such universal
visual symbols.
Minoan pictographs (Arthur J. W hile these basic categories —phonetic, syllabic, logographic and ideo­
Evans, Scripta M inoa, Oxford, graphic - describe the relations between units o f w ritin g and units o f
1909) The first column shows speech or language, they provide no description o f the nature o f the w rit­
signs engraved on signets, the ten forms used for each mode. A script may be pictographic —comprised
second inscribed on clay tablets o f a set o f pictorial elements whose visual form is recognizable as an
or sealings. X indicates that image such as a standing figure, an animal, a tool or a plant which stands
there are no examples in th a t for the depicted object, or linear, schematic sets o f arbitrary symbols.
category Either script may also be used to represent abstract categories such as
The Alphabet in Context
Narmer Palette, early instance o f
hieroglyphics (Cairo Museum)
religious beliefs, legal constraints, or emotional responses, which do not
lend themselves readily to direct depiction. Pictographic scripts have the
disadvantage that they tend to be labor intensive and require considerable
training and manual skill. This problem was ingeniously resolved by the
M inoans who created punches or stamps o f the almost 150 sign/images
which they used when w ritin g in wet clay or soft materials (they also used
the same signs, however, when incising metal or w ritin g w ith ink).
Pictographic scripts have historically served as the antecedent to more sim­
plified forms, the linear scripts whose visual elements are more reduced
and schematic, more in keeping w ith the ‘laziness o f the hand’ remarked
on by many historians o f w ritin g in accounting for the widespread success
o f alphabetic forms. But there is no determining sequence according to
which pictographic scripts must necessarily evolve into linear ones, or lin ­
ear ones be based on pictographic originals, though the latter case is
borne out by archaeological evidence in all known instances:
Sumero/Babylonian/Akkadian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics and
their increasingly linear cursive hieratic and demotic forms, Chinese char­
acters and even the alphabet, all have derived their schematic forms from
pictographic originals.
The prim ary evidence used in investigating any w ritten script is,
inevitably, its visual form . Such investigation must account, first o f all, for
the shapes o f the letters, their orientation, the directional sequence o f the
w riting, and the materials and media in which the w ritin g is produced. In
dating epigraphic inscriptions (on stone or other hard material) or paleo­
graphic artifacts (w riting w ith ink on papyrus, cloth or other soft sur­
faces), the archaeological context provided by an excavation site may be
used to determine the date o f a sample as well as its function.
O f particular use in dating and distinguishing among alphabetic
scripts is the manner in which they notate vowels. U garit cuneiform, an
alphabetic script, and early examples o f proto-Sinaitic alphabetic forms,
notated only a few vowel sounds. Other transform ations o f the alphabet
note almost none, and the scripts derived from the Greek adaptation have
a more replete vowel notation system. Such distinctions may be used to
chart the point at which an alphabetic system was transm itted or modified
in adaptation from an earlier form . A dditional factors to be considered in
dating epigraphic evidence are the substantive content o f w ritten samples
as well as the linguistic structure. W hile much o f early non-alphabetic
cuneiform in Assyria and Babylonia was used for records o f trade and
transactions, the early U garitic texts from 1400 BC record myths and leg­
ends in literary form . Cretan documents and M inoan pictographs record
tax and ta riff regulations while the Greek inscriptions on jugs and cups
dating to the 8th century BC are poetic paeans to athletes and dancers.
Two early w ritin g systems, the cuneiform o f the ancient Near East and
the hieratic form o f Egyptian hieroglyphics, figure prom inently in the pre­
history o f the alphabet. But other w ritin g forms have vanished entirely,
suffering the fate o f an oblivion so deep that several o f them have yet to be
 The Alphabet in Context

deciphered. Before outlining in detail the history o f the alphabet’s develop­

ment, and o f the conceptual premises on which that history has been
based, it seems useful to provide a context by describing the origins o f
other w ritin g systems. A t least one o f these, the Egyptian hieroglyphics,
had a history spanning nearly three thousand years’, and various forms o f
cuneiform persisted nearly as long, so that the chronological span o f their
use rivals that o f the alphabet.
M ost o f these non-alphabetic w ritin g forms had unique origins, and in
only a few cases is there evidence to indicate direct influence o f idea or
form fo r their invention. Egyptian hieroglyphics, which appear as early as
3000 BC, provide scarce evidence o f their prehistory. The signs evolved
into well-form ed and complex elements o f hieroglyphic w ritin g , and
archaeological evidence such as the well-known Narm er palette (dated at
2900 BC) provide testimony o f an already-formed graphic style. The few
earlier pot-scratchings and incised marks found in the region bear little
relation to the pictographic elements of hieroglyphic characters, whose
origin is s till unknown. Egyptian hieroglyphics were used almost
unchanged, at least w ith respect to their visual form , throughout the near­
ly three thousand years o f their function. But two other forms o f w riting,
both versions o f hieroglyphics modified for easier production, were also
developed: the hieratic and demotic scripts. The hieratic retains, in cursive
form , many o f the pictorial elements o f the hieroglyphs, but demotic
(invented after contact w ith the Greeks was already considerably devel­
oped) is so linear a form that its relation to hieroglyphics is structural and
linguistic rather than visual. The decipherment o f Egyptian hieroglyphics
through the efforts o f Thomas Young, Alexander Sayce and, finally, Jean-
Frangois Cham pollion, put to rest many centuries o f m ythic symbolism
and esoteric knowledge attributed to the hieroglyphic characters. But the
concept o f the hieroglyph as an arcane and enigmatic sign continues in the
popular im agination in the very use o f the word as a suggestive term.
Cuneiform script, which competes w ith Egyptian hieroglyphs for the
claim to be the first form o f w riting, was invented sometime Between 3500
and 3100 BC in Sumer. The Sumerians spoke a language o f uncertain o ri­
gin and the earliest documents produced in script were entirely picto­
graphic. A more linear form o f w riting, the first cuneiform (wedge-shaped
or ‘n a il-w ritin g ’) developed by the Sumerians was adopted by the
Babylonians and then the Assyrians, both Semitic speaking, in a system o f
about 750 signs (only about 300 o f which were in general use) close to
2500 BC. Cuneiform remained in use into the C hristian era, though
employed at that time only by priests and scholars. The period o f greatest
use was in the Babylonian period o f Hammurabi (between 1725 and 1680
BC) and at the height o f the Assyrian empire in the 9th to 7th centuries
BC. W riting was used in these cultures for a wide variety o f purposes, and
the texts are concerned w ith law and medicine, magic, astrology, astro­
nomy, literature and many other rapidly developing fields o f human
knowledge.
The Alphabet in Context

The H ittites, who spoke an Indo-European language and had a flo u r­

ishing civilization in northern Syria and Asia M in o r in the 3rd through 1st
m illennium BC, invented a hieroglyphic w ritin g system o f their own
around 1500 BC. They also borrowed the cuneiform script o f the neigh­
boring Akkadians, but their hieroglyphic system, used u n til their civiliza­
tion was conquered and absorbed after 600 BC, comprised approximately
400 signs which were not employed by any other people.
Similarly, several script systems on the island o f Crete, which may have
had their original inspiration from the idea o f w ritin g observed in contact
w ith the Egyptians, share nothing either visually or linguistically w ith the
hieroglyphics. The earliest o f these Cretan forms are tw o pictographic
scripts which developed around the palace at Knossos in 2000 BC, appar­
ently followed chronologically by two linear forms, A and B, which are
unrelated to each other. O f these, only Linear B (first developed around
1400 BC) has been deciphered, and that relatively recently by Michael
Ventris. Ventris demonstrated that the script recorded an archaic form o f
the Greek language but w ith characters whose origins seem to have been
indigenous to Crete. The earlier pictographic and Linear A scripts do not
record the Greek language, and they have not, as yet, been successfully
deciphered. The use o f Linear B fo r about two hundred years before the
final destruction o f M inoan civilization around 1100 BC (some four thou­
sand clay tablets were preserved by their accidental firin g in the blaze
which destroyed the palace at Knossos) indicates that Greek adm inistra­
tors or rulers dominated the affairs at the M inoan capital in that period.
Linear B was used m ainly for keeping palace accounts o f transactions,
trade, and inventories. These M inoan scripts spread as far as mainland
Greece and possibly Cyprus, but their influence was lim ited both geo­
graphically and chronologically.
The C ypriot syllabary shows the distinct visual characteristics o f the
Cretan scripts, and may have been brought to Cyprus around 1400 BC by
the Mycenaeans. This script was used to record a non-Greek language and
was clearly m odified to record a different tongue.

Mayan glyphs (S.G. Morley, The

inscriptions a t Copan,
Washington, D.C., 1920)
 The Alphabet in Context

Another seemingly independent invention also occurred in the Indus

valley in the period around 2500 BC. Whether created in contact w ith
other cultures who had their own w ritin g system or from some individual
inspiration, this script also vanished w ithout development and the docu­
ments in this language also have yet to be deciphered.
There were several other spontaneous inventions o f w ritten language:
the Mayan glyphs o f pre-Columbian America, which were copied and
transformed by Toltec, Aztec and other peoples in that region, and the
rongo-rongo script o f Easter Island. This latter system has an unknown
origin and linguistic function, and the earliest extant examples date from
about 1000 AD. Spanish conquerors’ destruction o f the cultures, codices,
and monuments in the region of Central America in which the pre-
Columbian cultures had developed terminated any development which
m ight have occurred subsequently in those w ritin g forms.
But the Chinese characters, the second most widespread and persistent
form o f w ritin g , were adapted to many Asian languages and cultures -
some o f which had as little in common w ith Chinese as Semitic and Indo-
European civilizations had w ith each other. The Japanese for instance,
adopted a fu ll set o f Chinese characters known as kanji to indicate proper
nouns and concepts, then a phonetic cursive hiragarta to indicate sounds,
and finally a printed form katakana which could be used fo r translitera­
tion. Classical Chinese characters are s till used in linguistically indepen­
dent cultures, such as Korea, for form al documents. Each o f these w ritin g
systems has a rich lineage o f symbolic interpretations attached to the tra­
ditional forms o f its elements which could serve as the basis o f a full-scale
contribution to the history o f ideas and human culture.
However, the scope o f my project is necessarily lim ited. Even w ithin
the Western tradition in which the alphabet has succeeded in sustaining its
unique place as the m ajor w ritin g system, there are many aspects o f its
form and use which w ill not be discussed here. For example, the entire his­
tory o f Islamic calligraphy is filled w ith innovative visual investigations o f
the symbolic value o f sacred and poetic texts.1 The Arabic alphabet is very
close to the Hebrew alphabet, and they have a common root in the
Aramaic scripts invented in the first m illennium BC. Both Hebrew and
Arabic scripts have a history w ith in the mainstream o f Western European
culture, w ith their most significant reentry into intellectual life occurring
at various moments from the M iddle Ages through the Renaissance and
again in the 18th and 19th centuries among secular and religious scholars.
The only excuse I can offer for not attending to the rich tradition o f
Arabic calligraphy, and its equally rich history o f symbolic interpretations
o f letter forms and visual language, is the most banal: lack o f linguistic
expertise on my part and the need to set a lim it, somewhere, in the scope
o f this research. Likewise, I have not attended to the history o f the many
Indian scripts, or those modified in their diffusion through Asia, A frica
and other areas o f the w orld whose script forms share a common origin
w ith the modern European alphabet.
The Alphabet in Context

Pentateuch, Hebrew micrography,

1290 by Moses o f Ebermannstadt,
Bavaria (Det Kongelige Bibliotek,
Copenhagen, Cod. Hebr. XI)

There are other traditions whose visually intriguing character make

them likely candidates fo r inclusion which have not, again, found their
place in this study. The guiding criterion I have used is to include those
topics which combine the visual form w ith a symbolic interpretation o f a
mystical, imaginative, religious, historical or otherwise culturally signifi­
cant character. I therefore pay less attention to those practices which are
more strictly decorative in nature, or which have a more purely visual
emphasis. One such tradition is that o f Hebrew micrographic w riting. An
invention o f the late M iddle Ages, the technique involved the use o f hand­
w ritten Hebrew letters o f miniscule dimensions to weave a decorative bor­
der around an image. This micrographic w ritin g inscribed a text, gener­
ally a portion o f scripture, which was them atically complementary to the
 The Alphabet in Context

central presentation. This technique was used into the 19th and 20th cen­
turies in portraits and works o f a more secular nature where the image
involved was often composed out o f micrographic w riting.
Finally, I have not attempted to deal w ith issues o f literacy, o f reading,
or o f the impact o f electronic forms o f media upon the conventions o f the
printed document. Contemporary life is more saturated w ith signs, letters,
language in visual form than that o f any previous epoch - T-shirts, b ill­
boards, electronic marquis, neon signs, mass produced p rin t media - all
are part o f the visible landscape o f daily life, especially in urban Western
culture. M y decision was to remain involved w ith a textual tradition, to
examine the body of literature w ithin which the history and historio­
graphy o f the alphabet has been established and transm itted, rather than
to examine the role o f w ritin g in the culture more broadly considered.
Ultim ately, this book is concerned m ainly w ith the symbolic attributions
and interpretations attached to what may be termed the Western
European alphabet. So let us turn our attention to the chronology o f the
discovery of its origins and development before tracing the concepts o f
alphabet symbolism through the course o f human history and tradition.
 II
ORIGINS AND HISTORIANS

A complete account o f the origins o f the alphabet may never be pieced

together from the potsherds, fragments o f stone tablets and other artifacts
dating back to the Bronze Age civilizations o f the ancient M iddle and
Near East. But the desire to understand those origins remains a com­
pelling impetus to contemporary scholars, as it has been through the
many centuries o f the alphabet’s existence. The texts which record that
search reveal a wide range o f premises on which such histories have been
conceived, as well as yielding a wealth o f factual or putative inform ation
about the history o f the alphabet.
One o f the first historians to w rite about the history o f the grammata
or stoicheia, as the letters were called in his tim e, was the Greek historian
Herodotus. W riting in the 5th century BC about the source o f the alpha­
bet, he described a process o f fa irly straightforward cultural borrowing:
‘The Phoenicians who came w ith Cadmus ... introduced into Greece, after
their settlement o f the country, a number o f accomplishments, o f which
the most im portant was w riting, an art till then, I think, unknown to the
Greeks. A t first they used the same characters as all the other Phoenicians,
but as time went on, and they changed their language, they also changed
the shape o f their letters.’1
Plato, however, linked the Phoenician letters to an earlier source
among the Egyptians, and attributed the invention to their god Thoth.
Plato also recorded the legend o f the Egyptian king Thamus’ mixed
response to the g ift, which he fe lt m ight contribute as much to forgetful­
ness as to remembrance by allow ing human memory the luxury o f fa llib il­
22 ity. The two m ajor themes introduced by these Greek w riters, that of
cross-cultural borrowing and o f a divine origin, dominated the history o f
alphabet studies up through the 19th century.2 From the earliest period o f
human history the sheer variety ^pf scripts provided ample evidence for
analysis o f the development and transform ation o f w ritten language, but
the power o f w ritin g was such that it seemed too profound an invention to
have been the product o f mere human effort. A ll early proposals for the
origins o f the alphabet revolved around the notion o f a divine g ift. In
Jewish accounts, different forms o f the letters were supposedly given by
God to Adam in the Garden, or to Abraham when he left Chaldaea, or to
Moses on M ount Sinai. In Islam ic tradition, they are supposed to have
^ £ 0 ^ 7 1 3 8 been given by A llah to Adam, but denied to the angels, while in India leg­
h h z v h d g b a

end ascribes the origins o f w ritin g to Ganesh, the elephant-faced god o f

aa s n m 1 k i th
wisdom, who broke o ff a tusk and used it as a pen. Such explanations are
» jjn ? j j
t sch r q ts p offered as late as 1799, when the exhaustive encyclopedist o f alphabets and
Chaldean alphabet (Edmund Fry, typefaces Edmund Fry recorded them in his Pantographia (London, 1799)
Pantographia, London, 1799) w ith no ironic inflection whatsoever.
 Origins and Historians

On the one hand the ingenious character o f the alphabet made it seem
too perfect, too simple and too complete to have been invented by mere
m ortals, and the tendency o f Western historians from biblical times
onward had been to assign ultim ate responsibility for all knowledge to a
divine source. On the other hand, scholars intent on researching the o ri­
gins o f the alphabet were hampered by unsystematic archaeological evi­
dence and lack o f specialized knowledge o f the evolution o f languages in
the ancient Near East. By the end o f the 19th century, however, the con­
scientious chroniclers o f alphabet history, Isaac Taylor and Philippe Berger
both commented (w ith a note o f regret) that the tim e had passed in which
one could seek a single origin for the alphabet or expect to find that it had
been a divine gift.
The testimony provided by classical and biblical texts remained the
prim ary source for inform ation about the origins o f most forms o f w ritin g
u n til the Renaissance; in the case of the alphabet, this situation remained
unchanged u n til the 19th century. Among the Greeks, Herodotus’ com­
ments on the Phoenician Cadmus found an echo in the later w ritings o f
Diodorus Siculus, who referred to the Phoenicians as the Pelasgi, or wan­
derers. Pliny, in the first century AD, asserted that the use o f letters was
eternal, and that the antiquity o f this practice extended fa r beyond what
he called ‘authentic history’. If Pliny were placing history in a relativist
perspective, then he was correct, since the Egyptian system o f hieroglyphic
w ritin g extended several thousand years back into antiquity to a period
much beyond any memory o f Greek civilization. It is far more likely that
Pliny was simply falling back on a form ulaic solution to a d iffic u lt prob­
lem. Plato, w ritin g some four centuries earlier on the symbolic value o f the
letters o f the alphabet, neither provided nor invoked real historical evi­
dence. The dialogue in Cratylus, as w ill be evident in later discussion, is
philosophical and speculative in character. Such speculations remained the
norm in medieval and early Renaissance periods, when the visual evidence
provided by the letters themselves was the sole source for inform ation
about their history and invention. In the O ld Testament, w ritin g is first
mentioned in association w ith Moses. W hile there is no discussion o f w rit­
ing in Genesis, there are numerous passages in Exodus which refer to the
tablets o f the Ten Commandments: ‘I w ill give thee tables o f stone, a law,
and commandments which I have w ritten.’ Also: ‘The tables were the
work o f God and the w ritin g was the w ritin g o f God.’ W ithout contradic­
tory evidence (or m otivation) to dispute such attribution, the status o f
biblical texts as historical tru th went unquestioned.3
As a visual form , the alphabet faced s tiff com petition from Egyptian
hieroglyphics, and later, Chinese characters in their capacity to exercise
fascination as visual symbols. The pictorial quality o f the hieroglyphics
combined w ith their reputedly enigmatic function to provoke all manner
o f imaginative interpretation. Access to their functional operation as a
linguistic form was not understood u n til the discovery o f the Rosetta
Stone during French occupation resulted in the successful efforts at
decipherment by Jean-Fran^ois Cham pollion in the early 19th century. (It
subsequently fell into English hands.) The letters o f the alphabet seemed
fam iliar and unexciting by contrast. To some extent, however, it was such
intercultural contacts which sparked the imaginative investigations which
led to both the scientific investigation o f the development o f w ritten
forms, and also to the speculative projections which produce symbolic
interpretation. It was in part Plato’s contact w ith the priests o f Ptolemaic
Egypt, who had turned the early hieroglyphic w ritin g from a system for
monumental public inscriptions into an esoteric practice during the period
o f Greek dom ination, which instigated his own investigation into the
character o f the Greek letter forms. But in Western tradition the very term
hieroglyph virtu a lly defines the concept o f a potent visual image, one
whose linguistic value is far exceeded by its symbolic resonance. The
concept o f the hieroglyph was a central theme in the Corpus Herm eticum,
w ritings produced in the 2nd and 3rd centuries o f the Christian era, which
combined C hristian Gnosticism and arcane mysticism in a doctrine which
claimed descent from the figure o f Hermes Trismegistus, the Hellenized
image o f the Egyptian god T hoth.4
Such references would be irrelevant to later studies o f the alphabet if it
were not for the fact that in many cases these w ritings contained the
framework through which the letters could be interpreted as visual
symbols as well as instruments o f linguistic use. Thus Clement o f
Alexandria’s exegesis on symbology, Stromates, containing his efforts to
grapple w ith the nature o f the hieroglyphic form , outlined the structural
principles by which a symbol could be related to its meaning (such as
synecdoche, metaphor, and metonymy). The influence o f Clement’s text
stretched well into the 18th century in the w ritings o f such scholars as
L.D. Nelme and Rowland Jones whose interpretations o f the alphabet
derive part o f their intellectual structure from the 3rd-century Stromates.
Similarly, the influential Hieroglyphics o f H orapollo, w ritten in the 4th or
5th century AD, and com bining a distinctly Greek point o f view w ith a
smattering o f knowledge o f the Egyptian language and culture, became a
m ajor influence when the manuscript was discovered in the 15th century.
M ost im portant fo r the history o f alphabet studies, H orapollo’s
Hieroglyphics was taken up by early typographers and printers, such as
Geoffrey Tory and Aldus M anutius, whose extrapolation o f the
hieroglyphic tradition led to investigation o f the symbolic properties o f
letters.5 But these investigations were all concerned w ith symbolism, w ith
the interpretation o f visual forms as a means o f gaining m oral or theologi­
cal knowledge, not w ith tracing the history o f w ritten language. The idea
that the alphabet had a history, beyond that o f Adam in Eden, Moses at
Sinai, or Cadmus on his trade routes through the Mediterranean, is a con­
cept which only comes to m aturity in the 19th-century obsession w ith
origins.
If hieroglyphics inspired all manner o f symbolic interpretation from
the point o f the Greeks’ first awareness o f their existence, the cuneiform

Babylonian cuneiform
The Behistun monument, as first
recorded by its discoverer,
Sir Henry Rawlinson, in 1835
Origins and Historians
scripts o f the ancient Near East had far less o f an im pact on Western
thought. Neither ancient nor medieval scholars demonstrate any aware­
ness o f the cuneiform scripts o f Sumer, Babylonia and Akkadia; there is no
mention o f the ‘nail letters’ (the literal meaning o f cuneiform) in either
classical or biblical literature. The cultures in the T igris and Euphrates
valley who had been most successful in their development o f cuneiform
scripts had ceased to dominate the region before the tim e o f their contact
w ith the Greeks, although there were cuneiform scripts in use along the
northern regions o f the coast on which the Phoenicians traded and in
Mesopotamia as late as the 1st century AD. Even though the monumental
Persian inscriptions at Persepolis and Behistun were never completely
buried or destroyed it was not u n til 1604 that an emissary o f the pope,
Pietro della Valle, made prelim inary drawings o f the Behistun monument.
This can be seen as an effective demonstration o f cuneiform ’s in ability to
assert seductive power on the basis o f visual mystery.6 The 17th century,
however, was a period o f rapid expansion in linguistic and archaeological
knowledge, as well as an era in which things charged w ith the exoticism o f
ancient or other cultures found particularly eager reception among
European scholars. Cuneiform , hieroglyphics, and Chinese characters -
w ith the latter two linked by vague and veiled connections - began to
enjoy a certain vogue as objects which m ight provide insight into the his­
tory o f human thought and ideas as well as into the foreign language o f
other cultures. Historians o f the alphabet would later reap the benefits o f
this interest, since any understanding o f its development would depend
upon a thorough knowledge o f so-called oriental languages - Persian,
Coptic and Hebrew - whose study was promoted as a means to analyse
hieroglyphic and cuneiform texts.
 The emphasis upon visual evidence as the prim ary means o f access to
the history o f w ritin g and the alphabet shifted w ith the 19th century deci­
pherment o f Egyptian hieroglyphics. Once it was realized that the means
o f understanding these distinctly visual forms was through their connec­
tion to the sound o f the ancient Egyptian language, the power o f visual
characters as a coded form o f inform ation declined. If that most visual o f
all w ritten forms, the hieroglyph, was comprehensible only because it
served to transcribe sounds or words, then the letters, mundane and unin­
triguing by contrast, could hardly be granted symbolic power or bear his­
torical inform ation through merely visual means. Visual forms could and
would be used for the basis o f script comparison, a practice which is s till a
m ajor tool in the study o f epigraphy, but the image would no longer be
granted the metaphoric status o f a key to unlock hidden mysteries.
Certain perceptive scholars knowledgeable about the Jewish religion, such
as W illiam W arburton, whose D ivine Legation o f Moses was a m ajor
18th-century treatise on religion, faith and the differences between
Christian and Jewish teachings, pointed out in his analysis o f the typolo­
gies o f language and w ritin g that Moses would have refrained from using
symbolic images or m odifying any pictorial forms in accord w ith the com­
mandment prohibiting graven images.
The 19th-century confluence o f linguistic and archaeological methods
resulted in several discoveries which are pivotal to the investigation o f
alphabet history. One o f the m ajor obstacles to progress in establishing the
history o f the alphabet was that the authority o f the classical texts which
asserted a Phoenician source went undisputed, and yet the identity o f the
Phoenicians themselves remained unclear. The Phoenicians were held in
high esteem in the early part o f the 19th century, and were considered to
be the source o f culture, inventions and significant advances in the fields of
technical knowledge which they had passed on to the Greeks, among
others, along w ith the alphabet. There was no evidence whatsoever on
which to lin k the alphabet w ith the Egyptian w ritin g systems, afid the
operative assumption even among classical and Semitist epigraphists was
that the alphabet had been invented independently o f any other w ritten
form . In 1853, for instance, the Encyclopedia Britannica entry on the
alphabet asserted that it was impossible to trace the origins o f the alpha­
bet, and that therefore ‘we must ascribe it, w ith the Rabbins, who are pre­
pared w ith authenticated copies o f the characters they used, and o f those
o f Seth, Enoch and Noah, to the first man, Adam; ... or we must adm it
that it was not a human, but a divine invention.’ This entry, cited by Isaac
Taylor in his authoritative w ork on the alphabet, was a fam iliar solution
to the problem o f origins, but Taylor presented it as ‘curiously antiquated’
given the rapid changes occurring in the field.7
As the field o f epigraphy became more firm ly established w ith land­
mark publications in the first h alf o f the 19th century, relations between
the Greek alphabet and its Semitic antecedents began to be defined in
judgmental terms which claimed marked superiority fo r the Greeks on the

Phoenician inscription (Wilhelm
Gesenius, Scripturae Linguaquae
Phoeniciae M onum enta, Leipzig,
1837)
Origins and Historians
basis o f their clearly notated vowels. The two branches o f epigraphic study
were separated by more than the geographic specificity o f the regions to
which their studies assigned them; debates on methods of dating, and of
the relative merits o f the two versions o f the alphabet began to take form.
The distinctions between an alphabet w ith notated vowels and w ithout,
and the debates it has engendered, remain one o f the more intense areas o f
scholarly contest in contemporary alphabet studies. By the end o f the 19th
century, however, alphabet scholarship had established a solid basis in
philological analysis of language form and development aided by archae­
ological evidence. In many ways the gulf which separates Edmund Fry’s
1799 publication and the comprehensive assessment o f alphabet research
published by Philippe Berger in 1892 is w ider than any opened in the two
previous m illennia. There is a m ajor conceptual distinction between Fry’s
eclectic gathering o f typefaces, legends and m ythology and Berger’s cau­
tiously circumscribed account, the result o f a 19th-century approach to
epigraphic research which took the natural sciences as its model.
The date o f Fry’s publication coincides w ith the discovery of the
Rosetta Stone. The breakthrough in understanding the Egyptian language
and the linguistic operation o f the hieroglyphs had profound effects on
research into the origins o f the alphabet. Before the decipherment o f
Egyptian hieroglyphics, and their related cursive forms o f hieratic and
demotic, there had been no reason to look to Egyptian sources for the
alphabetic letters. It had been so deeply ingrained in Western thought that
the w ritin g systems were grounded on fundamentally distinct principles,
that only the clear evidence that there was a phonetic basis fo r at least a
significant portion o f the hieroglyphs provided the impetus to look for a
lin k o f some kind. Up u n til that point, the efforts o f classicists in tracing
the development o f Greek w ritin g had never reached beyond the
Phoenician letters and their immediate Semitic antecedents. On the basis
o f both classical authorities and visual sim ilarities, the Phoenicians were 27
s till considered the single original source for all later alphabetic develop­
ment. There had been neither artifacts nor linguistic evidence on which
proto-alphabetic letter forms could be traced.
Greek and Latin epigraphy and paleography were prom inent scholarly
fields in the early 19th century. An exhaustive attempt to publish all
known examples o f Greek inscriptions had been initiated by the classicist
August Bockh in 1828 in Berlin (this project, now known as the
Inscriptiones Graecae is s till underway).8 Though Greek epigraphy was
firm ly established, questions about the earliest origins o f the pre-Greek
letter form s remained unasked. Semitic epigraphy had also gained a firm
foundation during the same period, largely through the efforts o f W ilhelm
Gesenius, who published and deciphered the fu ll corpus o f known exam­
ples o f Phoenician w ritin g in 1837. Gesenius’ w ork remained a major
source fo r understanding the extent o f Phoenician culture and influence in
the ancient Near East and West throughout most o f the century, and par­
ticipated in the general high estimation in which Phoenician culture was
Origins and Historians

held as an influence on the Greeks, but his actual knowledge o f the

Coins w ith Phoenician letters
(William Gesenius, Scripturae
Linguaquae Phoeniciae
M onum enta, Leipzig, 1837)
Phoenician language was fragmentary and undeveloped. These publishing
projects were supplemented by new archaeological evidence o f Phoenician
expansion to Cyprus, Crete, the Greek islands and mainland as well as
increasingly detailed understanding o f the various waves o f
invasion and m igration which changed the p olitical geography o f these
regions in the same period in which alphabet diffusion had occurred.
Meanwhile, scholarship in the early development o f the alphabet in the
Levant advanced w ith the investigation o f ancient Semitic languages and
im portant archaeological discoveries. The M oabite stone, or stele o f King
Mesha, found in Dhiban in 1868, seemed to preserve an archaic form pre­
dating the Phoenician letters. The sarcophagus o f Eshmunazar, the king o f
Sidon, inscribed bowls from Lebanon and other objects began to provide
enough evidence to suggest that the development o f the alphabet had been
extensive both chronologically and geographically before the Phoenicians
had diffused it along their trade routes.
(m tu/uiortj' rccentiorc.r H jYumitlicae.

•> )k . . X A ..A A ...\ ___ ....

.. .3 %.. - )_) J- -
A 11 A .1.2.. _____
__5_IL_L
jd a z a

. v ... 7 1 .1 3 .2 ..
. T... I..Z , I . I......
n .. . & re N H N H h | ))) )» v »
'c.._ __ :______ __________ 7>r t j u
H \). tr i.
$ ) ...<iL . I L L J L j L - Z J L
'3. u / / / I t
5 ... .7. 7
. . V) )■
o . !j T . & % T - ____ -
■y i o o 0 .® 3.
5 n 2 )

.... V 1" \ - V-
Chart o f Phoenician letters y r x ^ sn . if,ti,. ---------
(William Gesenius, Scripturae j 1 77 7 „ 221 i ® ..+ r —
Linguaquae Phoeniciae Oh ) Hi H W H ^ U u ).S U ..W LJ V 7) 2 /l\.. .
M onum enta, Leipzig, 1837) t y f A f f l h ._ .t_

Title page of Prisse d’Avennes,
(Le Papyrus, Paris, 1847)
Portrait o f Prisse (Prisse
d'Avennes, Le Papyrus, Paris, 1847)
Origins and Historians
In his 1845 publication, The One Primeval Language, Charles Forster
had proposed that there was a lin k to be found between the old Semitic
w ritings and those o f the Egyptians. W hile Forster’s methods in part
depended on his desire to unify the entire history o f human culture in a
single point o f origin, and thus reconcile the scriptures and modern histor­
ical knowledge, he was shrewd enough to w ork from another more evident
fact. The geographic proxim ity o f the Semitic w ritings and the Egyptian
culture w ith its well-developed hieroglyphic script suggested to him an
obvious point o f influence and transmission. Examining evidence from
Wadi M okatteb and Djebal M okatteb, a valley and mountain in the Sinai,
Forster promoted the idea o f an ancient Semitic script. He remained puz­
zled, having inadequate means o f dating, at what he thought was the co-
temporaneous existence o f two different scripts. If the Jews were using an
Egyptian-influenced w ritin g when they were wandering in the desert, then
Forster was at a loss to account for the separate existence o f scriptural
Hebrew. Forster must have been aware o f the five hundred years which sep­
arated the date o f the Sinai inscriptions and the period o f Moses’ wander­
ings, since the date o f the exodus is set at around 1250 BC and the period
o f the Hebrews’ m igration into Egypt is recorded in the O ld Testament
five centuries earlier. (In fact, the scriptural Hebrew to which Forster
referred was o f a later date than either of these events, but he would have
had no m aterial from which to make comparisons or draw conclusions.)
The original and much celebrated work o f Emmanuel de Rouge, first
read before the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres in 1859,
brought solid credibility to the suggestion o f an Egyptian origin for what
Rouge referred to as the Phoenician alphabet. Rouge’s work was first pub­
lished posthumously in 1874 through the efforts o f his son, who
bemoaned the long delay. It seems the original manuscript o f the 1859 talk
had somehow disappeared in the course o f being circulated among inter­
ested scholars, and though Rouge had intended to rewrite it, it was on the 2,9
basis o f a rough draft found in his deceased father’s notes that his son
brought the final publication into being.
Rouge grounded his propositions in a more thorough understanding o f
the relations between Egyptian w riting, the sounds o f the Egyptian lan­
guage, and the possible application to the Semitic languages than any
previous scholar. Though he was essentially speculating, he constructed a
probable (but ultim ately inaccurate) set o f correspondences, between
alphabetic letters and Egyptian hieroglyphs, and his w ork set the direction
for subsequent research. Rouge systematically analysed the phonetic
values o f the hieratic cursive form o f the Egyptian hieroglyphics and
compared them to the phonetic values o f Semitic languages. The visual
samples o f hieratic script from which he worked were provided through
the discovery o f three papyri which were w ritten in an older form o f
hieratic than any known previously. The most famous o f these, known as
the Papyrus Prisse after its owner, was published in facsimile in 1847. This
early hieratic contained barely a trace o f the pictorial forms o f the
Origins and Historians

Facsimile o f papyrus (Prisse

d'Avennes, Le Papyrus, Paris, 1847)

hieroglyphs, and it was their distinctive schematic form from which Rouge
was able to obtain the characters he suggested were the prototypes o f the
Semitic letters. This particular set o f correspondences, mapped in a table
comparing the Egyptian hieratic w ith Phoenician and Greek forms, was
based entirely on correlations o f sound values. For the sounds represented
by the twenty-two characters o f the Phoenician alphabet, Rouge found
hieroglyphic and hieratic signs, to which the forms o f the schematic
Phoenician letters were supposed to bear a strong visual resemblance, thus
bearing out the connection o f phonetic value. In Rouge’s table, the hiero­
glyphic picture value fo r the sound ‘a’ was indicated w ith an eagle, w ith
the schematic hieratic form next to it, followed by the fam iliar Phoenician
‘A’ in its shifted orientation. Rough’s sound values may have correlated, but
/»w the visual sources he had chosen were wrong - that same ‘A’ would eventu­
ally be linked to the ox-head and its name ‘aleph.’ This absence o f visual
£ c L V
sim ilarity between Egyptian sources and alphabetic letters was pointed
> 7 V to out by his critics, but in general Rouge’s theories met w ith wide accep­
-T 3 tance. Though his specific speculations have been largely disproved, the
>
principle on which Rouge worked and his prim ary assertion that the
% > M t>
Phoenician alphabet had an Egyptian origin were both suggestive, and
? o 0 Q y have been developed further by 20th-century partisans o f this position. In
addition, an im portant concept had its germ ination here: the idea o f the
? n 5)
> ?
pictorial origin o f the schematic letter forms o f the alphabet.
r * h > - if The introduction to Rouge’s published w ork was addressed to Frangois

A r 9 P Lenormant in acknowledgment o f his subsequent w ork in the field.

Between Rouge’s 1859 paper and the 1873 publication the im portant dis­
\ 4 'I
covery o f the M oabite stone had occurred at Dhiban. Lenormant had used
w w i V this object as the means to construct what he believed was an ancient form
%

r / t T
Part o f the Egypto-Phoenician
alphabet, according to
Emmanuel de Roug6 (De Roug6,
M em oire sur I'orig in e
Egyptienne de I'alphabet
Phoenicienne, Paris, 1874)
jn
o f the Phoenician alphabet. Though the M oabite stone is now dated to the
9th century BC (and its script identified as part o f an early branch o f the
Canaanite alphabet o f which Phoenician is another) the antiquity o f the
alphabet had begun to be pushed back beyond the assumed point o f its
transmission to the Greeks in the 11th century BC. This intensified the rift
between Semitist and classical epigraphers: Lenormant wrongly insisted
that o f the many alphabetic forms derived from the Phoenician, Greek was
the oldest, while other scholars were convinced o f the greater antiquity of
 Origins and Historians

scriptural Hebrew. But it was becoming apparent that to accommodate the

many variations in the form o f Semitic scripts a more complex model o f
an older proto-alphabet would have to be developed. Issues such as the
direction o f alphabetic w ritin g and the sequence o f letters o f the alphabet
were not considered by Lenormant, who sim ply did not have the materials
on which to make such assessments. Script comparison o f the external
form o f the letters remained the prim ary means o f dating alphabets and
tracing their relations, but the analysis o f internal forms, the relations o f
letters to phonetic values, became an additional tool. The model o f the
tree diagram, w ith its obvious 19th-century a ffinity w ith the organic
image o f evolution as linear, progressive and continually divergent came to
the fore. Though criticized by 20th-century scholars as reductive, such
charts s till provide a useful means o f schematizing alphabet development.
Moabite Stone, Louvre The m ajor figure in alphabet history in the late 19th century was Isaac
Taylor. H is two-volume publication on the subject in 1899 (and Philippe
Berger’s equally conscientious, if less exhaustive publication in 1892) sum­
marized the considerable research on the topic. Taylor’s w ork, to which
greater consideration w ill be given here in acknowledgment o f its greater
breadth and originality, supported the image o f Phoenician m aritim e
expansion as the means o f alphabet transmission, and assessed the devel­
opments in theories o f the Egyptian origins. Taylor stated at the outset the
clear superiority he accorded alphabetic w ritin g over that o f other scripts,
whose com plexity led to the ‘degeneration o f religion into magic, know­
ledge into superstition, and the increased caste separation o f the learned
rulers from their unlettered subjects.’ By contrast, a civilization which
adopted alphabetic w ritin g was capable o f unlim ited progress. Taylor’s
language contained many metaphors o f fam ily - the early letter forms
were in their ‘infancy’ he characterized his w ork as a continual search to
establish the ‘paternity’ and ‘lineage’ o f forms.
Taylor was evidently convinced by Rough’s arguments (he only briefly 31
mentioned Lenormant) though he was careful to discuss the objections
and criticism s which had been raised about positing relations* between the
sounds o f Egyptian and Semitic languages. On the basis o f Rouge’s pro­
posals, he constructed a chart showing what he considered to be the
derivation o f the modern European letter ‘m’. The resulting genealogy,
fictitious in its roots, and ultim ately incorrect as an explanation o f the
transform ation o f this letter, was accompanied by an equally imaginative
discussion in the text. Taylor took his point o f departure from the
M oabite stone, which was, at the time, the oldest known example o f
Semitic w riting. Taylor unhesitatingly (and correctly) identified an early
long-tailed form o f ‘m’, or mem, in that inscription, which he then con­
nected ‘w ithout d iffic u lty ’ to the hieratic prototype, a schematic form o f
the hieroglyph m ulak, whose visual form was the figure o f an owl. He pro­
ceeded to elaborate on the visual sim ilarities, comparing the hieroglyphic
* sign to the capital letter ‘M ’, and pointing out that ‘the two peaks [o f the
letter], which are the lineal descendants o f the tw o ears o f the owl, s till
Origins and Historians

retain between them a not inapt representation o f the beak, while the first
o f the vertical strokes represents the breast. In the script form ‘m’, the cen­
tra l hanger stands for the beak, on either side o f which are seen the two
curves which represent the ears.’ Taylor’s method o f arriving at these
detailed conclusions combined sheer daring w ith careful observation in
accord w ith state-of-the-art scholarship. He fell into the m ajor p itfa ll of
such research: the highly schematic forms o f the alphabet can be made to
correspond w ith a nearly endless variety o f more complex pictorial
images, and thus, seem to be ‘derived* from them. Since he had phonetic
correspondences as a basis, Taylor inferred the visual correspondences. As
in the case o f his predecessor Rouge, this led, as much by accident as
method, to his being correct for only two out o f twenty-two values in his
tables.
Egyptian

Phoenician

i
Greek Samaritan Aramean Sabean
M !3 f> ^1
_J___________________ I L
1 1
Roman Runic Coptic Estranghelo Hebrew Old Indian Ethlopic
M 0 S on
M ** *
1 | !
1
English Anglo Saxon Syriac Tam il Tibetan Burmese
m 0) IQ Q
I 1 |
1. 1 1
Zend Mongolian Old .Airabic Sanskrit Javanese
Derivation o f the letter M
9 0 <L>'
according to Isaac Taylor (The
1--------------- i 1 1 I
Alphabet, London, 1883) Georgian Armenian Manchu Modern Arabic Gujerati
9 U 3 •* >1

This blend o f careful research and imaginative invention was character­

istic o f Taylor, who in keeping w ith his contemporary colleagues was
prone to shift between biblical, classical and contemporary texts, quoted
the 1st century historian Josephus alongside passages from Exodus and
the work o f 18th- and 19th-century historians - w ithout any apparent
change o f register. Inevitably, this diverse field o f sources led to mixed
results. Taylor’s attem pt to be exhaustive produced contradictions w ithin
his text. W hile on the one hand he cited and endorsed Rouge’s work
asserting Egyptian origins, he included another chart which listed the
Hebrew alphabet as if there were no connection between the two. In the
second chart the names and phonetic values o f the letters were juxtaposed,
showing their acrophonic relation. The question o f whether such names
and objects were merely a mnemonic device fo r learning the alphabet and
therefore utterly arbitrary was answered in the affirm ative by Taylor, who
had no reason to forge further links between the letters o f the Hebrew
alphabet and the objects represented by their names. It is significant that
while Taylor listed the ‘names’ o f the letters he never gave the correct visu­
al image - the only ‘form s’ he placed in the chart were the square modern
Hebrew letters —letters even more remote from the pictorial origins o f the
 Origins and Historians

alphabet than the Greek forms. To support the hypothesis o f the arbitrary
character o f the Semitic names o f the letters, he quoted a child­
ren’s nursery rhyme as a parallel example. According to Taylor the rela­
tions proposed in ‘A was an Archer who shot at a frog, B was a Butcher
who had a great dog, etc.’ were as credible as the equation
<A=aleph=oxhead’. But the techniques which had helped Rouge make such
profound progress in his w ork also furthered Taylor’s research —the sys­
tematic analysis o f the sounds o f the Egyptian language in phonetic terms
and an investigation o f the correlation between these sounds, the sounds
o f Semitic languages, and their representation by w ritten signs. The alpha­
bet was coming out o f its isolation and gradually being connected to the
historical context o f cultural developments in the geographic region of its
invention.

LA TE R
EGYPTIAN. SEMITIC. EQ UIVALEN TS.

Hebrew.
G reek.
Phoenician.
g
Values. H ie ro g lyp h ic. H ie ra tic.
1

a eagle * A A K 1
k £
~0 crane B B 3 2
5
k 's ) throne G **"Z« 2 f 7 A r C 2 S

t (d) hand < s A A A D 1 4

h mteander E E n 6
ra to m

f cerastes v 1 V F 6

2 duck •x . X Z ? 7
& t
sieve © 3 0 & * H H n 8
$ (th) tongs 'G S b © 0 ... tD 9
i parallels \\ y 1 1 > 10
Jc bowl K K 11

I lioness c I A l ’ 12

m owl 'I M M D 13

n water /WX/WN N N 2 14
1
s chairback H X D 16

a o o 0 V 16

P shutter I 7 n P D 17

f (ts) snake /■*• ... 18

’l f
...
<1 angle £ Q P 19

r mouth <=> p R n 20

inundated
s (sh) garden m w z S w 21
Affiliation o f Egyptian and %
Semitic alphabets (Isaac Taylor, t lasso T T r\ 22
} $ f X +
The Alphabet, London, 1883) i. ii. in. iy. y. vr. VIT.
Origins and Historians

Standard 1
Alphabet. |
M issionary
Notations.
a

A lphabet.

Vulgate.
Glossic.

A rabic.
Usual
§ I 4 a
I: l

|
|
1 I aye
Alcph K a, e, ’a 9 9 9 9 e, a a, e, (o) 1
(Vj °)
0 (_>
Beth a b

Giniel g *y
ji
d $ •>
Daleth T

He n h h •(h) h H h h h, a a. (o») M 8
OVy <0,
Van i v,w ,u u W V V V V o,u, V 0, u
J
0, V

Zayin ? z ... s z z, (zz) z, (sd) t(» « )

J
Cheth n ch, kh X 'A kh kh ch ch (ch) ch(e,h,a) X(e,a) c

Teth to t, t i t , <t t t' t’ t,tt t r l»

Yod y, i, j i y y J j i j. (e>i) j, i, e h Vi« S

k

k, kh c,ch, (cc) k. y
Kaph ch, c "■) A, <ss)
(c, oh)
Lamed b 1 A J
Mem & m r

N un n p
d

Samekh D s s f 6 s s 8 s s <r U-
7 , 0 ,0
' 9 6 a, g, e,ah g. h. a
'A yin V V 7 ’h 8 a gh (i, o, u) e, ee, o i V
e, e, ee £
Pe & p ,p h 7T, <p
z,
TssCde V ts, s, 9 s ‘s s z f (zz, ss, t) s, (t, ss) *•(? ) u°

Qoph
p q. q’ q q ‘k K k q k (c,kk) c (c h ,k ) K
i5
Resh r P
<T
Shin sh, s, s 3 s (‘y) sh sh sch sch 6 h (s,ss) s (ss, t)
Transliteration o f Semitic letters ( o-O-jt ) u**
(Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, Tau n ty th r, 0 O
i
1
London, 1883)

There are other im portant historians and theorists o f the alphabet

renowned in the 19th century such as Philippe Berger (whose history of
w ritin g was composed as part o f an 1889 exhibition o f w ork and industry)
and Henry Noel Humphreys, but the fields o f research on which alphabet
history drew were rapidly becoming so specialized that m ajor synthetic
works o f Taylor’s type ceased to be produced. The next set o f im portant
discoveries were made by archaeologists; these rapidly rendered the textual
evidence o f antiquity if not precisely obsolete, at least o f secondary im por­
tance in alphabet studies. Noted Semitist epigraphists such as G.A. Cook
and M ark Lidzbarski laid the authoritative groundwork for modern
Phoenician epigraphy w ith their turn-of-the-century publications.
But soon the discoveries made by W .M. Flinders Petrie in 1904-5 at an
archaeological site in the Sinai unearthed evidence o f an Egyptian origin
 Origins and Historians

o f the Sem itic alphabet. The site was older than the sites in which
Phoenician and Hebrew inscriptions had been found, and the evidence
inspired new directions in alphabet studies. Petrie was excavating an area
in w hich turquoise and copper mines had been active around 1700 BC. He
found a series o f inscriptions in caves, m ine entrances and temples w hich
had obvious visible links to hieroglyphics and yet were dem onstrable
examples o f a Sem itic, n ot E gyptian, language. Petrie’s discovery had
other im p lica tio ns, since the num ber o f elements contained in his signary
(his term ) exceeded the num ber contained in the alphabet used by the
Phoenicians. He proposed th a t this signary had been diffused around the
area o f the M editerranean coast and trade routes, and th a t it o nly became
reduced and fixed in fo rm at a later date. He believed, fo r instance, th at
both the Greek alphabet and the Phoenician alphabet had been form ed
independently from this w idely used signary. The m aterials w hich resulted
from Petrie’s research proved more viable than his own in te rp re ta tio n o f
them and provided the basis fo r investigating an early source fo r the
alphabet, one w hich preceded the Phoenician dissem ination, and w hich
extended the period in w hich both developm ent and transm ission had
occurred.
A decade afte r Petrie’s o rig in a l discoveries, A lan G ardiner proposed
th a t at least one w ord in the Sinai inscriptions could be read. T his contra­
dicted Petrie’s n o tio n th a t they were m erely crude pre-alphabetic signs.
G ardiner read the Sem itic name o f the goddess B ia t (or ‘Ba’a la t’), the
‘mistress o f turquoise’ know n to the Egyptians as H athor, in a num ber o f
the a rtifa cts found in the Sinai site. Though he could n ot establish w ith
clear a u th o rity the phonetic value, or even the stable visual fo rm o f the
rest o f the signs in the S inaitic in scrip tio n , G ardiner was convinced by a
num ber o f factors th a t th is was the prototype o f a ll the alphabets: it had
h isto rica l p rio rity , was visua lly related to both hieroglyphics and later
alphabetic form s, and he was convinced it recorded a Sem itic script.
G ardiner’s position was taken up by a num ber o f other scholars. G odfrey
D river, fo r instance, determ ined th at the alphabetic character o f Petrie’s
so-called signary was w ell established in this early period in the Sinai.
D rive r found evidence th a t this alphabetic order was su fficien tly fixed to
serve as a guide fo r workm en in the consecutive assembly o f b u ild in g ele­
ments. The idea o f the S inaitic o rig in o f the alphabet found a strong p ro ­
ponent in F.W. A lb rig h t, w hich continues to be prom oted by his student
Frank Cross, both o f whom supported the archaeological evidence w ith
careful lin g u istic research. There are challenges to this theory, however,
and the geographically dispersed archaeological evidence fro m the Levant
continues to challenge epigraphists and scholars in th e ir search fo r the o ri­
gins o f the alphabet.
One technical p o in t, however, should be made before going on to the
outline o f the history o f the alphabet as it is currently understood.
Changes in p rin tin g and the techniques o f image reproduction have had an
enorm ous im pact on the study and p ub lica tion o f research in the field o f
Origins and Historians
Sinai inscription (l)b'lt (British
Museum, London)
epigraphy. In his in tro d u ctio n Isaac T aylor bemoaned the expense o f the
p ub lica tion on the h isto ry o f the alphabet occasioned in large p a rt by the
unavailab ility o f p rin tin g types to serve the purpose o f representing the
many scripts he was describing. T aylo r’s com plaints indicate ju st how fa r
epigraphic research had outstripped the com m ercial return to be made by
creating p rin tin g types fo r little -k n o w n and barely available versions o f
w ritte n scripts. The m ajor im petus to the cu ttin g and founding o f such
types had come from either co lo nia l expansion o r m issionary proselytiza-
tio n (or some com bination o f the tw o) and there was little to be gained in
either dom ain by cu ttin g types to represent an e xtin ct language o f a long
vanished culture o f the ancient N ear East.
There are several sites w hich compete fo r claim s to having fostered
development o f the proto-alphabet in the period between 1700 and 1500
BC. The oldest and to m any scholars m ost convincing evidence is th at
fro m the Sinai, from the extensive m aterials gathered in the excavations at
Serabit El-Khadem w hich were the source o f the inscriptions from which
Flinders Petrie composed his o rig in a l signary. There are, however, both
visual and lin g u istic reasons to suggest th a t the process o f alphabet form a­
tio n may have occurred in several other locations at m ore o r less the same
period and under influences besides th a t o f E gyptian hieroglyphs. There
are fo u r m ain areas in w hich m aterials have been found w hich indicate
early stages o f alphabet fo rm a tion . The furthe st n o rth o f these is the area
near present-day Ras Shamra in Syria (the site o f the ancient c ity o f
U g a rit); the second is at the site o f the ancient Phoenician p o rt o f Byblos,
 Origins and Historians

on the coast o f present-day Lebanon; the th ird is in ancient Palestine; and

finally, the area o f the mines in the Sinai peninsula. The evidence fo r each
o f these w ill be examined in tu rn , but a note about the languages o f the
region is a necessary prelim inary.

Map of region of the The chief language type o f the ancient N ear East was Sem itic, and rep­
Mediterranean in which the resented by several m ajor branches: A kkadian in the M esopotam ian valley, 37
alphabet was developed Aram aic in Syria and upper M esopotam ia, Canaanite (Phoenician), old
Hebrew, A rabic (which is the m ain fo rm in use in m odern'tim es), and
other less dom inant branches such as A m haric, the Sem itic language o f
E thiopia. Remnants o f early Aram aic are s till found in parts o f Turkey and
Iraq and in to the Caucasus region.9 C ontem porary Hebrew is a modern
revival o f a branch o f the Aram aic language used in the Persian empire,
and has little relation to the ancient Hebrew (s till preserved by the
Sam aritan sect as a ritu a lis tic w ritte n language). W hile the alphabet was
firs t used and m odified by the Sem itic speakers, it was, as m ost w ritin g s,
adaptable to other languages. Just as the Akkadians had borrowed th e ir
cuneiform from the non-Sem itic speakers o f Sumer, and the Semites
appropriated the w ritte n marks o f the Egyptian language, so the alphabet­
ic form s w ould find ready reception among the 12th to 9th century BC
invaders from the n o rth and east who spoke m ainly Indo-European lan­
guages. The chief d iffic u lty in such transm ission is the n o ta tio n o f sounds
w hich do n o t exist in the language from w hich the script is borrowed. The
Origins and Historians

m ost extreme example o f th is is perhaps the 19th-century invention o f the

Cherokee script by C hief Sequoyah, who m erely used the alphabet as he
m ight have any other set o f w ritte n marks and a rb itra rily assigned them
the values o f sounds in the Cherokee language. M ore modest adaptations
have been a feature o f alphabet dissem ination throughout the last three
thousand years, and many alphabets, such as E thiopian, C y rillic and the
Runic fu th a rk added a dd itio na l letters to accommodate sounds specific to
those languages. O ld English incorporated at least tw o letters from Runic,
the th o rn and wen, w hich were later dropped as the L a tin alphabet

D a R T i * 0 0> u
e

5- g» K ?e
y g» A go J
S'*

ov ha ? he hi V ho r hu
w la / le p li G lo H lu

** ma Of me H mi 5 mo •y mu
9 na A ne h ni Z no % nu
T gwe T gwi • V * gwo c2) gvu
9 sa 4 h si so v> su
u da £ de 4 di A do s du
A dla L die CJ dli <0- dlo • r dlu

G dzt V dze h* dzi fC dzo dzu

Go JV we © O s
wa wi WO wu
<£>
y»
4 ye y* R yo GT
ytt
X. •• E I* Jr u >4 lo 0 - no
O S°
S R SO (T® do
P dig CP dzo
e w6 3 y°»♦ S> ka tr hni G nah
Cherokee syllabary signs w X a
invented by Chief Sequoyah
5 ta te ti JC tla
 Origins and Historians

became the accepted standard.10 However, a ll the early alphabets o f the

Levant were invented to record Sem itic languages, and they are structural­
ly w ell-suited to these languages. The term s Canaanite and pro to-
Canaanite are used to describe the early alphabet, w ith the assum ption
th a t the various transform ations in the w ritte n system a ll derived from one
basic source.
The arguments fo r a S inaitic invention are supported by the age o f the
archaeological site and the correspondences which have been made
between the visual system o f letters and the sounds o f the Sem itic lan­
guage.11 C erta in ly the conditions were favorable to fostering development
o f a phonetic scrip t by borrow ing both the form s and concept o f w ritin g
from the Egyptians. The inscriptions discovered by Flinders Petrie and
subsequent scholars were hybrids o f the know n examples o f Egyptian
hie ra tic signs and later Sem itic scripts. The language in w hich they were
w ritte n was clearly Sem itic, n o t Egyptian, and the people w orking in this
region, the Seirites (know n as Kenite or M id ian ites in the Bible) were a
pre-H ebrew group whose culture gave no h in t o f Yahweh o r o f Jewish re li­
gious practices (the beginnings o f w hich are dated much later, to the 12th
o r 13th century BC). The character o f the inscriptions w ould give them an
early date, even if they were n o t so firm ly linked to the archaeological site:
they do n o t have a fixed directio n , they move from rig h t to le ft and vice
versa unsystem atically, and the Seirite letter form s are crude, unstable, and
inconsistent. The premise is th a t once such features became stabilized,
they rem ained so, and since the Phoenician fo rm o f the alphabet reached
relative consistency in the 11th century BC, any system in w hich such ele­
ments are n ot fixed is generally assumed to predate the Phoenician.
NORTH SPAIN
SOUTH SPAIN

THAMUDITE

PHYLAKOPI

PHOENICIA
CYPRUS

3
SABAEA
VALUES

§5
RUNES

Ul
H-
Ul 3=
<LD
- 3 C3

A *' n ah y X a A A
■? ai
Ul v. H i. a i
£E n A > e E0
i
<19 e 4
n $ Y e ¥ ¥ iI
■
1 1 i i t J 1 i
■
I

Part of the signary which served

as source of the alphabet in
s n \ l >*1 2
Petrie's theory (W.M. Flinders o oo o o oo 0 0 0 CO
Petrie, The Formation o f the
Alphabet)
Tu a
YV YH YH
r *7 A r >
W y Y Y
** l“ l i—r n
Y1
 Origins and Historians
40
El Khadr arrowheads with early
alphabetic inscriptions (British
Museum, London)
The Sinai inscriptio ns were u ltim a te ly determ ined to contain 22 sym­
bols, and there are no notations o f vowels in the w ritin g . The practice o f
non-vocalic n o ta tio n , as it is term ed, rem ains com m on in the w ritin g o f
m odern A rabic and Hebrew, whose roots are consonantal in structure, and
only exceptionally require vowel n o ta tio n fo r clarity. One o f the chief
points o f dispute w ith regard to the Sinai inscriptio ns was th e ir readability.
D avid D iring e r, the a u th o rita tive alphabet h isto ria n , continued to state
unequivocally (as late as the revised 1968 e dition o f his definitive w ork The
A lphabet) th a t only the single name ‘B 'la t’ had ever been spelled out in
the Sinai inscriptio ns (Petrie had been m ore concerned about the fa ct that
the signs were visua lly very crude by contrast to the E gyptian sources).
A lb rig h t, however, said in 1948 th a t he had id e n tifie d 19 o ut o f the 25 or
27 S inaitic signs, and th a t the inscriptio ns were a vulgar fo rm o f
Canaanite. The connection between the signs and th e ir various sounds
was largely based, in A lb rig h t and Cross’s w ork, on the fa ct th a t the name
o f the letters and the objects depicted could be construed as the same: the
‘a=aleph=im age o f ox’s head’ concept o f the p ic to ria l o rig in o f the alpha­
bet. The signs are thus supposed to be the ‘ m issing lin k ’ between Egyptian
h ieratic and the Canaanite alphabet, but archaeological evidence is lack­
ing to support the progress from S inaitic inscriptio ns to full-fledged alpha­
bet. T his evidence was supplied in p a rt by the discovery o f five arrow ­
heads found in the m id-20th century at E l Khadr. D ated to around 1100
BC, they show evidence o f form s resem bling the Sinai pictographs midway
in an evolution to the schematic linear fo rm o f the Phoenician letters.
A ccording to Cross, these provide the evidence o f the connection between
the old Canaanite proto-alphabet o f Sinai and the Phoenician system. This
early system is also referred to as South Canaanite, and the system had
signs fo r five phonemes beyond those w hich fo rm the Phoenician script.
The question o f whether alphabets proceed fro m longer to shorter systems
has also been a subject o f debate, w ith the general consensus leaning
tow ard additions over tim e, but not elim inations. For the
Sinai/C anaanite/Phoenician theory to be fu lly proved, some evidence o f
the geographic d is trib u tio n o f the scrip t up through the regions to the
n o rth in the period between 1700 and 1500 BC m ust be discovered. W hat
seems more likely, given the current evidence, is th a t the alphabet was
being developed under a num ber o f sim ila r lin g u is tic and cross-cultural
influences sim ultaneously in several regions around the Levant, and th a t
the Sinai inscriptions provide one im p o rta n t c o n trib u tio n to the u ltim ate
consolidation o f a single w ritin g system.
Egyptian contact w ith the Sem itic people was n o t lim ite d to the Sinai,
and these inscriptions may be the ‘ m other-alphabet’ they are considered by
many scholars o r only one among several instances o f invention. The
spread o f w ritin g as both concept and specific fo rm throughout the region
stretching n o rth along the M editerranean coast resulted in fa irly rapid
diversification. A nother site o f frequent and developed contact between
Egyptians and the Phoenicians was at Byblos, where papyrus was im ported
 Origins and Historians

and tim ber, in short supply in the N ile valley, was exported. The Greeks
also had im p o rta n t contact w ith the Phoenicians at Byblos a few centuries
later, in fa ct the Greek name fo r papyrus, b ib los, w hich worked its way
in to the language as the basis o f the Greek w ord fo r book, biblion> was
taken from the name o f the Phoenician city. W orking in this region in the
1930s, the French archaeologist M aurice D unand found a num ber o f
inscriptions on bronze tablets and spatulae w hich are in a d iffe re n t fo rm o f
o ld Canaanite script. T his scrip t is term ed pseudo-hieroglyphic, but a ll the
Phoenician letters except tw o have prototypes among th e ir form s. Dunand
posited the dates o f these inscriptions as early (or even earlier) than the
Sinai inscriptions, and suggested th a t they were, sim ilarly, the product o f a
Sem itic-speaking people inventing a w ritin g system under the influence o f
the Egyptians. The arguments fo r this scrip t as the prototype o f the
Phoenician alphabet is based on geographic p ro xim ity, the d irectio n o f
w ritin g (both read from rig h t to left) and the fa ct th a t some documents
have been found w hich contained both scripts. The num ber o f signs in the
pseudo-hieroglyphic script was considerably larger in num ber than in the
Phoenician, however, and apparently constituted a syllabary. There are no
other documented instances o f reduction o f syllabary scripts to phonetic
scripts, and the structural principles on w hich they are based are su ffi­
ciently d ifferen t to make such a tra n sitio n unlikely. A gain, archaeological
evidence is not forthco m in g to trace a continuous tra n sitio n supporting
this pseudo-hieroglyphic as the o rig in a l alphabet, but w hat is quite clear is
th a t the concept and practice o f w ritin g had developed in the region w ell
before the Phoenician script consolidated.
A considerable num ber o f other early Canaanite inscriptions dating as
fa r back as the 18th century BC have been found throughout the region
near Byblos, as w ell as Gezer and Lachish. Early, m iddle and late periods
o f this Canaanite script are distinguished in inscriptions on seals, daggers,
bowls and other pottery. D avid D irin g e r pointed out th a t the dates defin­
ing these periods correspond, roughly, to the Age o f the Patriarchs (1700
BC), the Age o f Joshua (1400-1300 BC), and the Age o f'th e Judges
(13th-12th centuries BC), and th a t the lacuna corresponds to the period o f
Israelite oppression in Egypt. A ll o f these scripts are clear antecedents to
the Phoenician, and have been used to support the theory o f the S inaitic
invention o f the alphabet, w ith these Canaanite inscriptions (found
throughout the region o f ancient Palestine) fu n ctio n in g as the geographic
and chronological tra n sitio n between the pictographs and the line ar form s.
One o f the problem s w ith this suggestion is reconciling the early dates o f
the firs t o f these Canaanite inscriptions - in some cases as early o r earlier
than th e ir Sinai inscriptions - w ith a chronological development. In fact,
the earlv Canaanite inscriptions also offer strong evidence fo r the sim ulta­
neous developm ent o f several independent attem pts at alphabetic w ritin g ,
A sarcophagus in scrip tio n found near Byblos by Paul M o n te t in 1923 is
debatably the oldest o f a group o f N orth ern Sem itic examples o f the alpha­
bet. The te xt is an epitaph praising K ing A hiram , and has been dated as
Origins and Historians

early as the 13th century BC. The N o rth Sem itic alphabet is the closest
im m ediate antecedent' to the Phoenician, and other artifa cts in this script,
such as the Gezer a gricu ltu ra l calendar are found in to the firs t m illennium
BC. The direction o f the w ritin g , the fo rm , num ber and sequence o f the let­
ters a ll correspond to the Phoenician characters, though the question o f
o rigin al sources remains. There is considerable contem porary debate over
the dating o f the A hiram sarcophagus, and the discussion o f its form s is a
prom inent element in the struggles between classicists and Sem itist schol­
ars over the date o f transm ission o f the alphabet from this region to the
Greeks.12 There is strong evidence to suggest th a t the alphabet o f this
inscriptio n provided the prototypes fo r the Greek script, and th a t the date
o f transm ission was about this tim e. In th a t case, the Greek alphabet w ould
be one o f the several branches o f o rig in a l Canaanite, like Phoenician, early
Hebrew, and the much earlier offshoot o f South Sem itic alphabets.

Detail of inscription on the

tomb of King Ahiram, found in
1923.

Transcription of the Ahiram

inscriptions
S '1 x y

There was one other p o in t o f developm ent o f an alphabet in the

Levant, and th at was at U g a rit on the shores o f the M editerranean n o rth
o f Byblos where an alphabetic cuneiform was developed around 1400 BC.
C onsisting o f about th irty -tw o signs, inclu ding three vowels, tw enty-nine
consonants and one a dd itio na l sign w hich functioned as a w ord separator,
this alphabet, w hich came to be called the U g a ritic cuneiform alphabet,
was another instance o f adoption o f an extant w ritin g system by a
Sem itic-speaking people. The interna l structure o f the scrip t, and its w ell-
organized phonetic structure, suggested th a t it was a cuneiform script
adapted to a pre-existing m odel o f alphabetic w ritin g . Since the only pho­
netic w ritin g system in the region was the alphabet, this seems like ly: a ll
other cuneiform scripts were used fo r syllabaries. The U g a ritic w ritin g had
a fixed le ft to rig h t directio n , and was p u t in to use as fa r west as Cyprus as
w ell as throughout areas o f Syria/Palestine in the 13th and 12th centuries
BC. The texts o f these U g a ritic tablets are tales and m yths, and from the
series o f discoveries made there beginning in 1929, the scrip t is know n as
the Ras Shamra alphabet. The key to this alphabet was the 1948 discovery
o f an abecedary w hich uses the tra d itio n a l sequence o f the Sem itic alpha­
bet. In 1955 a b ilin g u a l tablet o f A kkadian and U g a rit cuneiform allowed
the definitive decipherm ent o f U g a rit, m aking absolutely clear its alpha­
betic character. The c ity o f U ga rit was destroyed around 1200 BC, and the
cuneiform syllabary, whose fu nctio na l efficiency was lim ite d only by the
awkwardness o f clay tablets, met its demise. In fact this issue o f m aterials
 Origins and Historians

is a significant one, since cuneiform could only be w ritte n w ith a stylus on

Gezer calendar (British Museum,
London)
wet clay, and its im ita tio n in other m aterials was awkward and ineffective.
The alphabet, by its line ar and schematic fo rm , lent its e lf to production in
in k on papyrus as readily as in inscriptions on stone, p ottery o r m etal.
A fte r its earliest development, the alphabet stabilized as a w ritin g sys­
tem in Phoenicia, around 1100 BC. The South Semitic alphabets had
already taken an independent direction around 1300 BC, possibly from the
o rig in a l Canaanite script, "these alphabets long preserved a distinctive fea­
ture o f the early script —its m ultidirectionality. From this branch developed
many pre-Islam ic scripts o f the Arabian peninsula, and the Sabaean script
w hich spread in to N o rth A frica and became the basis o f firs t E thiopic and
then m odern A m haric (s till used in the E thiopic C hristian church). These
alphabets (not to be confused w ith m odern A rabic, which developed from
a branch o f the Aram aic alphabet somewhat later) fu lly notate th e ir vowel
sounds, typ ica lly a feature o f later development, but they do so by m odify­
ing the consonantal signs w ith strokes added to the letter.

1o . * A
i. . N>- ’ a. 11 $ So , i
•?
Z. ^ >e n t U . £ h
3. S
B. ’a 13 ■W
f
U . 77 s

it .• J L & n . k 23 . 5

5 . Y 15 . 7FY I U . >-«
S ?
6 .B E .- «L 16 . *Y rr\ Sf . t

Ugarlt cuneiform alphabet
around 1400 BC
Ras Shamra alphabet (Ren6
Dussaud, Les D6couvertes de Ras
Shamra, Paris 1937)
Sabaean inscription (British
Museum, London)
A 01 u . ' S
7 7
8 . £ *> w 18 . S i: s i
7 -
*3 • 4 c es. t
3 ■
As the Phoenician alphabet stabilized, the direction o f w ritin g became
fixed in a rig h t to le ft directio n , and the sequence and o rien ta tion o f the
letters to o k on a perm anent form . It was from this Phoenician form th at
the m ajor branches o f Greek and Aram aic derived, as w ell as the less
successful o ld Hebrew and Punic form s. O ld Hebrew developed in the
11th and 10th centuries BC durin g the tim e associated in b ib lica l history
w ith D avid and Solom on; it fe ll out o f use after the fa ll o f the Temple and
Babylonian exile in the 6th century BC. Though preserved in the form o f
sect scrip t Sam aritan, o ld Hebrew was held in low esteem by the rabbini­
cal Jews who adopted a chancellery script o f the late Persian empire as the
basis o f the square Hebrew s till in use today. Too little is know n o f the
Punic form s o f the Phoenician alphabet to be clear about th e ir develop-
Origins and Historians
Page of the Pentateuch written
in Samaritan (Friderico
Uhlemanno, Institutiones
Linguae Sarmaratinae, Leipzig
1837)
m ent, and there is ongoing research in to the relations between Punic,
archaic Greek, Etruscan and other alphabets w hich made th e ir appearance
in the Greek islands o r on the Ita lia n peninsula between 1000 and 800 BC.
A p a rtic u la rly b ea utifu l Etruscan abecedary is preserved from the 8th cen­
tu ry BC, w hich shows a well-developed version o f the line ar Phoenician
alphabet - though it may have had its im m ediate source in Greek w ritin g .
•A s i i f • *
• W lA ? * : ' A f llt *
13A • (113A • IV •*«"*»«: •flQsaftt
*: «(1K3 • I7D A • i v • •^ t iA •
* : ^ • s m t* •^ c • « « iA 1 • ‘m a * «
• o fi • HXH ' ' A ffl • ti's r lA
a* • *3 d ia • ? m A • ■mou A *
•» f f lA • • W Z A • S V ^ t * : « « “ *** *
•««a a • • rnnxmi • sv^s •
* - < : * axn •
• ^ u K a a • ^ fflA a s • « « i A • a ^ A t ** •
• •: «nm •n m •5ma • • « « 'nm-s
•jura - « n 3 A t -« (iiA 3 S ' a ih ^ Q A * a a v t >
• • ^ ( Iia t • « fflA 3 S l • fflA iW il •
■S V ^ t * * 3t(J!A3S2 f " 2V2*y‘T s
•»«aa • :nia,s tux • «(HA3sa • «mA
- c ^ j a ^ A * s re ttifl • a x n • '- it n i
m a m • - ) t " * ^ A ( t i • ^ 2 A a '3 A t ** •
The m ajor o ffsp rin g o f the Canaanite source were the tw o alphabets
from w hich m ost m odern systems derived: Phoenician and Aram aic. The
alphabets to the east o f Syria were offshoots o f A ram aic, w hile the alpha­
bets to the west derived fro m the Phoenician. Aram aic (the term refers to
the w ritin g system as w ell as to the language, w hich became the dom inant
language in the N ear and M id d le East in the la tte r h a lf o f the firs t m illen­
nium BC) developed in Syria no later than the 11th century BC but
reached its greatest period o f influence durin g the Persian empire. As the
Im pe ria l A ram aic it spread w idely between the 6th century BC and the
breakup o f the Persian em pire in 332 BC and spawned fo u r m ajor branch­
es o f n ational scripts: Syriac, Nabataean (the source o f m odern Arabic,
Persian, and T urkish as w ell as Slavonic, S w ahili, M alay and many other
alphabets in use in A fric a , Asia and parts o f Europe), Palmyrene (which
lasted in to the 3rd century AD , when Palmyra was destroyed by the
Romans), and the Jewish alphabet w hich led to m odern Hebrew. A branch
 Origins and Historians

Samaritan alphabets (Friderlco

Uhlemanno, Instltutiones
I _Lifartz& LiJeeaeSam,. Liierac Sam Lilerae
Linguae Sarmaratinae, Leipzig
1 SamarH, in, incodicilus Phoenicia#
1837) [ iw lffores. code l bibl. (rothanls. sim iles.
A n
S
v >
, y T
T * S s
%: f t # 9 i %
t 9r i y
v *
h %
4>
m nr 07 n rrrf
* v
2* / L
a XX r 3
> i i h
£ %
V V
a A J
! -m * fif rO j fH
e 2 1 X
3 9
JJUL
cu m u* LU

A // H

Etruscan abecedary, (Museo

Archeologico, Florence)

which was either early Aram aic o r derived from its Canaanite prototype
spread to the non-Sem itic languages o f the Indian subcontinent by the 7th
century BC where it became the basis o f Brahm i, Devenagari, Pali and the
scripts used throughout Burm a, T ib e t, and Indonesia.
Origins and Historians

Phoenician inscriptions from 4th

century BC (British Museum,

W m 9m m
llt S lI i! ! lll« § f !

m m m

I S lS t

Aramaic inscription from the

funerary stele of a priest, 7th
century BC (Louvre, Paris)

A n active controversy in contem porary alphabet studies is the date

o f transm ission o f the Greek alphabet. O n th is p o in t hangs an intellectual
debate w hich has at its base an opposition between dating methods
o f classical and Sem itist scholars, some o f whom w ould like to disclaim
the Sem itic o rig in o f the Greek alphabet. T his debate to o k its most
extreme fo rm in the w ork o f A.E. W addell, who in 1927 published a w ork
in w hich he claim ed an A ryan o rig in fo r the alphabet. To do this he rede­
fined the racial and ethnic character o f the Phoenicians as Aryans, rather
than Semites, and fueled his discussion w ith a rabid anti-Sem itism . M ost
o f the controversy around Greek acquisition does n o t have this blatant
racist slant to it, though a persistent subtext is the concept o f a Greek
supe rio rity in the field o f w ritin g , as w ell as in its cu ltu ra l application and
use, w hich has persisted in the classical tra d itio n in Western Europe.
Since there is little archaeological evidence in Greece fo r the period
between the disappearance o f the w ritin g systems o f M inoan Crete and

Dipylon vase showing Greek
inscription dated to 8th century
BC
Origins and Historians
Mycenae, and its reappearance on the m ainland between 750 and 700 BC,
the problem shifts to the dating o f Sem itic inscriptions whose relatio n to
the Greek prototypes o f the 8th o r early 9th century BC is largely assessed
through script com parison. A long-standing com ponent o f this argum ent,
s till supported by many classicists, is the concept o f a Greek D ark Age o f
illite ra c y in the three hundred years fo llo w in g the destruction o f M inoan
and Mycenaean centers.13 W ritin g in these early cultures was largely used
fo r accounting purposes, and though the Linear B scrip t o f the latest
M inoan era recorded a Greek language, the earlier scripts have no relation
to Greek whatsoever. Tablets and records o f taxes and transactions
abound, but there are no instances o f the lite ra ry w ritin g w hich is a fea­
ture o f the firs t classical inscriptions.
The supposed supe rio rity o f the Greek alphabet has tra d itio n a lly been
asserted on the basis o f the fu ll nota tion o f vowels through independent
le tte r form s. As evidence in the U g a rit alphabet and certain Canaanite
inscriptions has revealed the presence o f various vowel notations in the
Sem itic scripts, the hard and fast d istin ctio n between the Greek fo rm and
Sem itic sources has blurred. The Greek alphabet derived d ire ctly fro m the
Phoenician, as is evident by the com parison o f letters, whose s im ila rity
leaves little doubt on this p o in t (in contrast to , fo r instance, the Etruscan,
which sometimes seems closer to the Greek form s than to the Phoenician
o riginals). Early Greek inscriptions do not have a fixed directio n , they can
be w ritte n rig h t to le ft, o r le ft to rig h t, o r in a regularly alternating
sequence know n as boustrophedon after the pattern made by a plow ing
ox. T his p o in t, com bined w ith the visual force o f scrip t com parison, sug­
gests an early date o f transm ission - one closer to 1100-1050 BC than the
9th o r 8th century BC date tra d itio n a lly assigned - since afte r this period
the Phoenician inscriptions do n o t have the v a ria b ility o f directio n seen in
the Greek inscriptions. The lack o f evidence from excavations fo r any
w ritin g in the Greek m ainland between the destruction o f Mycenaean civi- 47
liz a tio n and its syllabary in the 12th century BC and the appearance o f jug
and bow l inscriptions in the 8th o r possibly 9th century BC has le ft ample
room fo r debate. O f these latter, tw o s trik in g examples are the D ip ylo n
jug dated to around 740 BC and the so-called N estor’s cup, also dated to
the 8th century BC. These tw o objects, deemed among the oldest exam­
ples o f Greek epigraphy, though close in visual form to the Phoenician
prototypes, inscribe verse-texts o f praise to an athlete and a dancer in a
style w hich is perfectly consistent w ith the heroic classical
tra d itio n .
Through the w ork o f M a rtin Bernal, Joseph Naveh and P. Kyle
M cC arter, as w ell as a host o f other archaeologists and linguists, the gap
between early Greek classical inscriptions, archaic evidence, and the h isto­
ry o f Sem itic scripts in the Levant has been closing. It was the Western
Greek (C halcidian) alphabet which spread through Cumae in Ita ly and
thus to Europe, becoming the basis o f a ll m odern European scripts,
inclu ding those used fo r m odern English. Later inventions, such as the
Origins and Historians

C y rillic , G la g o litic, W allachian, Germ an, Runic and Roman hands all
trace th e ir origins back to the Greek. In the contem porary w orld there are
several hundred alphabets currently in use, a ll o f w hich are derivations of
the Canaanite scripts o f the o ld Sem itic language. The Greeks adopted the
Sem itic names o f the letters, though the words have no value in their
Greek form : alphay beta, and delta fo r instance merely denote the letters.

Schematic chart showing basic

lines of alphabet development

Thus the Phoenician alphabet is the direct antecedent o f the alphabets

o f Western Europe. Its transm ission to the Ita lia n peninsula remains an
obscure, and possibly an independent event. But the developm ent o f most
m odern offshoots, o f w hich the m ain branches are the Ita lic , C optic,
G othic, A rm enian and Georgian, and Slavic, are w ell documented. The
precise developm ent o f the alphabetic systems o f Runes and the Ogham
script used fo r early Iris h texts are less clearly understood.
The persistence, longevity and standardization o f the alphabetic script
is as rem arkable as the fa ct o f its diversity and adaptability, and the variety
o f visual form s w hich are invented to inscribe the alphabet has yet to be
exhausted by hum an im agination. The historiography o f alphabet
research charts a course o f increasing com plexity w ith respect to the con­
siderations necessarily taken in to account in evaluating the history o f
alphabetic w ritin g . As archaeological evidence and lin g u istic knowledge
expand the understanding o f ancient cultures, this research w ill continue
to be refined. But the focus o f this present study, w hile it relies on the same
intellectu al h isto ry in w hich research in to the origins and development o f
the alphabet has flourished, is on a counter tra d itio n , one in w hich specu­
la tio n on the value o f the visual symbols o f the letters was essentially
unfettered by allegiance to archaeological o r lin g u istic evidence, and was
instead an expression o f the hum an search fo r meaning in sym bolic form .
TH E A LP H A B E T IN C LA SS IC A L H IS TO R Y , P H IL O S O P H Y

A N D D IV IN A T IO N

Transmission and m odification o f the alphabet

In the classical period, the Greek a ttitu de tow ard the alphabet contained
elements o f h isto rica l consciousness, m ythical belief, lin g u istic analysis
and sym bolic thought. T his array o f positions is evidenced in the many
classical texts w hich attem pt to describe the origins, value, o r fu nctio n o f
the alphabet. Both the Greeks and the Romans had e x p lic it fa ith in the
perform ative efficacy o f w ritte n form s, and in later a n tiq u ity the blend o f
m ythical and m agical practices expanded to include Jewish, E gyptian and
C hristian izin g influences as w ell (as w ill be seen in the next chapter). The
alphabet was involved in a w ide range o f cu ltu ra l activities between the
5th century BC and the firs t centuries AD , but the legacy o f classicism
extends in to the 20th century. Later w rite rs m aking use o f classical
m ythology d id n o t always ground th e ir w ork in the texts o f this earlier
period and often granted themselves considerable la titu d e in interpretin g
the classical tra d itio n . T his chapter focuses on the discussion o f the alpha­
bet and its h isto ry as it was m anifest in a ntiquity, w ith some indications o f
classical themes taken up in later h istory and sym bolism .
C urrent debates about the precise h isto rica l m om ent at which the
alphabet was transm itted to the Greek islands and m ainland leave many
issues unresolved. Research in to the effects o f the alphabet upon Greek
culture has been extensive. The claim s fo r the su pe rio rity o f the Greek
m odifications o f alphabetic w ritin g have been sym ptom atic o f the
European tendency to privilege a ll aspects o f Greek culture over th at o f
the much older civiliza tio n s o f A frica and the ancient N ear East. The
Greeks themselves made few such claim s though th e ir discussions o f
h isto ry and sym bolism in connection w ith w ritin g are embedded in a
com plex o f concerns about th e ir own history, identity, and culture.
Argum ents fo r the su pe rio rity o f the Greek alphabet, as m entioned
earlier, centered on the im portance o f vowel n o ta tio n and on the im pact o f
alphabetic literacy on Greek culture in general. The distinctions between
the mechanics o f the Sem itic alphabet, p a rticu la rly the Phoenician p ro to ­
type fro m w hich the Greek alphabet was derived, and th a t o f the Greek
were am plified by 19th- and especially 20th-century classicists fo r whom
the lite ra ry significance o f the H om eric epics eclipses th a t o f a ll previous
lite ra ry w orks in scope and quality. These scholars reduce the law books
o f U r (around 2100 BC), the Code o f H am m urabi (about 1750 BC), the
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

Epic o f Gilgam esh and the O ld Testament (the books o f D euteronom y

and story o f creation are dated to about 600 BC) to the status o f m inor
productions o f essentially preliterate societies. The bias o f such a position
is sufficien tly obvious to need little e laboration, but the features w hich dis­
tinguish the Greek w ritin g system and the various changes w hich the
Greeks found efficacious in adopting the alphabet to th e ir own lin g u istic
needs deserve descriptive a ttention.

SEMITIC GREEK ALPHABETS.

ALPHABETS.
®. First Second Third Epoch, Fourth Epoch. .5? .
Phonetic
g |g ;§| Epoch. Epoch.
Values.
0 o"g
si
r. to 1. 1. to r. Eastern. Western Greek. Latin. 3*

1 *a S' A A A A A A a

2 b a S 3 & B B B B b
5
3 0 7 1 r r < r C G c,0
4 d A A A A > A D a

6 . h n 4 15 E 15 E E e

6 V Y Y YV FY V V Y F V f, Vy«
7 z r X X X X Z ... Z

8 ch n 0 a H H H H e>h

0 t t o :'■ @ ® <g>® © OG<t> th} ph

10 V 1 % * 1 1 1 1 i

11 k 2 y >1 i< KX K KX ... lily Ich

12 I •? v/-M I A A U A L I

50 13 m D Wj
r M M M M m

14 n J M N A* N N n
1
15 s 0 * 3= $ £ + "2 X X

16 *ct V 0 0 0 0 A O on 0 0

17 P 0 1 0 p P P n P P
18 J--X
¥ M M ... ... s
i/O
p-
19 2 p 9 <P <? 9 ...
Q <Z

2
0 r n <1 I> p R p R r

21 s h w w J ? £ < z S s

Transmission of Semitic forms

22j t n X T ! T T T T T t
(Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, 1 1 l 1 i

London, 1883)
1 1. 1 11 . 1 III. 1 IV. 1 V. 1 VI. VII. 1VIII. 1

The lin g u istic structure o f Sem itic languages is centered on w ord roots,
or morphemes, which have a consonantal structure. In such a language a
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

sequence o f syllables such as t-r-n are sufficient, in context, to indicate a

semantic value, such as ‘torn*, rather than being m odified by its vocalic
n ota tion (as in the case o f English and other Indo-European languages) to
have a range o f values such as: te rn , tu rn , o r to rn . W hen the Indo-
European speaking Greeks adopted the alphabet from the Phoenicians, an
event w hich archaeologists place between 1000 and 800 BC, the Greeks
transform ed several o f the consonants in the Phoenician alphabet in to le t­
ters used to notate the vowels w hich perform ed an essential, rather than
supplementary, fu n ctio n in th e ir lin g u istic system. Vocalic n o ta tio n d id
exist even in Sem itic precedents, however, w ith a fo rm o f w ritin g know n as
plene o r fu ll w ritin g , w hich m ight have been know n to Greeks through the
same contacts w ith the Phoenician settlements from w hich they acquired
th e ir alphabet.
T ha t the Phoenicians were the source o f the letters o f the Greek alpha­
bet is undisputed. The sequence o f the letters, th e ir graphic form s, and
th e ir names (which have no semantic value in Greek and are s tric tly Greek
pronunciations o f the Phoenician le tte r names) are the same in the tw o
systems. In fa ct, the Greeks recorded this o rig in in sem i-m ythic fo rm , to
be discussed below, invoking the figure o f Cadmus, the Phoenician, as the
source o f th e ir alphabet. Archaeological evidence fo r contact has been
found throughout the entire region which stretches from the Phoenician
cities o f Tyre and Sidon west to C yprus, fro m Phrygia in western Asia
M in o r along the islands o f Lesbos, Samos, th roughout the Cycladic
islands and onto the m ainland areas o f Boeotia, Euboia and the
Peloponnese. B ut whether it was the presence o f Phoenicians in these
regions o r the travels o f Greeks to Phoenician trade centers w hich was
responsible fo r the contact between the cultures is unclear. One spot
recently proposed as the p o in t o f alphabet transm ission is inla nd at A1
M in a on the northernm ost edge o f w hat was ancient Phoenicia.1 Even if
the concept o f w ritin g in classical culture may have been given im petus
from other sources such as contacts w ith E gypt, o r the N ear Eastern users
o f cuneiform w ritin g , the Phoenicians were the im m ediate sotirce fo r both
Greek and L a tin alphabets.
The adaptive transform ations o f the letters, though lin g u is tic a lly com ­
plex, may be sketched o u t in relatively sim ple term s. A le ph , he, yod, ain
w hich had had consonantal values in Phoenician, became the vowels
alpha, epsilon, iota and om icron in Greek.2 The Phoenician wau> w hich
kept its name in Greek, became tw o letters. One stayed in the sixth place
in alphabetical order, but was represented by a new visual sign, know n as
the digam m a (a le tter w hich resembles a Roman T *) w hile the o rig in a l
vocalic fu n ctio n o f ‘u’ came to be represented by the Greek upsilon w hich
was placed at the end o f the alphabetic sequence. The a d d itio n a l distin c­
tio n between long and short vowels led to the creation o f a va rian t on the
om icron, the omega, w hich even in its visual fo rm displays the comm on
o rig in , and to an a dd itio na l sign fo r the long V to distinguish it from the
epsilon. The large num ber o f signs used fo r sibilants in Sem itic languages
The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

Peloponnesc.
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Corinthian

Colonies.
Boeotia.
Colonics.

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a A A A A A AA A A A A A A ANA AAA A A

0 B MC J1MB B *B PB PB p B
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* A A A ▻ D OA > AD ▻ DA ▻ DA ▻ DA
e E E EJ BE ^ E AE M £ A^E APE
F FC F P FC PF FC
I ■ I X X X
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V H H a B SH B H B H B H
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X X X x+ X X YV Y V V
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Greek alphabets (Isaac Taylor, (0 n OG
The Alphabet, London, 1883) i. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. _

(there were fo u r in Phoenician: zayin, semkh, sade/tsade and sin!shin) led

to curious crossovers in n o ta tio n as these came to perform in Greek as
zeta> x iy san and sigma - o f w hich the last tw o are n ot distinguished vocal­
ly. The so-called ‘su pp le m en tal’ were aspirated consonants n o t present in
Sem itic language. These letters were the new ly invented Greek p h i, k h i,
psiy added between upsilon and omega at the end o f the alphabet. These
transform ations are generally considered to have occurred around 800 to
750 BC, since the earliest abecedaria o f the Greek alphabet, dated to about
700-650 BC, show a ll o f these letters in place and in fa irly standardized
visual form . The lin g u istic and archaeological evidence fo r the a dd itio n o f
letters and transform ation o f older models is hig hly technical, but the

Very early Greek inscriptions,
classed as 'Cadmean' from
Formello and Caere; the first
inscription is an abecedarium
which shows four Greek letters
added in sequence after the tau
(Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet,
London, 1883)
Greek inscription from Egyptian
site of Abu Simbel, dated to
between 7th and 6th centuries
BC. (Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet,
London, 1883)
The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination
essential p o in t is th a t the requirem ents fo r the m eaningful n o ta tio n o f the
Greek language were d is tin c tly d ifferen t fro m those o f th e ir Sem itic neigh­
bors.3 F urther, the m utations effected upon the borrowed w ritin g system
clearly reflect an understanding o f the relations between w ritte n fo rm and
phonetic analysis o f the elements o f speech.
The adaptation o f the Phoenician alphabet to Greek language was also
accompanied by changes in the graphic fo rm o f the letters. In some cases
this was m erely a change in o rie n ta tio n - the Greek alpha is m erely the
Sem itic aleph turned 90 degrees to the p osition we th in k o f as u prig h t. A
glance at T aylo r’s charts w ill show the graphic m odifications w hich result
in the Greek alphabet. W hile the m ajor adaptations were u n ifo rm among
local Greek scripts show ing at least a com m on p o in t o f o rig in , there is evi­
dence o f sligh t va riatio n o f both in d ivid u a l le tte r form s and fo r the selec­
tio n o f letters included w ith in the alphabet depending on the archaeologi­
cal source. The digamma> fo r instance, does n o t appear in the Ionian
alphabet, one o f the tw o m ain branches o f the early Greek alphabets, o f
w hich C halcidian was the other. T his la tte r C halcidian o r western branch
is credited as the prototype o f Etruscan and hence L a tin scripts. The
Ionian alphabet was adopted as the standard, o ffic ia l fo rm by a decree in
403 BC in Athens. The san and qoppa were n o t included in this script,
thus the to ta l num ber o f letters in the o ffic ia l Io nia n alphabet was tw enty-
tw o. There was a range o f graphic form s o f w ritin g , w ith the quadrate
fo rm o f Greek majuscules fin a lly becoming standardized around the 3rd
century BC, existing side by side w ith g ra ffiti form s and less fo rm a l
scripts. B ut w hile some rounded form s o r uncials can be found in inscrip ­
tions a fte r the 3rd century BC, a genuine m iniscule le tte r was n o t invented
u n til the 7th o r early 8th century AD , and the classical Greek alphabet, in
spite o f local variations, consisted chiefly o f tw enty-tw o standard form s
(as opposed to , fo r instance, the fifty -tw o form s used in n o ta tin g English).
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To understand the significance o f alphabetic w ritin g in classical culture
it is necessary to lin k the fo rm a l innovations w ith the fu n ctio n a l applica­
tions to w hich the new scrip t was p ut. W ritin g in the ancient N ear East
The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination
jjT ^ W r n v X
J h jfi-ij/jilA
M X n ' T6N^ ^ ^ "fjj» u iui i_A*
/ /vj <T J<>
Pompeiian graffiti (Harold
Johnston, Latin Manuscripts,
Chicago, 1897)
Writing materials used in
Pompeii as depicted in wall
paintings (Harold Johnston,
Latin Manuscripts, Chicago,
1897)
Monumental Greek letters
showing typical quadrate form
of thin linear inscription, 6th
century BC (Staatliches Museen,
Berlin)
had been used fo r a variety o f purposes: p ub lic m onum ents, declarations
o f m ilita ry successes, codes o f law, and, on the sm aller scale it had been
used to record prayers and econom ic documents connected w ith property
transfer, ownership o r accounting. One o f the points on w hich the sup­
posed supe rio rity o f Greek alphabetic w ritin g is defended is its use fo r
recording poetic verse. M any o f the earliest archaeological fragm ents are
inscribed w ith fragm ents o f hexam etrical poetry. B ut very early instances
o f Greek alphabetic w ritin g also occur as g ra ffiti, such as th a t found on
the Cycladic island o f Thera. There the in fo rm a l inscriptions are accounts
o f hom osexual erotic exploits w hich are vernacular rather than lite ra ry in
th e ir tone, and th e ir social significance is n o t linked to poetic verse but to
the com plex relations between w ritin g , space, and ritu a lize d interactions.
G ra ffiti inscriptions are found throughout the ancient w orld, in areas o f
the Greek islands, m ainland, and the Ita lic peninsula - w ith some o f the
m ost famous preserved in Pom peii.
There are many claim s made fo r the effects w rought on Greek culture
by w hat E ric Havelock term ed the ‘literate re vo lu tio n .’ These show a
m arked contrast in tone from th a t o f the classical sources concerned w ith
the alphabet w hich evidence an awareness o f the connections between
w ritin g , history, and c u ltu ra l id e n tity in re la tivistic rather than hierarchi­
cal terms. Before attending to these o rig in a l sources, however, a b rie f
assessment o f the assertions made by classicists is in order.
As we have seen in C hapter 2, scholarship concerned w ith both the o ri­
gins o f language and the invention o f w ritin g was largely dom inated
through the 19th-century by the belief in an o rig in a l prim eval language
linked either to Adam , N oah o r other b ib lica l figures w ith in the O ld
Testament. T his o rig in a l language and o rig in a l w ritin g were generally
assumed to be some fo rm o f Hebrew, o r Sem itic dialect, w hich had been
lost in the confusion o f tongues at Babel o r in the d iffu sio n o f the sons o f
N oah in resettling the earth after the flo od . The invention o f classical
Greece as the ideal and superior progenitor o f W estern European culture
was largely a 19th-century invention, one w hich fostered the 20th-century
version o f this image. N o t least among the arguments used to support this
n otio n is th a t the Greek transform ation o f the alphabet made fo r a dis­
tin c tly d ifferen t, and necessarily better, literate culture than th a t w hich
existed in Egypt, Palestine, and throughout the N ear East. A scholar
like Havelock asserts th a t the Greeks should be credited w ith having
‘invented literacy and the lite ra te basis o f m odern th o u g h t.’ Literacy was
widespread among free males in 5th-century A thenian society, but literacy
cannot be considered a universal co nd itio n in classical Greece. It was
clearly im plicated in structures o f adm inistrative power, social hierarchy,
and p olitics. H avelock claim ed th a t the alphabet rendered the Greek soci­
ety literate by virtu e o f its lite ra l phonetic character, and thus ‘converted
the Greek spoken tongue in to an a rtifa c t.’ In so doing, it allowed fo r lan­
guage to become an ‘object fo r inspection, reflection and analysis.’ The
Greeks were thus able, his argum ent continued, to surpass the ‘lim ita tio n s
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

o f prealphabetic scripts’ whose content could never reach ‘th a t standard

o f sophistication characteristic o f Greek and post-G reek literatures.’ The
ethnocentrism o f such stances has been challenged by recent reconsider­
ations o f the origins o f Greek culture, w hich has been shown to be h ig hly
synthetic, w ith extensive borrow ings from the Egyptians in areas o f m edi­
cine and m ythology, from Babylonians in astrology, geom etry and astron­
omy, and in later a ntiquity, from the h ybrid blending o f ritu a ls , c u lt prac­
tices and religious beliefs w hich were prevalent throughout the N ear East
and M editerranean.4 B ut the high esteem in w hich Greeks held literacy is
the background against w hich the more esoteric aspects o f alphabet
m ythology gain th e ir value.

Monumental Roman capitals

from the base of Trajan's Column,
Rome

Papyrus scrolls, wax tablets, lead, gold and silver fo il were a ll m aterials
used fo r w ritte n documents in add itio n to w hich inscriptions were fre ­
quently scratched through, o r painted onto, p o tte ry glazes. M onum ental
stone engravings increased in scale and num ber throughout antiquity, w ith

ABC
a high degree o f aesthetic achievement in both the Greek and Roman peri­
od. The L a tin alphabet, as has been m entioned, was n o t a d irect descen­
dant o f the Ionian alphabet o f the Greeks, but a developm ent w ith a com ­
m on early antecedent. The alphabet eventually adopted by the Romans

GHI came fro m the Etruscans, through settlem ents in and around the c ity o f
Cumae on the ancient Ita lia n peninsula. Some o f these settlers had come
from Boeotia and Euboia on the eastern side o f the Greek m ainland, and

NOP some from the island o f Pithekoussai. The Romans made th e ir own m odi­
fications. They were responsible fo r the superbly designed m onum ental
capitals w hich are s till copied by calligraphers and stone carvers in con­
tem porary lettering. But they also saw the need fo r a dd itio na l letters. In 44

TVW
Renaissance form of Roman
majuscules. Inspired by classical
models, by Serlio, 16th century
(Lewis F. Day, Alphabets Old and
New, 1910)
A D the em peror C laudius introduced three new sym bols, a vertical digam ­
ma fo r ‘V,’ an anti-sigm a fo r the ps and bs sound, and another sym bol to
represent the long ‘u’ sound. D istinctio ns between ‘V,’ ‘U,’ and ‘W ’ as w ell
as between ‘I ’ and ‘J’ d id n ot enter the alphabet u n til the medieval period.
The alphabet used by the Romans is the direct progenitor o f the alphabet
used fo r English, though elements o f an Anglo-Saxon scrip t were in use up
through the 15th century when, largely due to the standardization effected
The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

by the spread o f p rin tin g , they were elim inated. A ttem pts to revive local
scripts have occurred throughout the succeeding centuries, m ost especially
in the e fforts o f spelling reform ers who cited the inadequacy o f the L a tin
alphabet fo r n ota ting the sounds o f the English language. These and other
developments, such as the Renaissance reinvention o f w hat they believed
to be classical form s, w ill be touched on in later chapters.

Classical conceptions o f the character and origins o f the alphabet

The Greek w ord fo r the alphabet, stoicheia, also carries the meaning
elements w ith a ll the cosm ological associations o f th a t term . For the
Greeks the letters had an atom istic and elem ental character. The letters
were indecom posable: there were no sm aller, m ore significant, o r more
basic elements o f the cosmic order. It was fro m these units th a t the m ateri­
al fo rm o f the universe, and the natural w o rld , was constructed. In addi­
tio n , the essence o f the letters was equivalent to th e ir value as numbers, fo r
numbers were considered the purest fo rm o f energy o r m atter. T his funda­
m ental concept, w hich finds its firs t a rtic u la tio n in the th in k in g o f the
Pythagoreans, weaves through a ll o f classical sym bolism .
The n o tio n th a t the letters were a fin ite set o f elements capable o f in fi­
nite com binations was frequently commented on by classical w rite rs. The
Roman philosopher Lucretius, fo r instance, noted th a t if a ll the letters in
the H om eric epics were set free from th e ir lite ra ry fo rm , jum bled in a
sack, and then poured o u t, they w ould reconstruct the universe. Several
centuries earlier, A ris to tle had pointed o u t th a t both Tragedy and Comedy
were w ritte n w ith the same letters. B ut in spite o f this cosm ological con­
ception o f the elem ental character o f letters, the Greek authors had a defi­
nite sense o f the hum an h isto ry in w hich th e ir w ritin g system had evolved
as w ell as o f its m ythic significance. The accounts used to describe these
tw o are often in co n tra d ictio n , but are no less indicative o f Greek attitudes
fo r th a t fact.
Classical authors linked the alphabet to both Phoenician o r E gyptian
sources - to the figures o f either the sem i-m ythic Cadmus, a figure whose
name means person ‘from the East,’ o r T h o th , the Egyptian god who is
associated w ith the Greek Hermes. The Greek sources agreed th a t
Cadmus was Phoenician, but they placed the period o f his a rriva l in
Greece in the m iddle Bronze Age, around 1600 BC, more than h a lf a m il­
lennium earlier than current archaeological dating perm its. The h isto rica l
record preserved in these accounts was sometimes embellished to give a
m ythic character to the story. Am ong the 5th-century historians, Nonnos
described Cadmus’s g ift to the Greeks as a ‘divine a rt,’ w hile K ritia s stated
in rather more pedestrian term s th a t it was the Phoenicians who had ‘dis­
covered the w ord-guarding scratchings.’ B ut the m ost elaborate version o f
the legend o f Cadmus is in the w ritin g o f H erodotus, who also attem pted
to corroborate the tale w ith a ll the archaeological sources at his disposal.

Hathor/lsis image in 18th
century illustration (Charles
Davy, Observations upon
Alphabetic W riting, London,
1772)
Isis writing her mysteries (Pitois
Christian, UHistoire de la magie,
Paris, 1870)
The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination
H erodotus combines h isto ry and m y th o lo g y ^
whose sister Europa had been carried o ff by Zeus after the god appeared
to her in the fo rm o f a very m ild b u ll. He had carried her o ff on his back
to Crete where the b ull-w o rsh ip ing c u lt o f Poseidon flourished. Cadmus
pursued her in company w ith his m other, firs t to Crete and thence to
Thrace and Samothrace. H is m other died on these journeys and he to o k
her body to be buried near D elphi where also he consulted the oracle fo r
in fo rm a tio n about his sister. The oracle advised him to stop searching fo r
her and instead keep travelling u n til he encountered a cow, at w hich p o in t
he was to found a city. The cow in this p a rt o f the sto ry has also been
associated w ith a degraded fo rm o f the b u ll central to the c u lt o f
Poseidon.5 F ollow ing these instructions, Cadmus founded the city o f
Thebes as a Phoenician colony in Boeotia. Zeus rewarded Cadmus w ith a
w ife , H arm ony, the daughter o f A phrodite and Ares. But Cadmus was
chased from Thebes and went to Euchelians, where his descendant
Oedipus founded the Cadmean dynasty, thus forging ever more com plicat­
ed lin ks between Phoenician forebears and Greek m ythology.
In the course o f his later travels, Cadmus had yet another encounter
w ith a figure linked in later accounts to the origins o f w ritin g , the nym ph
Io (spelled w ith an omega). He supposedly gave her the g ift o f the alpha­
bet w hich ‘perm itted the hum an voice to be arrested in figures o f w ritin g
and letters.’ Io was also pursued by Zeus, turned in to a heifer to conceal
her from the jealous H era, and as she wandered the fo o tp rin ts o f her
hooves m arked o u t the tracks o f the tw o letters which fo rm her name. Io
was then p u t under the surveillance o f Argus, w ith his hundred eyes, and
was only freed when Hermes was sent by Zeus. W ith the aid o f his flute
w ith seven holes, Hermes p u t Argus to sleep long enough fo r Io to return
to her o rig in a l fo rm . This m yth w ill recur as an account o f alphabet o rig in
among w rite rs o f the 18th century, but here it manages to embed the his­
to ric a l facts o f m ig ratio n, settlem ent, and invention in to the adventures o f
m ythical figures. The image o f the flute o f Hermes w ill also recur in later
sym bolism , w ith its seven holes - each associated w ith the vowels and the
seven elements o f cosmic m usical harmony. The tangle o f associations
w hich lin ks the b u ll, the heifer, and the sym bolic h isto ry o f w ritin g
extends to include links to the goddess Isis who is ide ntifie d w ith the
bovine fo rm (through association w ith the goddess H atho r) as w ell being
assigned a role in the h isto ry o f w ritin g .
Th.e three pieces o f evidence H erodotus uses to back up his account
include, firs t, an in scrip tio n found at Thebes in the tem ple o f A p o llo
Ismenios where ancient w ritin g was scratched on three tripo ds. Secondly,
he pointed o ut th a t the w ord pboenikeia, o r Phoenician things had been
used by earlier w rite rs as a term to indicate w ritin g . A nd finally,
H erodotus stated th a t one had only to lo o k at Phoenician w ritin g to see
the s trik in g sim ilarities w ith th a t o f the Greeks; he him self had reputedly
travelled in Phoenician regions and seen originals. The th ru st o f
H erodotus’ account has in com m on w ith those w rite rs a ttrib u tin g the
The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination
A . O O M P A B IS O N
EGYPTIAN SYMBOLS
W IT H THOSE OF THE HEBREWS.
B y FREDERIC PORTAL.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH,
B r JOHN IV . SIMONS,
MACOY PUBLISHING AND MASONIC SUPPLY COMPANY.
Image of Thoth as scribe from
Egyptian papyrus and from the
title page of an early 20th
century publication (Frederick
Portal, A Comparison, New
York, 1904)
invention to the Egyptians a recognition o f the preexistence o f cultures
more developed and more lite ra te than th e ir own. The Greek n o tio n th a t
culture its e lf had come fro m the east, and th a t w ritin g therefore m ust have
come to them from th a t d irectio n , is echoed throughout the texts o f classi­
cal antiquity.
H erodotus, D iodorus Siculus, Plutarch, Lucian, Tacitus and P liny were
among the classical w rite rs who believed in a Phoenician precedent fo r the
Greek alphabet, but they were often divided on its o rig in . For instance,
Epigenes (4th century BC) stated th a t the a rt o f w ritin g had been know n
among the Assyrians seven hundred and tw enty thousand years before his
tim e, an exaggeration, though n o t w ho lly inaccurate. Pliny, in the 1st cen­
tu ry AD , had asserted th a t the Assyrians had had w ritin g fo r a ll eternity.
O ther w rite rs claim ed th a t the firs t w ritin g had been among the Syrians,
and th a t the Phoenicians had merely m odified it. Tacitus, in his Annals
gives credit fo r the invention to the Egyptians and states th a t the
Phoenicians were only responsible fo r its dissem ination.6
Am ong those who traced w ritin g ’s o rig in to Egypt was the late 6th -
century BC w rite r H ekatios. He stated th a t it was the daughters o f
Danaos who had brought it when they fled from Egypt w ith th e ir father.
The king , Aegyptacus, had wanted them to m arry his sons. Danaos had
refused, and to o k flig h t to Argos, only to be follow ed by the suitors.
F in a lly Danaos agreed to the m arriages, but only on the secret co nd itio n
th a t his daughters m urder th e ir husbands on th e ir wedding n ig ht, w hich
a ll but one reportedly did . T his rather dire tale is cited in passing by a
num ber o f authorities, but m ainly provides evidence o f the perceived lin k
between E gyptian and other w ritin g .
The more widespread m yth states th a t T h o th (Hermes) was considered
the ‘scribe o f the gods’ and the ‘lo rd o f w ritin g .’ In a va rian t, he is named
as the vizier o f O siris and the teacher o f Cadmus. B ut more generally
T h o th was depicted as the p ro tector o f O siris, Isis and th e ir son H orus
through the power o f language rather than by physical m ight. Isis is some­
tim es m entioned as having been instructed by T h o th to invent d ifferen t
w ritin g fo r each o f the nations w ith d ifferen t languages in order to keep
them from confusion.7 W ritte n words a ttrib u te d to Isis were also used in
amulets, p a rtic u la rly as an aid in cases o f snakebite, w hile T h o th is fre ­
quently depicted in E gyptian images as the figure who reports the result o f
the w eighing o f the heart in the m om ent o f the fin a l judgm ent.8
P hilostratus (b. 170 A D ) gave another account o f the alphabet w hich
concentrated on its transform ation in the hands o f Palamedes, said to have
been born in Boeotia, where in fa ct, archaeological evidence indicates
early instances o f Greek w ritin g . Palamedes supposedly added eleven new
letters to the existing seven (tau, and the firs t six vowels). The Roman
w rite r Caius Julius H yginus (33 BC -14 A D ) extended th is in his version,
stating th a t a certain Simonides had added fo u r more to Palamedes’ sys­
tem to w hich Epikharm us o f S icily added tw o, b ring ing the to ta l to stan­
dard tw e nty-fo ur.9 Both Plutarch and P liny recorded this account as w ell,
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

though th e ir arithm etic is slig h tly differen t, since they claim the o rig in a l
num ber o f the Phoenician letters was sixteen and th at Palamedes added
only zeta, upsilon, p h i and x i.10 The consistent p o in t in these accounts is
the conscious recognition o f both the Eastern source o f the alphabet and
the processes o f transform ation necessary to adapt it to Greek use.
Classical w rite rs were n o t overly concerned w ith the date o f these
events. Josephus, w ritin g in the 1st century AD , stated th a t at the tim e o f
the T rojan W ar the Greeks knew n othing at a ll o f w ritin g , but at the same
tim e he m entions the fam ous le tte r o f Bellerophon w hich features in the
sixth book o f the Ilia d . In this story the ‘baneful signs’ w hich are ‘scratch-
ings on a folded tablet’ were instructions carried by Bellerophon from
Proitos to his w ife ’s father, the kin g o f the Lykians. The tablet to ld the
kin g th a t he was to k ill Bellerophon on reading the message w hich the
u n w ittin g (and presum ably illite ra te ) messenger carried. (This concept o f
the ‘fa ta l le tte r’ has an O ld Testament parallel in the story o f D avid and
U riah in the K ing o f Samuel.)11
W hat is com pelling in a ll o f these accounts is an interest in b oth h is to r­
ical perspective and cu ltu ra l relativism . The very fa ct th a t the Greeks d id
n o t perceive th e ir w ritin g as som ething divine o r n atural, but as som ething
associated w ith both hum an h isto ry and cu ltu ra l exchange, seemed to
cause them to reflect p hiloso ph ically upon both its character and its devel­
opm ent, W hile there are a few other instances o f purely m ythic o r leg­
endary a ttrib u tio n among the classical texts, they are vastly outnum bered
by these h isto rica l accounts. For instance, there is a somewhat farfetched
legend w hich recounts th a t Hermes was apparently inspired by the sight o f
cranes in flig h t, th e ir angular, schematic form s suggesting signs w hich he
considered m ight serve to represent the sounds o f w ritin g .12 A nother
a u th o rity states th a t the letters merely ‘fe ll dow n from the heavens fo r the
benefit o f hum ankind.’13 R eportedly the spot at w hich they fe ll was called
Phoenix (a w ord m eaning Phoenician), and located near the c ity o f 59
Ephesus. A m onum ent inscribed w ith alphabetic letters at Ephesus enters
later records as p a rt o f d iv in a to ry practices. The Ephesis gram m ata were
letters incised on the base o f a c u lt statue o f A rtem is used in ritu a ls , but
the texts produced in this process are u n in te llig ib le to la te r w rite rs.14
Finally, there is the significant m ythic figure o f Prometheus, whose trans­
gressive acts against the gods, dram atized in the w ork o f Aeschylus,
include giving both fire and w ritin g to hum ankind. The power ascribed to
the w ritte n w ord in such an association w ould be evident even were it n ot
underscored by the gruesome punishm ent meted out to Prometheus fo r his
behavior.

Philosophy and linguistics

The classical te xt w hich provides the m ost extensive discussion o f the

alphabet is th a t o f the C ratylus o f Plato.15 It is a philosophical te x t which
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy arjd Divination

examines the nature o f language as a fo rm o f representation, and poses a

num ber o f questions about the m im etic or im ita tive character o f w ritin g .
Plato had had personal contact w ith E gyptian culture and w ritin g . P lato’s
a ttitu de towards his own w ritin g system seems to have been enhanced
by his contrast o f the alphabet w ith the other, more visua lly s trik in g form s
o f hieroglyphics since he questions the value o f the Greek letters in sym­
b olic term s. P lato’s w ork, however, reveals the phonological bias o f the
Greeks; he clearly understands the letters in th e ir relatio n to the sounds o f
language firs t and forem ost, rather than as visual elements in th e ir own
rig h t.
Plato believed th a t w ritin g had been invented in Egypt, and he A ttrib ­
uted the o rig in to the god T h o th , o r T heuth. In the Phaedrus Plato^ states
th a t T h o th had come to Tham us, the K in g o f Egypt, to show him many
inventions including w ritin g . T h o th claim ed th a t the letters w ould ‘make
the Egyptians w iser and give them better m em ories.’ Tham us was n o t con­
vinced. He argued th a t the discovery w ould ‘create forgetfulness’ because
his people w ould no longer rely on m em ory but w ould ‘tru s t to the exter­
nal w ritte n characters and remember o f themselves.’ W ritin g , therefore,
was not to be ‘an aid to memory, but to rem iniscence.’
A ccording to the basic tenets o f Platonic idealism visual signs -
images, letters, glyphs - were in fe rio r to the transcendent Ideal. Plato held
a ll visual images in low esteem and he even banished painters from his
im aginary R epublic. For if apparent re a lity were a mere shadow o f the
Ideal, then any image im ita tin g rea lity was at best yet another degree
removed from the Ideal. The m ark o r letter, like any image, served a mere­
ly mechanical fu n ctio n and could n o t in any sense serve the highest func­
tio n o f hum an knowledge, to reveal T ru th . B ut as a th ing in itse lf, a letter
m ight contain an essence. Plato attem pted to reconcile both this Idealist
disregard fo r signs o f signs and the ty p ic a lly Greek atom istic understand-
60 ing o f cosmic structure in the dialogue he stages in the C ratylus. O n the
one hand, the te xt shows a concern w ith analysing language as a system o f
fo rm a l logic, an approach w hich is a n ti-id e a listic. O n the other, it strug­
gles w ith origins and firs t causes, lo o kin g fo r T ru th in every le tte r o r sign.
To give fu ll play to the conflicted opinions, Plato situated the figure o f
Socrates between tw o speakers who articu la te opposing positions w ith in
the dialogue o f the C ratylus. The firs t o f these, Hermogenes, argues fo r a
conventional, socially determ ined lin k between language and meaning,
letters and th e ir values, lin g u istic form s and sense. He puts fo rth the con­
cept th a t language is an a rb itra ry system w hich produces meaning
through fo rm a l rules and logical propositions. By contrast to this conven­
tio n a lis t p osition , the figure o f C ratylus espouses a n atu ra list (i.e. atom ­
istic) a ttitu d e , stating th a t the letters are elements w hich contain an
essence. From this it follow s th a t meaning in language is b u ilt up out o f
these sm aller units. I f the value o f these elemental units could be divined,
then the m eaning o f words could be calculated in term s o f the com bina­
tio n o f letters used in th e ir production. The philosophical issues at stake
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

here are com plex, since they involve a d istin ctio n between the concept o f a
m utable universe and th a t o f a stable, perm anent fixed order o f essences,
such as A ris to tle w ould assume as the basis fo r his analysis o f the natural
w orld.
Leaving such issues aside, the particulars o f the analysis o f the alpha­
bet w hich emerge from C ratylus’ propositions and Socrates’ in terro ga tion
revolve, ultim ately, on the discussion o f the fu n ctio n o f the letters in the
production o f lin g u istic m eaning. This in tu rn raises the central issue o f
whether o r not an Idea is equivalent to the m aterial fo rm o f its expression,
such as its expression in language. C ratylus argues th a t a w ord m ust be
either the perfect expression o f a th ing o r mere, arb itra ry, in a rticu la te
sound: it cannot be anything else. He fu rth e r claim s th a t language and
w ritin g were invented by an Im ita to r who understood the essence o f things
and encoded this in to th e ir names. Hermogenes, however, counters by
stating th a t a ll words are conventional names fo r things, used and agreed
upon through social contract and invented by a Legislator. Socrates in tro ­
duces confusion by p o in tin g o ut th a t the letters themselves are n o t the
same as th e ir names. A w ord such as ‘alpha’ o r ‘beta’ contains many le t­
ters n o t contained in the le tte r itse lf, and this introduces a c o n flic t o f iden­
tity in to language at the very elemental level o f the letters. Socrates sug­
gests th a t this may be the result o f m utation over tim e and th a t the o rig i­
nal names have been lost, buried, in this process. In lo o kin g fo r these o rig ­
in a l names, Socrates makes an analogy between the letters as elements o f
language and colors as elements o f a p aintin g, stating th a t ju st as a painter
composes an image by com bining a percentage o f purple, w hite or other
pigm ent, so a w ord may be understood in term s o f its com ponent parts,
the letters.
C ratylus and Socrates assess the values o f p a rtic u la r letters by exam in­
ing groups o f words in w hich the same le tte r appears to indicate a com­
m on theme. For instance, they conclude th a t rho is a sign o f m otion
because it is found in words such as trem or, trem ble, strike , crush, bruise,
crum ble and w h irl.16 The cause o f this association o f le tte r a'nd meaning
was n ot merely incidental, it was linked to the physical a ctivity o f pronun­
ciatio n. A ccording to Socrates, the tongue was ‘m ost agitated and least at
rest in the pronunciation o f this le tte r’ and therefore the o rig in a l im ita tin g
inventor used it ‘in order to express m o tio n .’ By the same p rin cip le , he
goes on to say, io ta was used to ‘express the subtle elements w hich pass
through a ll things.’ In fa ct, the p rincip le by w hich the io ta m ight express
this capacity is linked to its graphic character, n ot its pronunciation. As
the sm allest le tte r it was capable o f fittin g in to spaces - both between
other letters and other things - w ith the very least am ount o f d ifficu lty.
The rest o f the analysis o f selective, specific letters emphasizes the physical
act o f pronunciation: phi> psi and sigma require ‘great expenditure o f
breath’ and are used ‘in im ita tio n o f such notions as shivering, seething,
shock and shaking’ o r anything else ‘w hich is w indy.’ Lam da w ith its
liq u id smoothness, produced by the slipping o f the tongue, expresses this
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

smoothness in such words as level, slip and sleek. The ‘heavier sound o f
gam m a,' in w hich the tongue is detained combines w ith lam da to express
the n otio n o f stickiness, as in the words glutinous and glucous. T he ir
analysis is incom plete, irregular, and unsystem atic. But it makes clear th at
there was an attem pt to examine both the philosophical and physiological
underpinnings o f language through analysis o f its sm allest elements, the
letters o f the alphabet. The struggle to fin d lin ks between idea and expres­
sion concentrated on these atom ic form s. In a d d itio n , it shows the kernels
o f the phonological analysis o f the language s till used in phonetics
today: in to categories ide ntifie d by the mechanics of pronunci­
ation such as gutterals, labials, dentals and so fo rth . Plato had Socrates
apply these principles to an analysis o f his name in the Tbaetetus, only to
have him meet w ith fru s tra tio n . He is unable to find any atom istic analysis
w hich accounts fo r the relatio n between his id e n tity and his name given
th a t it is used to designate other individuals as w ell. B pt he continues to
assert th a t the letters are ‘the prim eval elements out o f w hich you and I
and a ll things are compounded here.*17
Plato was n o t the only Greek a uthor to understand the phonetic struc­
ture o f the language: D ionysius o f H alicarnassus, w ritin g in On L ite ra ry
C om position (approxim ately 20-10 BC) gave another such analysis o f the
letters.18 He linked the atom ic character o f the letters to th e ir capacity to
represent speech, saying th a t ‘every sound made by the voice originates in
these and is resolvable in to them .’ He understood the d istin ctio n between
the fu nctio n o f vowels and th a t o f the consonants and was more thorough
in his description o f the physical acts o f pronunciation. In place o f P lato’s
im pressionistic term s - slipperiness o r stickiness - D ionysius states th a t
the lam da pronounced by ‘the tongue risin g to the palate and by the w in d ­
pipe helping the sound.’ Like his predecessor, he does n o t extend his
analysis in to a visual realm , and the graphic character o f the letters
62 remains unnoticed in his w ork. It is w o rth p o in tin g out th at m ost linguists
” and classicists are in agreement upon the s u ita b ility o f the early Greek
alphabet to adequately notate the sounds o f the Greek language. In a situ ­
ation such as the current English language use o f the L a tin alphabet, the
m ism atch between the fo rty o r so phonemes o f speech and the tw enty-six
graphemes used fo r n o ta tio n w ould never support a cosm ological analysis
o f language in to letters (rather than sounds) as its fundam ental parts.

Pythagoreanism and Number Symbolism

N o aspect o f the co nfla tion o f the concepts o f stoicheia (elements) and

letters carried more w eight in the classical period than th a t associated
w ith the cosm ological system o f num ber sym bolism . The n o tio n th a t the
order o f the universe was fundam entally m athem atical, and th a t a ll struc­
tures, beings, and form s could be expressed in term s o f num ber was cen­
tra l to the tra d itio n know n as Pythagoreanism .19
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

Pythagoras him self presum ably lived in the 6th century BC. H is image
as a legendary figure, w hich developed on the basis o f his w ritin g s and his
supposedly exem plary life , waxes and wanes in p o p u la rity thro ug h ou t the
classical period. M uch o f the sym bolic q u a lity ascribed to’ his w o rk was in
fa ct the w ork o f his follow ers, and the Neo-Pythagoreanism w hich arose in
the early centuries o f the C hristian era has as much in com m on w ith
G nosticism , H erm eticism , N eoplatonism and other contem porary sys­
tems o f belief as w ith its authentic forbear. The w ritin g s o f Nicom achus
o f Gerasa, and others, w ill therefore be considered in the fo llo w in g chap­
ter, and strains o f Neo-Pythagoreanism w ill continue to weave through
this study up through the Renaissance.
In early Pythagoreanism, however, numbers were considered to be
things, and things numbers. Things could n o t therefore be derived from
numbers, by Pythagorean logic, since a th ing could not be derived fro m , or
d ifferen t from , itself. But by the tim e th a t Pythagoreanism became popular
in the w ork o f 5th- and 4th-century BC w rite rs such as Speusippus and
Aristoxenus, the prevailing concept was th a t sensible things were in fact
derivatives o f the higher order o f numbers. Thus the n otio n o f the sym bol­
ic content o f numbers, and in p articula r, o f such correlative systems as
alphabetic letters w ith th e ir num erical equivalents, belongs to this later
period. In orth od o x Pythagorean tra d itio n , the numbers were liv in g
beings, older than the bodies o f the m aterial w o rld , and more pow erfu l.20
In the 3rd century BC the fu lly developed concept o f num ber sym bol­
ism know n as gem atria developed. G em atria is premised on the b elief th a t
num erical equivalents fo r letters may be used to decode and calculate the
concealed meanings o f scripture o r te x t.21 In this system the firs t ten le t­
ters were assigned a value correlating to the firs t ten num bers, w ith each
le tte r a fter this obtaining value as a m u ltip le o f ten in accord w ith its place
in a regular sequence.
In gem atrial calculations the num ber values are used to com pute corre­
spondences and associations. For example, the num ber equivalent o f the
w ord fo r cosmos (kosmos) is 600, equivalent to the num ber fo r the god­
head (o theotes) w hile the w ord fo r cosmos preceded by a definite article
reaches the sum o f 670, placing it in p ro x im ity to the concept o f paradise
{paradeisos) w hich has the value 671. For believers, the num ber o f secret
connections revealed in this process are lim itless and may involve long
sequences o f calculation. In one such calculation the god Pan, the sym bol
o f wholeness, equals the num ber 131 w hich, when linked to th a t o f the ser­
pent (drakon) stands fo r Eros. W hen this is in tu rn added to the value fo r
creation, the sum equals the gem atrial value o f the w ord Zeus, and so
fo rth through a cycle w hich leads through A p o llo , A rtem is, Selene and the
num ber fo r conscious w ill (nous) to result, finally, in the num ber fo r death
(thanatos).22 For the cosm ologically disposed, these gem atrial calculations
provide a key to the secret structure o f the universe.
Later developments show elaborate theories o f harm ony (the lite ra l
explora tion o f the music o f the spheres) and other m anifestations o f
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

m athem atics as a fundam ental structure. One sym bolic element from this
tra d itio n w hich shows up repeatedly in the historiography o f the alphabet
is the so-called Pythagorean ‘Y.’ T his le tte r w ill feature in studies o f
Renaissance sym bolism , but the ritu a l it condenses as a visual sign can be
traced to classical texts where it is linked w ith in itia tio n in to Pythagorean
studies. An in itia te presented w ith tw o options fo r a life to lead is asked to
choose between them . O n the one hand is a life o f austerity, discipline, and
d iffic u lty in w hich ideas and intellectu al pursuits are the chief reward. On
the other is a life o f m aterial co m fo rt, even indulgence, sexual, and sensual
satisfaction. The in itia te ’s p osition is considered equivalent to th a t o f the
juncture o f the tw o branches o f the ‘Y,’ and the choice w ill determ ine
whether the path o f Pythagorean rig o r o r o f w o rld ly co m fo rt is taken.
When this sym bol is loaded w ith C hristian values, tljie tw o branches
become stigm atized as choices between vice and virtu e , d is to rtin g o f th e ir
earlier representation o f w o rld ly vs intellectu al pursuits.
N um ber sym bolism was widespread in antiquity, n o t a ll o f it s tric tly
Pythagorean in character. A s trik in g example is the analysis o f the value o f
the le tte r offered in P lutarch’s Essay on the L etter E at D elp hi.23 Though
considered a m in or te xt in Plutarch’s w ork, it reveals the mechanics o f
num ber sym bolism at w ork. N o t s tric tly speaking associated w ith divina-
to ry practices, the le tte r was nonetheless found at the Oracle at D elphi
inscribed in various m aterials such as gold (linked w ith Caesar’s w ife
L iv ia ), bronze or w ood (the ‘E’ o f certain wise men).24 In a com m only
acknowledged equivalent, Plutarch associates the seven vowels w ith the
seven astrological planets. In this system the ‘E’ is in the second position ,
aligning it w ith the Sun, and thus, w ith the god A p o llo him self associated
w ith D elphi and the O racle. The num erical equivalent assigned to the le t­
ter ‘E,’ however, was five. Plutarch enumerates seven explanations fo r the
dedication o f this le tte r to A p o llo ’s Oracle.
64 F irst o f a ll, Plutarch begins, the le tte r was to be understood in term s o f
—— its pronounced fo rm or ‘E i’ w hich had been the cry o f protest offered by
the wise men against interlopers. They stated unequivocally th a t they were
five in number, n o t seven, thus precluding claim s by im posters to be
included among them . Second, by its place as the second vowel, it was, as
noted above, associated w ith A p o llo . T h ird , when pronounced aloud it
meant ‘i f ’ and was thus the means by w hich people m ight inquire o f the
oracle ‘i f th is ’ o r ‘if th a t.’ F ourth, it was to be used as ‘i f ’ in prayers or
wishes expressed to the god in supplications beginning ‘I f only ...’ F ifth ,
‘i f ’ was indispensable because o f its value in syllogism s and logic. S ixth,
the num ber ‘five’ was considered the m ost im p o rta n t num ber in m athe­
m atics, philosophy and music. Seven, as an utterance it also m eant, ‘T hou
a rt,’ by w hich was indicated the eternal existence o f the god A p o llo .
Some o f these values, p a rtic u la rly those associated w ith the sym bolic
value o f the num ber, Plutarch associates w ith the teachings o f the
Pythagoreans. Stating his allegiance to the ‘theory o f num bers,’ Plutarch
articulates a series o f meanings fo r the number. Five had the value o f

Magic practices involving alphabetic w ritin g
Delphic sibyl in 17th century
depiction (Servatis Gallaei,
Dissertationes de SibyUis,
Amsterdam, 1688)
The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination
m arriage’ because it produced by the a dd itio n o f tw o, the firs t male
number, and three, the firs t female num ber (the num ber one was preserved
w ith in Pythagoreanism as the sym bol o f unity, cosmic wholeness, and
carried no gender). Five in calculation produced n othing strange, only
m ultiples w hich ended in its e lf or in some com bination o f ten, the perfect
whole. Five was also the num ber o f chords in music and the elements o f
m elody were five (the quarter tone, h a lf tone, tone, tone plus a h a lf tone
and double tone). Plato had stated there were five w orlds altogether
(earth, water, fire, a ir and the quintessence) and also th a t there were five
firs t principles: Being, Identity, Divergence, M o tio n and Rest. He had also
stated th a t there were five form s o f a ll liv in g things: gods, demigods,
heroes, humans and anim als and five divinations o f the soul - n u tritive ,
perceptive, appetitive, s p iritu a l and reasoning. Finally, also fro m Plato,
Plutarch notes th a t the G ood existed in five categories: m oderation, due
p ro p o rtio n , m ind, sciences and arts, and pleasure w hich is pure and unal­
lied w ith pain.
There are very few such texts from the classical period w hich form
associations o f meaning and the alphabetic sym bols and P lutarch’s essay is
an exception. H is synthetic a ppropriation from a variety o f sources and
his disregard fo r any o f the visual aspects o f the le tter fo rm to w hich he
assigns such sym bolic potency are, however, characteristic o f the interpre­
tations granted to letters in the later classical period and in to the early
centuries AD.
M agic in its many form s was an exceedingly com m on element o f re li­
gious practice among both Greeks and Romans. The m aterials in this sec­
tio n are drawn from sources traced to Greece, H ellenistic Egypt and the 65
fa r flung reaches o f the Roman empire. The w ritte n w ord was believed to
have very definite and real power throughout this period - the power to
curse, to heal, to empower and to constrain. W hether such oracles as the
famous ones at Cumae, D elphi and Dodona made extensive use o f w ritin g
is d iffic u lt to determ ine. There are no rem aining w ritte n documents and
there is o nly sporadic m ention o f the use o f w ritin g in the oracles’ a ctivi­
ties. It is clear th a t answers to inquiries were sometimes given in w ritin g ,
and both the visual augury o f entrails and d ivin a tio n by lots were com­
m on practice. But oracles depended largely on form s o f ecstatic speech
trance and there are few, if any, recorded instances o f actual oracular p ro ­
nouncement involving alphabetic letters as sym bols.25 Later depictions o f
the Cumaean Sibyl, o f the D elphic Pythia, o r other less renowned oracles,
are frequently depicted w ith inscribed messages on scrolls in long cryp tic
lines. But in classical tim es the use o f w ritin g was fa r more com m on in the
fo rm o f amulets and curse tablets and various kinds o f im precations pro­
tecting everything from c ity o r field to private property from vio la tio n .
The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination
Cumaean sibyl (Servatis Gallaei,
Dissertationes de Sibyllis,
Amsterdam, 1688)
Persian sibyl (Servatis Gallaei,
Dissertationes de Sibyllis,
Amsterdam, 1688)
Customs varied locally, Greeks in th e ir hom eland, fo r instance, were less
involved w ith b u ria l im precations than were Greeks in A natolia and Asia
M in o r.26 These were activities which were know n as early as the 5th cen­
tu ry BC and extended alm ost five centuries in to the C hristian era.
Various kinds o f curses and tablets are associated w ith b u ria l ritu a ls in
antiquity. These range from curses applied to new ly dead enemies, curses
against those who w ould violate a tom b, and phylacteries designed to aid
o r protect the dead. For exam ple, curse tablets were com m only buried
near the site o f a fresh tom b in order to punish a deceased enemy by giving
the spirits o f the dead greater power over the vic tim . Funerary im prec­
ations were inscribed on tom bs o r inserted in to them on tablets in order to
protect them from m aterial o r sp iritu a l v io la tio n . Such im precations were
often worded to prescribe the price to be paid in both s p iritu a l and eco­
nom ic term s should such a v io la tio n occur: ‘The man who acts against
these p ro h ib itio n s w ill be a w rongdoer towards the gods o f the under­
w orld, and he w ill pay a fine o f 1,5000 denarii to the m ost sacred [im p e ri­
a l] treasury.’27
Spells also linked the concept o f the w ritte n w ord as efficacious to m at­
ters related to love, w ealth, power or v ic to ry in athletic o r m ilita ry contest.
M ost o f these practices have precedents w ith in E gyptian and N ear Eastern
ritu a ls.28 One category o f w ritte n spells is know n as defixiones. These
were w ritte n on lead tablets, folded, and then buried either w ith a corpse
o f the ‘untim ely dead’ or p u t in holy areas reserved fo r funerary rites.29
These so-called ‘binding* curses were used in a w ide variety o f situations.
When used in agonistic contests, they were inscribed w ith requests fo r
restraint o f the enemy, a bin din g o r lim ita tio n o f his resources. B inding
curses against athle tic rivals were highly specific, asking th a t the hands,
arms, shoulders o r other body p a rt be lim ite d o r rendered powerless. They
often involved an analogy to the situ atio n o f the corpse, as in ‘Just as you,
Theonnastos [the dead person w ith whom the tablet was buried] are pow ­
erless in the movement o f your hands, your feet your body ... so too may
Z o ilo s be powerless ...’30 In rom antic situations, such tablets were used to
either restrain a riv a l o r induce passion in the object o f one’s affections.
‘A ll seeing one, IOPE, make her ... lie awake fo r me through a ll etern­
ity.’31 O r more strongly, ‘M ake N N , daughter o f N N , have insom nia, feel
flighty, be hungry and thirsty, get no sleep, and lu st fo r me, N N , son o f
N N , w ith a gut-deep lust u n til she comes and makes her female genitals
adhere to m y male genitals.’32
Early m edical practices often involved incantations, though the firs t
record o f an actual am ulet is in the Cbarm ides o f Plato. Here Socrates
describes a cure fo r headaches w hich involves using a m edicinal leaf in
com bination w ith a w ritte n charm . The am ulet m ust contain both ele­
ments - w ith o u t the w ritte n spell the leaf w ould have no power.33 M any
m agic amulets contained only scrolls and inscriptio ns, no herbal o r other
p o tio n . These sm all strips o f lead, gold, silver or papyrus were tig h tly
rolled and encased in a sm all cylinder w hich was suspended around the
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

neck. W hile there are few extant amulets fro m the classical period, there
® Y f y u A
are an abundance o f them in the Roman period where the m agical
V ® t-» T*
I —; ^ RAMM>a>crlAMA f< lam ellae, o r spells w ritte n on tin y strips o f fo il, were com m only used fo r
; y h t € I N > I ^ ‘f ’ am ulet inscriptions.
H—-
--
--
--r
? —TIT leM tae5
These texts were largely fo rm u la ic and o f the ‘Flee G out, Perseus is
chasing you!’ variety. A w ritte n epistle containing a prayer fo r cure and
Amulet (Hans Betz, Greek la id on the body was considered a m edical treatm ent. In the C hristian era
M a g ica l Papyri, Chicago, 1986) letters w ritte n by a saint o r h oly figure were o f course deemed m ost valu­
able and m ost pow erful. Extensive docum entation on incantations and
spells o f a ll varieties, used fo r every im aginable purpose, have been pre­
" A £TA*V«A4*4
served in the Greek m agical p apyri from Graeco-Roman Egypt. Those
v f designed fo r m edical use range from specific recipes fo r poultices to the
* Ijjfe 8 8 Y » U T sim ple w ritin g out o f magic names on deerskin o r m etal o r other specified
*
I m aterial to be bound to the afflicted area o f the p a tie n t’s body.
it B u ria l ritu a ls invo lvin g phylacteries (the w ord its e lf derives from the
t Greek ro o t m eaning ‘to p ro tect’) are traced to the 4th century BC. In these
m m , practices the body o f a corpse had a scroll unrolled upon it to protect it
f**u from the terrors o f the a fte rlife .34 A nother tra d itio n used the gold leaves o f
Amulet from 4th or 5th century O rph ic ritu a ls to inscribe passports fo r the dead, w ith prayers and suppli­
(E. Wallis Budge, Amulets, cations to the gods and shades.
Oxford, 1930) The vowels, in sequence, and in set configurations, were com m only
used in spells. The cosmic power granted these elements has, again, links
to the Pythagorean tra d itio n . Each o f the seven vowels was associated
w ith one o f the planetary gods: A p o llo (the Sun), M ercury, Jupiter,
Saturn, Venus, M ars and the M oon. The very firs t instance o f a m agical
spell cited in Hans D ieter Betz’s exhaustive com pendium o f m agical
p apyri uses a vowel in scrip tio n to ca ll up a dem on. The ritu a l involved is
com plex, req uirin g firs t the deificatio n o f a falcon, tw o fingernails, and
h a ir from one’s head in a m ixtu re o f m ilk and honey. A fte r a ll the p a rtic u ­
Amulet (Hans Betz, Greek lars o f the ritu a l are perform ed a strip o f papyrus is to be inscribed w ith a
Magical Papyri, Chicago, 1986) spell w ritte n o ut in m yrrh. T his spell is the double figure o f tw o pyram ids
o f vowels, side by side. The firs t is structured w ith a single ‘AKat the top,
A follow ed by tw o ‘E’s’ and so fo rth u n til the fin a l row o f seven long ‘ O ’s.’
E E The second pyram id inverts this order, placing the long ‘ O ’s’ at the top
H H H
and dim inish in g to the p o in t o f the ‘A .’ T his vowel sequence w ould in tu rn
I I I I be incorporated in to the actual prayer to invoke the aid o f the demon
OOOOO helpm ate.35 Vowel com binations such as these were often com bined w ith
Y Y y y Y Y other nonsense utterances in a m anner w hich prefigures the G nostic and
W W W W W W W K abbalistic use o f such com binations, but m etrical phrases were also fre­
Magical arrangement of Greek quently used. A charm used to restrain oneself against anger, fo r instance,
vowels (E. Wallis Budge, places various patterns and com binations o f vowels on the borders o f a
Amulets, Oxford, 1930) sm all lam ella in the center areas o f w hich are m ore arcane characters and
nonsense com binations.
Klerom ancy, o r d ivin a tio n by lots, was also a comm on practice which
sometimes involved alphabetic w ritin g . In certain lo t systems, tw e nty-fo ur
self-contained oracular lines, each o f w hich begins w ith a d iffe re n t letter
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

o f the alphabet, were used. When a lo t was draw n, the line w hich bore the
le tte r corresponding to the lo t w ould be read as the response to the
inq uiry.36 W ritte n tablets from which a choice w ould be made were fre­
quently inscribed in advance and produced as p a rt o f a prepared response.
The letters themselves were n o t granted p a rtic u la r sym bolic value, but the
alphabet as a stable structure enabled the process o f the oracle.
A t least one fo rm o f d ivin a tio n involved direct use o f the alphabet, and
Iam blichus, a late 3rd- early 4th-century A D fo llo w er o f Pythagoras, is
credited w ith its invention. T his fo rm o f d ivin a tio n is know n as alectry-
omancy - o r d ivin a tio n by means o f a fo w l. To use this m ethod one
scratched the letters o f the alphabet out around a circle in the sand and
then sprinkled grain over them . The fo w l was released and the pattern o f
its pecking was recorded. The sequence o f letters was studied fo r hidden
meanings o r messages.
One very fam ous, but unique, instance o f d iv in a to ry a c tiv ity is record­
ed by the Roman w rite r Am m ianus M arcellinus who dated the events he
recorded to the year 371 AD. H is story describes a seance in w hich the par­
ticipants have a m etal disk inscribed w ith the letters o f the Greek alpha­
bet. A rin g suspended over the disk by means o f a wooden trip o d swung
tow ard the edges o f the disk to p ick o u t the letters o f the message. The
questions being asked by the group were ‘When w ill our em peror die? And
who w ill be the next emperor?’ A fte r in d ica tin g the num ber ‘7’ the rin g
began to spell o u t a name. ‘ Theta, epsilon, om icron - ’ the p articipants in
this process eagerly concluded the fu ll name was ‘Theodorus.’ Such
inquiries were considered traito rou s and when the authorities learned o f
these events the particip a nts in the seance were arrested, as w ell as the
unsuspecting Theodorus who claim ed to have no knowledge o f the event.
A ll were sum m arily executed.37 In another version, it was the fo w l m ethod
o f Iam blichus w hich was employed in this fa ta l d ivin a tio n . Iam blichus was
68 supposedly included among the hapless victim s though him self not pre­
sent at the seance. In both cases, as the story goes, after a period o f seven
years it came to pass th a t the emperor died and was succeeded by
Theodosius.
W hile there is no concrete evidence th a t such m etal disks - classical
prototypes o f the O u ija board - were ever produced in a ntiquity, there is
one unique and peculiar a rtifa c t w hich has some s trik in g resemblance to
the object described in these stories. T his is the Pergamon d isk, a shallow
m etal bow l inscribed w ith several rings o f characters. Dated to the 2nd
century A D it contains an inner circle and three outer concentric rings.
The inner circle is divided in to seven areas and inscribed w ith characters
associated w ith the seven planets w hile the outer rings are cut in to eight
divisions each and associated w ith one o f the tw e nty-fo ur letters o f the
Pergamon disk (Staatliche Greek alphabet. The precise use o f this object and the m eaning o f the
Museen, Berlin) characters are n o t clear; but it is unique among a rtifa cts o f this period.
One fin a l image w hich bespeaks the powers assigned to w ritin g comes
from C icero’s De D ivin a tio n e . He tells the story o f one N um erius
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

Suffustius who had a dream th a t sacred tablets were concealed w ith in a

group o f rocks. W aking, he sought out the spot, cracked the rocks open
and found the concealed tablets which were inscribed w ith an ancient
script. Though he d id n ot know the source o r m eaning o f the tablets, he
had a wooden chest made to preserve them . These were placed in the tem ­
ple o f Fortuna at Praeneste and honey supposedly then flowed o u t from
them m ysteriously.38

Roman notae, numerals and signs

The Romans added a num ber o f features to the classical uses o f alpha­
betic w ritin g . Am ong these were the extensive use o f abbreviations on
m onum ents, coins and in other instances o f w ritte n language. These were
know n as sigla, and have been extensively documented. Lists o f sigla can
be found in m ost standard texts on L a tin paleaography, and in themselves
they are n o t p a rticu la rly m ysterious. However, the fa ct th a t there was so
extensive a system o f these abbreviations does dem onstrate a high degree
o f consensus and shared context among literates in the culture, since a sin­
gle le tte r m ight bear a variety o f values. The le tte r ‘A ,’ fo r exam ple, was
used in senate votes to indicate a lo t cast in favor o f a cqu ittal, standing fo r
‘absolvo.’ It was also used in the Roman com itia to indicate th a t the voter
rejected the proposed change. ‘B’ could be used independently to indicate
beneficiarius o r bonus and ‘C ’ on its own stood fo r cedit, centu rio , circus,
civiSy clarrisim us and Caesar. In add itio n to standing independently,
abbreviations consisting o f tw o o r more letters were extrem ely comm on.
For example: ‘BB VV’ fo r boni v iri (good m en), ‘BD ’ fo r bona dea, ‘BF’ fo r
bona fo rtu n a and ‘B V ’ fo r bene vale. L ite ra lly hundreds, even thousands,
o f these were in use in Roman tim es, depending on com m on lin g u istic and
cu ltu ra l references fo r th e ir comprehension. 69
A nother Roman invention was a fo rm o f shorthand a ttrib u te d to "
C icero’s freed slave, T iro . Cicero is reported to have used such a shorthand
d uring the tria l o f the C a tilin ia n conspirators, especially fo r recording the
famous speech o f Cato in ‘signs which in sm all, b rie f characters com pre­
hended the force o f many letters.’ N o ta rii, or shorthand w rite rs, were dis­
tinguished from other types o f scribes, and the fu nctio n they perform ed
was specialized. Shorthand became w idely used in Roman tim es fo r both
recording o f p ub lic lectures and among students ta king down m aterial
from a m aster’s speech. M uch o f this w ritin g remained ille g ib le in spite o f
the rediscovery o f extensive paleographic evidence. It was n o t u n til the
1747 p ub lica tion o f D om . P. C arpentier’s firs t system atic attem pt to unrav­
el the mysteries o f this hig hly cursive and very condensed w ritin g th a t any
insight in to the textual substance o f these pieces was made. By the end o f
the 19th century, a uthoritative keys fo r deciphering had been com piled,
but d iffic u ltie s o f translation were compounded by the problem o f le g ib ili­
ty - a fter a ll, this form o f w ritin g is term ed tachygraphy because it was
The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

w ritte n at great speed. The system depended upon a set o f radicals, gener­
a lly the in itia l capital le tte r o f a w ord. T his m ight stand alone, especially
in the case o f a frequently employed term . B ut more elaborate radicals
existed to indicate certain invariable words: adverbs, prepositions, con­
junctions, certain nom inative form s and even certain th ird person singular
form s o f a verb in the indicative. This in tu rn could be m odified by a
te rm ina tion w hich, w hile s w iftly notated, perm itted in fle ctio n o r other
m odification o f the w ord. These were n o t idiosyncratic systems unique to
individuals, but w ell established alternative w ritin g systems which were
in stitu tio n a lize d in teaching and widespread habits o f use.

> - a p T r y 1

y n ' a

Y> ' t v-* V 3 v,

n x j 4 -

Tironian notes (Karl Faulman,

lllustrirte Geschichte der Schrift,
Leipzig, 1880)

A high degree o f specialization was thus introduced among the

Romans to both standardize and diversify the fie ld o f w ritin g practice w ith
the specialized graphic form s serving very differen t purposes w ith in the
body p o litic . N o t least o f these was the adaptation o f le tte r form s to repre­
sent num ber values. The graphic sym bolism o f these Roman num erals
often partakes o f the obvious, as in the case o f the strokes o f the T used to
indicate a sequence o f values increasing u n it by u n it like the extended
 The Alphabet in Classical History, Philosophy and Divination

fingers o f a counting hand. The ‘V ’ has been linked to the space between
thum b and forefinger on an open hand, w hile the ‘X ’ is supposed to invoke
the angle o f tw o hands linked together. T his la tte r stretches visual cre d ib il­
ity w hile the form er observations are quite banal, and the ‘X ’ contains the
character o f a double ‘V ’ readily enough w ith o u t com paring it to m anual
contortions. The num erals ‘ C ,’ ‘M ,’ and ‘L’ presum ably derived from
older C halcidian sym bols, the circle w ith a h o rizo n ta l line m odified to ‘C ’
had been used to represent TOO,’ just as a sim ila r circle s p lit by a vertical
line had been used by the Etruscans fo r the value o f ‘ 1000.’ ‘D ’ is evidently
sim ply the graphic equivalent o f h a lf o f this la tte r sign. The source o f ‘L’
fo r fifty remains vague, lin k in g it to a fo rm o f the C halcidian ‘X .’ The con­
ventions w hich brought these form s in to co nfo rm ity w ith letters w ith in
the L a tin alphabet were the effect o f convenience, rather than necessity,
and other signs w ould have functioned equally w ell - even better since
they w ould have stood less chance o f confusion.

Classical inspirations and later authors

The classical tra d itio n has been a source o f in sp ira tio n throughout
Western European h istory and in this regard the h istory o f the alphabet is
no d ifferen t from th a t o f any other tra d itio n w ith in the h isto ry o f ideas.
C ertain elements discussed here w ill recur throughout the fo llo w in g chap­
ters in passing o r in substantial discussion. The Pythagorean tra d itio n o f
num ber sym bolism , the practices o f gem atria, and m ost p a rticu la rly, the
image o f the Pythagorean ‘Y* are elements w hich provide a recurring m o tif
in alphabet historiography. The m yth o f Io , in w hich her h o o fp rin ts spell
out her name in tw o fundam ental elements, the T and the ‘O ,’ returns
p a rtic u la rly in the w ritin g s o f 17th- and 18th-century historians who
analysed the graphic structure o f the alphabet in term s o f these tw o p ri- 71
m ary form s. A nd finally, there are inventions o f a classicism w hich have lit- ""
tie relatio n to actual precedent w ith in classical texts, yet draw heavily
upon the structures derived from classical m ythology. One o f these is the
rem arkable D iv in a tio n de VAlphabet L a tin , a w ork by the 20th-century
w rite r Francois Haab, who dem onstrated the elaborate sym bolical rela­
tions among the letters as evidence o f th e ir connections to specific person­
ages w ith in the pantheon o f Roman gods and goddesses, but w hich w ill be
described in a later chapter.
IV
GNOSTICISM, HERMETICISM, NEO-PLATONISM
AN D NEO-PYTHAGOREANISM: ALPHABET IN
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ERAS

The sym bolic interpretations o f the alphabet w hich emerge in the early
centuries o f the C hristian era m anifest the fu ll range o f cu ltu ra l influenced
typ ical o f the largely secular and cosm opolitan H ellenistic culture. They
com bine religious and c u lt practices from E gypt, Babylon, Persia, Syria
and Palestine w ith the teachings o f Greek philosophy. A rem arkable diver­
sity o f belief systems vied fo r p o litic a l and s p iritu a l dom ination in the 1st
and 2nd centuries AD , inclu ding many syncretistic hybrids peculiarly char­
acteristic o f the period. The reasons fo r this are evident from the h istory
o f the M editerranean region at the close o f the classical era, as the Greek
influence established under the p o litic a l and m ilita ry trium phs o f
Alexander the Great in the 3rd century BC began to be challenged by cu l­
tu ra l factors such as the m arked reemergence o f ritu a l practices in the
East, including C h ris tia n ity and the increasing significance o f Rome. The
late H ellenic period and the early centuries o f the Roman empire were
characterized by considerable religious tolerance and diversity. The focus
o f this chapter w ill be on m aterials from the period spanning the close o f
the classical era through to the consolidation o f the Church and the
Roman Em pire. The w orks to be examined here were m ainly w ritte n in
Greek, some in L a tin , and a ll particip a te in one o f the several religious or
philosophical systems w hich p roliferated throughout the M editerranean
region. M any o f these sources are concerned w ith the alphabet as a vehicle
fo r sym bolic m eaning, but before attending to these, it seems useful to
provide a b rie f overview o f the role o f w ritin g in the restructuring o f
power between classical and C hristian eras, and to the many transform a­
tions in the visual form s o f the alphabet in this period.

The Alphabet and Politics

The h istoria n Hans Jonas stated th a t from the Greeks’ perspective the
area from Egypt through the ancient N ear East to the borders o f India had
been the ‘East.’ But w ith the emergence o f Rome as an Im pe ria l power, the
d ivision o f Eastern and Western dom ains became redefined. The
C hristian izin g o f the Roman Em pire under C onstantine and the establish­
m ent o f the N ew Rome at C onstantinople fu rth e r emphasized the b ip o la r­
izatio n o f the Church in w hich Greece - and the Greek language and
alphabet - w ould come to be characterized as Eastern. The p o litic a l strug-
 Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

gles o f these changes were m arked in the transform ations in scrip t form s.
a n a The P olitics o f S cript, by the h istorian o f paleography and typography,
Stanley M o riso n , remains an unsurpassed study o f the role played by w rit­

E Z HQ ten form s in reinforcing and m arking the boundaries o f p o litic a l id e n tity

and co n tro l d urin g the period from the 6th century BC through to the
medieval era.1 M o riso n ’s w ork does not deal w ith the alphabet as a sym­
I K AAA bolic fo rm per se> but establishes a foundation fo r understanding the cul­

H io n tu ra l h isto ry o f the late H ellenic and early C hristian eras in relationship to

the role o f w ritin g .

PX T Y M o riso n ’s study begins by id e n tifyin g fo rm a l d istinctions between the

Quadrate Greek letters from a
stele at Athens (Lewis F. Day,
Alphabets Old and New,
London, 1910)
ABCDEFI
m onum ental capitals used in Greek inscriptions as early as the 6th century
BC and those w hich became the regularized and consistent fo rm o f L a tin
majuscules. Greek and L a tin m onum ental capitals had in comm on a
quadrate, or essentially square, fo rm , but were clearly differentiated in
m ost other respects. The Greek letters were made o f th in , consistent,
unserifed, strokes w hile the L a tin capitals o f the 3rd century BC were
characterized by th ic k m ajor strokes, th in substrokes, and elaborate serifs.
By the 1st century AD , M o riso n points out, ‘Rome brought its influence to
bear on Greek as w ritte n by the scribes o f the subject people5 and Greek
le tte rin g began to show evidence o f the- L a tin form s.2 The ‘geom etrical
and m echanical’ m odel o f the L a tin capitals became ide ntifie d w ith the

GLMNOP a u th o rity o f Im perial Rome. In such inscriptions as those o f the Trajan

colum n these letters to o k the visual form in w hich this id e n tity was stan­

QVRTSXI
Trajan imperial majuscules as
redrawn by Edward Catich, 1961
dardized and prom ulgated. Various hands developed fo r purposes other
than m onum ental inscriptions, fo r instance fo r legal and business docu­
ments w hich required a ll range o f form a l, in fo rm a l and rapid w ritin g . In
a dd itio n, such documents were w ritte n on m aterials other than stone,
such as on the surfaces o f papyrus and vellum . Letters drawn in in k were
adapted to accommodate the movements o f the scribe’s hand rather than
the stonecutter’s chisel.
By the early 2nd century A D a form o f L a tin lettering know n as Rustic
emerged w hich was m ore condensed and less square than the earlier
Im perial majuscules. It was used both in carved inscriptions and in w ritin g
on papyrus. Though s till essentially a set o f majuscule form s, it had a
character and visual id e n tity w hich were perceived to be more specifically
L a tin than even the Im perial capitals. One b it o f evidence o f this id e n tity
was the application o f the rustic hand - in preference to the Im perial le t­
ters - to the m anuscript pub lica tion o f 4th-century codex editions o f
V irg il, the quintessential L a tin poet.
The next m ajor change in alphabetic w ritin g occurred in relatio n to
C onstantine’s rise to power and establishm ent in 313 A D o f C h ristia n ity
as the o ffic ia l religio n o f the Roman Em pire. In 312, conquering Rome,
C onstantine reputedly had a vision in w hich he saw the Cross shining in
the sky along w ith the alpha and omega and the words ‘W ith this sign,
C hrisom on is triu m p h a n t.’ In his vision the fo rm o f the Greek alpha was
forked, a style w hich w ould come to be clearly associated. w ith the
Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

Rolls from Capitals A ncient

H erculaneum . F rom Codices. Cursives . UNCIALS.

a A X A.

b & B la & *
c C C c c c
d D D Ac)?)
e £<F> E /I U fSSiei
f F(F) I 1' f F J ff
g C G q C Ci 3)
h H H Hf h. b
•
1 I 1 1 l
k K K.
1 I L U 1
m AA JVI M M H .\H \ AV fOOQOD
n N N K) M fl M
0 0 O <fc * o
P r P P ]■"? ppp
q
Q. Q 9 9
r K R K K iRiUPV
s i S * S <
t T n T T 7 q -

u V M) V u u U V U lIL )
Chart showing majuscule and ^ X X X X
cursive forms o f Roman
y — Y V r
alphabet in use in early Christian
•s
era (Harold Johnston, Latin —

Manuscripts, Chicago, 1897)

—
$
Byzantine style o f alphabetic lettering. M ore im m ediately, C onstantine’s
conversion and dedication to the rebuilding o f libraries o f C hristian texts
com bined w ith a desire to establish a fo rm o f w ritin g w hich w ould be dis­
tin c t from th a t o f the L a tin emperors whose im p erial majuscules were now

4th century manuscript of Virgil,
showing Rustic characters
(Deutsches Staatsbibliothek,
Berlin)
Christian catacomb inscriptions
with curved 'E' and Omega (De
Rossi, Roma sotterranea)
Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism
I ?sTS L ^ ^ Kv
m I n n r s m ts v iv s iT V p m W m j ;iiA c > s c .v s .;^v —
i n e v M t^ V S T V S ^ G IR M rO 'ftI fc‘N 1 1 LV X D S JL^-T IrttR F . '
I t C C lW V PL R C I H O C l I V COSI I !A M V U J . 1 * i
Ii i i (j^i' m i i Wcrx 0 i n w ^ - \ a vv ^
1
associated w ith the persecution o f C hristians and the destruction o f earlier
C hristian libraries under the edicts o f D iocletian. The older L a tin scripts
also carried strong associations w ith the w ritin g s o f the classical pagan
dram atists, poets and historians, in a ddition to w hich the m a jo rity o f texts
by the Evangelists and Church Fathers had been o rig in a lly w ritte n in
Greek. Synthesizing an alphabet w hich w ould have visual elements o f
fa m ilia rity fo r both Greek and L a tin readers, and w hich w ould also have
the v irtu e o f distinguishing its e lf from L a tin precedents, Constantine
established a new C hristian scrip t to sym bolize w hat he called ‘ . . . a w orld
risin g triu m p h a n t to the stars under the leadership o f C h rist.’3 The script
which developed had the advantage o f being more e fficient to w rite and
more econom ical in term s o f space than the m onum ental capitals o r even
Rustic form s o f earlier scripts. The uncial form became regularized largely
through its efficacy as a means fo r reconstructing C hristian libraries from
the 4th century onward.
Book hands, chancery hands, le tte r form s fo r m onum ental inscrip­
tions, o ffic ia l documents and im p erial decrees p ro liferated in the next cen­
turies. It was n o t u n til the C arolingian m iniscule was adopted by o ffic ia l
Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagorean ism
Crypt containing early Christian
inscriptions, 3rd century AD
(Henri de L'Epinois, Les
Catacombs de Rome, Paris 1896)
Image of Latin scribe in early
Christian era (Codex Amiatinus,
Biblioteca Laurenziana,
Florence)
decree in the 8th century as a means o f u n ifyin g the em pire o f
Charlemagne th a t any successful attem pt at u n ifo rm ity was effected. In
the in te rim , peculiar syntheses o f Greek and L a tin le tter form s continued
to produce odd h ybrid styles. M orison calls p a rtic u la r attention to the
w ritin g on the Cross presented by Justin II, Em peror o f C onstantinople, to
the p o n tif o f Rome. Produced in the m etal workshops attached to the
H agia Sophia sometime between 565 and 578 AD , the piece displays a
peculiar and d is tin c tly non-Rom an m onum ental lettering. As the Cross
was believed to contain a piece o f the True Cross, and intended to serve as
a sym bol o f the lin ks between the N ew Rome and O ld , the use o f the
strange com bination o f uncial, capitals, and as M orison says, ‘w ha t-no t,’
m ust be understood as in te n tio n a l and significant. The redesign o f the old
L a tin le tter form s was intended to reflect the new Im perial a u th o rity at
C onstantinople. One visual element in p a rtic u la r points o u t the sig n ifi­
cance o f the new form s - the forked ‘A’ w hich had also appeared in
C onstantine’s vision. By its new form , this le tte r signified the Greek and
Eastern influence w hich had integrated in to the le tte r form s o f the old
Roman empire.
 Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

Justin's cross, 6th century; note

the forked 'A' form (Vatican
Museum)

The Concept o f the Logos

C hristian dogma has in comm on w ith certain other W estern religious

and philosophical belief systems a fa ith in the concept o f the W ord. In
C hristianity, this concept is associated n ot only w ith the n o tio n o f a
D ivine T ru th (itse lf rooted in earlier b elief systems - such as P latonic
philosophy w ith its hierarchical structure o f T ru th as an Ideal) but also
w ith a n o tio n o f em bodim ent o f th a t T ru th . C hrist, as Prophet and
Saviour, n o t only delivers the W ord, but states th a t he in effect is the W ord
as w ell. The concept o f logos thus carries w ith it a m eaning fa r beyond the
mere signalling o f the existence and a u th o rity o f a sacred te xt. In
Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

C hristian term s, the logos is the m etaphysical co nd itio n o f being, the very
essence o f God as the fu ll extension o f the universe — transcendent,
absolute, and u ltim ate. Both Jewish and Islam ic dogma share this concept,
though in m odified fo rm . In Jewish culture the W ord is the D ivine W ord,
and is to be found in the Scriptures. Preservation, in te rp re ta tio n , and
transm ission o f these sacred texts is at the heart o f Jewish b elief and
Jewish law and the m ystical potency o f the W ord is the basis o f the kab-
balistic tra d itio n . In the Islam ic com m unity, the te xt o f the Koran is sim i­
la rly revered as D ivine, and honoring and dissem inating its w isdom and
beliefs are one o f the m ajor tasks o f the believer. B elief in the sacred char­
acter o f the W ord, in a ll o f three o f these religious systems, includes a rev­
erence fo r its visual fo rm , and a respect fo r scrupulously accurate repro­
duction o f the te xt o f the Scriptures;
The im p lica tio ns o f these belief systems fo r Western culture more gen­
e ra lly are th a t they establish a foundation fo r belief in the transcendent
power o f language and the W ord, o r /ogos, m ore generally. A lo ng w ith this
b elief comes a fa ith in the a u th o rity o f language when it is the em bodi­
m ent o f Law, o r Faith. T his b elief raises the v a lid ity posited in language to
the level o f T ru th , again in a m etaphysical and transcendent sense. In
much o f Western culture, the very concept o f T ru th its e lf is linked to the
a ctivity o f language, and its capacity to present its e lf as the em bodim ent
o f an a uthoritative power. These notions permeate early C hristian
G nosticism , as they also permeate the Jewish Kabbalah. They have a more
banal, but no less effective, legacy in the tra d itio n s o f te xtu al interpreta­
tio n w hich appear in lite ra ry studies, h isto rica l studies and the like. These
latter, and the b elief systems underlying them w hich are characterized as
logocentric in character, have been system atically critiq ue d in the w ork o f
recent critics, the m ost prom inent among whom is Jacques D errida, the
French philosopher responsible in large p a rt fo r the developm ent o f decon­
stru ctio n ist criticism w hich begins w ith an investigation o f the logocentric
basis o f W estern m etaphysics.4

Christian monograms (X. Barbier

de Montault, Iconographie
Chretienne, Paris 1890)
 Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

Gnosticism - Syncretic Beliefs and Symbolic Knowledge

Like other syncretic religious practices w hich originated in Egypt,

G nosticism exhibits the various influences present in A lexandria at the
close o f the H ellenistic era, borrow ing from Greek, C optic, M andaean
and Jewish sources. G nosticism was based on the belief th a t the revelation
o f divine knowledge w hich culm inated in C hrist could be found in the
fa ith o f many peoples, but was also a significant attem pt to integrate the
beliefs o f the ancient w orld w ith the new teachings o f C hristianity. The
cosm ology o f G nosticism is characterized by a belief in dualism borrowed
from Zoroastrianism and Persian M azdaism and com bined w ith
Babylonian astrological fa talism and the transcendent m onotheism o f the
Jewish fa ith .
G nosticism is based on the concept o f em anation o f the D ivine L ig h t
through the debased fo rm o f the m aterial w orld. In G nostic cosmology,
God is n o t one w ith the universe, and the m aterial w orld is no evidence o f
G od’s existence. Instead, God is considered alien to the m aterial universe,
w hich is base and crude. T his dualism , w hich is term ed anti-cosm ological
because it n ot o nly distinguishes the D ivine power from the w o rld but even
p its the tw o against each other, was contrary to the teachings o f the early
C hristian Fathers. Thus, in spite o f certain C hristian features, G nosticism
was considered a heretical doctrine. O utlawed by decree in the 3rd and 4th
centuries, it v irtu a lly disappeared by the 6th century AD. Its C hristian
aspects n otw ithstanding, G nosticism should be understood as a s p iritu a l
counterattack o f the Eastern sensibility against the dom ination o f Western
cu lture .5 G nosticism is m ystical and sym bolic in character rather than
based on the abstract ra tio n a l logic associated w ith Greek culture.
The beliefs o f G nostics ranged from a m ystical eroticism (associated
w ith the b rid a l chamber im agery o f a te xt know n as the Pistis Sophia) to
fa r more abstract cosm ological structures and to considerations w hich are
alm ost fu lly reconcilable w ith standard early C hristianity. Valentinus, in
Egypt, was the m ost famous o f the A lexandrian Gnostics (d.161 A D ) but
Simon M agus, a Syrian m agician who became the prototype o f later
Western m agicians, was responsible fo r a d ua listic form o f G nostic prac­
tice which he later renounced fo r more orth od o x C hristianity. Few o rig in a l
G nostic texts rem ain, and many d o ctrin a l beliefs, such as those o f M arcos,
a student o f Valentinus, are largely passed on to poste rity through the
w ork o f other w riters. In this case, it is through the C hristian w rite r
Irenaeus, whose Adversus Haereses recorded M arcos’ cosm ology in great
detail in order to thoroughly denounce it.
Before considering M arcos, however, one unique a rtifa c t containing an
early G nostic te xt w ill be discussed. This is an am ulet sim ila r to those dis­
cussed in the previous chapter, a sm all, fo il lam ella o rig in a lly rolled and
suspended around the neck, w hich was discovered in B eirut in 1925 by the
scholar Charles V irolleaud. Though eventually lost in tra n sit between
Paris and O xfo rd , the piece was thoroughly studied and documented by
 Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

A . Dupont-Som m er, who published his research on it in 1946. Surprised at

the s trik in g ly C hristian content o f the am ulet, w hich made it unique
among the other he had studied from this period, Sommer translated the
nineteen lines inscribed on the tin y m etal scrap (approxim ately 10 by 6
centim eters). The te xt began w ith the sign o f the cross and the single w ord
‘Waw? It continued, ‘son o f G od, the Great, /the strong, the H o ly God. /
Three powers exist in h im / the grand virtu e o f the Ocean,/ and the
Archontes, the w ater and / the W o rld .’ The rest o f the short te xt includes
tw o incantations, one fo r divine in sp ira tio n , one fo r m alediction. Sommer
compares the use o f the Waw in this context to the privileged status
accorded the upsilon in Pythagorean sym bolism . Though the invocation
o f the Son o f God is obviously C hristian, Sommer term s it unusual in
G nostic texts. In the lam ella the Waw comes to be interchangeable w ith
the term C hrist, the Ocean referred to is the m ythic Abyss, w hile the
Archontes are the supernatural beings w hich are the interm ediaries
between God and the w orld in G nostic cosmology. In G nostic systems
w ith close lin ks to astrology, the Archontes are associated w ith the seven
planets.

8o

Aramaean lamelle, now lost,

rephotographed after Dupont-
Sommer (Paris, 1946)
 Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism b h

Sommer situates his interpretatio n o f the am ulet in the intersection o f

N eo-P latonic, Neo-Pythagorean and C hristian sym bolism . He points out
th a t the use o f the w aw as a sym bol has parallels to other le tter m ysticism ,
such as th a t o f the N eo-P latonist Porphyry, who produced a sim ila r dis
cussion o f the values assigned to the Greek omega. Such letter m ysticism
was prevalent in the H ellenistic w orld in w hich the term stoicheia retained
its cosm ological significance, invoking both the letters and th e ir role as
fundam ental elements o f the universe. St Paul, fo r instance, in his Epistle
to the G alatians in 55 AD , discussed the c u lt o f the stoicheia, cautioning
against it: ‘When we were young we were instructed in the elements o f the
w orld (stoicheia) w hich, by th e ir nature, were n o t gods. H ow can you go
back to th e ir pathetic and feeble elements w hich you consented to use
once again? You observe the days, the m onths, the seasons and the years.’
Paul associates these practices w ith childhood in stru ction in the learning
o f the alphabet, but the calendrical observations were also considered
pagan practices, associated w ith astrology, rather than w ith the C hristian
calendar. A few years later Paul admonished another group, the
Colossians, fo r th e ir continued allegiance to the philosophy o f the sto i­
cheia. The id e n tifica tio n between these alphabetic cosmologies and pagan
beliefs was clearly made.
W hile the lam ella participates in the widespread practice o f le tte r sym­
bolism , the specific them atics o f this te xt show the p a rticu la r h yb rid char­
acter o f G nosticism . A lthough both the in itia l cross and the association o f
the w aw w ith the phrase the ‘son o f god’ are d is tin c tly C hristian , the
im m ediate im b rica tio n o f these opening statements w ith a te xt concerned
w ith the cosm ological hierarchy o f the Ocean and Archontes betrays the
influence o f Eastern cults. The powers o f Ocean, A ir and W ater lose this
anim ate energy as sp iritu a l forces in the anti-pagan disposition o f the
early C hurch. Sim ilarly, the d istin ctly Greek and m ythological astrological
associations, w hich are so easily assim ilated in this short te xt to reinforce 8i
the sym bolic structure o f the cosm ological system, were also considered,
as in the passages o f St Paul above, anathema to early theologians. Such
synthetic com binations o f belief systems, and the attem pt to reconcile
th e ir apparent contradictions through a universal symbology, w ould have
parallels in the w ork o f later thinkers, p a rtic u la rly Raym ond L lu ll, the
medieval C atalan logician and m ystic, and in the polym ath philosophers
o f the early Renaissance. But in a period when even C h ris tia n ity was as yet
n ot fu lly in stitu tio n a lize d , the G nostic sensibility as evidenced in this
lam ella threatened the kin d o f clear id e n tity in p o litic a l and s p iritu a l
realms w hich the early Church so d efinitely sought.
O f the G nostics, M arcos (who was active in the second h a lf o f the 2nd
century A D ) is the one fo r whom we have the m ost evidence o f interest in
le tte r m ysticism . M arcos’s w ork integrates the Greek fa ith in the m ysti­
cism o f letters, the stoicheia w ith the fu ll apparatus o f G nostic cosmology.
A ccording to M arcos the letters compose the basic Plerome w ith its ele­
ments: the Archontes, the Eons, W ords and Angels w hich are the Roots
 Gnosticism, Hermeticlsm, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

and Sources o f a ll w hich exists below. In M arcos’s te xt a divine figure

know n as the supreme Tetrad appears in a female fo rm . In this vision the
letters o f the alphabet are a ll assigned to parts o f this d iv in ity ’s body, as
M arcos describes: ‘F irst was her head, the alpha and omega, her neck, the
beta and psi, her shoulder and her hands, the gamma and khi> her chest
the delta and the p h i, her diaphragm the epsilon and the ypsilo n , her
stomach zeta and tau9her sexual parts eta and sigm a, her thighs theta and
rh o 9her knees io ta and p i9her legs kappa and om icron, her ankles lam bda
and fesi, and her feet lam bda (again) and nu. W ith the exception o f the
deviant last pair, a ll o f these associations proceed from the firs t and last
letters o f the alphabet tow ard the m iddle, clearly using its systemic entire­
ty as a m etaphor fo r the wholeness o f the soul in the body. As the vision
continues, the wom an insists th a t M arcos understand the significance o f
the statem ent th a t Jesus is an episemon onom a, a h ig hly sym bolic name.
The w ord episemon carries an add itio na l value in this context because it is
^associated w ith the antique digam m a, the le tte r w hich had held sixth
place in the archaic Greek alphabet. Because it had fallen out o f use by
M arcos’s tim e, the digam m a, was granted special significance. Since it had
been used to designate a sound sim ila r to the waw (also the sixth letter),
there were several links between the episem on!digam m a, the waw o f
M arcos’s text. The value related to the transform ations in the alphabet
and the sym bolism o f the sixth letter as the secret name o f Jesus, w ill be
touched on again in discussing other non-G nostic C hristian texts.
As M arcos’s vision continues, the ineffable name o f C h rist is calculat­
ed by spelling o u t the names o f the letters w hich compose the Greek
X reistos, the num erical to ta l o f th irty (three fo r X e i, tw o fo r rho, etc.) is
its e lf granted sym bolic value: it equals the com bined value o f six, the
num ber o f letters in the name C hrist, and tw enty-four, the num ber o f le t­
ters o f the alphabet. Such calculations, h ig hly rem iniscent o f the sym bol-
82 ism o f the Pythagoreans and the gem atrial calculations o f later Kabbalists,
allow fo r alm ost endless recycling o f sym bolism through the name o f
C hrist. The tw e nty-fo ur letters o f the alphabet are also granted other
C hristian sym bolism in M arcos’s discussion, by virtu e o f belonging to
three classes o f phonetic value. There are nine mutes w hich are the Paths
and T ru th , eight semi-vowels which are the Logos and the L ife , and seven
vowels w hich represent M an and the Church. The ine qu ality o f these class­
es in the 9/8/7 sequence requires th a t one le tte r leave the firs t class and
m igrate to the th ird to re-establish the perfection o f the 888, another
num erical equivalent o f Jesus’s name (and also, o f course, equal to the
3 x 8 equation o f the alphabet, or tw e nty-fo ur). The le tte r w hich is
designated the episem on, the Insigne, w hich thereby becomes the sign o f
Jesus through a com plex chain o f associations and transform ations.
A ccording to the alphabetological dram a, the significance o f these
numbers is derived from a b ib lica l tale in w hich Jesus becomes the ‘s ix th ’
num ber (i.e. the episemon and the waw) when he goes up the m ountain
w ith Peter, John and James and is joined by E lija h and Moses; he comes
 Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

dow n fro m the m ountain on the sixth day and enters the Hebdom ade (the
dom ain o f seven) in a redem ptive descent w hich m irrors the movement o f
the aberrant n in th vowel in the firs t class to become the eighth member o f
the th ird class. W hile the num ber eight figures p rom inently in the num eri­
cal analysis o f Jesus’s name, it is w ith the relations between the sym bolic
values o f six and seven th a t M arcos and G nosticism are largely concerned.
The num ber six had carried the sym bolic value o f C reation from the
O ld Testament account o f G od’s six days’ lab or in creating the universe.
In a dd itio n there is a lin k w hich M arcos establishes between Adam , made
on the sixth day, and Jesus since in the story o f the Passion, the sixth hour
o f the sixth day is the tim e associated w ith the n a ilin g o f C h rist to the
Cross. In M arcos’s te xt it is stated th a t ‘the perfect In te lle ct, know ing th at
the num ber six possesses the power o f creation and regeneration, m anifest
to the Sun the lig h t and power exercised by the appearance o f the Insigne
. . . ’6 M arcos’s te xt forges other associations w ith the Pythagorean six, the
num ber o f regeneration, and the re b irth o f C hrist. Such synthetic blend­
ings o f O ld and N ew Testament imagery, o f Pythagorean influenced num ­
ber sym bolism and the hierarchical structure o f the Cosmos show the syn­
cretic tendencies which m arked the G nostic s p iritu a l project.
The C hristian philosopher, Clem ent o f A lexandria, w ritin g in his w ork
Stromates in the late 3rd century, to ok up th is G nostic theme and reiter­
ated the p o in t th a t the Insigne, episemon> o r w aw is linked to Jesus
because it is the le tte r w hich is hidden in the alphabet (in other w ords, the
o ld digam m a) as H is d iv in ity is H idden - firs t in the w o rld , then in his
Ineffable Nam e. For Clem ent the disappearance o f the le tte r fro m the
alphabet was crucial since it signalled the movement o f resurrection and
redem ption. Thus the process by w hich the seven letters o f C h rist’s name
(the Greek Kreistos) became six (the num ber o f intervals between the le t­
ters) and so fo rth allowed an interchange o f sym bolic values between six,
seven and eight. As a 3rd-century A lexandrian, Clem ent was w ell aware o f
the G nostic precedents and sources fo r his w o rk, the aspects o f his w rit­
ings w hich w ould exert a more long lasting influence resided in other p o r­
tions o f the Stromates. W hile M arcos’s discussion contains the m ost
detailed exegesis o f the le tte r w aw th a t has come down to the present day,
the doctrine attached to the le tte r is probably much older than M arcos.
The discussion o f the Three Powers (the In co rru p tib le L ig h t, the Water,
and the Earth) in the lam ella analyzed by Sommer can be traced in to 1st
century Syrian sects, though w ith o u t the same e x p lic it C hristian sym bol­
ism . Some degree o f sym bolism was also attached to the visual fo rm o f the
w aw , connecting it to the image o f the serpent w hich some Gnostics
believed was inscribed in its very design. A ccording to one source, the ser­
pent was recognized as the m ost em inent sym bol, possibly even th a t
imposed on the head o f C ain to prevent his being k ille d . W hatever these
early sources may have contributed to the sym bolism o f the w aw y they are
fu lly absorbed in to M arcos’s inte rp re ta tio n , where they have been
absorbed in to the G nostic C hristian im agery o f the episemon.
 Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism
84
ABRAXAS gem (E. Wallis Budge,
Egyptian Magic, London, 1901)
A nother G nostic te xt, Pistis Sophia (the title lite ra lly means Faith-
W isdom in Greek) makes use o f both the fu ll alphabet and the sym bolism
o f the vowels com m on to classical culture in its structure. Considered a
late w ork, and an expression o f an already degraded form o f G nosticism ,
the Pistis Sophia nonetheless presents a clear image o f the cosm ological
structure o f G nostic th o u g h t.7 The w orld, again d istin ct from the realm o f
D ivine L ig h t w hich is the antithesis o f the Darkness o f the universe, is gov­
erned by Archons. These are the low er powers who rule the m aterial
w orld, a prison whose innerm ost dungeon is the earth. There are seven
spheres o f the Archons, each ruled by a figure whose name recalls the
names o f God from Jewish texts; Sabaoth, A donai, Eloheim and so fo rth .
Pistis Sophia describes a w orld o f tw e nty-fo ur aeons and tw e nty-fo ur mys­
teries, aridJndicates the existence ( if n o t the clear significance) o f the five
m arks, seven vowels, five trees and seven amens.8 These are the tw enty-
fo u r elements, knowledge o f w hich was required fo r the passage tow ard
salvation. In the book the soul is p u t to the test o f travelling through the
aeons w hich structure the cosmos. The female character o f Pistis Sophia is
found by C hrist, stuck in the th irte e n th aeon, and is led by her through the
necessary stages tow ard enlightenm ent. As in the case o f earlier religious
practices, the w ork m anifests a strong belief in the m ystical power o f le t­
ters, numbers and magic form ulae. A t the end o f the book Jesus utters an
incantation w hich repeats the Greek vowels in a m anner precisely d u p li­
cating th e ir use in many Greek m agical papyri. The passage describing
this a ctivity places p a rtic u la r im portance on the com bination o f ‘I A U ’
(the last le tte r indicates the Greek long ‘ O ’ , omega, the fin a l vowel in the
tra d itio n a l sequence ‘A E H I O Y IT ), a com bination w hich carries com­
plex sym bolic value in Greek, A rabic, Hebrew and Sanskrit lin g u istic con­
texts.9 Standing at an altar, dressed in linen garments sign ifying purity,
Jesus turns to a ll fo u r corners o f the w orld repeating ‘I A O ,’ ‘I A O .’ One
in terpretatio n offered is th a t Iota> the universe, came out o f A lpha w hich
offers renewal before retu rn to Omega, the ‘com pletion o f a ll com ple­
tio n s,’ w hile another in te rp re ta tio n o f the statem ent reads, T (Jesus) ‘am
the A {alpha) and the O {omega). The alpha and omega were co ntin ua lly
identified w ith principles o f m anifestation and reintegration. The scene
described is sim ila r to th a t prescribed as a ritu a l practice in the Greek
m agical papyri (which are o f the same chronological period) in w hich the
sequence o f seven vowels is pronounced tu rn in g firs t to the fo u r cardinal
points and then to the E arth, to the A ir and fin a lly to the Heavens.10
O ther magic w ords, letters, com binations are found among the
Gnostics, some o f w hich become standard features o f later magic prac­
tices. The w ord ABR AXAS, fo r instance, is one in w hich the seven letters
are intended to signify the seven creative powers, each, again, associated
w ith one o f the seven vowels, planetary angels. The num erical significance
o f the w ord ABR AXAS was calculated at three hundred and sixty-five,
corresponding to the num ber o f ‘aeons o r em anations from the firs t cause’
and the ‘aeons,’ were fu rth e r considered the ‘S pirits o f the Days.’11
 Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

Neo-Pythagoreanism and Neo-Platonism - the Non-Christian Greek Tradition

Elements o f Pythagorean num ber sym bolism show up in alm ost every
aspect o f early C hristian le tte r m ysticism , but they are subsumed in such
practices to the overriding concern w ith the central image o f C hrist and o f
salvation. There were, however, strongholds o f the non-C hristian Greek
tra d itio n . M ost significant among these were N eo-Platonism , a reinterpre­
ta tio n o f the teachings o f Plato prom oted m ost sign ifican tly in the w rit­
ings o f Plotinus in the 3rd century12. As defined in P lotinus’s Enneades,
„ N eo-Platonism prom oted a m ystical discipline leading to salvation
through union w ith the One. Asserting th a t this teaching could be found
in the w ork o f the classical philosophers, p a rtic u la rly Plato, Neo-
Platonism was a d is tin c tly a n ti-C h ristia n movement, a riva l fo r power in
the s p iritu a l dom ain, an attem pt to build a stronghold o f fa ith grounded
in Greek tra d itio n capable o f w ithstanding the increasing power o f
C hristianity. The movement found strong proponents in the 3rd and 4th
century w rite rs Porphyry (a student o f Plotinus) and Iam blichus, and con­
tinued to have a significant fo llo w in g in to the 6th century. It w ould experi­
ence a revival w ith the Renaissance p ub lica tion o f M a rs ilio F icin o ’s L a tin
tran slatio n o f P lotinus’s te xt as p a rt o f the Renaissance attem pt to recon­
cile classical tra d itio n w ith C hristian beliefs.
Because o f the lin k w ith Greek tra d itio n , both N eo-P latonism and
Neo-Pythagoreanism made use o f the theories o f cosm ological structure,
harm ony and sym bolism w hich had emerged in the classical period. They
also were both theurgical practices, com bining contem plation, ritu a l
m agic, disciplined habits, and good w orks in the fo rm a tion o f a route to
divine salvation. The m ystical tenor o f N eo-Platonism was reinforced by
its use o f the Chaldean Oracles and various poems ascribed to Orpheus as
its response to the power w ielded by the C hristians through the force o f
th e ir ‘divine b oo k.’ A co lle ction o f cryp tic statements rather than a sys- 85
tem atic statement o f belief, the Oracles nonetheless pointed to the syn- “ “
thetic character o f N eo-Platonism , and its capacity to draw on the old
Babylonian astrological cosm ology as w ell as the tenets o f Greek p hiloso­
phy in its attem pts to establish a pow erful s p iritu a l b elief system. In the
2nd century Julianus the Theurge used the Chaldean Oracles to attack
C hristianity, and by the reign o f C onstantinus, son o f C onstantine, such
beliefs were s till so prevalent (and so persuasive) th a t a ll d iv in a to ry prac­
tices were outlawed by decree in 357 A D in an attem pt to co n tro l the in flu ­
ence o f non-C hristian religio n.
Letter m ysticism enters the tra d itio n o f N eo-Platonism o nly m arginal­
ly. Since the goal o f N eo-Platonism was a m ystical union w ith the One, the
structure o f the cosmos form ed a m etaphoric fram ew ork fo r structuring
the hierarchical relations o f levels o f consciousness. The lin ks between
Pythagoreanism and N eo-Platonism in this period are com plex, but cer­
ta in figures, such as N icom achus o f Gerasa, made elaborate use o f num ber
sym bolism w hich was in tu rn appropriated by the N eo-Tlatonists. In N eo-
 Gnosticism, Hermetidsm, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

Pythagorean cosm ology a general sym pathy connected a ll parts o f the

spheres o f the cosmos, the so-called harm ony o f the spheres. The structure
o f these harm onic relations was o f course m athem atical, and as the order
o f the m aterial universe had emerged, in Pythagorean b elief systems, from
the One, the understanding o f this cosmic harm ony was a means o f study­
ing and accessing the One. Such notions were readily assim ilated in to a
N eo-P latonist b elief th a t goodness and order were to be found in form
and harmony, measure and lim it - rather than in the dua listic struggles o f
Zoroastrianism , G nosticism , and C hristianity.
The Neo-Pythagorean theory o f harm ony o f the spheres was specifical­
ly connected to the doctrine o f the seven planetary vowels. T his doctrine
was elaborated by Nicom achus o f Gerasa in his in flu e n tia l te xt
Theological A rith m e tic , w ritte n around 150 AD. The distances o f the
planets from the earth were converted to the values o f the chords in the
heptachord w hich served as the basis o f Greek m usical harmony. As
Nicom achus explained, the elements o f the m usical scale were therefore
no t based on the force o f vibrations o f in d ivid u a l sounds, but on the
respective p ro po rtio ns o f the cavities in w in d instrum ents necessary to
produce them . Chords and notes were both indicated by letters o f the
alphabet, w ith the vowels holdin g privileged place: ‘A ll those who have
made use o f the sym phony o f seven sounds as if it were sim ply natural
borrowed fro m this source in order to know n ot only the spheres but also
the sounds w hich are the only ones among the letters w hich we ca ll vowels
and m usical sounds.’13
Such a cosm ological structure was even adapted by M arcos the
G nostic who linked phonem etric and astral cosm ology in the fo llo w in g
description: ‘The firs t sphere o f heaven makes the sound alpha, the
second, epsilon, the th ird eta, the fo u rth w hich form s the m iddle o f the
heavens expresses the virtu e o f the sound io ta , the fifth the sound
86 om icron, the sixth upsilon , and the seventh sphere, w hich is the fo u rth
“ “ fro m the m iddle, is omega? W hile this passage is so mechanical as to
provide little s p iritu a l in sp ira tio n , it does indicate the kin d o f intellectual
cross fe rtiliz a tio n w hich perm itted sim ila r source m aterials to be p u t to
d ifferen t religious ends. For N icom achus, however, the s p iritu a l value o f
the vowels was more e x p lic it: ‘I f the inexpressible things (vowels) are com ­
bined w ith expressible things (consonants) ju st as the soul is bound to the
body and harm ony to the strings, they create anim ate beings, those o f the
stories and songs, those o f active faculties, production o f divine things.’14
W hen arranged in graphic fo rm , the vowels form ed a trian gle w ith alpha
at the top and a row o f seven omegas fo rm ing the base. W hen given the
perfect fo rm o f the isosceles trian gle , this form ula was understood as a
s p iritu a l stairw ay o f ‘the name’ in the fo rm o f a heart.
One fin a l synthetic te xt w ill be m entioned here, w hich was by
Zosim us, a H ellen istic alchem ist and w rite r. It contains a paean to the
Omega w ith ty p ic a lly Neo-Pythagorean imagery, but bearing traces o f
G nostic cosm ology as w ell, p a rtic u la rly the image o f the Ocean: ‘The

Amulets (based on Charles W.
King The Gnostics and their
Remains, London, 1864)
Christian symbolism
Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanfsm
Letter Omega, the round, the double, corresponds to the seventh zone o f
heaven, th a t o f Kronos, according to m aterial language - in s p iritu a l lan­
guage it is som ething else, ineffable, w hich only N icotheos knows secretly
- so, as I said, according to the m aterial language Omega is th a t w hich
one calls Ocean - o rig in and source, o f a ll the gods, a ll as one says, o f the
monarchs o f m aterial m eaning. Thus, the said Omega, grand and venera­
ble, includes a ll the powers o f the divine water, etc/ 15
The theory o f the significance o f the seven vowels and th e ir continued
association w ith the planets, as w ell as w ith theories o f cosmic harmony,
w ould show up again in the Renaissance, as p a rt o f the revival o f classical
knowledge. O ther strains o f Neo-Pythagorean thought w ould in fo rm
medieval K abbalistic w ork, the ars com binatorial and cosm ological p ro ­
positions through the Renaissance which involved theory o f harm ony and
structure in the ordering o f the universe. These w ould increasingly come
to be understood in relatio n to the n otio n o f the Rook o f N ature as a w ork
o f the D ivine order, s p irit or m ind, but the strength o f the Pythagorean
systems perpetuated th e ir use even in to much la te r C hristian and scientific
attem pts at ascribing sym bolic significance to the structure o f the universe.
Indisputably, the m ost fam ous early C hristian statem ent using the sym­
b olic im agery o f the alphabet comes from the Apocalypse o f St John, in
which Jesus speaks the fo llo w in g words, ‘I am the alpha and the omega,
the firs t and the last, the beginning and the e n d / A lm ost exactly the same
form ula is repeated elsewhere as ‘I am the alpha and the omega, th a t
w hich is and w hich has been, and w ill be - the a ll p o w e rfu l/ The use o f
the alphabet as a sign o f cosm ological to ta lity is ine xtrica b ly bound up
w ith the Greek concept o f the stoicheia, but in the C hristian w o rld it loses
this atom istic meaning and serves as a sign o f the wholeness o f the D ivine
w orld o f C hristian fa ith . In a passage o f his w ork, Stromates^ Clem ent o f
A lexandria expanded on this sym bolism , ‘ ... the sensible form s are vow­
els, w hich explains why the Lord was know n as the A lpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end. The sign AO is easily associated w ith C hrist when
one discovers a num erical equivalence w ith the name o f the dove, another
w ell know n C hristian s y m b o l/ Clem ent is o nly one o f the many early
Church Fathers to take up this sym bolism , w hich recurred throughout the
medieval period.
Aside from the refrain o f this text, one docum ent w hich provides evi­
dence o f early readings o f the alphabet through C hristian sym bology is in
a le tte r w ritte n by St Jerome to St Paula. Know n as the X X X th Epistle,
this te xt is also much cited in later literature.
The passages in St Jerome, w ritte n about 384 AD, focus on the 118th
Psalm w hich is composed according to the order o f the Hebrew alphabet,
though using Greek letters.16 The firs t verses a ll begin w ith alpha and each
 Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

succeeding set o f verses w ith the succeeding le tte r u n til ending w ith those
beginning w ith tau. Jerome assigns a value to each le tte r and then groups
them in to phrases, a ll the w hile keeping in m ind his ultim ate aim , to
explain to St Paula th a t the alphabet contains s p iritu a l knowledge in sym­
bolic form .
In the firs t group are the fo llo w in g letters are equivalents: Aleph =
doctrine, Beth = house, G im el = plenitude, D aleth — the tablets, He = this
here. The meaning o f this string o f elements is at firs t construed lite ra lly
by St Jerome as ‘doctrine house plenitude these tablets here.* But then he
expands, fillin g in the gaps, and arrives at the explanation th a t the first
fo u r letters read together mean th a t ‘the doctrine o f the church, which is
the house o f G od, is to be found in the plenitude o f divine books.’
The second group o f letters are: Va, Z a i, and H eth w hich mean ‘and
this life .’ And w hat life , Jerome asks, is possible besides th a t one described
in the Scriptures ‘thanks to w hich one knows C hrist him self, and w hich is
the life o f believers.’ Teth and Io d , the th ird set o f letters, mean ‘good
p rin cip le ’ and signify th a t ‘In effect, even if we know the a ll the Scriptures,
s till o ur knowledge is p a rtia l and o ur prophecy is p a rtia l and we see only
by means o f m irro r and enigma. B ut when we w ill have been w orth y o f
being w ith C hrist, when we resemble the angels, then we w ill have no
more need o f the the teaching o f books.’ The fo u rth group, kaph and
lam ed, stand fo r ‘hand o f the a rt or d iscip lin e,’ in which the hand im plies
action, the heart and discipline make clear th a t ‘we can do n othing if we
don’t know w hat to do.’ M em , N u n , Samech mean th a t ‘from w hich
comes the eternal salvation’ w hich, Jerome says, ‘has no need o f explica­
tio n - it is more clear than day, by the holy books we are furnished w ith
eternal a id .’ The elements o f the sixth group, a in , phe, sade, are the
‘source’ o r ‘eye o f the m outh o f justice’. Jerome instructs Paula to in te r­
pret these as in the case o f the th ird group, to mean ‘good p rin c ip le .’
88 Finally, the seventh set o f letters, koph, res, shin, tau, carries the somewhat
cryp tic sense o f the ‘ca ll o r appeal o f the head o f the teeth signs.*
Stretching to include the lite ra l sense o f the letters’ sym bolic value, Jerome
explains th a t ‘the teeth p e rm it the voice to be a rticulated and heard and by
these signs one arrives at the head o f things - w hich is C h rist.’ N o t sur­
prisingly, Jerome then invokes the sym bolism o f the num ber seven, associ­
ating this last group w ith C hrist as the u ltim ate, the end o f a ll things.
Perhaps the m ost interesting feature o f St Jerome’s exercise from the
perspective o f alphabet historiography is his use o f the names o f the
Hebrew letters in a sym bolic in te rp re ta tio n , the firs t such recorded
instance o f this practice. The values assigned to the letters as symbols in
this manner were never fu lly standardized, n ot even in the peak vogue o f
such associations in the 19th century, and Jerome’s in te rp re ta tio n has a
num ber o f idiosyncratic aspects. In fa ct, w ith the exception o f the assign­
m ent o f the value house to beth, the only letters w hich have values w hich
are cited elsewhere as the names o f letters are those w hich name body
parts: caph/hand, ainleye, phelm outh, reslhead, and shin/teeth. W hile

Adolphe Hebbelynck: images o f
the Greek alphabet, (redrawn
after Les M ysttres des Lettres
Gr&ques, Paris, 1902) Left to
right, top to bottom, the
sequence of these letters follows
that of the manuscript, rather
than the traditional alphabetic
order
n a r tio n o f the prom ulgation o f divine law and the o rig in o f the w o rld .’ The
pi: the foundation o f the Church
and the mystery o f Christ in the
figure of the temple
delta: heaven and earth
gamma: earth before it emerges
from the waters
a. •
beta: with a blackened bowl,
e w ritte n to represent the earth and the water, another to represent the
the white part represents
waters, the shadows below are
the abyss
alpha: in circle, the space above
is air and wind, below are
waters
eta: split o f light and shadows,
the middle line makes the
separation
H 1 JC
zeta: separating the superior
and inferior water
iota: plants w ith grains or seeds
kappa: fru it trees
Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism
aleph is often assigned the value o f doctrine, covenant o r fa ith by virtu e o f
its p osition as firs t letter, the rest o f the s p iritu a l values w hich Jerome
ascribes are n o t features o f much later interpretations; they do, however,
feature in another m anuscript dated to this period and fu lly twelve o f the
tw e nty-fo ur values are the same in the tw o texts.
T his second docum ent is a C optic-A rabic te xt assigned to the 5th o r
6th century and referred to as ‘The M ystery o f the Greek Letters. * The
actual m anuscript (dated to the 14th century) is assumed to be the w ork o f
a Palestinian m onk know n as Saba, and had been the object o f extensive
study in the 19th and early 20th centuries by Em ile G altier, Adolphe
H ebbelynck, M . Am elineau and others.17
O n the basis o f lin g u istic evidence, the o rig in a l o f the te xt studied by
Hebbelynck seems to have been in Greek and from the early C hristian era,
though the C optic m anuscript from w hich he worked was dated to the
11th century. The w ork has v iv id themes o f creation and redem ption but
lacks the cosm ological sym bolism o f G nostic texts, and is more purely
C hristian in its tone.
The underlying premise comes, again from the statem ent made by
C hrist to John in the Book o f Revelation, ‘I am the alpha and omega.’
H ebbelynck’s a uthor (henceforth to be referred to as Saba) takes this to
mean th a t there is ‘a m ystery in the letters o f the alphabet o f H is revela­
author is at pains to distinguish his in te rp re ta tio n from the Greek theory
o f the stoicheia, stating th a t the alphabetical letters are sym bolical ele­
ments only, in whose ‘fo rm is figured the fo rm o f the elements o f the cre­
ated w o rld ’ rather than being lite ra lly atom istic elements o f the cosmos.
The te xt begins w ith an alphabetological encoding o f the acts o f C reation.
‘One o f these letters embodies the earth and the heavens, another is
abysses and the shadows, another to represent the w ind and the water,
another symbolizes lig h t, another shows the firm am ent o f heaven, another
depicts the separation o f the waters above and the waters below, another
shows the fo rm ation o f the earth and its im m ersion in to the waters.
Another, again, is the image o f the plants, another o f the fru it bearing
trees, another shows the lig h t o f the stars, and in another one finds the sign
o f the sun and the m oon, another shows th e ir place in in the heavens.’18
Before d eta ilin g the sym bolic value o f each o f these in com pany w ith
drawings to illu stra te his points, the author digresses on the theme o f the
episemon. This letter, again identified as the digam m a, is n o t present in
the alphabet. Thus the episemon is hidden, and signifies the descent o f the
W ord o f God fro m Heaven to the Earth as w ell as H is C om ing to found
H is Church. To these themes, fa m ilia r from the discussion o f G nosticism ,
Saba adds schematic elaboration o f the value o f the num ber 22, stressing
th a t it is the Greek alphabet w hich foretells the com ing o f C h rist, though
he is n o t loathe to move freely back to the H ebrew letters when high
a u th o rity and a n tiq u ity support his arguments.
Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism
lamda: light rays from heaven to
earth
mu: night separated from day
nu: the paths of the sun and the
moon
n
omicron: the two faces of the
sun and the moon
pi: the mystery of the new
testament, the Church of Christ,
and access to Christ
rho: heaven above with a line of
light illuminating earth
C T V F irst he makes the division between seven vowels and fifteen conso­
summa: the incomplete circle is
the image of the world, opening
is the light in the world
tau: a divine ray and also the
cross
vau: lines tracing the decent of
Christ to hell and then his ascent
phi: the figure of the earth, the
grand mystery of the ascension
of Christ
chi: the four angles are the four
evangelists as well as the four
stages of the light of day
omega: consummation of the
world and the knowledge that
Christ does not perish
In add itio n to the tw enty-tw o w orks produced in C reation (as noted in
the above cita tio n ) Saba lists tw enty-tw o m iraculous w orks o f C hrist:
1) sending G abriel to the V irg in , 2) the a rriva l o f God as W ord from
Heaven, 3) the descent o f the W ord in to the V irg in , 4) the nine m onths o f
pregnancy, 5) a childhood o f p urity, 6) the b elief in the reincarnation o f
G od, 7) legal circum cision, 8) glorious baptism , 9) the testim ony o f the
Heavenly Father th a t ‘this is my s o n / 10) the descent o f the incorporeal
H o ly G host, 11) the struggle against the devil in the desert, 12) the tra n ­
scendent m iracles, 13) the transfiguration in to im m u tab ility, 14) the suffer­
ing on the cross, 15) the m o rta l death, 16) being p u t in to the tom b, 17) the
descent to hell to free saints’ souls, 18) the delivery from hell, 19) the res­
urrection, 20) the ascension to heaven, 21) the place at the side o f God,
and fin a lly 22) the second com ing. T his is the m ost clearly C hristian o f the
passages in the m anuscript, unclouded by any G nostic, Pythagorean or
astrological sym bolism . However, the m onk Saba is at pains to render his
in terpretatio n o f the alphabet as replete as possible, and so begins to syn­
thesize from other sources.
nants, associating the vowels w ith the seven creatures to whom God gave
voice: angels, the soul o f reason, the corporeal voice o f hum ankind, birds,
anim als, reptiles and w ild beasts. O f these, tw o are ra tio n a l and in d iv is i­
ble, the voices o f the angels and o f the soul o f reason, and they, in tu rn ,
Saba associates w ith the invisible Father and the im m aterial H o ly Ghost.
The fifteen non-vowels he associates w ith the w orks o f creation w hich had
no voice, such as the heavens above, the firm am ent, the earth below and so
fo rth through to the sun, the m oon, the fish, and the cetaceous creatures in
the seas. Once again the absence o f dualism and the fu ll integ ra tion in to a
C hristian cosm ology are evident, and distinguished the te xt from th a t o f
G nostic and Pythagorean w riters.
Saba sketches o u t the sum o f this cosmology, firs t by m aking a division
o f the alphabet in to six equal parts (one fo r each day o f C reation) and
then m apping these divisions onto a schematic D elta w hich shows the fu ll
structure o f the universe. The D elta is the image o f the T rin ity w hich
encloses w ith in its upper realms three parts: the holy heaven at the top,
then the waters above, and then our heaven. Below this are three divisions
o f the inhabited earth: o ur earth, the waters below, and the hidden, sub­
terranean earth. F ollow ing this schematic diagram o f the Universe are the
drawings o f the in d iv id u a l letters and the discussion o f th e ir sym bolic val­
ues. The unique element o f this m anuscript is its use o f the graphic fo rm
o f the letters as a means o f exegetical analysis. The visual fo rm is consid­
ered a true em bodim ent o f value, n o t m erely a surrogate o r convenient
sym bol because o f its place in the alphabetical order. The letters carry
value in Saba’s cosm ological scheme through th e ir form s as images.
In his fin a l section, Saba discusses the origins o f the alphabet, asserting
th a t the firs t letters were Syrian or Chaldean and th a t they were traced on
a stone by the finger o f G od, found by Cadmus ‘after the cataclysm .’
 Gnosticism, Hermeticlsm, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

Before Moses, he adds, knowledge was not possible, ju st as aleph could

n o t lite ra lly have been the firs t day since there were no days at the sta rt o f
creation. The auth or’s d iffic u lty arises when he attem pts to in te rp re t the
names o f the Syrian letters as cosm ologically significant and alm ost im m e­
diately gives up the project. He then switches to an in te rp re ta tio n o f the
Hebrew le tte r names, closely fo llo w in g the sym bolism o f St Jerome. W hile
Saba’s discussion o f the o rig in o f w ritin g is n o t w ith o u t precedent in the
classical era, the tone o f this passage contains elements o f h isto rica l analy­
sis w hich is not typ ica l o f w rite rs from the early C hristian era whose in te r­
ests tended to be more s tric tly concerned w ith religious fa ith than secular
history.

Hermeticism

N o discussion o f sym bolism in this period w ould be com plete w ith o u t

at least some m ention o f the H erm etic tra d itio n . A lso E gyptian in o rig in ,
the c u lt o f Hermes Trism egistus (the name means thrice-H erm es o r three-
tim es pow erful Hermes) was also a developm ent o f the H ellen istic period.
Though H erm eticism , lik e N eo-Platonism , w ill resurface w ith conse­
quences fo r the structure o f schemes o f sym bolic in te rp re ta tio n in the
Renaissance, the tra d itio n is relatively u nim p o rta nt fo r alphabet h istorio g ­
raphy, largely because it is linked to the m ythic tra d itio n o f the hiero­
glyphic as a sym bol in western im agination. S till, the Cyranides, firs t book
o f the lengthy Corpus H erm eticum (an amalgam o f texts ascribed to
Herm es, granted great antiquity, and in fact collected in the 2nd and 3rd
centuries AD ) does make use o f the Greek alphabet as its stru ctu ra l basis.
The Cyranides is a m agico-m edical treatise in which the curative (and
m agical) properties o f plants, anim als, birds, and stones are described.
The alphabetic structure comes in to play because the elements o f each sec- 91
tio n are selected on the basis th a t they begin w ith the same letter, thus
each o f the tw e nty-fo ur chapters, contains a linked analysis o f‘the sym bol­
ic value o f a p la nt, a stone, a fish, a b ird w hich have in com m on only th e ir
in itia l letter. The sym pathetic forces o f nature are expressed in this lin k o f
the letter, w hich is n o t, however, ascribed powers in its own rig h t.
M ore significantly fo r the intellectu al h isto ry o f w ritte n form s, is the
conviction expressed by H erm eticism th a t the universe was a rebus. T his
assignment o f arcane, esoteric and m ystical value to visual sym bols, par­
tic u la rly w ith in a hieroglyphic context, was typ ica l o f the late H ellenistic
period in w hich Egyptian priests were in te n t on m ystifying th e ir Greek
rulers and concealing E gyptian beliefs in occult practices. The a n tiq u ity
a ttrib uted to the H erm etic texts participates in this sensibility, shrouding
the E gyptian culture in a veil o f m ystery w hich had n o t been p a rt o f its
earlier actual history.19
The force o f H erm eticism was largely fe lt through the Corpus
H erm eticum , but the w ork o f Clem ent o f A lexandria, also evidently
 Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

form ulated in an E gyptian context, became a conduit through C lem ent’s

propositions fo r the in te rpretatio n o f symbols. In his w ork the Stromates,
Clem ent o utlined a m ethodology w hich w ould fo rm the conceptual basis
o f visual sym bology w ell in to the Renaissance. W hile Clem ent thought o f
Hermes as the author o f black m agic, a figure only to be condemned, the
sym bological tra d itio n o f H erm eticism inform ed his th in k in g , m ost espe­
c ia lly this n otio n o f the universe as a rebus and the idea th a t the ‘hiero­
glyphic se nsibility’ as key to reading it, though as a C hristian , Clem ent
saturated his cosm ology w ith the idea th a t every e n tity in the natural
w orld linked to the D ivine Being.
Clem ent had divided hieroglyphic w ritin g in to the cu riolo gic (the
spelt) and the sym bolic. The la tte r category he fu rth e r divided in to three:
the Im itative (an object represents its e lf), the Figurative (an object stands
fo r one o f its qualities) and the A lleg o rical (an object is linked through
enigm atic conceptual processes). In fa ct, these categories describe rela­
tions between visual form s and th e ir m eaning. A visual fo rm may be
m im etic or im ita tive , d ire ctly copying features o f the object it represents; it
may be associative, suggesting attributes w hich are not visua lly present
such as abstract properties incapable o f lite ra l depiction; and finally, it
may be sym bolic, m eaningful only when decoded according to conven­
tions o r systems o f knowledge w hich, though n ot inherently visual, are
com m unicated through visual means. Clem ent’s structure shows up in
d irect c ita tio n in w orks as late as the 18th-century historia n President
De Brosses and W illia m W arburton whose books were concerned w ith
sym bolism and w ritin g as h isto rica l form s. C lem ent’s conceptual outline
may even be perceived in the w ork o f Charles Peirce, the Am erican lo g i­
cian and sem iotician, whose fundam ental categories o f representation are
based on sim ila r relations between signs and th e ir meanings. M ore direct­
ly, the sym bological tra d itio n s o f Freemasons, the C hristian Kabbalists,
92 allegorical alphabets, and the emblem books o f the 16th century a ll bor-
row from Clem ent and also from the H erm etic tra d itio n in Renaissance
N eo-Platonism and m ysticism . C lem ent’s co n trib u tio n to C hristian
dogma was significant, but his lasting influence was through this structure
o f sym bolic in te rpretatio n.

Features o f the various b elief systems w hich surfaced in the syncretic

tenets o f G nosticism , N eo-Platonism , Neo-Pythagoreanism and the Early
C hristian sym bolic interpretations o f the alphabet were bequeathed as an
intellectu al legacy to the medieval and Renaissance periods. C ertain o f
these features were m odified in accordance w ith the changed contexts in
w hich they resurfaced w hile others were im ported o r rediscovered w ith
less m od ifica tio n, as w ill become evident. O ther features o f the sym bolical
analysis o f this period, such as the arcane cosm ological features o f
G nosticism , were, however, a ll but lo st in the thousand years w hich fo l­
lowed this period, one in w hich b ib lic a l and classical im agery was associ­
ated w ith the alphabet in a variety o f new and d iffe re n t ways.
V
CALLIGRAPHY, a l c h e m y , a n d a r s c o m b in a t o r ia i n

t h e m e d ie v a l p e r io d

Calligraphy: Manuscripts and Book Hands

The m illennium w hich stretched from the decline o f the Roman Em pire to
the invention o f p rin tin g in the m id-15th century witnessed the develop­
m ent o f w ritin g in to both a decorative a rt and an effective m edium fo r
com m unication. Fostered largely w ith in the context o f Church activities,
especially in monasteries, calligraphy also flourished as a feature o f s h ift­
ing p o litic a l influences in the dom ain o f secular power. T his is the period
in w hich various scripts acquired d istin ct graphic id e n tity as w ell as th a t in
w hich h ig h ly stylized form s o f illu m in a tio n transform ed the shapes o f in i­
tia l letters in to visual ornam ents o f alm ost in fin ite variety.
However ind ivid ua lized , scrip t form s in Europe in the M id d le Ages a ll
derived from some form o f Roman source m odified by local and foreign
influences. The decoration o f in itia l letters, however, often showed greater
evidence o f older influences, p a rticu la rly th a t w hich distinguished the
m etalw ork o f tribes who had m igrated in to N o rth e rn Europe before the
C hristian era. As local styles o f both scrip t and decoration developed,
th e ir d is trib u tio n follow ed the movements o f individuals o r p o litic a l forces
w ith in the netw orks o f medieval literate society. Since both the scripts and
the illu m in ated letters o f medieval m anuscripts particip a te in these stylis­
tic differences and d istrib u tio n s, both w ill be examined here, but separate­
ly, in keeping w ith m ost o f scholarship in the field.
As the Roman Em pire declined the role o f the scribe passed to the
m onk: m onastic scrip to ria became the m ajor sites fo r the p roduction o f
w ritin g throughout the M id d le Ages. W ritin g w ould become an element o f
' secular life w ith the developm ent o f universities from the 12th century
onward, but u n til th a t tim e, the copying and illu m in a tio n o f m anuscripts
to o k place largely under the auspices o f C h ris tia n . religious orders;
between 400 and 900 A D the developm ent o f d istin ct w ritin g form s can be
linked to p a rtic u la r scrip to ria in the B ritish Isles and th roughout the
European continent.1
In the 4th century monasteries were established throughout Ita ly and
Southern France, and Roman scripts such as the uncial and half-un cial
flourished. O f p a rtic u la r influence in fostering m anuscript production
were those missions established under the order o f St Benedict, such as
those founded at Subiaco and M ontecassino in the early 6th century under
an edict th a t each member o f the com m unity set aside some p a rt o f the
day fo r reading. M eanw hile, the monasteries w hich w ould be the source o f
the distinctive C eltic tra d itio n s came in to being in 5th-century Ireland,
 Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism

form ulated in an E gyptian context, became a conduit through C lem ent’s

propositions fo r the in te rp re ta tio n o f sym bols. In his w ork the Stromates,
Clem ent outline d a m ethodology which w ould fo rm the conceptual basis
o f visual sym bology w ell in to the Renaissance. W hile Clem ent thought o f
Hermes as the a uthor o f black m agic, a figure only to be condemned, the
sym bological tra d itio n o f H erm eticism inform ed his th in k in g , m ost espe­
cia lly this n otio n o f the universe as a rebus and the idea th a t the ‘hiero­
glyphic sensibility’ as key to reading it, though as a C hristian , Clement
saturated his cosm ology w ith the idea th a t every e n tity in the natural
w orld linked to the D ivine Being.
Clem ent had divided hieroglyphic w ritin g in to the cu riolo gic (the
spelt) and the sym bolic. The la tte r category he fu rth e r divided in to three:
the Im itative (an object represents its e lf), the Figurative (an object stands
fo r one o f its qualities) and the A lleg o rical (an object is linked through
enigm atic conceptual processes). In fa ct, these categories describe rela­
tions between visual form s and th e ir meaning. A visual fo rm may be
m im etic o r im ita tive , d ire ctly copying features o f the object it represents; it
may be associative, suggesting attributes w hich are n ot visually present
such as abstract properties incapable o f lite ra l depiction; and finally, it
may be sym bolic, m eaningful only when decoded according to conven­
tions o r systems o f knowledge w hich, though n ot inherently visual, are
com m unicated through visual means. Clem ent’s structure shows up in
direct c ita tio n in w orks as late as the 18th-century h istoria n President
De Brosses and W illia m W arburton whose books were concerned w ith
sym bolism and w ritin g as h isto rica l form s. C lem ent’s conceptual outline
' may even be perceived in the w ork o f Charles Peirce, the Am erican lo g i­
cian and sem iotician, whose fundam ental categories o f representation are
based on sim ila r relations between signs and th e ir meanings. M ore d irect­
ly, the sym bological tra d itio n s o f Freemasons, the C hristian Kabbalists,
92 allegorical alphabets, and the emblem books o f the 16th century a ll bor-
“ “ row from Clem ent and also from the H erm etic tra d itio n in Renaissance
N eo-Platonism and m ysticism . Clem ent’s c o n trib u tio n to C hristian
dogma was significant, but his lasting influence was through this structure
o f sym bolic in te rp re ta tio n .

Features o f the various belief systems w hich surfaced in the syncretic

tenets o f G nosticism , N eo-P latonism , Neo-Pythagoreanism and the Early
C hristian sym bolic interpretations o f the alphabet were bequeathed as an
intellectu al legacy to the medieval and Renaissance periods. C ertain o f
these features were m odified in accordance w ith the changed contexts in
which they resurfaced w hile others were im ported o r rediscovered w ith
less m od ifica tio n, as w ill become evident. O ther features o f the sym bolical
analysis o f th is period, such as the arcane cosm ological features o f
G nosticism , were, however, a ll but lo st in the thousand years which fo l­
lowed this period, one in w hich b ib lica l and classical im agery was associ­
ated w ith the alphabet in a variety o f new and d ifferen t ways.
V
CALLIGRAPHY, ALCHEMY, AN D ARS COMBINATORIA IN
THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

Calligraphy: Manuscripts and Book Hands

The m illennium w hich stretched from the decline o f the Roman Em pire to
the invention o f p rin tin g in the m id-15th century witnessed the develop­
m ent o f w ritin g in to both a decorative a rt and an effective m edium fo r
com m unication. Fostered largely w ith in the context o f Church activities,
especially in m onasteries, calligraphy also flourished as a feature o f s h ift­
ing p o litic a l influences in the dom ain o f secular power. T his is the period
in w hich various scripts acquired d istin ct graphic id e n tity as w ell as th a t in
w hich hig hly stylized form s o f illu m in a tio n transform ed the shapes o f in i­
tia l letters in to visual ornam ents o f alm ost in fin ite variety.
However individualized, scrip t form s in Europe in the M id d le Ages a ll
derived from some form o f Roman source m odified by local and foreign
influences. The decoration o f in itia l letters, however, often showed greater
evidence o f older influences, p a rticu la rly th a t which distinguished the
m etalw ork o f tribes who had m igrated in to N o rth e rn Europe before the
C hristian era. As local styles o f both scrip t and decoration developed,
th e ir d is trib u tio n follow ed the movements o f individuals o r p o litic a l forces
w ith in the netw orks o f medieval literate society. Since both the scripts and
the illu m in a te d letters o f medieval m anuscripts particip a te in these stylis­
tic differences and d istrib u tio n s, both w ill be examined here, but separate­
ly, in keeping w ith m ost o f scholarship in the field.
As the Roman Em pire declined the role o f the scribe passed to the
m onk: m onastic scrip to ria became the m ajor sites fo r the pro du ction o f
w ritin g throughout the M id d le Ages. W ritin g w ould become an element o f
v secular life w ith the developm ent o f universities from the 12th century
onward, but u n til th a t tim e, the copying and illu m in a tio n o f m anuscripts
to o k place largely under the auspices o f C hristian * religious orders;
between 400 and 900 A D the developm ent o f d is tin c t w ritin g form s can be
linked to p a rtic u la r scrip to ria in the B ritish Isles and throughout the
European continent.1
In the 4th century m onasteries were established throughout Ita ly and
Southern France, and Roman scripts such as the uncial and half-un cial
flourished. O f p a rtic u la r influence in fostering m anuscript production
were those missions established under the order o f St Benedict, such as
those founded at Subiaco and M ontecassino in the early 6th century under
an edict th a t each member o f the com m unity set aside some p a rt o f the
day fo r reading. M eanw hile, the monasteries w hich w ould be the source o f
the distinctive C eltic tra d itio n s came in to being in 5th-century Ireland,
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria In the Medieval Period

spreading to m ainland B rita in in the 6th and 7th centuries where they
encountered Anglo-Saxon influences, inclu ding th a t o f the Runic charac­
ters brought by Scandinavians. By the beginning o f the 7th century the
scrip to ria w hich w ould later be renowned fo r th e ir in d ivid u a l m anuscript
tra d itio n s had already been established at L u xe u il, Bobbio, St G allen and
many other sites in N o rth e rn Europe. S criptoria were an essential p a rt o f
these monasteries, often set in to tow er room s o r o ff in te rio r courtyards to
afford them greater in vu ln e ra b ility in the event o f attack. The value
accorded books was correspondingly high, and stealing a m anuscript was
considered a serious crim e. Scribes often intoned against any prospective
th ie f w ith invectives rem iniscent o f the curse tablet verses o f an earlier
period: T f anyone take away this book, le t him die the death, le t him be
frie d in a pan, let the fa llin g sickness and fever seize him , le t him be bro­
ken on the wheel and hanged. Am en.*2
Changes occurred in the fu n ctio n and place o f w ritin g w ith in the
social order in the centuries fo llo w in g the decline o f the Roman Em pire.
The a ctivity o f w ritin g shifted emphasis - from the carving o f m onumen­
ta l inscriptions, w ritin g o f classical poetry, and recording o f legal and his­
to ric a l texts - to the copying o f religious and classical texts w ith in the
province o f religious com m unities. These transform ations had been pre­
ceded by certain technical changes: vellum replaced papyrus as a m aterial
support fo r w ritin g and the codex (sheets bound in to books) replaced the
scroll. The m onum ental capitals w hich had been produced fo r and in
stone inscriptions were replaced by graphic form s o rig in a tin g from the use
o f the pen, rather than the chisel, stylus o r brush. Finally, the division o f
elements w ith in the te xt came to be visua lly marked so th a t title s, begin­
nings, endings, and com m entaries came to be organized spatially and in d i­
cated by d istin ction s o f size and design to a fa r more com plex and
nuanced degree than was practical w ith in m onum ental inscriptions.
94 The term s scrip t and hand are often used interchangeably, but in fact,
the form er indicates a m odel o f le tter form s w hile the la tte r designates the
actual production on the page o f such a m odel through a p a rticu la r
scribe’s w ork. Both scripts and hands vary considerably, but given the non­
mechanical nature o f m anuscript production the co n tin u ity and u n ifo rm i­
ty o f fo rm is as rem arkable as the range o f invention.
Three im p o rta n t w ritin g form s were the legacy o f the Roman Em pire:
the square capital, w hich adapted p oo rly in the transform ation from
in scrip tio n to penned fo rm ; the rustic capital whose precedent had been in
brush form s w hich were more readily suited to m od ifica tio n by the pen;
and the uncial fo rm w hich appropriated elements o f the Greek alphabet
(see Chapter 3). The term uncial was derived from a derogatory statement
made by St Jerome in the 4th century when he condemned the use o f
excessively large, inch-high, letters in the w ritin g o f m anuscripts, claim ing
it made them clum sy and u n fit fo r use. From the L a tin term fo r ‘inch’
came the term uncial. There were, in a dd itio n, a num ber o f cursive scripts
whose designs emerged in p a rt from the s w ift strokes o f pen production.
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria In the Medieval Period

A t ACM SAC /i 'roN v-c

e R > u r r tr> e d c o it in <

*^tt>*sefxcr> e T u S ifi
%

Jlit!oifc¥uR LV ,\TU s- INN

Insular script termed 'artificial
p |iU i& c x n iN ju a > cxtn r \ 5,s d o R U c n \ u a ) , \ d
uricial,' early 8th century: note
interwoven gloss in Anglo-Saxon •|\<j.s^ ^ v€ ^ l4 ^ < s a \ e a R U t i: ') a > \« n b e R \ \ c u t v
miniscule from late 9th century
c d r S t ip e R o a ]
(British Library, London Ms.
'"■&& '
Cotton Vespasian, Al, folio 55,
[M8* ® -p . ’Z w m
VUStruvn. ;.. v:\L\A
verso)

T his Roman cursive, lik e later chancery hands and other ra p id ly p ro­
duced pen scripts, was often used in o ffic ia l, legal documents w hich did
n ot require the m onum ental character o f in scrip tio n a l le tte r form s. By the
4th century a m odified fo rm know n as the h a lf-u n cia l also appeared w ith ­
in southern Europe, p a rtic u la rly in Ita ly and France, and q u ickly gained
popularity. T his was the firs t scrip t to have a regularized m inuscule and
became the fu n ctio n a l scrip t fo r paperw ork, correspondence and other
Church business throughout Europe.3
As the Roman Em pire fe ll apart in the West in the 4th and 5th cen­
turies, m ig ra to ry tribes on the edges o f the Em pire gained prom inence and
in the clash o f m ix o f cultures sm all, isolated p o litic a l units evolved. The
resulting lack o f coherent c u ltu ra l u n ity in Europe exacerbated the d iffe r­
e ntia tion in scrip t form s so th a t it is necessary to discuss the w ritin g o f
p a rticu la r localities, peoples and historica l periods rather than tracing a
single line o f continuous evolution. An exhaustive treatm ent o f the many
scripts w hich developed in medieval calligraphy is outside the scope o f this
w ork. But the m ajor areas o f activity, movement and influence in N orth ern
Europe and the B ritish Isles w ill be broadly sketched here. It should be
kept in m ind, given the Eurocentric focus o f this study, th a t sim ultaneous
developments were occurring throughout this period in areas o f Asia, the
N ear and M id d le East, A fric a , and, by the early centuries AD , in the
C entral Am erican peninsula as w ell.
W hile Roman uncial and half-un cial flourished in the Ita lia n states, it
was in the B ritish Isles th a t these form s developed a unique character and
aesthetic sophistication unsurpassed in medieval w ritin g . The Roman le t­
te r form s were brought back to B rita in in the late 6th century w ith the
missions o f St Augustine, as a ll earlier traces o f Roman influence on w rit­
ing had vanished after the Romans le ft the B ritish Isles in the 5th century.
It should also be noted th a t Ireland had never been a p a rt o f the Roman
Em pire and therefore a ll L a tin scripts entered this region through the
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

influence o f C hristian m issionaries. St Augustine’s m onks used a form of

uncial scrip t w hich is called ‘a rtific ia l u n cia l,’ a more lab or intensive and
elaborate version o f the earlier uncial letter.

i n clu c jk 'i 11ii rx> i i a bu 3X11

.O ic ftb a ra s quodui

l i m i mi l u a n • >1
in u lu n i t d 4 u o ; %(x ;n i4iu Z iu j k
(/O k Ii u k . 1 K 'K O u i;; u ^ v i n u i

v u u ft v a c w iim if. n o m a iii; i

Hiberno-Saxon script form,
example from the Book o f Kells,
V U lfU .clia in u q n m io lk u h )18 6 iL ].h i;- ^ .
late 8th or early 9th century. s iiu K c ^ ic ru in o iiu jis - 05JPkoPijgroo: o J
(Trinity College, Dublin, Book of
Kells, Ms.58 A. 1.6, folio 146 p c u a i 1a m u im it es lu iZ lo aZ 11a n c mts£>
recto)

L a tin w ritin g was carried to Ireland through the m issionary w ork o f

the legendary (but real) figure, St P atrick. A C hristian B rito n (born 389),
he had been captured at the age o f sixteen by raidin g Irish tribes and taken
to Ireland. W hen he made his escape he sought extensive C hristian tra in ­
ing w ith the express in te n tio n o f retu rning to Ireland to prom ote
C hristianity. A fte r three decades o f e fforts he fin a lly succeeded in gaining
perm ission from Church leaders to establish a m ission among the Irish .
The script he brought w ith him was the com m on h a lf-u n cia l, w hich
became the basis o f the H ibernian scrip t, a fa r more fo rm a l and stylized
le tte r than its o rig in a l source. Between the 6th and the 9th centuries, the
H ibernian (Irish) scribes worked in relative iso la tio n fro m C ontinental (or
even B ritish) influences and evolved the scrip t in to w hat became know n as
the Insular m ajuscule. T his script is considered to have reached its high
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

p o in t o f developm ent in the Book o f Kells, produced around 800 AD.

Though unique as an a rtifa c t, this w ork embodies characteristic elements
o f the H ibe rn ian style. As a script fo rm , H ibe rn ian made extensive use o f
linked form s o f letters, o r ligatures, as w ell as having a d istinctive visual
fo rm a t w ith heavy, alm ost tria n g u la r serifs and a flu id , anim ate grace. The
fle x ib ility o f the scribes’ attitudes towards le tte r form s perm itted them to
change the appearance o f in d ivid u a l letters o r words as w ell as to accom­
modate the spatial constraints o f a p a rtic u la r page .4 U nfettered by a fo r­
m ulaic adherence to line ar sequence, fo r instance, the scribes often invent­
ed im aginative graphic solutions to textual treatm ent. In a d d itio n to the
com plex visual solutions posed in the w ritin g o f the te xt, the pages o f the
Book o f Kells contain some o f the m ost elaborate instances o f illu m in ated
letters ever produced.

Page from Lindisfarne Gospels,

around 698, showing zoomor-
phic interlaced decoration,
graduated sizes of lettering, and
a variety of uncial hands and
capitals. (British Library, London)

The Iris h in tu rn established missions in the B ritish Isles dissem inating

the H ibe rn ian style throughout the 6 th and 7th centuries. Such m onaster­
ies as those at Iona and Lindisfarne became centers famous fo r th e ir scrib­
al productions, and the Anglo-Saxon m inuscule o f the Lindisfarne
Gospels has both its own unique features and many elements w hich reveal
its C eltic sources, as do the decorative elements o f th a t p a rtic u la r w ork.
The Anglo-Saxon capitals were studied extensively by later historians, like
H enry Shaw, who reproduced them in deluxe editions o f drawings in the
late 18th and early 19th centuries. Roman m issions were re-established in
southern England in this period, and thus the L a tin hand w hich had
m utated through the Iris h monasteries in to the Insular m ajuscule gradual-
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria In the Medieval Period
19th century redrawing of
Anglo-Saxon majuscules (F.
Lewis Day, Alphabets Old and
New, London, 1910)
ly m igrated southw ard o nly to meet and coexist w ith form s o f the Roman
half-un cial m oving n o rth fro m the missions in the south. The visual
blending o f these tw o resulted in h yb rid m anuscripts em ploying both
hands side by side, and the 7th century, a period o f great scribal a ctivity in
the B ritish Isles, is m arked by Roman and H ibe rn ian influences in vying
w ith each other fo r visual perfection. A nother m odified form o f minuscule
developed in the 9th century under the influence o f C arolingian scripts. By
the 11th century this had become p a rt o f the vocabulary o f w ritte n letter
form s w hich Anglo-Saxon scribes used in com bination w ith other, earlier
form s. Through the w ork o f St Boniface and others, the m ixed form s o f
H ibernian and Anglo-Saxon w ritin g were subsequently carried in to
Germ any where they became an im p o rta n t influence on developments in
C ontinental monasteries.
M eanw hile, the developm ent o f local scripts in Europe in the 5th and
6 th centuries reflected the continual re d istrib u tio n o f power and waves o f
invasions and changed cu ltu ra l com position o f d ifferen t regions. It is pos­
sible to chart s h iftin g te rrito ria l boundaries o f p o litic a l influence and peri­
ods o f relative cu ltu ra l s ta b ility through the developm ent o f national
hands. In d ivid u a l monarchs established courts whose chancery hands
recorded th e ir activities w hile various monasteries resisted devastation
from invading tribes o r ra id in g parties long enough to foster development
o f a m anuscript style. In a period o f continual change, therefore, the his­
to ry o f a p a rtic u la r scrip t often serves as the means o f tracing the p o litic a l
o r m ilita ry successes o f an in d ivid u a l leader or group o f people.
T hroughout the 6 th century, fo r instance, the influence o f such groups as
the Lom bards in N o rth e rn Italy, Visigoths in Spain and M erovingian
Franks along the R hine were a ll reflected in script form s w hile Roman
influence continued in the south o f Italy, especially in the book hands
w hich were produced in Subiaco and M ontecassino .5
A t the end o f the 5th century the firs t Frankish kin g , C lovis, consoli­
dated the tribes and te rrito rie s along the Rhine in to the M erovingian king ­
dom . The M erovingian book script w hich emerged in these te rrito rie s
used to be considered by scholars the natio na l French book hand. B ut it is
now considered to have had a more circum scribed, localized im pact, ta k­
ing its place alongside the popular cursive form s such as those developed
in Burgundy and in the m onastery at L uxe uil. The M erovingian hand was
hig hly developed, very d istin ct in its exaggerated vertica lity, loopy quality,
and th in , spidery lines. One historia n o f le tter form s, N icolete Gray, char­
acterized it as ‘a to rtu ro u s script w ith a fascinating com plicated rhythm
w hich seems to suggest the involved and vio le n t te rro r o f life in
M erovingian France as portrayed by the H is to ry o f G regory o f Tours,
w ritte n between 573 and 594 .’6 W hile such a dram atic description lends
glam our to the scrip t, the b rig h t, v ita l designs o f in itia l letters w hich also
make th e ir appearance in M erovingian m anuscripts belie this dark vision.
One p o in t to note in exam ining the u n fa m ilia r form s o f these samples is
th a t w hile they were more legible at the tim e th a t they were current, they
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

were nonetheless often filled w ith copying errors which contributed to d if­
fic u lty in reading. This was not inten tion al, but the result o f copying by
scribes whose knowledge o f L atin was m in im a l, and whose m ethod o f
reproduction was based on purely visual observation. Some o f the m ost
d iffic u lt to read scripts o f this period were charter hands o r co u rt hands.
These, in fa ct, were often rendered nearly ille g ib le on purpose, to baffle,
awe o r impress the reader w ith ornate and com plex flourishes and form s.

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ii-

»ryriv ruittirnf-Umc eonfuUf-f o ^ r m 0

jp^nir^uj*diettur^j«*fi Y?FCiiituin Uj

wptnihakeiiTitelnifiiji*ItvuJj«r fii,i

Jicr.v ff?j
iccurtdrtiwrr*Crtrn*ni«,rtiWf’O
ci

fWirt fpfV'alriffoC
PxMfw
frW
' ' ^Vihi
Anglo-Saxon, early 11th century, Uiri aim flilrtm dlfcCTf’u its F u rC A rra ff <
0 ■.. r -
probably from Luxeuil. Note ! ':<ATN<w»n
todt«l<
»apaTnoJ«rj«TApfr-<*'T>

hybrid combination of squarish ■ difortc^-ioctmttnaxt iw?<J^ijj

i cptjwoJaffc«5
majuscules, uncial, and minis­ p Jd<tiArmfc
T x
^md
tvMto
JeE
ocf.mrtJn
firtfceVic)*A«c- fc
-nk
end
o,(tin
99
cule. (Bodleian Library, Oxford, (i«c'rTJwfdot«o(

Ms. Auct. F1.15f.5) “jM

TO^TV^ft»j,^ D netur™°Mhc tv

The next period o f relative u n ity in N o rth e rn European w ritin g came

in the late 8th century, w ith the consolidation provided by Charlemagne,
whose dynasty replaced th a t o f the weakened M erovingians. Charlemagne
established extensive adm inistrative order in p o litic a l and cu ltu ra l
dom ains after ta king power in the 770s (he was crowned K in g o f the
Franks in 768 and Em peror o f the West in 800). In 789, the C arolingian
m inuscule was institute d by o ffic ia l decree and flourished as both the
instrum ent and sign o f this p o litic a l order. I t rem ained the dom inant script
in Europe u n til about the year 1000 and was the only one w ith substantive
claim s to in terna tion al status. The C arolingian scrip t was developed by
the Anglo-Saxon m onk A lcu in , who standardized its form s and supervised
its use in the vast publishing projects Charlemagne in itia te d . The m inus­
cule showed conspicuous traces o f Roman influence, p a rtic u la rly the older
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com blnatoria in the Medieval Period

h alf-un cial form s w hich were consciously prom oted by Charlemagne to

dem onstrate the co n tin u ity o f his rule w ith th a t o f the old Roman order.7
T his visual co n tin u ity was fu rth e r emphasized by em ploym ent o f Roman
in scrip tio n a l capitals as the basis o f titlin g form s in C arolingian manu­
scripts. Under A lc u in ’s d irectio n the vertical p ro po rtio ns o f the letter
form s, w hich had become exaggerated by extrem ely elongated ascenders
and descenders, had th e ir p ro po rtio ns fixed. A set o f fo u r lines at desig­
nated intervals was used to contain the strokes and the result was a letter
w hich had a direct influence on Ita lia n calligraphers o f the 15th and 16th
century such as Palatino and A rrig h i, who were attracted by the clarity,
le g ib ility and elegance o f these form s and also by th e ir ‘classical’ associa­
tions. The models o f these early Renaissance calligraphers in tu rn in flu ­
enced the designs o f Ita lia n p rin tin g types. Through this lineage the
C arolingian m inuscule had a fundam ental influence on type designs s till in
use today.

Merovingian miniscule, early 8th

century; Homilies o f Caesarius o f
Arles probably from Luxeuil.
Note the constructed bowl of
the fh#. (Bibliothfcque Nationale,
Paris, Ms.Lat. 9427 f.180v)
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria In the Medieval Period

tu A t c jir ^ r n c r n v e m e (k u * *
i x* r t t c i r a b d i as r ^ o r t i r

T J^/V e ru cogt s u e R . <

i^ f it o r t x r h f llt u r H /
'■4nCmC>r'r S u r y fir e r a k c le - ifiW in e u c n l \

jfp ti*» ^ U lA jA /c ^ c /tC ’ c lA ^ O T '^ m x lltw U fc '

Carolingian miniscule. Note the
P p P ^ - * ^ u f 'c o r x * r » t y > ^ f |
finely adjusted proportions of
ascenders and descenders as x f^ e d n C )
well as the open spaces within dvtr i& p p e tV e rtriu c tim rj.v u e » r> e u t it e m r k x W T f
the letters; 9th century (British e r d c d i r n tV u L u m e m f ' C ^c/e f c c r i d t r m e v m >
Library, London, Add.ms. 10546) it ir li\ t * / t r \ A . r f A r ! t ii , H t iA n

By the end o f the 9th century, Charlemagne’s empire was in its tu rn dis­
integ ra ting due to in te rn a l conflicts among his descendants. Aggressive
inroads o f new groups o f invading tribes - V ikings in the N o rth , M agyars
from C entral Asia in the East, and the increasing presence o f Arabs
throughout the Southern M editerranean, Palestine, and Spain also created
chaos in Europe. The effects o f V ikin g invasions were p a rtic u la rly devas­
ta tin g in the B ritish Isles, where many Anglo-Saxon monasteries were
destroyed. Though the C arolingian hand had persisted b rie fly as an after-
effect o f Charlemagne’s influence by the 11th century variety was once IO I
again the order o f the day in w ritte n form s. In the 12th century, the dom i­
nant influence o f m onasteries was much m odified by the emergence o f the
lay scribe and the fo rm a tion o f workshops in centers close to the emerging
universities and related publishing industry. Evidence o f this com m ercial
a ctivity also shows up in the existence o f sample sheets posted by w ritin g
masters to encourage business, a precursor to the virtuo so displays o f pen­
m anship w hich existed in the period after the invention o f p rin tin g in the
Renaissance. The scant evidence o f the existence o f earlier pattern books
suggests th a t they had circulated among scribes, rather than serving as
p ub lic advertisement.
The variety o f faces w hich developed in the 11th to 15th centuries con­
stituted the last phase o f invention in the period preceding the standard­
izatio n effected by the casting o f p rin tin g types - though both calligraphic
p roduction o f m anuscripts and the developm ent o f penm anship as a fine
a rt were features o f the post-G utenberg era. The p ro life ra tio n o f hands
can be roughly divided in to the so-called G othic form s, the Rotunda and
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

Bastarda form s. The term G othic was firs t used by Ita lia n scholars in the
Renaissance fo r earlier medieval a rt form s. They found the various black-
letter and textura form s o f the N o rth e rn scribes aesthetically unappealing.
In general, a ll o f the blackletter and textura hands tended to be sturdier
more condensed, and more e fficien tly produced than the elaborately
form ed uncial and m inuscule hands from earlier medieval periods. The so-
called G othic litte ra bastarda was one o f the m ost p ro lific and varied o f
these later hands. A fu rth e r developm ent in this scrip t was the addition o f
elaborate flourished capitals term ed cadels fo r the French w ord cadeau or
g ift used to describe the extra elements w hich in some cases became so
extravagant th at they overwhelmed the page w ith decorative activity.
When p rin tin g types were designed in the m iddle o f the 15th century, these
various local hands w ould provide models beginning w ith the blackletter
F raktur form s in Germ any w hich served as the basis o f Gutenberg’s
designs.
■ .■

a m m aunte
irtn p rto m m n tittl
_ om m f t m u u ttfttm to h$r flrtttionin mmu
J iitT n fr u o n o w n o m s i n i r >

B B .........
f e ,.v/j . i 1 uuc [a

.“' i ' W j
tArf t*{rtn I,urn<v<m**«<
........ falfiyr
cfcfH WfrtH.UnrhrnA' batjt J
nW ^K ^ *%
**0++4'lu iM rti m id fl imT »xr/<rvf»%VP’<re* yaUtJwf\tn <»UA-/ohabbe
p crfli i& 'p U iuX fcVar »«&(.
.
otuA *'*';* ■ ■i : ‘ Va v

jlp ? (wnumuir-fltiuro tf iioputi

r‘" t m pitta ^(hm unt; j

w&rtrtnnoncm uttffln
•
•__
__. ?-x-r. ~-

, "'if' V. W tm f r t K U ftt* to 9
>i«
iuwrtU,(nitron rm
-.<
tit
/wioi<»i U
&1
et»ritfc.i$U>
I Cwi i f l j i I ' i

m _ s. firfjferit aM hc\!tn VnK' utrfif Gtt

* Ani Jr;rt&

Sample sheet for commercial fctra* r\jtac£j

advertisement of scripts, around
1400. Note names of scripts:
Textus, Rotundus, and also the
varying style of initial capitals
(Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Ms.
it , IlCflKjIlCjpNsIllJfX
S & non w i n ^ 'i ^ n n P
JJIKTUV n i l . Ill H im . 111^ .’mp'f.y*11"n i i y i t l | | ^ ^ | jftg M /i& ii fn m vn tri/Ic n in w n ifri'1 (V lifr t v iw n itr /cue /> «( n**JZ
. u fftn n m i iiiflitii nnihrt nj»' ifcfonpfi HHi/m M i p jr n liil cr B VnS(. v ti/« cyetitnB c w f i i i i m v ii f t i e V u \uf<n fv%\if)r,
^ tir tf i/ to
- i £ ._•
in jfa m pw ibuf hu? f n M iff iw n m i ilifei
r p i » i k i n ( -(i
pitipol/ANwiiinaimRi^AMejibe(>*»1#tntfrmifl ^int'v.ir U*»/tvr
1'Ifk m 1'c,~r • K IJ A V » S m k < :i M m t ^ i V A V » n # i t i m o .it^c c iu K c 'jM ifiin e ^ c (Vetfit

Lat 2o, folio 384) ,;ilL: .■A i - ' e e V .... : ...... ..........: ' ■
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

A sample of a bastarda hand

from the latter part of the
15th century (Bodleian Library,
Oxford, Ms. Ashmole 789,
folio 4, verso)
In summary, then, le tte r form s are examined in th e ir role as elements
fW ifw l *v* esnJBiitnfWv o f cu ltu ra l d iffu sio n and influence as w ell as fo r th e ir visual characteris­
t.- I m f ilo AA pty-U ur&uiM tniMV/t.*- crjvni napiuitf jki<?
“ rntAWT<«ic frnTU- vn^tipC vtp>mc>ce|ur vn y
fo£$■cnii'l tics. W hile the geographical d is trib u tio n o f d iffe re n t script form s perm its
d y---(oWwAf truriui)' yO
fxsAfn
; tfzuw*. *c **xforte pitnulfn-a* in d ivid u a l practitioners and m issionaries’ movements to be mapped in the
OTrumJ^r- ifc* * ugm tmiwi r * pi active dissem ination o f style, the role o f such style in the dem arcation o f
'«mXof lieijiv<itW*l^r
dom ains o f power becomes evident as w ell - fo r example in the case o f the
C arolingian m inuscule. In a dd itio n, o f course, the d istin ction s made by
types o f w ritin g as they id e n tify differen t types o f w ritte n documents -
religious and sacred, secular and profane - also perm its w ritin g to p a rtic i­
pate in m aintaining the boundaries o f power w ith in the medieval social
order. For instance, in some instances 11th-century charter scripts (or
co urt hands) were deliberately rendered in a visua lly com plex style w hich,
though n o t ille g ib le to practitioners, was fa r m ore d iffic u lt fo r the non­
professional to read than graphically sim pler faces. Specialized hands such
The beginning of the Gospel as the Litterae Celestiae (used exclusively fo r the im p erial documents o f
of St. John: In Principio Erat Rome fo r a b rie f period beginning just after 367) carried m eaning and ide­
Verbum. Note the flexibility of ological value through th e ir fo rm as w ell as through the substance o f the
form, with letters interweaving documents they were used to inscribe.
without regard for fixed linear The inventiveness o f scribes, and th e ir m arked presence as in d ivid u a l
sequence or discreteness of w rite rs through remarks and com m entary on m anuscripts as w ell as
character. (Municipal Library, through th e ir personal styles, im parted a h ig hly in d ivid u a l q u a lity to th e ir
Aix en Provence, ms. 7) w orks. Scribes also indulged in certain w ord games, one o f w hich was the
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

production o f abecedarian sentences designed to contain every le tter in the

alphabet. A few instances o f these sentences have been preserved, though
th e ir fu n ctio n is unclear. They may have been used as w arm -up exercises,
displays o f virtu o sity, o r m erely to establish and w rite out a fu ll set o f
visual form s before em barking on the labor o f w ritin g . These sentences
are distinguished by th e ir lin g u istic invention, rather than solid sense, as is
obvious in these tw o examples cited by M arc D rogin: ‘Te ca nit adcele-
bratque polus rex gazifer hym nis.’ (The H ym n, o f treasure-bearing king,
sings o f you, and the n o rth pole also honors you.) And: ‘Trans zephyrique
globum scandunt tua facta per axem .’ (Your achievements rise across the
earth and throughout the region o f the zephyr.)8 A nother conceit o f
scribes o f the late M id d le Ages was the invention o f a patron demon,
T itiv illu s . O rig in a lly conceived o f as a devil responsible fo r causing errors
through the sin o f inattentiveness, T itiv illu s was gradually transform ed
in to the patron saint who could be blamed in order to absolve scribes o f
responsibility fo r such errors .9
The visual aspects w hich distinguish m anuscript w ritin g from either
m onum ental inscriptions o r p rin t are its elasticity o f fo rm , ada pta b ility o f
size, and m u ta b ility o f spatial arrangem ent and spacing - a ll features
w hich w ould become considerably more fixed and rig id w ith in the tech­
nology o f p rin tin g . Nowhere was the freedom o f fo rm a l invention more
s trik in g than in the developm ent o f illu m in a te d letters.

Decorated Letters

The geographic d is trib u tio n o f decorative Insular, M erovingian,

C arolingian and other le tte rin g follow ed th a t o f the book hands o f the
same name, but the design considerations raised by these ornate letters are
104 very differen t. W hile the bookscripts are s ty lis tic a lly d istin ct, they have in
com m on th a t they are a ll essentially fin ite sets o f repeatable alphabetic
elements w hich are legible to a fa m ilia r eye. In itia l letters, however, are
treated w ith such freedom in decoration th a t they often lose a ll id e n tity as
recognizable form s o r come to serve a purpose u tte rly d iffe re n t from th a t
o f an alphabetic letter. Since books in the M id d le Ages were used fo r m an­
ife statio n - th a t is, la id upon the a lta r fo r view and display as w ell as read­
ing - such decoration played a considerable p a rt in seducing the eye in to
contem plative engagement w ith the page.
The o rig in o f the decorated letter is generally traced to the 4th century
m anuscript o f V irg il know n as the Vergil Augusteus whose rustic capitals
were discussed in the previous chapter.10 C ited as an early instance o f
m anuscript p roduction intended fo r consum ption by bib lio ph iles (rather
than a unique legal docum ent o r m onum ental in scrip tio n ), this manu­
scrip t included oversized drawn in itia ls in in k w hich contrasted w ith th a t
o f the m ain te xt. W hile only a few leaves o f this w ork are s till extant, they
a ll fo llo w the same design form ula and have the firs t le tter o f the firs t w ord
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

o f each sheet illu m in ated in this modest manner. The transform ation o f
letters through decorative design which can be seen in its m ost em bryonic
fo rm in this m anuscript w ould become fu ll blow n in medieval practice,
though the period o f greatest achievement in le tte r decoration is generally
considered th a t w hich extends from the 7th to 12th centuries. A ccording
to the m edieval a rt historia n Jonathan Alexander, w ork later than this has
less variety o r creative inventiveness. He in p a rt attributes this change to
the specialization o f tasks among lay craftsm en whose involvem ent in
m anuscript production was m otivated by com m ercial rather than sp iritu a l
gain .11 N icolete Gray suggests th a t the emergence o f fu ll blow n images in
the fo rm o f m iniature illu m in a tio n gave these w orks more the p ic to ria l
emphasis and shifted them away from interest in using letters as a vehicle
fo r decoration.

The beginning of St. Mark's

Gospel (Initium) from the
Lindisfarne Gospels (British
Library, London, MS Nero D IV,
f95). Insular decorative work,
highly organic. The interlace of
the fill in the 'IN' bears striking
visual resemblance to pre-
Christian Celtic metalwork
designs
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

The auth orita tive scholar C arl N orde n falk described three categories
o f le tte r ornam ent: fillin g , adding, and su bstitu tion . These sim plest cate­
gories describe the transform ations o f letters through colo ra tio n o r pat­
tern, through the use o f decorative devices, images and flourishes, and
through the use o f elements (botanical, zoom orphic, anthropom orphic) to
actually make the le tte r form s. Alexander introduces another element into
this analysis, draw ing a d istin ctio n between classicizing and medieval ten­
dencies. The firs t o f these tendencies characterizes the C arolingian
Renaissance w ith its emphasis on ra tio n a l virtues such as c la rity o f struc­
ture and s im p licity o f fo rm , w hile the anti-classicizing sensibility o f the
Insular scripts o r Romanesque tra d itio n s i$ characterized by elaborate dec­
o ra tio n , visual com plexity and va riatio n o f design. These tw o tendencies
are aesthetic poles between which the scribal w ork o f medieval decorators
can be assessed, though such an oppositional fram ew ork is inadequate to
describe the range o f visual invention. A nother set o f tensions, among the
form al logic o f the letter, the com plexities o f surface design, and the spa­
tia l illu s io n o f a p ic to ria l image can be used to describe the more d istin ctly
visual issues in decoration.

Ll x u u lh tu adeiiidoech

tonnwHis- jH ^ fc u d T U in n iin iu ]\u il.

Insular interlace pattern in

capital showing some recogni­
tion of spatial illusion in the
overlapping; from the Bosworth
Psalter, 980 (British Library,
London, Add ms. 37517)

The Insular style w hich developed in Ireland and the B ritish Isles from
the 7th century was characterized by dynam ic interlacing o f patterns,
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

largely abstract, w hich weave around the basic structure o f the letter.
Increasingly, these in itia l letters lost th e ir clear id e n tity and became the
maze o f in te rlo ckin g pattern rather than a separate support fo r it.
Z oom orphic form s, anim al heads, eyes, tw isted torsos and feet came to be
p a rt o f the visual catalogue o f elements in the Insular style w hich in its
firs t few centuries rem ained a m atter o f surface pattern rather than illu ­
sionary space. The establishm ent o f scrip to ria on the continent under the
influence o f m onks trained in the B ritish Isles spread this style in to Europe
in the 8th century, fo r exam ple, to St G allen, where Insular style decora­
tio n became p a rtic u la rly w ell entrenched.

107

8th century Merovingian

majuscules, with flat areas of
geometric shaped colour
creating jewel-like facets
(Biblioth&que Nationale, Paris,
Ms. Lat. 11627)
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

In Insular m anuscripts, as in m ost illu m in a te d o r decorative codices, ;

the m ost elaborate designs were saved fo r openings o f books or chapters
where the texts were so fa m ilia r th a t le g ib ility was n o t an im portant
requirem ent. The firs t tim e the name o f C h rist appears in the Book o f
Kells, fo r instance, it announces the significance o f the event in visual
term s w hich overwhelm the textual character o f the page. Such practices
bespeak a fa ith in visu a lity w hich escapes the need fo r a textual reference:
the image o f the le tte r functions in its'o w n rig h t to com m unicate effective­
ly. A nother characteristic element o f this style, as seen in the Book o f
K ells, the Bosw orth Psalter and the Lindisfarne Gospel was the tendency
to gradate the size o f letters as they moved from these large in itia ls into
the te xt, fo rm ing a visual bridge. As a result o f such a treatm ent the page
w orks as an organic w hole rather than an arrangem ent o f discrete ele­
ments and the swarm ing movement o f the Insular style conveys an image
o f anim ate fo rm as the vision o f a universe suffused w ith life and s p irit.

Around 800, also Merovingian,

with birds and fish as the basis
of the letters (Oxford, Douce Ms.
176, fol. Madan 21 21750)

By the 10th century, Insular decorative devices to o k on a three-dim en­

sional quality, and spatial a rtic u la tio n became an a d d itio na l feature o f
anim ate form s and flourishes. The elaborate in te rlo ckin g o f pattern was
painted to give the illu s io n o f elements w rapping around each other, and
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

patterns o f foliage were added to the vocabulary w hich had previously

included m ainly anim al form s o r human figures. Such fo lia te d patterns
were com m on on the C ontinent, in the monasteries at M etz and St G allen
and independent styles were distinguished by the degree o f fla tte ning , g ild ­
ing, o r n a tu ra listic illu s io n in the w ork.

^omAxIcf Ri
K IG V c y u ird o m in tf-.
U tn u m c f

b ityvfe d cffu c
e r ^ p tiz tfX r
M x L q u tx e -y c ?

cn*xT>XJcr>so L o c u rx fa tn u f

p h rm o e m o ^ r Ce & v A fifr td c

x e e ja l^ R x m v d tp c t c - G o m A

CT]MOCOej4€T o 'c u lifV u tf7^ -

e T c T > X M A j;j u u L c u fc f iLLu

fm s T jie R O fc ^ u r r ^ n i
ix b x u * r-e n e rrtc jtie f
u l j i i s u p t ) e p b v J K T e u s € tT > x b u x ix C o y u m t

yxO axsaxoR es A jJ f t t x m e r r tfe o r

e x M O o rie j4 S e c u j4 D A e j:e M c tr c a lu m A id

C ue R U H Tcppew H Ae U o c J u iir c j: n o n

i . > j y > ix e x i i x e c o m o r a jT (ereiZ-XTccndf.

b e n J e x .x s c c M 0 6 B A x u .iR 7 l,T e xrnrnoLx,i~enzx
D e c IU )T A T e S U A S T X T U T J S D I f X n n xn o n xfct
b u fu rc J io re v re z : e c f c t c r t / i t a r f r J m o Cyc&t~~ Aon&cxbLxcrt
C ir u u m t M f iL o ' C V o .t^ t'c iu r e m ib td u c ) f i t l i X nt& c0nfptv.i
b e b o ^ t C r f it J e e r f o L c e r d o r e f c lH t U .c > iir CiUeLcbxnA-ut
5 n w m o la w r | ) t f lc | ja . | 4 a :(b J tc c |: f t s C z rm X n e A o m C x

* j e + *cL & u jco ri ( u a ^ c c u i ^ c t x f ^ b t r e t u f e r ^ t U c t t ; aer4>am (iiiim

Script from Carolingian period p x r x e f X .nnxexM T& n J e d tc p x r - z r m u n A w , t n i h f L t x im f u t x A o n C

c jii^ x -A .rm x m c[i[t< rA > xc- O n fX a x £ m c p n c t u f e in v r evxrnfectitnpo

using classical forms of Roman
u u lu - v m e * m x e m u lx t t u f rn b modttfy^
capitals, from Alcuin's version of ju ld ^ m t im d n
the Vulgate, Tours, 834-843 7
> > •-..• ^ rC /r/Y T l I ,

M erovingian decoration in the 7th and 8 th centuries, though not as

elaborate as th a t o f the monasteries o f the B ritish Isles, gained its d is tin c t­
ion from the com bination o f constructed elements and substituted form s.
The use o f the compass as a to o l in le tte r design had classical precedents,
but the sim p lic ity w ith w hich this process is displayed in certain
M erovingian designs reveals a pleasure in basic form w hich is s k illfu lly
complem ented by suggestively anim ate additive elements. Some o f the
m ost im aginative instances o f M erovingian decoration involve the creation
o f letters e ntirely from the form s o f birds and fish.
W ith in the classicizing sensibility o f the C arolingian scripts in the 9th
century, however, decoration was often more m inim al, w ith elegant solu­
tions posed by the use o f the Roman m ajuscule form s as the basis o f deco­
rated designs. The sense o f the structure o f the le tte r is generally evident in
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period
Gothic versal with flourishes,
14th century redrawn in 19th
century (From Henry Shaw,
Alphabets and Numerals o f the
Middle Ages, 1853)
Historiated letters: two versions
of Jonah and the Whale from
late 13th century, Evesham
Psalter (British Library, London,
Add. ms, 444874, f.93) and
Oscott Psalter (British Library,
London, Add. ms. 50000 f.lOlr.)
C arolingian examples, though a Franco-Saxon school in the late 9th cen­
tu ry blends Insular and C ontinental tendencies in to novel innovations.
The form s o f bookscripts and the form s o f in itia l, majuscule or titlin g let­
ters had d ifferen t origins: the form er in the m edium o f pen and w ritin g the
la tte r in the stone inscriptions from w hich the basic form s o f Roman capi­
tals are derived .12 W hile in itia l letters could, in p rin cip le , be the enlarged
o r elaborated fo rm o f uncial, h alf-un cial o r other scripts, they were fre­
quently based upon Roman capitals, especially (though not exclusively) in
C arolingian m anuscripts. T his convention seems rooted in the im portance
w hich such capitals added to in itia l letters, but the graphic sta b ility o f
these form s, generally quadrate in nature and uncom plicated in th e ir basic
structure, can also be granted some o f the credit from a design perspective.
It is always d iffic u lt to establish causal lin k s between s ty lis tic changes
in visual arts and h is to ric a l circum stances, but by end o f the 9th century
the culture o f Europe and the B ritis h Isles was fragm ented in to small
pockets o f local activity. The Roman em pire had com pletely disintegrated
and its fin a l vestiges preserved in Charlem agne’s rule had vanished.
M a jo r changes came in to the structure o f trade, commerce, in d u stry and
government in the 11th century. C ontem porary w ith these social transfor­
m ations was the appearance o f decorative letters w hich have more p ic to r­
ia l u n ity and org an izatio n, especially w ith respect to the a rtic u la tio n o f
spatial relations, than had existed even in the well-achieved designs o f
early centuries.
By the 11th century centers o f a ctivity reemerged in Germany, England
and Spain. T his re vita liza tio n gave rise to styles later designated by histo ­
rians w ith the term s O ttom an, Romanesque and G othic. These new styles
contained dram atic new elements such as versals and the fu lly developed
form know n as the h istoriated in itia l. A w ide range o f themes were depict­
ed in these historiated letters. Early instances were fille d w ith b ib lica l
im agery as w ell as themes o f aggression, scenes o f com bat and struggle
whose m eaning was n ot always e x p lic it, though they suggested a general­
ized co n flict between good and evil, civilized and bestial aspects o f hum an
nature .13 By the 13th century, hun ting themes were also prevalent, but
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

hum or played a visible role in many o f the specific treatm ents. N arrative
scenes gradually entered the p ic to ria l vocabulary o f decorators, and the
images to o k on the character o f tin y illu m in a tio n s, independent p ic to ria l
elements w ith in the page, rather than rem aining as fu lly integrated in to its
w oo f and w arp as in the decorative patterns o f earlier styles. In the G othic
period, capitals were created o u t o f uncial form s w hich were thickened
and enlarged. T h e ir strong graphic d e fin itio n allowed them to read clearly
as le tte r form s even when decorated w ith the elaborate pen flourishes
w hich became a favorite exercise o f late medieval scribes. H isto ria te d in i­
tia ls, though not w ith o u t earlier precedents, reached new levels o f com­
p le xity in this period, m aking use o f the spaces suggested by the structure
o f the letters and integrating them in to a narrative image.

Decorated letter with complex

internal pictorial organization,
11th century (Bodleian Library,
ms. 717, Oxford, f.2.)

In h istoriated letters the counters, o r open spaces defined by the shape

o f the capital fo rm , were often used as p ic to ria l opportunities. In the 11th
century the figures existed in the shallow proscenium space, as in a fla t­
tened fram ed area o f image w ith o u t elaborate depth or com plexity. In
some cases the elements o f the le tter - crossbars o r the sw irlin g d ivision o f
upper and low er loops o f the ‘S’ - were integrated in to the narrative depic­
tio n . In other examples, the le tte r its e lf was sometimes articu la te d as a set
o f figures w hich particip a te in a central action w hich they fram e, and the
p o ssib ility o f va riatio n is as unlim ite d in these devices as it was in the geo­
m etric o r abstract patterns o f other form s o f illu m in a tio n . Elaborate figure
alphabets achieved a degree o f development in the Romanesque and
G othic period which were unprecedented. A 14th century exam ple, the
famous Bergamo alphabet a ttrib uted to G iovannino dei Grassi (approxi­
m ately 1390) grants the figures so much autonom y th a t the le tte r form s
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

are barely perceptible as organizing structures. T his alphabet was much

im ita te d, either d ire ctly through copying o r as an idea, and even served as
the basis o f a num ber o f Renaissance and M annerist p rinted letters.
Decorated initial from Pliny,
Natural History from the 1460s
(Victoria and Albert Museum,
London, Ms A1 1504-1896, fol
485v)

I A fin a l transform ation occurred as the interwoven space identified w ith

the Romanesque period was gradually replaced by the ‘transparent’
I G othic space whose visual structure showed glim m ers o f perspectival illu -
< sion, p ic to ria l conventions approaching those in stitu te d in the
■ Renaissance. In these G othic w orks, the layered space was h ig hly orga-
i nized in to foreground, m iddle and background elements o f the scene and
various levels o f fram ing devices. Accom panying this ra tio n a liza tio n o f
The Bergamo alphabet of space was the increasing d ivision between visual and textual elements and
Giovannino dei Grassi, around a decreased emphasis on the role o f illu m in ated letters in p ortraying the
1390 (Biblioteca Civica, narrative o r m oral m eaning o f the te xt. But it should be pointed out th at
Bergamo) the spatial com plexity o f form s was n o t lim ite d to the a ctivity o f the figur­
ative elements. C om plex three-dim ensional illu sion s o f carving o r decora­
tio n also made th e ir appearance w hich were very d istin ct from the earlier
play o f elements as a surface pattern. In many cases the letters become
autonom ous, representational objects, fu lly form ed illu sion s on the page,
rather than aspects o f its surface.
The a ctivity o f decoration in m anuscripts d id n o t develop u n in te rru p t­
ed o r unquestioned. Aside from the shifts tow ard o r away from more elab­
orate designs, such as the effect o f Charlemagne’s classicizing repression o f
Imitation of the Bergamo alpha­ any decoration w hich m ight obscure the le tter fo rm , there were from tim e
bet from a copper engraving to tim e specific attacks on the very a ctivity o f the scribe’s decorative labor.
about 1460 (Bibliothfeque One such was the strong criticism m ounted by the ascetic C istercian St
Nationale, Paris) Bernard in the 12th century against w hat he considered to be the excesses
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

o f the Romanesque style. He attacked decorated letters as frivolou s, claim ­

ing th a t they were w ith o u t m eaning o r value and fu rth e r stated th a t they
were a waste o f scribes’ tim e. A subtext emerges from his attack in w hich
the W ord has a transcendent value not to be interfered w ith o r confused
w ith its m aterial form . The theological and m oral im p lica tio ns o f St
Bernard’s criticism thus fa r exceed a mere scolding o f monks fo r indulging
in frivolous labor and reveal a deprecation o f the fu nctio n o f visual ele­
ments in the production o f verbal meaning w hich is a recurring theme in
<*■loctian eftadfifdombcrivuntos Western thought.
monu-4iccn1'-T-«q»cre-ftInftfrac
diocTddwt.T)omoqui opailcnc
uobif bofttant duojtpcconbiift
V. . p. dcbblnil doatluf (ftftrtiif tu&iij
|v. bolocmiftuni fficnoaufobliKt
Early 12th century letter from
Winchester Bible w ith developed

Image of dimensional illusion

(Bodleian Library, Oxford,
Winchester Bible, ms. Auct.E.,
inf.fol. 51)

M m
YYpitt&r ycr xioUmro
Kin do- )ir- I
l# « # d v n ii I
tin- flnictthcartf
niv' noc.tof1&-ttitn
omnrtn <pntwiocmrr
tiotmn diii iiri niv, vpt • i
Early 12th century, note the way in vnnni low ifMonim
the body of the bird makes the
bowl of the 'P1in a substitution, i& u d n f & p p r
rather than merely wrapping
around it as decoration (Walters
.ivlw ivtnv mv
Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD, Ms.
10.18, folio 175)
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

A nother interesting late developm ent was the production o f pattern

books fo r decorated letters. These came in to existence by the 12th century
and included elaborate images o f birds, anim als and interlacing which
served as models fo r m onastic and lay scribes.14 The idea o f decoration as
repeatable, as based on models to be replicated rather than conceived as
an exercise o f contem plative invention, signals a m arked change in a tti­
tude tow ard the w ork o f w ritin g as productive labor comparable to other
form s o f production. W ritin g could now be a fo rm o f piece w ork rather
than an exercise o f fa ith , an instrum ent fo r p ub lica tion and comm ercial
production rather than an end in itse lf. T his s h ift in sensibility p a rtic i­
pates in a ra tio n a liza tio n o f production w hich w ill also characterize cer­
ta in Renaissance designs o f le tte r form s in w hich alphabets embody a code
o f hum anistic values based on m athem atically constructed designs.
Elaborate decorative and p ic to ria l form s were much sim plified by the
requirem ents o f p rin tin g technology. The more finely detailed designs were
confined to title pages where they were instances o f the engraver’s s k ill
rather than elements o f the printed page per se> and the hand w ork of
p aintin g could n o t be readily replicated in p rin t u n til the 19th century
when litho gra ph y served as the vehicle fo r reinvention o f the illu m in a to r’s
a rt .15
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

Runes and Ogham

W hile the L a tin alphabet spread throughout N o rth e rn Europe and in to

the B ritish Isles under the influence o f both earlier Roman occupations
and subsequent C hristian m issions, tw o form s o f w ritin g whose origins
are s till n o t entirely clear developed in these regions as w ell. These are
Runes and Ogham , both o f w hich have a rather fantastic h isto ry in c u lt lit ­
erature w hich developed long a fter th e ir use as fu n ctio n a l w ritin g systems
had been eclipsed. Since they do show up in this later lite ra tu re , p a rticu ­
la rly in 18th century w orks w hich make use o f m yths o f o rig in as a basis
fo r claim s fo r partisan natio na l identity, it seems useful to m ention th e ir
actual developm ent w ith in the h isto rica l phase at w hich they appear as
fu n ctio n a l w ritin g systems.
Runes (the w ord actually refers to the w ritte n inscriptions, rather than
to the in d ivid u a l letters) bear strong resemblance, both in th e ir visual
fo rm and in the sound equivalents they represent, to the early form s o f
Etruscan and L a tin alphabets. Scholarship on th e ir actual o rig in is d iv id ­
ed, and archaeological evidence points to an adaptation and m odification
o f an Ita lic scrip t by m igrating Goths in the A lp in e region around the 3rd
century BC. Isaac T aylor suggests th a t the characteristic fo rm o f the Runes
(and Ogham) was determ ined by th e ir having been adapted fo r in scrip tio n
in w ood, and the add itio n o f new letters to fit the requirem ents o f the
G oths’ language. Archaeological m aterial adequate fo r tracing the devel­
opm ent and geographic spread o f this script is lacking, however, though
parallels between the names, sequence and sound values (powers) o f the
letters sustain this hypothesis. The earliest datable inscriptions are in the
late 2nd and 3rd centuries in the n orthern Germ anic areas o f Europe,
inclu ding D enm ark, Sweden and parts o f present day England around the
Isle o f M an and N o rth u m b ria . In England the use o f Runes persisted up
through the 9th century as a means o f recording the vernacular and it 115
served a sim ila r purpose fo r several centuries longer in Scandinavia. —
English scribes o f the 8th century often used letters from the R unic alpha­
bet as a means o f in d ica tin g sounds which were n o t readily notated in the
L a tin scrip t, and spelling reform ers in England in later centuries continu­
a lly struggled to revive such letters as the th o rn and wen because o f th e ir
usefulness in ind icatin g the Anglo-Saxon aspects o f the language.
T hroughout its use, the R unic alphabet, o r fu th a rk (so-named from the
in itia l letters o f the system according to the same p rincip le as the w ord
alphabet), had both the role o f a fu nctio na l w ritin g system and was also
associated w ith m agical and cu lt activities .16 M any o f the early Runic
inscriptions express C hristian sentim ents, prayers o r devotion, though ear­
lie r instances in to n in g pagan deities o r demons abound. D iv in a to ry prac­
tices using Runes were com m on in England (and Scandinavia) in the
Roman period: Tacitus and Julius Caesar both make note o f these a c tiv it­
ies in th e ir w ritin g s. As late as the 7th century, Runes inscribed to protect,
prom ote o r defend an in d ivid u a l in m atters o f war, love, illness, fe rtility
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

and weather were w idely used. By the 9th century such practices had
faded to the m argins o f English culture in spite o f the presence o f certain
Runic letters in the Anglo-Saxon book hands. The in fla tio n o f the magical
properties o f Runes developed after th e ir demise as a com m on w ritin g sys­
tem and was sustained by earlier m entions in medieval m anuscripts sug­
gesting such occult values.17 The names o f Runes, fo r instance, have been
analyzed as a cosm ology o f gods, demons and natu ra l powers in an elab­
orate a rtic u la tio n o f fe rtility c u lt sym bolism and other sacred beliefs,
some o f w hich was invoked in 18th-century lite ra tu re .18

RUNES.

N ames. V alu es. I. II. III. IV.

Sc a n d i­ A l p h a b e t op
G o t h ic . A n g l ia n .
n a v ia n . U l p h il a s .

fech, feh, fe / £ P B V r P <f>

ur, hur u A n n n n n ov

thorn ih D R ^ > i> A 8

asc, sesc, os a, x , o 1$ R r* P 4s A a

rad, rat r n r R RA K- P
cen, kaun c, k < A K Y K K
gebo, gifu g X X r y
wen V, w Y R V p o v,hv
hegl, hagai h NMNH H * h h
nyd, n6d n + * + + l> N v
is i 1 1 1 I i
ger, yr, ar y> g e>j> a I h <5 4. A A 9 j
hie, ih, eoh ih , 2, eo W
peorth, perc P * K G K n 7r
ilix, calc a, i, k, x Y Y q o q
sigil s * H H s <r
tir t t T r
t 1
berc, berith h * R B K P
haec, ech, eh e n m M e V
man in M M ? Y M P
lagu I V R R A X
ing ng o <> £ X X
Runic characters, from Isaac dag, dseg d S M M 8
Taylor, The Alphabet, New York, othil o, ce * a>
1899
* R 2
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

But if the graphic and phonetic properties o f Runes p e rm it th e ir evolu­

tio n to be linked to other alphabetic systems, the o rig in o f Ogham cannot
be so readily assessed. Ogham inscriptions are found in some areas o f the
B ritish Isles where there were Scandinavian settlements (especially Wales)
but in none o f the areas where Runic inscriptions have been found. As
w ith the Runic characters, Ogham is composed o f straight lines, but w hile
the Runes have the q u a lity o f alphabetic form s w hich have been m odified
to suit th e ir ren ditio n in w ood, hard stone o r m etal (thus the e lim in a tion
o f curved shapes) Ogham elements are a unique alphabetic code o f sim p li­
fied lines and branches. Scholars have suggested th a t the Ogham script
developed from the system o f notching sticks as a fo rm o f record-keeping
comm on among shepherds. The names assigned to the Ogham characters
correspond to trees comm on in the B ritish Isles, and much is made o f this,
and other so-called ‘tree alphabets* by later w rite rs seeking c u lt values fo r
these early w ritin g systems. Ogham never reached the same degree o f
developm ent as a com m unicative script as Runes d id , and both fe ll out o f
use by the end o f the medieval period.

Ogham notation system, from |

Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, New
1 1 111 iin Mill
York, 1899. ^ (0 1 f (w) s n

1 II III III1 ! 1M !

h (c h ) a t c q

/ //' III llll Hill

/ // III M l hill
m £ n g st (z) V

i 1 1 111 l l l l 111LI__
I i I 111 l l l l • l i l t
•
a 0 u e 1

Missionary and Slavic Alphabets

In the 4th century an alphabet was invented by a C hristian m onk

determ ined to carry out the m issionary a ctivity o f converting pagan tribes
to his fa ith . T his alphabet was an early instance o f w hat w ould be a recur­
rin g pattern o f such m issionary inventions, and though considered an a rti­
fic ia l and shortlived contrivance, it deserves m ention here as a precedent
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria In the Medieval Period

fo r later such inventions. The invention was th a t o f the Bishop U lfilas or

W u lfila (318-388) who spent fo rty years among the Visigoths o f Moesia
and invented an alphabet to use in transcribing holy texts in to the lan­
guage o f these tribes. To do this he adapted the com m on Byzantine uncials
o f the 4th century, adding letters fo r sounds unique to the language o f the
G oths, some o f w hich had Greek equivalents and some from the Runic
fu th orc o r fu th a rk.

'
ss

G la g o litic .
ii

G la g o litic .

C y rillic .
B nssian.

N am es.
C y rillic .
OQ

V alues.
s 9
S
'A
1
>
II
*3
I s
i i
s
.«

j
Az a rflrt) A A A a TJk U S a oy 8 o y s : y y

Buki b E E E r>6 Fert f <ff * <J> <I>4»

Yedi V QD R 6 B b Khcr X da to X X Xx
Glagol (J Va & r r Tr 0 0 0 w Q
Dobro d lit A A /U Sha sh, 5 IU UI ITT m
111
Est e 0 3 E s Ee Shta M , 1st w qj mm
Zhivete zh iJd <k 5K )i( Tsi ts a
v ° n n «
Zclo dz t£ S s Tsherv tsJi} c q q
¥
Zemlya z 6d 3 3s Djerv dj ■fc
Iff
Izhe e, i ¥ H H Hn Yet ye EL -k n B it

I iyV K 8 11 I I i Yu yu 10 10 10 K)
JU
Kako 0
h % a K K K k Yer Tx t 'L l,
e
Lyudi I A J Ij Yery Mu
db A V •BS? 'Ll LI
Muislitf* m Q m M M M m Yerek R E I) L
i
Nash n IP F p N H nu Es eng •e A A
On 0 2 a 0 0 Oo Y qs yeng TA
Pokoy P IP [E n n n n As ong se
Reci r Q> t p Pp Yas yong
P M r/R
Slovo s ‘i f c c Cc T h ita e "tt" A -0- 00
Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, Tverclo t OD T T T i Yzica u * V n Vv
from Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet,
New York, 1899 I. ir. lit. TV. r. It. - TirT

A more successful ‘invention’ was the ecclesiastical scrip t created in the

late 9th century by C y ril and M ethodius, m issionaries to the Slavic
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

M oravians and Bulgarians. Used fo r C y ril’s translations o f the Psalms and

Gospels in to O ld B ulgarian, the alphabet o rig in a lly had th irty -e ig h t le t­
ters, tw e nty-fo ur o f w hich were identical w ith the Greek uncials. The new
characters were in p a rt appropriated from G la g o litic, another litu rg ic a l
alphabet o f com plex o rig in , sometimes m ythica lly a ttrib uted to St Jerome.
Some o f the features o f this older alphabet persisted in C y rillic w hich in
tu rn became one o f the m ajor alphabets o f the w orld, along w ith the
L a tin , A rabic, and other Asian offshoots whose developments are equally
com plex in term s o f both th e ir form al transform ations and h isto rica l c ir­
cumstances. O ther m issionary impulses w ould result in the p roduction o f
a ll m anner o f bizarre n o ta tio n systems in subsequent centuries. These
w ould u ltim a te ly m otivate the production o f the In te rn a tio n a l Phonetic
Alphabet in the 19th century as an outgrow th o f the lin g u istic struggles o f
m issionaries in non-Indo-European speaking regions to cope w ith the task
o f establishing a foundation fo r the transm ission o f C hristian fa ith and
European culture.
Hrabanus M aurus, the 9th century Archbishop o f Fulda, composed
one o f the firs t know n com pendia o f alphabets in his w ork De inventione
linguarum (O n the Invention o f Languages) ,19 M aurus recorded only five
alphabets, to each o f which he assigned a p a rticu la r, if b rie f history. W hile
H rabanus’s w ork was n o t, s tric tly speaking, produced as p a rt o f a
m issionary project, his w ritin g reflected the interest o f churchmen in
preserving in fo rm a tio n about alphabetic scripts and p u ttin g it in to a
record.

alamon. becha. chain. delfoi. cflotlm. Ibnclhu. garfou. henna

a1s^LbT J 'c<T [d fA g3 hh -
lofitu. kaitu. lehlfu. malalhi. nabalech. ozechi. chorizech. philirin. saialhi. inlalech.

1$ 1 v -Q & G n t 119

theolimos. agathot. req. yrchoim. zeta.

asc. biriih. chen. ihorn. ech. fccli. gibti. Imgalc. h»s. pile. la»»ii. man.

i bB fW P s^ I W fflM
not. nlhii. perc. chon. rehir. sugil. lac. bur. hnfoch. huyri. ziu.
Alphabets recorded by Hrabanus
Maurus

In alm ost every case, the tra d itio n on w hich Hrabanus based his assess­
ments o f these scripts was fa irly clear, though the sources fo r his visual
m aterials were less obvious. F irst, he discussed the H ebrew alphabet,
invented by Moses, and revived by the figure Esdra after the ca p tivity o f
the Jews. There were tw enty-tw o letters in this alphabet, w hich corre­
sponded w ith the num ber o f the Hebrew alphabet, but H rabanus’s form s
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

were somewhat peculiar adaptations o f the u n fa m ilia r script. The second

alphabet he discussed was the Greek alphabet, w hich he associated w ith
the Phoenician Cadmus, fo llo w in g the tra d itio n o f classical antiquity. He
noted th a t letters had been added to this scrip t ‘to make numbers more
manageable* and brought the to ta l to tw enty-four. There was some confu­
sion on this p o in t, and Hrabanus added three other characters on the
grounds th a t they were needed fo r th e ir num erical capabilities since they
perm itted calculations to extend up to figures inclu ding the number for
one thousand. H is account o f the invention o f L a tin was unique: he a ttrib ­
uted it to the nym ph C arm entis, the m other o f Evander. H is majuscule
scrip t had a peculiar rounded ‘E’ and, norm al fo r the period, no ‘J* o r ‘W.’
N ext Hrabanus included a m ost peculiar scrip t and a ttrib u tio n : the letters
o f ‘Aethicus the philosopher and cosmographer in the Scythian nation.’
He stated th a t he had him self obtained letters through texts o f St Jerome,
but they resembled alchem ical scripts more closely than any alphabet in
practical use in his period.
F in a lly Hrabanus recorded a version o f the Runes, w hich he called let­
ters used by ‘the M arcom anni’ o r N orm ans. The term M arcom anni has
been associated w ith tribes n o rth o f the Danube, and Hrabanus claimed
they spoke a ‘ Theodiscan’ language. He stated th a t the people were
pagans, and th a t they used this scrip t to record ‘th e ir songs, incantations
or predictions.’ These were certainly the conditions in w hich Runes were
perceived to operate in the 9th century in Germ anic regions, and
Hrabanus’s observations were accurate as a record o f the impressions o f
his tim e.
W hat seems m ost com pelling about H rabanus’s record o f these scripts
was his historiographic sensibility. There were other instances o f this kind
o f attem pt to come to term s w ith the h isto ry o f the alphabet and its early
m utations, but H rabanus’s record had some unique features in term s o f its
IZO m ythological theories and a ttrib utio n s. B ut even m ore, his b rie f account
contained the seeds o f a reflective sensibility, one concerned w ith the
actual h isto ry o f the alphabet as its e lf valuable, n o t m erely its value as
sym bolic form .

Alchemical Alphabets

There are tw o aspects to the engagement between the alphabet and

alchem ical practices. The firs t is the use o f the alphabet as a code to order
elements in alchem ical operations and the second is the design o f cipher
alphabets used to conceal the knowledge o f secret processes in an unread­
able and arcane form . Some o f these secret signs pass in to use in the cult
ritu a ls and iconography o f the Rosicrucians beginning in the late
Renaissance, much removed from th e ir earlier role as elements o f a scien­
tific inquiry, w hile other elements fo rm the basis o f the chem ical symbols
used in laboratories as a universal nota tion .

aB C D E F QH I K L M N.
■^0-0 0 C a pp ro priatio n o f planetary signs from Chaldean astrology and astronom y
o p q rs tu x y
2 J o a m a Q >3
a B CDEF g h i k l m n
o p QR s T U
n -p r3 ^c(
aB c D EF G H I K.LMN
0PQRSTUVY2
Alchemical alphabets (CJ.S.
Thompson, The Lure and
Romance o f Alchemy, London,
1932)
Alchemist in his study with
acrostic formula and alchemical
"apparatus (Pitois Christian;
L'Histoire de Magie, Paris, 1870)
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria In the Medieval Period
The origins o f alchem ical symbols reach back in to antiquity, w ith the
in to the Greek system, and the subsequent association o f certain metals
w ith these planetary elements.20 In this system, gold came to be associated
w ith the sun, silver w ith the m oon, and so fo rth , so th a t the sign o f the
sun o r m oon m ight fu n ctio n to represent the m etal in a form ula. Alchem y
proper is a later developm ent, and belongs to the period o f Arab influence
in southern Europe. The w ord alchemy is in fa ct a com bination o f the
Greek w ord chemya w ith the A rabic pre fix a l attached. The concerns o f
alchemy, though much distorted in later rom anticization and obfuscation
through occult associations, were quite sim ply to understand the nature o f
metals and the processes by w hich they m ight be transm uted in to other
form s, p a rtic u la rly gold - w hich was considered to have transcendent sp ir­
itu a l value. It was in the firs t centuries o f the C hristian era th a t the fusion
o f Egyptian m etallurgy and C hristian G nostic and N eo-P latonic sensibili­
ties lent a m etaphysical aura to alchemy, but the medieval practitioners
were frequently serious scientists in q u irin g in to the structure o f the n atu r­
al w orld. A lchem ical symbols served as a shorthand to record experim ents
and procedures, but q u ickly came to serve the fu n ctio n o f secrecy as w ell.
Traces o f early alchem ical m anuscripts show up as references in the trea­
tises o f the M id d le Ages, authored by such m ythic figures as Hermes and
C leopatra and the more h is to ric a lly authenticated M a ry the Jewess and
Zosim us. B ut actual m anuscripts used in alchem ical practice are evidence
o f Arab dom ination o f the a rt between the 7th and 13th centuries.
The Arabs were at firs t loa th to make widespread use o f Greek sym­
bols, considering them the legacy o f a pagan people and hence u n fit fo r
th e ir purposes. Developed alchemy made its way in to Western Europe in
beginning in the 12th century by means o f L a tin translations o f A rabic
texts, around the same period as the consolidation o f the Kabbalah. A t
this p o in t the use o f elaborate sym bols based on Greek and other com plex
visual signs, many o f w hich seem to have been the product o f an in d i­
vidual a u th o r’s visual im agination, came in to comm on use. Eventually
w hole elaborate systems o f ‘hieroglyphics’ were pressed in to service to
encode the alchem ical processes and keep them from the u ninitia ted .
Anagram s, acrostics and other enigm atic figures were used extensively.
The le tte rin g in alchem ical texts cannot be properly called an alphabet,
but there are obvious lin ks between existing w ritin g systems and the
symbols transform ed fo r use by alchemists.
The great M agus figures o f the late M id d le Ages and Renaissance, such
as A lbertus M agnus, Roger Bacon, Basil Valentine and the M ichael M aier
provided encyclopedic records o f earlier and contem porary alchem ical
practices. But by the 15th and 16th centuries, when extensively illu strate d
volumes o f alchem ical knowledge were published in the fo rm o f elaborate
allegorical images and deliberately obfuscating texts, alchemy had become
a pseudo-science, rap id ly being displaced by the fo rm a tion o f a new scien­
tific understanding o f the structure o f the physical w orld. From th a t p o in t
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period
Cipher alphabet in manuscript
attributed to Roger Bacon;
William Newbold's analysis of
the letters into an elaborate
shorthand (University of
Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia)
on, alchemy to o k its place among the arcane areas o f hum an thought, and
was channelled in to occult practices where its obscure language and delib­
erately com plex sym bology found a receptive fo llo w in g w ell in to the 19th
century.
One in trig u in g example o f the use o f a cryp tic alphabet in an alchemi­
cal m anuscript is the so-called cipher docum ent a ttrib uted to Roger Bacon
(1214-1292). Iden tified as a 13th century English m anuscript, it is w ritten
entirely in an unknow n alphabet. Bacon, in L etter on the Secret Works o f
A rt and the N u llity o f M agic, had strongly advocated use o f ciphers: ‘The
man is insane who w rites a secret in any other way than one which w ill
conceal it from the vulgar and make it in te llig ib le only w ith d iffic u lty even
to scientific men and earnest students .’21 H e proposed seven modes o f con­
cealment in this w ork, including the use o f m agic figures, spells, and mys­
teriously sym bolic words. One m ethod o f secret w ritin g was to use only
consonants, as in the case o f the Sem itic languages, another was ‘effected
by com m ingling letters o f various kind s’ or through inventing an idiosyn­
cratic alphabet, or, finally, through use o f shorthand. A t least one scholar
who studied the cipher m anuscript assumed it was w ritte n in just such a
shorthand. T his was W illia m N ew bold, Professor o f Philosophy at the
U niversity o f Pennsylvania, who came in to contact w ith the m anuscript
(know n by its ow ner’s name as the Voynich m anuscript) in Philadelphia in
the 1910s.
N ew bold set about to decipher the w o rk, and fin ding no key by which
the ‘apparent’ letters o f the scrip t could be decoded, decided th a t each o f
these letters was in fa ct an accum ulation o f m icrographic shorthand
script. A ccording to N ew bold, this shorthand was its e lf a code, and by
lin k in g the n o ta tio n a l m arks w ith th e ir L a tin le tte r counterparts, deci­
phering those in tu rn in to com plex anagrams, w hich he subsequently
unscram bled, the m anuscript w ould yield its supposed secrets. N ew bold’s
m ethod and conclusions seem farfetched to a degree w hich stretches credi­
b ility. He was able to unravel only a few words and phrases w ith in the text
by application o f his to rturou s m ethod, and had he applied it systemati­
cally to the entire m anuscript (upwards o f tw o hundred pages) the result
w ould have been to read the te xt o f 300,000 characters as if it were in fact
closer to 3 m illio n sign ifying elements. N ew bold was unable to decipher
even enough o f the te xt to give a sense o f its content, fo r which he
rem ained dependent on the iconography o f its images. These depicted a
peculiar version o f the process o f egg fe rtiliz a tio n in humans, w ith human
sperm m igrating through successive levels o f a structure, w hich was as
much cosm ological as bio log ica l, towards th e ir goal.
W hile there was a tra d itio n o f m icrographia among Hebrew c a lli­
graphers in the M id d le Ages, even th e ir m ost com plex designs w ould not
riva l the com plexity w hich N ew bold ascribes to the cipher m anuscript.
N ew bold also suggested th a t the last line o f this m anuscript contained a
key w hich referred in tu rn to the several ‘gates’ by w hich the secrets could
be accessed. N ew bold to o k this term to refer to the gates o f the Kabbalah,

Ancient and Celestial Alphabets
j • j • * • 5 • z. • ^ • '
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• c> • f • J •*^ ^ ■k • c
o j 6 ^
55 C j J 1 11
*-* t. <■’* W f
.[LtTTT.r=fj>0-HD-^A
O cA j
Xk*
C j J 4
y \s .s n jtf-
° j
Ancient alphabets from Joseph
Hammer Purgstall's translation
of Ibn Wahshlh's 9th century
manuscript (Butler Rare Books
and Manuscripts, Columbia
University, NY)
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period
the com binations and perm utations o f letters w hich form ed a basic aspect
o f th a t m ystical practice. W hat was rem arkable about N ew bold’s w ork
was his conviction th a t the alchem ical character o f the treatise justifie d
such an in terpretatio n. Subsequent scholarship decoding the m anuscript
has la id N ew bold’s obsessive scheme to rest when the code in w hich the
te xt was w ritte n was deciphered in the 1940s by Joseph M a rtin Feely. Feely
was inconclusive in determ ining the a ttrib u tio n and his in te rp re ta tio n was
in keeping w ith the alchem ical mysteries o f the m anuscript’s imagery.22
A unique tra d itio n fo r investigating the origins o f the alphabet existed
among A rabic scholars around the 10th century. T his tra d itio n w ill be
examined here through a te xt supposedly composed by Ahm ad Bin
A bubekr Bin W ahshih in the the year 225 o f the H egira (around 840
A D ).23 It is one o f the few such texts w hich exists in published and trans­
lated fo rm , though there are m entions o f other such works in secondary
lite ra tu re , such as the Book o f Frenzied Devotee to Learn A b o u t the
A ncient Scripts by Abu B a kir Ahm ad (composed around 855 A D ) and The
Book o f Secret Alphabets by Abu Abd A l-K a h il w ritte n a century earlier.24
M ystica l alphabets and codes, some o f w hich had m agical connotations,
became a sophisticated a rt among Arabs in the M id d le Ages and were
?• bd
t u- connected w ith alchemy and religious practices. One exam ple was the
D avidian alphabet o r D am budi, w hich was considered the invention o f
K ing D avid whom some Arabs thought o f as a great m agician.
' Joseph H am m er P urgstall, an a u th o rity on the h isto ry o f Persia and
the ancient N ear East, presented W ahshih’s te xt in a book e ntitle d A ncient
Alphabets and H ieroglyphic Characters Explained (1806). Purgstall stated
l)
th a t its author had lived a thousand years earlier and th a t he had been a
Chaldean, Nabataean o r Syrian by b irth and had translated a w ork
J. u6
treating hieroglyphics and secrets o f Hermes fro m his m other-rongue, the
Nabataean, in to A rabic .25 A lthough it does contain some in fo rm a tio n on
hieroglyphics, the bulk o f the m anuscript is concerned w ith a ll m anner o f
i ^ (-1 i ancient and secret alphabets such as the tree alphabet, the m im shim , ante­
d ilu via n , o r prim eval alphabet, and the so-called Herm esian alphabet used
by the ancient kin g o f the Egyptians to keep ‘a ll things secret.’ Ibn
W ahshih’s te xt is divided in to eight chapters and an appendix. Each o f
these contains a set o f alphabets grouped them atically, and a ll are visually
J u* strikin g . W hile some have visual precedents in either fu n ctio n a l models
(Hebrew, Chaldean, Greek and so fo rth ) o r sym bolic systems such as the
alchem ical signs, some appear to be sui generis. It is these w hich w ill be
detailed here.
The firs t chapter contains three ‘usual O rie n ta l alphabets’ (C ufic,
M aghrabin and India n); the second ‘the seven m ost celebrated o ld alpha­
bets,’ but the chapters w hich fo llo w depart fro m this o rth od o xy in to
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

discussion o f the ‘long desired knowledge o f occult alphabets.’ Chapter

III, fo r instance, contains seven alphabets a ttrib u te d to the ‘m ost celebrat­
ed Philosophers and Learned M en’ who include Socrates, Plato, A risto tle,
and Pythagoras - each o f whom is credited w ith th e ir invention. The fo l­
low ing chapter refers to the fo u r and tw enty alphabets (or cyphers) that
were used by other Philosophers, such as th a t o f C ostoudjis, who ‘w rote in
this alphabet three hundred and sixty books on d ivin ity, talism ans, astrol­
ogy, m agic, influence o f planets and fixed stars, and on the conjuration of
s p irits .’ A tree alphabet a ttrib uted to Doscorides is clearly an Ogham
scrip t, and the issue o f contact and knowledge o f such a script, fu lly devel­
oped in the 8th century but geographically restricted, raises some ques­
tions about the actual date o f the supposed m anuscript - o r at least the
spectre o f later additions.
The alphabets o f the seven planets (Chapter V) and o f the twelve con­
stellations (Chapter V I) are more in keeping w ith the scholarly traditions
o f the M id d le Ages, w ith the same synthesis o f Greek, Egyptian,
Babylonian and Persian astrology and science w hich characterizes Arabic
alchem ical practices in this period. The fa ct th a t C hapter V II presents the
alphabets o f the ancient kings o f Syria, E gypt, Canaanites, Curds, Persians
and other peoples o f the ancient N ear East reinforces this contextual lin k.
Ibn W ahshih states th a t ‘every one o f these kings invented, according to
his own genius and understanding, a p a rtic u la r alphabet in order that
none should know them but the sons o f w isdom .’ These were n ot a simple
‘a b c, but alphabets in w hich they expressed a ll they knew and under­
stood o f the secrets o f nature’ as in the Herm esian o r hieroglyphic alpha­
bets w hich form ed the substance o f the fin a l chapter.
In the A ppendix to his w ork, Ibn W ahshih listed some o f the m ost fas­
cinating alphabets o f a ll - those w hich he considered to be antediluvian.
These were no more than three in number, the shisbim , w hich was inspired
124 by divine revelation and then used by the Hermesians (Egyptians),
“ B— Nabataeans, Sabeans and Chaldeans, the Syrian> and then the original
fo rm o f the antediluvian alphabet ‘in w hich Adam w rote his books.’ The
use o f the term ‘Herm esians’ is a p a rtic u la rly strong argum ent fo r the
com position o f this w ork between the 9th and 13th centuries. This is the
period in w hich the association o f Egypt w ith Hermes has become an
established concept, one w hich originated in the early C hristian era w ith
the com position o f the H erm etic corpus but became fu lly institutio na lize d
as an aspect o f the medieval alchem ical tra d itio n . The other strik in g fea­
ture o f this w ork is its com plete lack o f C hristian sym bolism o r referents;
a ll the figures are either Greek and A lexandrian philosophers o r O ld
Testament kings, and n ot a h in t o f G nosticism o r religious philosophy is
present. It p urpo rts to be a m agical and h isto rica l w ork, n ot concerned
w ith fa ith , but w ith knowledge as encoded in these alphabets and their
trad ition s.
A sim ila r sensibility pervades the tra d itio n o f celestial alphabets,
though many o f these are presented in texts w ith o u t the accompanying
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

gloss w hich renders the H am m er presentation and th a t o f the Ibn W ahshih

so ric h ly rew arding. C ornelius A grippa von N ettesheim , the o ccult ency­
clopedist, and Athanasius K ircher, the Renaissance polym ath, both
include so-called celestial alphabets in th e ir com pendia. The graphic s im il­
arities between some o f these and the alphabets in Ibn W ahshih’s te xt and
in other alchem ical sym bol systems is noticeable, and celestial alphabets
are also a feature o f certain K abbalistic treatises from the late M id d le
Ages.
The concept o f the celestial alphabet is sim ple: the form s o f the letters
are supposedly derived fro m observation o f configurations o f stars in the
heavens w hich can be ‘read’ as a fo rm o f sacred w ritin g . These alphabets
are visua lly recognizable by the use o f nodal points to indicate the stars at
the intersection o f the bars o r lines in th e ir form s, the em pty spots in the
in k lines signalling the b rig h t p o in t o f lig h t in the dark sky. Such alphabets
s till feature in w orks at the end o f the 18th century, such as the
Pantographia o f Edm und Fry, who includes them quite nonchalantly
alongside Chaldean, A ram aic, Hebrew and other scripts.

Ars Combinatoria

A com pelling and unique fo rm a tion o f medieval thought was produced

by the C atalan philosopher and theologian Raym ond L lu ll in the 13th cen­
tury. L lu ll devised a system fo r dem onstrating the interrelated structures o f
a ll the elements o f the universe as an example o f the perfection o f G od’s
w ork (and as m anifestation o f his ‘dig nitie s’ o r a ttributes). The Ars (or
A rt) was supposedly revealed to L lu ll in a vision on M o u n t Randa. M y th ic
accounts o f this event include the description o f the m iraculous appear­
ance o f inscriptions on the leaves o f a nearby lenticus bush in every alpha­
bet in w hich L lu ll’s Ars w ould eventually be translated .26 T his system was 125
set fo rth in a num ber o f m ajor w orks, Ars D em onstrativa (after 1282) and
the later, more condensed, Ars Brevis (around 1308). Both o f thfese systems
made elaborate use o f the alphabet fo r structural and procedural opera­
tions, and the overall concept w hich L lu ll articulated in these works
became the in sp ira tio n fo r later cosm ological and philosophical systems in
the w ork o f such w rite rs as Pico della M ira n d o la , G iordano Bruno,
Athanasius K ircher, and G o ttfrie d Leibnitz.
W hile the details o f L lu ll’s system were exceedingly com plex, the basic
concepts o f his exhaustive Ars D em onstrativa are relatively sim ple. The
purpose o f the A rs was to show the C hristian mysteries w hich are the very
structure o f the universe w hich, through sym bolic com putation, could
serve to both fin d and dem onstrate universal T ru th . L lu ll designed the Ars
to be a system (or techne as he term ed it) rather than as a logic o r a meta­
physics, and it was intended to be a comprehensive ‘science o f sciences’
and a ‘key to the exact and ra tio n a l ordering o f a ll know ledge .’27 The Ars
was represented in diagram s using an A lphabet and Figure w hich served
Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period
Diagrams from Raymond Llull's
work, a thirteenth or early four­
teenth century manuscript of Ars
Demonstrativa (Biblioteca
Marciana, Venice)
to fa c ilita te the operation o f the Ars. The A lphabet was in p a rt a nota-
tio n a l shorthand w hile the Figures visualized the relations among the ele­
ments so ‘th a t the senses can help the im a gin atio n and the im agination
the in te lle c t.’
The fu ll set o f figures fo r the Ars D em onstrativa consisted o f twelve
diagrams. The firs t seven o f these are designated by A , S, T, V, X , Y, and Z.
The other five are ide ntifie d as Theology, Philosophy, Law, the Elemental
Figure and the D em onstrative Figure. The letters w hich designated these
firs t figures, w hile n o t o f sym bolic value in an inherent sense, come to
fu nctio n as substantive sym bols w ith in th e ir operation in the Ars. They
carry m eaning, and these meanings are in tu rn linked w ith the elements of;
the cosm ology L lu ll is in te n t upon disclosing. For instance, the letter A
designates God in a figure whose circu la r rim contains a ll o f G od’s digni­
ties o r attributes: goodness, greatness, eternity, power, w isdom , w ill and so
fo rth . The V figure is sim ila rly inscribed w ith the seven V irtues (in blue
in k ): Faith, H ope, C h a rity F ortitude and so fo rth , and seven Vices (in red):
G lu tto n y Lust, Avarice, etc. The X figure contains sixteen elements o f;
opposing concepts such as Free W ill/P redestination, Perfection/
Im perfection. The figures Y and Z represent the single concepts o f truth i
and falsehood. A fine netw ork o f lines interconnects a ll attributes in each ;
o f the figures, show ing a ll the possible relations and com binations among ;
the elements. In the next set o f drawings, the figures designated as 5
Principles contain the basic elements o f each o f the areas o f Theology ?
(Essence, L ife , D ignities etc.), Philosophy (M o tio n , M atter, Form ,'
In tellect) and Law. The D em onstrative figure ‘represents a mechanism for (
com bining a ll the other figures’ w hile the Elem ental figure is connected to ^
L lu ll’s earlier w ork The Principles o f M edicine.28 These figures comprise !
the essential components o f L lu ll’s A rt, w hile the figures o f S and T func­
tio n to create interre latio ns among the elements.
Since the Ars was m eant to be comprehensive, a true universalist sys- j
tern, it contained a great deal o f in fo rm a tio n in the codes o f these dia-1
grams. Two o f these, the ‘T ’ and the ‘S,’ had specialized functions. The |
‘T ’ w orked to interrelate a ll the in te rn a l elements o f the Ars, the ‘data’ ^
contained in the other figures. By contrast, the S figure provided a link j
between the system o f the A rt and the A rtis t, o r person who made use of |
the A rt. The S was the figure w hich connected the Ars to the outside 5
w o rld , and made it applicable. A nthony Bonner, L lu ll’s translator, com->|
pared L lu ll’s system to a com puter: ‘if A , V, X , Y, Z the Elem ental Figure, J
and the three Figures o f Theology, Philosophy and Law contain the basic|
data, Figure T provides the processing u n it, and Figure S constitutes the |
te rm ina l o r co n tro l u n it assuring correct access to the data and process^*
ing .’29 I
L lu ll’s w ork was arcane, and the values he assigned to the tw enty-threc|
letters o f the medieval alphabet ( I and J were represented by one charac-|
ter, and the same was true fo r U and V; W was ignored - a ll o f w hich w rc jj
comm on conventions in 13th-century Latin ) were unique to
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

system. But it was an alphabetical sym bolism o f a high degree o f develop­

m ent, and the qualities w hich were designated by the letters B through R
w hich were in terna l elements o f the S figure (that which provides access to
the A rtis t) came to be em bodied in the letters themselves. For L lu ll the K ,
the L , the G and others were n o t substitutions, but abstract entities pos­
sessing set characteristics and capacities. The letters o f the Alphabet were
active agents o f the A rt, n o t mere representations. Thus G ‘considers th a t
Y accords w ith m a jo rity ’ o r F ‘remembers Y in things past’ and ‘if F did
n o t remember in present tim e, then G could n o t consider,’ w hile A , the le t­
ter w hich designated G od, ‘is its own tru th , im m easurably and eternally.’

127

Figure from a printed version of

Ars Brevis, Mainz, early 1700s

In the later Ars Brevis the A lphabet was reduced to nine letters w ith A
and T as the m ajor figures. The letters in the Ars Brevis, though they car­
ried value in sym bolic term s sim ilar to th a t o f the earlier Ars
Demonstratively functioned much more as m echanical elements fo r m anip­
u la tio n and com bination. The letters were defined more by th e ir fu nctio n
than as entities, though th e ir character was no less d istin ct fo r th at. L lu ll’s
significance in p a rt resides in the way his A rt became a founding instance
o f w hat was later termed Ars C om binatoria. T his concept was defined as a
system atization o f systems so th a t they functioned as an abstract netw ork
o f knowledge and process. It was a structure o f in te rn a lly related elements
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

and o f relations to both a user and a set o f references in the w orld. In one
o f his w orks, L lu ll dem onstrated the application o f his Ars to profound
theological questions w hich occupied medieval thinkers such as ‘ Could
Adam and Eve have cohabited before they ate th e ir firs t food?’ o r ‘H ow do
angels speak to each other?’ and ‘Can God make m atter w ith o u t form ?’
W hile Renaissance constructions o f a universal o r philosophical alpha­
bet had very d ifferen t premises from those o f L lu ll, attem pts to design an
abstract m athem atical logic to dem onstrate the universal structure o f
hum an knowledge and divine order, such as th a t o f Leibn itz in the 17th
century, borrowed much from L lu ll’s earlier example. L lu llia n diagrams
showed up in m anuscripts and books throughout the Renaissance and
K ircher’s m onum ental presentation o f systematic knowledge, Ars magna
sciendi sive com binatoria (1669) was largely based on L lu ll’s w ork. Some
o f these later philosophical languages used the L a tin alphabet, assigning
cosm ological value to the letters, w hile other proposals were dependent on
o rig in a l inventions o f new sym bol systems.

[28
VI
the kabbalah

The term Kabbalah, w hich sim ply means tra d itio n in Hebrew, is used to
refer to the m ystical aspects o f Jewish exegetical lite ra tu re , specifically
denoting the ecstatic religious practices developed in 12th-and 13th-centu­
ry Jewish com m unities in and around C astille. M edieval K abbalistic lite r­
ature cultivated an atmosphere o f m ystery and a rtific ia l a n tiq u ity but the
popular image o f the Kabbalah as a c u lt practice o f arcane incantations
and magic was a 19th-century invention w hich has obscured the scholarly
origins o f the movement.
The m ost fundam ental tenet o f the Kabbalah is a b elief in the ineffable
character o f D ivine energy and the sacredness and religious significance o f
the H ebrew language as an instrum ent o f D ivine power. In the Kabbalah
the contem plation and m anipulation o f the letters is considered a means
o f approaching God through m editation and esoteric in te rp re ta tio n ; the
alphabet is granted a high degree o f sanctity since the tw enty-tw o letters
are considered to be the very elements by w hich God brings the w orld in to
being. For the kabbalist, G od’s w ritin g is the w orld. The doctrines and
interpretations o f the Kabbalah derive in large p a rt from three p rim a ry
w orks, the Sefir Yetzirah (The Book o f C reation), B ahir (The L ig ht) and
the Z o h a r (The Splendour). K abbalistic s p iritu a l exercises are intended to
contribute to the collective religious enlightenm ent o f the Jewish people
through the study o f the holy scriptures. The Kabbalah is in tim a te ly
bound to the in te rp re ta tio n o f the O ld Testament, p a rtic u la rly the Torah,
but represents the m ystical, rather than ra tio n a l, aspect o f Jewish religious
and in terpretatio n.
There are scholars w ho trace the origins o f the Kabbalah to m ystical 129
beliefs existing in b ib lic a l tim es, but the consensus is th a t the practices
began to take m ore definite shape in the firs t centuries o f w hat is term ed
the Com m on Era .1 M ost o f these early kabbalistic activities are legendary,
such as the story o f Rabbi A kiva, a 1st o r 2nd century devout, who experi­
enced ecstatic visions and survived on account o f his h u m ility though his
three com panions were struck down by the inten sity o f th e ir revelations.
The h isto ry o f the Kabbalah parallels the h isto ry o f the Jewish people
both in Palestine and throughout the D iaspora .2 There is little concrete
evidence o f kabbalistic a c tiv ity u n til the destruction o f the Second Temple
in 70 AD , but closed m ystical societies became a feature o f Jewish culture
after this date. As the Jews dispersed throughout the M editerranean
region and Western Europe durin g the early C hristian era, kabbalistic
practices began to become d istin ct and well-developed. A n apocalyptic lit ­
erature sprang up among such Jewish sects as the Pharisees and Essenes.
Revelations dealing w ith the terrors aw aiting hum ankind at the end o f
tim e appeared in company w ith ecstatic texts investigating the hidden
 Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Ars Com binatoria in the Medieval Period

and o f relations to both a user and a set o f references in the w orld. In one
o f his w orks, L lu ll dem onstrated the a pplication o f his Ars to profound
theological questions w hich occupied medieval thinkers such as ‘Could
Adam and Eve have cohabited before they ate th e ir firs t food?’ o r ‘H ow do
angels speak to each other?’ and ‘Can God make m atter w ith o u t form?*
W hile Renaissance constructions o f a universal o r philosophical alpha­
bet had very d iffe re n t premises from those o f L lu ll, attem pts to design an
abstract m athem atical logic to dem onstrate the universal structure of
human knowledge and divine order, such as th a t o f L eibn itz in the 17th
century, borrowed much from L lu ll’s earlier example. L lu llia n diagrams
showed up in m anuscripts and books throughout the Renaissance and
K ircher’s m onum ental presentation o f systematic knowledge, Ars rnagna
sciendi sive com binatoria (1669) was largely based on L lu ll’s w ork. Some
o f these later philosophical languages used the L a tin alphabet, assigning
cosm ological value to the letters, w hile other proposals were dependent on
o rig in a l inventions o f new sym bol systems.

128
VI
the kabbalah

The term Kabbalah, w hich sim ply means tra d itio n in Hebrew, is used to
refer to the m ystical aspects o f Jewish exegetical lite ra tu re , specifically
denoting the ecstatic religious practices developed in 12th-and 13th-centu­
ry Jewish com m unities in and around C astille. M edieval K abbalistic lite r­
ature cultivated an atmosphere o f m ystery and a rtific ia l a n tiq u ity but the
popular image o f the Kabbalah as a c u lt practice o f arcane incantations
and magic was a 19th-century invention w hich has obscured the scholarly
origins o f the movement.
The m ost fundam ental tenet o f the Kabbalah is a b elief in the ineffable
character o f D ivine energy and the sacredness and religious significance o f
the Hebrew language as an instrum ent o f D ivine power. In the Kabbalah
the contem plation and m anipulation o f the letters is considered a means
o f approaching God through m editation and esoteric in te rp re ta tio n ; the
alphabet is granted a high degree o f sanctity since the tw enty-tw o letters
are considered to be the very elements by w hich God brings the w orld in to
being. For the kabbalist, G od’s w ritin g is the w orld. The doctrines and
interpretations o f the Kabbalah derive in large p a rt from three p rim ary
w orks, the Sefir Yetzirah (The Book o f C reation), B a kir (The L ig h t) and
the Z o h a r (The Splendour). K abbalistic s p iritu a l exercises are intended to
contribute to the collective religious enlightenm ent o f the Jewish people
through the study o f the holy scriptures. The Kabbalah is in tim a te ly
bound to the in te rp re ta tio n o f the O ld Testament, p a rtic u la rly the Torah,
b ut represents the m ystical, rather than ra tio n a l, aspect o f Jewish religious
and in terpretatio n.
There are scholars who trace the origins o f the Kabbalah to m ystical 129
beliefs existing in b ib lica l tim es, but the consensus is th a t the practices ■
began to take more definite shape in the firs t centuries o f w hat is termed
the Com m on Era .1 M ost o f these early kabbalistic activities are legendary,
such as the story o f Rabbi A kiva, a 1st or 2nd century devout, who experi­
enced ecstatic visions and survived on account o f his h u m ility though his
three com panions were struck down by the inten sity o f th e ir revelations.
The h isto ry o f the Kabbalah parallels the h isto ry o f the Jewish people
both in Palestine and throughout the D iaspora .2 There is little concrete
evidence o f kabbalistic a c tiv ity u n til the destruction o f the Second Temple
in 70 AD , but closed m ystical societies became a feature o f Jewish culture
a fter this date. As the Jews dispersed throughout the M editerranean
region and W estern Europe d urin g the early C hristian era, kabbalistic
practices began to become d istin ct and well-developed. A n apocalyptic lit ­
erature sprang up among such Jewish sects as the Pharisees and Essenes.
Revelations dealing w ith the terrors aw aiting hum ankind at the end o f
tim e appeared in company w ith ecstatic texts investigating the hidden
The Kabbalah
Devout Rabbi (Henri Serouya, La
Kabbale, Paris, 1947)
w orld around the Throne o f G lo ry and its unseen occupant. T his branch
o f the Kabbalah is know n as M erkabah m ysticism (m erkabah means
‘throne’) and to o k the b ib lic a l passages in w hich Ezekiel described his
vision o f the C h a rio t as a p o in t o f departure. The elaboration on the
structure and dynam ics o f this image form one strain o f kabbalistic lite ra ­
ture, but it is n o t in tim a te ly involved w ith the use o f the alphabet.
Though ine xtrica b ly bound up w ith the rabbinic tra d itio n s o f Judaism,
the Kabbalah was form ed in the context o f extensive contact w ith Greek
and early C hristian religious c u lt practices in and around Palestine. The
oldest kabbalistic doctrines e xh ib it the influence o f C hristian G nosticism ,
as w ell as sometimes co ntrad icto ry impulses borrow ed from the 3rd centu­
ry Greek N eo-P latonist, P lotinus and Pythagorean num ber sym bolism .
The dating o f kabbalistic texts is in p a rt fa cilita te d by the them atic con­
nections between these in te lle ctu a l developments and the tenets o f kabbal­
is tic practice.
Kabbalah shares w ith C hristian G nosticism a fundam ental search fo r
knowledge, a belief th a t the D ivine Being can only be know n through the
m anifestation o f W isdom , and also exhibits features o f G nostic dualism in
the balanced structure o f m any o f its schematic designs. However, the
Kabbalah betrays its Jewish origins by the fa ct th a t kabbalistic knowledge
is always knowledge o f the Book. Traces o f N eo-Platonism are evident in
the kabbalistic b elief in a fundam ental u n ity o f divine energy, conviction
th a t the m aterial w orld is its em anation, and its strong hierarchical orga­
niza tion . The N eo-P latonic concept o f Logos as T ru th parallels the kab­
b alistic doctrine o f the D ivine Nam e. In its a ttitu de tow ard e vil, which is
generally n ot a concern o f Judaic tra d itio n , the Kabbalah borrowed from
G nosticism a conviction th a t evil was located in the re a lity o f this w orld
and com bined this w ith the N eo-P latonic idea o f evil as an e n tity w ith o u t
m etaphysical reality. The origins o f the Kabbalah can thus be located geo­
graphically in the region stretching from Jerusalem to A lexandria and
chronologically in a period in w hich Jewish, C hristian and Greek religious
cults were in a ferm ent o f continual exchange w ith o u t clear d iffe re n tia tio n
from each other.
The term Kabbalah does n o t refer to a single doctrine o r te xt, but to a
variety o f practices w hich can be roughly divided between those w hich are
p rim a rily theoretical and m editative and those w hich are practical and
m agical in th e ir focus .3 These range from speculative intellectu al in q u iry
about the dynam ic structure o f the s p iritu a l realm , to ecstatic m editative
disciplines based on the perm utations o f the elements o f D ivine Names, to
applied practices w hich attem pt to channel s p iritu a l energy through incan­
tations o r m anipulation o f signs. A ll share a devotion to the sacredness o f
the b ib lica l texts and Hebrew letters as instrum ents o f D ivine revelation,
though the sym bolism o f the alphabet comprises only one aspect o f
Kabbalah, whose larger, overarching purpose is conceived as the apprehen­
sion o f God through understanding o f H is W isdom .
In a dd itio n to the M erkabah m ystics, there was a second m ajor group
 The Kabbalah

o f kabbalists, the Bereshit, whose them atic focus was on the W ork o f
C reation through a specialized in te rp re ta tio n o f Genesis. Specific refer­
ences to the concept o f the Hebrew letters as the instrum ent o f creation
began to surface in th e ir 3rd- and 4th-century texts, but a developed kab-
b alistic d octrine does n o t emerge u n til the 9th-century in Italy, and even
then it is rudim entary in form . The seeds o f these practices spread west
and south and by the 10th-century centers o f Jewish learning and
Kabbalah existed in S icily and in N arbonne in southern France. But the
Kabbalah to o k its firs t m ature form in 12th- and 13th-century Spain at
Gerona and Salamanca as w ell as in the N ear East where an especially
strong com m unity developed at Safed, on the edge o f the Sea o f G alilee.
Because o f its dependence upon a thorough knowledge o f the Hebrew
language and alphabet, the Kabbalah rem ained alm ost exclusively w ith in
the boundaries o f the Jewish com m unity throughout the M id d le Ages.
The Hebrew language was alm ost unknow n w ith in C hristian Europe in
this period and in a dd itio n many R abbinic groups were adam ant about
preserving the sanctity o f the Kabbalah. Its study was reserved fo r an elect
few who were rigorously screened to ascertain whether they m et the pre­
requisite requirem ents: they m ust be in m id -life , o f stable disposition, dis­
possessed o f w o rld ly concerns, and hum bly devout in advance o f th e ir in i­
tia tio n , O ther scholars and religious leaders were more lenient, and
worked to popularize and render available the basic teachings, m aking
them more widespread w ith in the Jewish com m unity, and ultim ately,
beyond its borders.

Texts and Authors

O f the texts which fo rm the core o f the Kabbalah, one o f the oldest is
the book Sefer ha-Babir o r Book o f L ig h t, T his w ork makes its firs t appear- 131
ance as a te xt in southern France in the 12th century, and was thus a ttrib ­
uted to one o f the earliest h isto rica lly verifiable figures in kabbalistic study,
Isaac the B lind. M ore recent scholarship demonstrates th a t its lite ra ry
character and religious substance d iffe r greatly from other w orks by this
author and th at like many kabbalistic texts it is an amalgam o f earlier w rit­
ings and cross currents blending G nostic and m ystical tendencies. The
w ork was w ell know n among 13th-century Spanish kabbalists, who
believed it was an ancient docum ent ‘composed by the m ystic sages o f the
Talm ud’ from fragm ents, scrolls and other sources.4 Though unsystematic
and miscellaneous, the te xt o f this w ork is considered im p o rta n t by schol­
ars o f Kabbalah, p a rticu la rly Gershem Scholem, largely because o f w hat he
characterizes as its use o f sym bolic language and its concern w ith ‘events in
the divine realm ,’ as opposed to descriptions o f the sequence o f human
events w hich fo llo w creation. A paradigm atic o f Kabbalah, this te xt has
little interest in in d ivid u a l hum ankind fro m psychological, h istorica l o r
sp iritu a l perspectives and concentrates upon the study o f D ivine energy.
The Kabbalah
Sephirotic tree (Paulus Ricci,
Gates o f Light, 16th century)
Sephirotic tree (Aryeh Kaplan,
Sefir Yetzirah, 1990)
The central image in these texts, w hich was later to become the founda­
tio n o f a ll later kabbalistic study, is the structure o f the Tree o f Life.
Composed o f ten Sephirot, o r emanations, this fo rm is considered the first
m anifestation o f D ivine power. One com plex theological problem con­
fro n tin g kabbalists was to explain the fo rm a tion o f a fin ite , m aterial w orld
from an in fin ite , a ll encompassing source, the A in-S oph, thus an elaborate
configuration o f em anations, fixed in the fo rm o f the Sephirotic tree,
became the basis both o f intellectual understanding o f the structure o f the
celestial sphere and the basis o f ecstatic, m editative practices fo r ascending
its levels towards enlightenm ent. In the heterogenous amalgam o f Aram aic
and Hebrew texts which comprise the B ahir, the Sephirot became defined
firs t as emanations, then as divine principles o r powers, and fin a lly as
supernal lights. The term derives from the Hebrew w ord meaning sapphire
and is thus intended to refer to divine radiance. The Sephirot existed in a
realm between the m aterial w orld, which was represented by the elemental
form s o f the alphabet through which it was created, and the ineffable
height o f the D ivine. F urther elaborations on the structure o f the Sephirotic
tree introduced paths between the Sephirot each governed by a letter o f the
alphabet w hich encoded elaborate sym bolic elements in to this system.
Portions o f the B ahir depend upon the Sefir Yetzirah, whose origins are
even more shrouded in h isto rica l obscurity. T ra d itio n a lly a ttrib uted to the
Jewish patriarch Abraham , this te xt is generally considered to have o rig i­
nated in the early centuries o f the Com m on Era. As in the case o f the
B a hir, its obvious use o f G nostic and N eo-P latonic concepts dates the ear­
liest sections o f the Sefir Yetzirah to the 3rd century w ith other portions
added as late as the 9th century. The earliest extant m anuscript versions o f
the w ork, however, belong to the same period in medieval Spain as the
B ahir and Z o h a r, and the w ork is n o t referred to in w ritte n com m entary
before this tim e. The reasons fo r this are germane to both the te xt its e lf
and the Jewish tra d itio n from w hich it springs, since like many sacred
Jewish texts it probably had an extensive existence in ora l form . Once
w ritte n , it was the object o f many interpretive comm entaries w hich
became woven in to the m ain body o f the text.
In the firs t p o rtio n o f this b rie f te xt, the Sephirot are described p rim a r­
ily as a system o f sym bolic numbers; fo llo w in g this are five chapters w hich
introduce the basic premises o f alphabet sym bolism on w hich a ll fu rth e r
kabbalistic study o f the letters is grounded. The w ork was an integral and
fundam ental p a rt o f the medieval lite ra tu re o f the Kabbalah, and its
description o f the Sephirot form s the basis o f the doctrine o f emanations
in the w ork o f Isaac the B lind (d. 1235), o f le tte r sym bolism in the w ritin g
o f Eleazar o f W orms (active around 1220), and other m ajor Kabbalists o f
the 12th and 13th centuries. C hief among these was Abraham ben Samuel
A bulafia (1240-1292) whose synthesis o f existing concepts o f the
Kabbalah helped to define its philosophical and m ystical emphasis w ith in
the Spanish com m unity, by contrast to the theosophical and G nostic ten­
dencies stressed in the Germ an H assidic centers w hich lim ite d themselves
 The Kabbalah

to more restrained intellectu al analysis o f texts. A bulafia strongly defend­

ed com binatory m ediations based on the Tetragram m aton o f the D ivine
Nam e, m oving tow ard prophecy and m ystical experience and away from
other m ore philosophical tendencies w ith in the Kabbalah. The Sefir
Yetzirah remains the p rim a ry source fo r understanding the sym bolic value
o f the Hebrew alphabet w ith in the Kabbalah.

V)\y>nbb>Jj
iW' 'mondede
r * T g iy O # fe S f
KMr>*b>?
*//'
Trone 1\ &$**JX. n«

Sephirotic tree showing

attributes and parts of the body
(Henri Serouya, La Kabbale,
Paris, 1947)

Renaissance Kabbalistic
diagrams (Reicheltius 1676)

A b ula fia ’s widespread influence had a strong effect upon the way in
w hich the Kabbalah was appropriated by the C hristian hum anists o f the
Renaissance tw o centuries later, p a rtly through the w ork o f his m ost
renowned student, Joseph ben Abraham G ik a tilla . Produced at the very
end o f the 13th century, G ik a tilla ’s texts attem pted a lu cid synthesis o f a ll
the know n tenets o f the Kabbalah in to a single system, lin k in g the in e ff­
able concept o f the D ivine Ain-Soph w ith the structures o f the ten
Sephirot. G ik a tilla ’s w ritin g s served as the basis o f at least one m ajor
C hristian kabbalist, Johann Reuchlin, but in a dd itio n, G ik a tilla ’s corre­
spondence and exchanges w ith Moses ben Shem Tov de Leon, contributed
to th a t w rite r’s w ork on the m ajor kabbalistic te x t, the Z ohar.
The Z o h a r is the m ost extensive and developed o f the m any so-called
pseudepigraphic texts w hich were produced in medieval Spain. A vast
lite ra tu re arose in this period among kabbalists who asserted the a n tiq u ity
o f th e ir w ritin g by concealing the authorship o f th e ir own texts behind the
name o f a b ib lic a l figure. The Z o h a r, w hich is believed to have been w rit­
ten (or, more accurately, com piled and unified) by Shem Tov de Leon
between 1280 and 1286, was a com pendium o f miscellaneous w ork from
various sources, many o f w hich bear evidence o f the influence o f much
earlier texts and ideas. Shem Tov de Leon claim ed th a t the m anuscript had
been passed to him through fa m ily connections and th a t it had been
The Kabbalah
?>»)»» WJlpiofc)) MDtODifnpfoto
]Sa vp m |1j),P‘a Tp5?»5 ?fvy»
n M m ifitw W fl’" StuwJiM o” P™*»
mns,Vl» o l»
r i r u n i . M X l U (ro t w » p
Perspective diagram of ten
Sephirot as embodied in initial
letters of the names of the
Sephirot (Moses Cordovero,
Pardes Rimmonim, Krakow,
1592)
produced in the 3rd century by Simeon ben Yohai, a m ystic who had sup-
wj f»j»v>
posedly secluded him self fo r tw enty years to compose it. The language
and sensibility o f the w ork are predom inantly m edieval, according to
Gershom Scholem, and though there is an eclectic range o f sources the
w ork has a general u n ity w hich bespeaks a single authorship. W hile the
Z o h a r is considered the m ost im p o rta n t kabbalistic te xt, its w ide range of
concerns moves fa r afield fro m the concentrated exam ination o f the sym­
bolism o f the alphabet, and so its content w ill n o t feature prom inently in
this study, w hich w ill draw more extensively upon the Sefir Yetzirah.
The Jewish authors and texts whose pro du ction and eventual p ub li­
WsiJw» flW fl cation fo llo w in the next few centuries b u ild upon these three prim ary
rit e
books. It was in this period before and sh ortly after the expulsion o f the
Jews from Spain in 1492 th a t m ajor features o f the Kabbalah were consoli­
dated. A systematic analysis o f the relations among the Sephirot was
developed by Moses Cordovero (d. 1570) in Pardes R im m onim (Garden of
Pomegranates), and then K abbalistic doctrine was transform ed in the
teachings o f Isaac L u ria (1534-72), a Spanish Jew who eventually settled
in Safed after a b rie f period as Cordovero *s student in Jerusalem. Though
he w rote only one know n w ork early in his life , L u ria exerted tremendous
influence as a teacher, and the kabbalistic system he expounded was
recorded and studied in the w ritin g s o f his m any students and disciples.
In the h isto ry o f the Jewish Kabbalah, L u ria ’s w orks are used as a
dem arcation p o in t. K abbalistic w ritin g s w hich predate L u ria were based
on the assum ption th a t there was a single, expansive process o f Form ation
in w hich emanations fro m the O rig in moved outw ard in a creative con­
structio n o f the divine and then m aterial realms. L u ria inverted this
premise and interpreted the process o f Form ation as a regressive cycle o f
contraction (zim zum ), breaking apart (shevirah hakelim ), and mending
(tikku m ). P ost-Lurianic methods are distinguished by an increased atten­
tio n to dem onology and dark aspects o f the fundam ental structures o f the
Kabbalah, but more profoundly, by this inversion o f the cosm ological
dynam ic. Subsequent generations o f Kabbalists were influenced more by
L u ria ’s w ork than by th a t o f any other figure - w ith the possible except­
ion o f A bulafia. H is teachings have been interpreted by 20th-century c riti­
cal w rite rs such as H a ro ld Bloom , who saw in them a M y th o f E xile which
emphasized a fin a l phase o f re stitu tio n and restoration .5
W ith the expulsion o f the Jews from Spain and Sicily, the practitioners
o f Kabbalah m igrated to Ita ly and Palestine, where the com m unity of
Safed became a m ajor center o f Jewish kabbalistic studies from the early
16th century onward. The Kabbalah also became considerably more pub­
lic in this period, and there were even those among the ranks o f kabbalistic
scholars who inveighed against exclusivity and in favor o f dem ocratizing
the doctrine. In Italy, the im m igratio n o f Spanish Jews sparked contact
w ith Renaissance hum anist scholars whose interest in acquiring a know­
ledge o f H ebrew was in p a rt m otivated by a desire to understand the
Kabbalah and reconcile its m ystical hierarchy w ith th e ir C hristian models
 The Kabbalah

o f the cosmos. The C hristian Kabbalah reached its peak in the publica­
tions o f the 16th and 17th centuries, w hile the Jewish tra d itio n w hich had
come in to fu ll flow er in the M id d le Ages continued to flo urish and co ntin ­
ues in m odified fo rm to the present day. The m ost visible m anifestation o f
the C hristian Kabbalah in m odern times was in its idiosyncratic adapta­
tio n by the Rosicrucians, but as p a rt o f the Jewish tra d itio n o f scrip tu ra l
exegesis through m editation, contem plation and revelation its practices
have been largely subsumed in the study o f intellectu al history.

Isaac Luria's system of the

formation of the Sephirot (Knorr
; von Rosenroth, Kabbalah
'Denudata, 1678)
 The Kabbalah
Christian Kabbalah
136
Adam Kadmon (Henri Serouya,
La Kabbale, Paris, 1947)
Three Renaissance figures are responsible fo r the in tro d u ctio n of
Kabbalah to the C hristian com m unity from the very end o f the 15th cen­
tu ry in to the 16th: G iovanni Pico della M ira n d o la , Johann R euchlin, and1
C ornelius A g rip pa .6 Because o f the sacred character o f the Kabbalah it
was considered a divine revelation and C hristian hum anists considered its
teachings essential fo r knowledge o f the Bible w hile classical humanists
saw it as a key element in th e ir attem pt to reconcile ancient texts and
C hristian tra d itio n .
Pico della M ira n d o la (d. 1494) came in to possession o f a m ajor kab-
balistic m anuscript tw o years before his death, m ost lik e ly fro m one o f the
many Jewish scholars who had m igrated in to Ita ly from Spain. Pico’s
interest in the Kabbalah and in the Hebrew language brought charges of
heresy on h im , and his life was only spared by the clemency o f the Pope.
Pico became one o f the firs t C hristian scholars o f Jewish intellectu al trad i­
tio n n o t merely to defend the teachings o f the Talm ud and Kabbalah, but
to prom ote the study o f Hebrew and tolerance tow ard the Jews them­
selves. Though Pico is considered the p o in t o f entry o f Kabbalah into
C hristian hum anism , it was his disciple Johann R euchlin who gave a defin­
itive fo rm to the C hristian Kabbalah. W orking p rim a rily from the late
13th century w ritin g s o f Joseph G ik a tilla , R euchlin published tw o m ajor
w orks: De verbo m irific o (1494) and De arte cabalistica (1517). It is inter­
esting to note th a t these p ub lica tion dates precede the earliest edition of
the Sefir Yetzirah, w hich only appeared in p rin t in 1592. Reuchlin’s later
w ork makes use o f a Active conversation among three characters, Simon, a
Jew, Philolaus, a Pythagorean philosopher, and M arranus, a M oslem , to
discuss the teachings o f the Kabbalah and tease o u t from them the three
concerns o f interest to C hristian hum anists: the image o f the Messiah,
Pythagorean num ber sym bolism , and the practical aspects o f Kabbalah.
By the la tte r is m eant the m ediations on and m anipulations o f the letters
o f the D ivine name w hich were believed to have m agical powers.
Like other Jewish texts, the Kabbalah prom ised the com ing o f a messi-
ah and this provided the grounds on w hich C hristians reconciled their
tenets w ith those o f the kabbalists. The messianic prom ise w hich wove
through the Kabbalah was recast in a C hristian inte rp re ta tio n by conflat­
ing the sym bolic figure o f Adam Kadm on, a p rim o rd ia l man created in
G od’s image, w ith Jesus on the basis o f the conviction th a t the messiah
had already appeared. Adam Kadm on was described in Jewish texts as
‘the cosm ic reflection o f the body o f G od,’ but became the figure o f C hrist
in C hristian interpretatio ns .7 He was depicted diagram m atically and pic-
to ria lly in C hristian texts as a figure whose lim bs and tru n k were config­
ured in correspondence w ith the structure o f the Sephirotic tree. In an­
other C hristian izin g transform ation, the Tetragram m aton Y W V H was
expanded so th a t the term Yahweh became Yasueb o r Jesus (YW SVH).
These new com binations were inserted in to the elaborate acrostics and
 The Kabbalah

charts o f le tte r perm utations central to kabbalistic practice and subse­

quently used to dem onstrate the inevitable C hristian outcom e o f early
Jewish beliefs.
A g rip pa ’s extensive investigation o f the knowledge o f m agic available
in the Renaissance was published in his three-volum e w o rk, De occulta
philosophia (published in 1531). A grippa dealt extensively w ith the
Kabbalah, describing the Sephirot and asserting the su p e rio rity o f the
Hebrew letters over a ll others ‘ because they have the greatest s im ila rity
w ith the celestials and the w o rld .’ The patterns o f celestial alphabets,
traced fro m constellations and star clusters, appeared in A g rip p a ’s w ork
and in th e ir several form s these alphabetic variations were published
throughout the Renaissance as p a rt o f the p ro o f o f the sacred character o f
the Hebrew alphabet and evidence o f its a n tiq u ity as the o rig in a l w ritin g .
A n interesting feature o f A g rip pa ’s w ork was its conspicuous atte ntio n to
Adam Kadmon (Knorr von the fem inine aspects o f kabbalistic teaching. In p a rt this was due to his
Rosenroth, Kabbalah Denudata, co u rtin g o f favor w ith the Princess M argaret, fo r whom he extolled the
1678) superior virtues o f Shekbinah, the female counterpart o f G od, w hile also
asserting th a t Eve was closer than Adam to the perfection o f the D ivine
being represented by the Tetragram m aton.
i X f 4 $ 6 7
HJ ^ o 4 ri
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J
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rr ** a H K R
n k. N XI H H ss a
i os A JT M
Christian Kabbalistic diagram
4 < T cJ\> u xp W
(Jakob Boehme, Libri n
Apologetici, 1730)
n m K n n B B
D i AV c m m VI
% m,
:> *■ n J 0 a
73 °1 D j 3 jp
V xJ M 4 0 V V
0& J1 rt na J4 a n u
U 4 js
V “i v v V y
0
_2 _, •H” T X
p I n w u
X X M Vi u X X
Y* fH » « B c > J
p <4 w m M X X

Celestial alphabets (Julius

1
v V
V Hr V u

Bartolozzi, Bibliotheca magna

K A V a V
n V
rabbinica, 1675)
4 'ff >1 &
The Kabbalah

O ther im p o rta n t figures in the h isto ry o f the C hristian Kabbalah

include A g rip pa ’s successor in the anthologizing o f occult knowledge
Paracelsus; G uillaum e Postel who translated the Sefir Yetzirah in to Latin
thus m aking it w idely available to European scholars; Athanasius Kircher
who C hristianized the Sephirot beyond a ll recognition; and the English
scholar R obert Fludd (1574-1637), who managed a place fo r the Kabbalah
w ith in his cosm ological integration o f A risto te lia n and P latonic philoso­
phy. C hristian izin g transform ations o f kabbalistic doctrine continued to
weave a heterogenous sym bology: in the m id-16th century, Anton
R euchlin interpreted the letters o f the Tetragram m aton w ith C hristian
equivalents in w hich Yod was the Father, He the Son, and Vaw the H oly
G host, w hile a schematic rendering by H ein rich K hunrath (1609) conflated
the Ain-Soph w ith the Savior who was in tu rn placed on the figure o f a
phoenix to sym bolize the resurrection. One o f the m ost enduring o f these
texts was K n o rr von Rosenroth’s (1677 and 1684) Kabbala Denuda
{Kabbalah Unveiled) in w hich the entirety o f the Kabbalah was shown to
be C hristian revelation.

H0RIZ^ W " r RMTATIS

iSunrnm Corona
SYSTEM S E P H IR O TIC V M
X D IV IN O r * N O M I N V M

Sephirotic tree without Christian

iconography (Athanasius
Kircher, Oedipus Aegyptiacus,
1652)
 The Kabbalah

A t its peak in th e lfith century the Kabbalah was know n throughout

C hristian Europe, in Ita ly through Pico, in Germ any through Reuchlin
and Paul R icci, in England through the figure o f John C olet and later,
Fludd, and in H o lla n d , where Erasmus knew o nly enough o f the Kabbalah
to denounce it. Interest in the Kabbalah in C hristian in te lle ctu a l com m u­
nities waned w ith the passing o f the Renaissance, and d rifte d to the m ar­
gins w ith other occult practices, only appearing in debased fo rm as a sup­
posedly m agical practice devoid o f serious scholarly or religious content.

139

Sephirotic diagram (Robert

Fludd, 1621)
The Kabbalah

Diagram showing the soul's

progress towards Divine God
from the center, marked with
ta u , to the outer rim of aleph
(Robert Fludd, 1621)

Sefir Yetzirah: The Book o f Creation and A lphabet Symbolism

The Sefir Yetzirah o r The Book o f C reation is a b rie f te xt (in its short
fo rm not more than 1200 words) w hich is the m ain source fo r alphabet
sym bolism w ith in the Kabbalah .8 It is divided in to six short chapters, the
firs t o f w hich describes the ten Sephirot and the la tte r five the attributes
and activities o f the alphabet. The Sefir Yetzirah is both the prim ary
in stru ctio n m anual fo r m editative practices using the alphabet and the
basic account o f the structure o f the m aterial w orld in term s o f alphabet
sym bolism . W ith in its systems, the letters do not sim ply have independent
values, but are significant in relatio n to each other through an elaborate
system o f correspondences, firs t and forem ost w ith the passages in the
Torah, and secondarily w ith the elements o f physical space, hum an a ttrib -
 The Kabbalah

utes, yearly cycles, astronom ical charts and so fo rth . Because o f the long
h isto ry o f comm entaries these schemes o f a ttrib uted correspondence p ro ­
liferate alm ost w ith o u t lim it, and only the m ost basic o f these w ill be o u t­
lined here. For the kabbalist, the paths to understanding are necessarily
in fin ite , reflecting the boundless and in fin ite character o f D ivin e energy.
Because the means o f access to this understanding resided in the analysis
o f the scripture as a set o f hidden relations, concealed meanings, and eso­
teric knowledge - a ll o f w hich are revealed through the calculation o f cor­
respondences - these expand co ntin ua lly w ith in the h isto ry o f Kabbalah.

AN FAN G , EXALTATION ; ' •

Alchemical diagram with

Kabballstic imagery (Steffan
Michelspacher, Cabala, 1616)

The firs t line o f the Sefir Yetzirah states th a t there are th irty -tw o
m ystical paths o f w isdom . This num ber refers to the ten Sephirot and the
tw enty-tw o letters (consonants) o f the Hebrew alphabet, each o f w hich
corresponds, in itia lly , to a p a rticu la r phrase in Genesis, and is corrobor­
ated by the fa ct th a t one o f the names o f G od, Eloheim , appears in th irty -
tw o places in the description o f the C reation. In tw enty o f these instances
The Kabbalah

it is associated either w ith the phrase ‘he said,’ o r w ith the phrases ‘he
made’ o r ‘he saw.’ The firs t o f these appears ten tim es, corresponding to
the Sephirot, the second three tim es, corresponding to the three letters o f
the alphabet know n as the ‘m others’ and the th ird seven tim es, corre­
sponding w ith the letters know n as ‘doubles.’ The rem aining twelve
instances o f ‘Eloheim ’ correspond to the twelve ‘sim ple’ letters. It is on
such bases th a t the sym bolism o f the alphabet emerges in the Kabbalah,
and each layer o f co rrela tion and analogy weaves the texture o f interpreta­
tio n in to a more com plex web o f sym bolic value.

Theater of knowledge, kabbalis-

tic diagram with Christ at the
center (Heinrich Khunrath,
Amphiteatrum Sapientiae,
Leipzig, 1602)

A ll understanding o f kabbalistic systems begins w ith the premise th at

it is im possible fo r the lim ite d consciousness o f the hum an being to specu­
late on o r contem plate G od; one can only approach God through an
exam ination o f his relatio n to creation. S im ilarly, the name o f God is
unpronounceable because o f his ineffable q u a lity and so he is referred to
as the A in-S oph, w hich is an adjectival H ebrew phrase m eaning in -its e lf,
in fin ite and boundless, through the fo u r letters o f the Tetragram m aton
‘ Y H V H ’, and through other le tte r com binations w hich stand in fo r the
D ivine Name. The process o f fo rm a tion is the central theme in the Sefir
Yetzirah and the firs t elements o f the s p iritu a l w o rld , a ll o f w hich exist as
emanations fro m the D ivin e, are the te ii Sephirot, o r celestial energy
 The Kabbalah

spheres. These ten lum inous emanations are configured in to a diagram ,

the Tree o f L ife . W ith Kefer, the C row n, at the top, flanked below to the
rig h t side by Intelligence (Binah) and the le ft side by W isdom
(Cbakhm ah), the Tree descends through the ten centers w hich are also
considered gates to enlightenm ent. The rig h t and le ft branches o f the Tree
are associated w ith the masculine and fem inine principles. Com m entaries
do n ot always agree on the character o f each o f these Sephirot, but gener­
ally, they have the fo llo w in g values: Greatness (Hesed), Power (Gevurah),
Beauty (T ife rt), Endurance (Nezach), M ajesty, (H od), Foundation (Yesod)
and fin a lly the Kingdom (M a lk h u t) at the base. The Sephirot are in tu rn
connected through a series o f pathways, num bering tw enty-tw o, each o f
w hich is inhabited by a le tte r o f the alphabet whose position is sym bolical­
ly significant. The letters have another im p o rta n t role below this realm o f
emanations as the fundam ental elements o f the m aterial w o rld , but much
o f the sym bolism o f the low er realm is encoded in the role played w ith in
the Sephirotic tree by the in d ivid u a l letters.

Italian 17th century Kabbalistic

drawing showing astrological
signs interspersed with permuta­
tions of the Tetragrammaton

The Sephirot are considered the Transform ers, the firs t appearance and
d e lim ita tio n o f the in fin ite energy o f the A in-S oph, w hile the tw enty-tw o
letters, also know n as the A u tio t, are the ‘W orkm en’ who fu n ctio n to
create the m aterial realm . The A u tio t are always linked to real, m aterial
The Kabbalah

structures and cycles, never to mere speculation o r abstraction. The Sefir

Yetzirah states th a t w ith the letters: ‘He depicted a ll th a t was form ed and
a ll th a t w ould be form ed.’

Tetragrammaton as Trinity
(Robert Fludd, 1619)

The creation o f the letters themselves is described at the outset o f the

second chapter o f the Sefir Yetzirah where it states th a t God firs t ‘engraved’
then ‘carved,’ ‘perm uted,’ ‘weighed,’ and fin a lly ‘transform ed’ them.
Commentaries interpret this sequence to mean th at the letters are first
transform ed from divine energy by being engraved in the s p irit and then
carved to fill the consciousness o f one’s m ind. The three other activities of
perm utation, num erical valuation (weighing) and decoding as ciphers
(transform ation) became the basis o f the m anipulative aspect o f meditative
practices. The Sefir Yetzirah divides the alphabet in to three groups: the
three M others, the seven Doubles and the twelve Singles. Each o f these is
examined in a single chapter devoted to its analysis and the whole o f the
text is intended as a description o f the process o f fo rm ation by which the
structures and cycles o f the m aterial w orld are brought in to being. The
descriptions which fo llo w include both the values assigned to the letters
w ith in the Sefir Yetzirah and those culled from later commentaries.
The three M others, o r m atrices, are considered first: Aleph, M em , and
Shin. In itia lly these are configured as a scale, w ith Aleph as a center balance
and the Shin and M em as tw o pans, as in a balance o r scale, o f lia b ility and
 The Kabbalah

| Nineteenth century occult dia-

A p t)? **
: gram o f Sephirotic tree (Gerard
: Encausse, La Cabbale. Paris,

1891)

Four cardinal points (Henri

Serouya, La Kabbale, Paris, 1947)

Holy name with crowns of flame

(Athanasius Kircher, Oedipus
Aegyptiacus, 1652)

m erit. M em is described as hum m ing, Shin as hissing and Aleph as the

Aleph with letters of the breath between them . As the firs t le tter o f the alphabet, Aleph is granted
Tetragrammaton (Athanasius certain unique roles, p a rtic u la rly w ith in the thesis, antithesis and synthesis
Kircher, Oedipus Aegyptiacus, sequence o f relations among the M others. In th e ir existence as a set o f
1652) three, the M others are associated w ith the seasons o f the year (which
num ber three in both Greek and H ellen istic systems), w ith the three major
parts o f the body (head, torso, stomach) and w ith the three elements (air
water, fire). These are the m ost fundam ental elements o f m aterial exis­
tence, and contain w ith in themselves the p o te n tia l o f a ll the others; such
hierarchies are essential to kabbalistic cosm ology In later commentaries
esoteric values fo r the letters are accompanied by the more comm on, exo­
teric meanings - such as the value o f an oxhead fo r the A leph, but w ithin
the Sefir Yetzirah only esoteric values are considered .9 The fo llo w in g val­
ues synthesize w ork from a num ber o f w rite rs, inclu ding Aryeh Kaplan,
Perle Epstein, Johann Reuchlin and C arlo Suares.
Aleph is considered a silent letter, as ‘undetectable as invisible air.*
A leph serves as a m ediator between the tw o o pp osition a lly defined values
o f the other tw o m others p roviding a space fo r th e ir interaction. In its
capacity as air, Aleph is associated w ith the chest o r torso. It also governs
the spring and autum n equinoxes. Aleph is also granted the id e n tity o f the
K ing over breath, and as the firs t le tte r is considered a p rim a ry manifesta­
tio n o f the Father; thus, its neutral role in m ediating between the other
M others is significant. In its m ost profound cosm ological sense, Aleph is
one, a unity, the abstract p rin cip le on w hich a ll m aterial existence of
everything is conceptualized. Johann R euchlin also m entioned the Great
Aleph, whose num erical value is 1000, w hich ‘desires to come out and be
seen as the cause o f a ll things’ (by contrast to Beth, w hich is conceived as
the doer o f a ll things).
In its visual fo rm A leph divides the w orlds above and below through
the dynam ic diagonal o f its central line; this line breaks through static
sym m etry w ith ‘a life engendering m ovement.’ It is a sign w hich is charged
w ith life , the dynam ism o f com ing in to being, and in this respect Aleph
functions as a m icrocosm o f a ll the aspects o f the alphabet.10
M em , the second M other, is associated w ith water, and figures prom i­
nently in the Hebrew w ord fo r th a t element, m ayim . M em is thus consid­
ered the flu id in k o f m atter. I t is associated w ith the stomach and is closed
and contained in its visual form w hile also representing the flu x and flow
o f liq u id . From this la tte r q u a lity it comes to be associated w ith the astro­
logical in te rp re ta tio n o f the course o f hum an destiny. Finally, M em is cold
and therefore brings fo rth w inte rtim e .
Shin, the th ird M other, represents fire. I t is associated w ith the head,
and in tellect. Its three risin g arms end in flames and its hissing pronuncia­
tio n m im ics th e ir sound. These same elements are also interpreted as teeth
- w hich can rem ain as the last traces o f physical being but can also be lost
w hile the body lives. O n this account the le tte r is associated w ith transfor­
m ation and seen as an esoteric sign o f divine fire w hich makes changes
w hile consum ing. As heat Shin is responsible fo r bring ing fo rth the sum­
m ertim e. In the C hristian Kabbalah, Shin has another special significance
because it is the le tte r w hich added in to Y H V H transform s it into
Y H S V H , thus b ring ing the M essiah (Yeshus) in to being through God
(Y H W H ).
 The Kabbalah

Together these three sym bolize the fo rm o f the m asculine and fem i­
nine principles. In the sequence Aleph/M em /S hin they stand fo r the male,
whose fire and passion are visible on the outside, and in the sequence
A leph/S hin/M em they sign ify the female who keeps her passion hidden,
in te rio r and concealed. In this configuration the three M others were also
used in determ ining the gender o f th a t m ythic creature, the golem (see
discussion below ), by using the appropriate sequence. A lso, when used in
the pattern S hin/M em /A leph, the three M others had the power to destroy
a golem .
W hen placed w ith in the Sephirotic tree, each o f the M others governs
one o f the h o rizo n ta l paths w hich lin k the m asculine le ft branch w ith the
fem inine rig h t branch. These tw o branches change th e ir id e n tity when
counted as members o f the three ve rtica l colum ns, in w hich case they rep­
resent the three Fathers (Yod, H e, and Vau) w hich are the three letters o f
the Tetragram m aton. In m editative practices, the contem plation o f the
three M others is used to create a receptive state in the kabbalist, w hich
may then be transform ed in to a creative mode through m ed itatio n on the
three Fathers: this in tu rn w ould generate s p iritu a l descendants.
The seven Doubles are letters w hich were tra d itio n a lly pronounced
w ith either a harsh o r so ft sound (though there is no instance o f one o f
the Doubles, Resh, as a le tte r w ith th is dual p ronunciation in either his­
to ric a l o r m odern H ebrew ). The harsh pro nu ncia tion was indicated
either by a d o t, Dagesh, o r by a line , the Rafeh. In the B a h ir, where the
consonants (the letters o f the Hebrew alphabet) are defined as the body
and the u n w ritte n vowels as the soul, these tw o m arks are granted a sta­
tus in-between. The tw o poles o f the Doubles are associated w ith harsh
and lenient judgem ent w hich is indicated by the p a irin g o f values fo r each
letter. In th e ir capacity as seven, they represent the seven planets, seven
heavens, seven days o f the week and seven orifices o f the head. B ut firs t
and forem ost, they define the coordinates o f three-dim ensional space and
the six days it to o k to make them . Beth, on Sunday, made the space above
and G im el on M onday the space below. F ollow ing this the fo u r cardinal
directions came in to being: D aleth on Tuesday the East, Kaph on
Wednesday the West, Pe on Thursday the N o rth and Resh on Friday the
South. It rem ained fo r Tau, on Saturday, the Sabbath, to h old them a ll
together at the very center, thus sta b ilizin g the existence o f the space o f
m aterial creation. Beyond th is, each D ouble signifies a p a ir o f tra its which
are linked through a p rin cip le o f tran sfo rm atio n so th a t they are n o t sim ­
p ly opposed to each other, but derived each fro m the other in its basic
d e fin itio n .
Beth signifies w isdom and fo lly, as w ell as the m oon and the rig h t eye.
From its exoteric m eaning as house, it signifies ownership, continuity,
com m unity and ancestral property, but also fu nctions m ore basically as
the m ark o f enclosing space. T his translates in esoteric term s in to a c tiv i­
ties o f b u ild in g , bounding, covering so th a t Beth is considered basis o f
support in the physical realm .
The Kabbalah

G im el signifies w ealth and poverty, M ars and the rig h t ear, and micro-
I cosm ically indicates the role o f the Doubles in the creation o f the spatial
" directions. As it also means camel, it comes to stand fo r the a b ility to
survive austerity, p aralleling the camel’s capacity to go w ith o u t water.
G im el thus acquires the m eaning o f a natural system w hich regulates
itse lf. As the th ird le tte r o f the alphabetic sequence, it also marks the
im pact o f the a c tiv ity o f Aleph on the s ta b ility o f Beth and is seen as the
firs t descendant.
D aleth signifies knowledge and ignorance in the fo rm o f the open and
I closed door; but is also interpreted as seed and desolation. It is associated
" w ith the sun, the rig h t n o s tril, and the role o f the Doubles to represent the
planets. Esoterically, D aleth is the le tte r associated w ith access to wisdom
and insig ht through its sym bolic fu n ctio n as the doorway.
Kaph signifies life and death and is associated w ith Venus and the left
f eye, as w ell as the D oubles’ representation o f the days. In its lite ra l and
exoteric meaning it is associated w ith the palm o f the hand, and in
C hristian Kabbalah it is associated w ith tw o o f the wounds o f Jesus. In a
broader sym bolic sense it can also mean a force such as the energy which
radiates from the palm o f the hand.
Pe signifies dom inance and subjugation, and is linked w ith M ercury, the
le ft ear, and the Doubles’ role in signifying the gates o f the soul. Because it
is associated w ith the Hebrew w ord fo r m outh it comes to symbolize
speech and the im m o rta lity o f one’s utterance o r ‘w ord.’
Resh signifies peace and war, and is associated w ith Saturn, the le ft nos-
I tr il, and the Doubles’ links to the angels. It also represents the head and is
thus associated w ith a ctivity o f recognition according to features o f face.
Tau signifies grace and ugliness, Jupiter and the m outh. In C hristian

n Kabbalah it is the sign o f the cross, but also, a phallus. In its cosmological
sense, as the fin a l le tte r o f the alphabet Tau signifies the endpoint and
148 com pletion o f G od’s creative w ork.
The Doubles were also used to calculate a weekly cycle in which each
successively governed tim es o f the day. These cycles could be used to deter­
m ine auspicious times fo r p a rticu la r activities, but only in a lim ite d capac­
ity, since any a c tiv ity resem bling fortune te llin g m et w ith disapproval in
the rabbinic com m unity. These guides were more frequently used to select
prayers appropriate to a p a rticu la r hour o f the day. When placed w ithin
the structure o f the Sephirotic Tree the Doubles were assigned a place
w ith in the seven vertical lines and thus became the ladders leading upward
from seven Sephirot. The kabbalist could clim b w ith hard sound o f each
D ouble and descend w ith the soft.
The twelve Simples fo rm the rem ainder o f the alphabet, and they are
associated w ith the twelve m onths, twelve zodiacal signs, twelve lim bs and
twelve tribes. W ith in the chapter addressing th e ir activity, there is a discus­
sion o f a ll o f the letters o f the alphabet divided according to th e ir phonetic
id e n tity as gutterals, labials, velars, dentals and sibilants. T his phonetic
analysis is accurate and curiously appears only once in the te xt and
 The Kabbalah

nowhere else w ith in either the Sefir Yetzirah o r other kabbalistic texts. The
passage is interesting, but anom alous, and was probably an instance o f a
late insertion from a unique source w hich im proved on the above cited
sequence in w hich God engraved and carved the letters by adding the
statem ent th a t God also ‘placed them in positions in the m ou th.’
H e, the firs t Sim ple, is associated w ith A ries, speech, the rig h t fo o t,
L ife , and the trib e o f Reuben; He is a w indow w hich lets in lig h t, but does­
n’t provide hum an entry and thus provides a lin k between the inner and
outer w orld. He sym bolically represents re lig io n which establishes links
among people and but also between humans and the divine, universal life .
Vau is associated w ith Taurus, w ith thought, the rig h t kidney, property,
and the trib e o f Simeon. E xoterically, Vau represents a n a il, w hich reflects
the lig h t from its polished head. N ailheads were used as a system o f d iv­
in a tio n in w hich the figures made in these reflections o f lig h t were in te r­
preted. Vau can also signify a doorknob, thus a means o f opening a door
o f understanding or insight. In its visual fo rm it resembles an im pregnat­
ing, fe rtiliz in g agent.
Z ayin is linked w ith G em ini, w ith m otion, w ith the le ft fo o t, w ith the
a ctivity o f a ttra ctio n , and the trib e o f Levi. E xoterically it means a sta ff or
a sword at rest, and is therefore given the esoteric value o f forgiveness. In
the C hristian Kabbalah, Z ayin is linked w ith the sym bolism o f the sword.
In sequence, fo llo w in g Vau, Z ayin represents the conclusion o f the act o f
im pregnation and the open field o f p ossibilities.
Cheth is associated w ith Cancer, sight, the rig h t hand, the hum an rela­
tio n to ancestors, and the trib e o f Judah. Cheth represents a fence or gate
w hich serves as a barrie r or dem arcation o f ownership. By m arking the
inside and outside o f property Cheth comes to represent the capacity to
discrim inate between th a t w hich is w orth w h ile and worthless. Cheth also
signifies the power to distinguish the liv in g fro m the dead. M ore generally,
Cheth sym bolizes the very a c tiv ity o f d is trib u tin g energy and is the means
fo r storage o f substance w hich is s till unstructured o r not very evolved.
Teth is linked to Leo, to hearing, the le ft kidney, the a ctivity o f descen­
dants, and the trib e o f Issachar. Teth is also ide ntifie d w ith prim eval
female energy, though as the sym bol o f the serpent Teth symbolizes organ­
ic u n ity and the q u a lity o f prudence. C ertain interpretations associate
Teth the serpent w ith the s ta ff o f Moses w hich turns in to a serpent, or
w ith M ercury’s staff.
Yod is associated w ith V irgo, is the sign fo r action, the le ft hand,
health, and the trib e o f Zebulon (these firs t six tribes were headed by the
sons o f Leah). As the sign o f the hand Yod means fullness, but also the
means to transform ideas in to realities.
Lamed is associated w ith L ib ra , intercourse, the g all bladder, the
hum an a c tiv ity o f co itio n , and w ith the trib e o f Benjam in (Rachel’s son).
As the image o f a goad o r prod, Lamed is the sign used to pro m p t action.
It therefore symbolizes directed energy w hich requires sacrifice and gains
the esoteric value o f the sacrifice necessary to accom plish any action.
The Kabbalah

^ N un is linked to Scorpio; the sense o f sm ell, the intestine, the activity

I o f death, and the trib e o f D an. As the sign o f a fish, N un symbolizes the
P fish’s capacity to survive in an environm ent hostile to humans and there­
fore acquires the esoteric value o f the tra it o f reversibility.
Samekh is linked to Sagittarius; to sleep, to the organ o f the kivah

D (which may be the pancreas, though it is generally associated w ith rennet

gland in cows and n o t usually used to refer to hum an organs), to the
a ctivity o f travel, and the trib e o f N a fta li (these last tw o are the sons o f
Rachel’s handm aid, B ilhah). As the sign o f a prop o r support Samekh
signifies elements w hich help o r assist and thus comes to stand fo r the
a ctivity o f interdependence.
A yin is associated w ith C apricorn, w ith anger, the liver, hum an govern­
or m ent, and the trib e o f Gad. As the image o f the eye, A yin is associated
w ith perception and the power o f m etaphysical vision w hich provides fore­
sight in to the operations and concealed w orkings o f events.
Tsade is linked to A quarius, to taste, the korkeban (which is the giz-
zard in fo w l and can be interpreted as the stomach in humans, though
^ rarely used in this sense), to friends, and to the trib e o f Asher (w ith Gad
these are the tw o the sons o f Leah’s handm aid Z ilp a h ). As the fish hook,
Tsade represents the means by w hich one w orld can penetrate another to
take som ething from it.
Q oph represents Pisces, laughter, the spleen, hum an enemies, and the
trib e o f Joseph (the other son o f Rachel, Joseph is out o f sequence in the
sym bolism o f the Singles because he had been sent to E gypt). Since Qoph
lite ra lly means the back o f the head from w hich one cannot see it becomes
the sign o f inner sight, rather than the vision b f those things w hich can be
grasped directly.

W hile the letters have very d istin ct functions w ith in the three divisions
they also have a logical relatio n in the sequence o f the alphabet. In one
such analysis, Johann Reuchlin unsystem atically blends the exoteric values
indicated by the letters’ names (such as beth=house) w ith other esoteric
meanings. In R euchlin’s inte rp re ta tio n A leph is the letter, o r Rule, and
Beth is the house but G im el takes on the value o f re trib u tio n in a cycle of
in itia to ry , stable and then reversed energy. R euchlin uses the trad ition al
value fo r D aleth, w hich is the door, and interprets He as the exclamation
Behold, a value close to the sound o f its pronunciation, but w itho ut
semantic substance. Since He has no w ord value, this was a common
enough in te rp re ta tio n , but by em phasizing its place in the sequence w ith
D aleth, it becomes related to the idea o f a passage through a door or gate.
For Vau and Z ayin, R euchlin used the conventional values associated w ith
th e ir names - a bent hook o r n a il and a weapon. Though Vau has little
im pact on the narrative o f sequence R euchlin spells out, Z ayin anticipates
Cheth, w hich becomes te rro r in his system. Teth and Yod are causally
related: Teth represents a slipping downward from w hich one can be
rescued by Yod in a confession o f praise. Kaph is interpreted, again
 The Kabbalah

conventionally, as the palm o f a hand but Lamed Reuchlin transform s in to

the sign o f teaching, w ith o u t connecting it to the surrounding values. M em
has the standard value o f w ater but N un is the son, more broadly in te r­
preted as the category o f filia l position . T his suggests a C hristian associa­
tio n , since the conventional interpretation o f N un is as both the w ord fo r
and the image o f the fish w ith C hrist the Son. To Samekh he granted an
abstract value, th a t o f placing o r p ositioning, w ith o u t elaborating on the
significance o f this either sequentially o r sym bolically. A yin retains its
value as an eye, Pe as a m outh, though Tsade acquires the enigm atic and
oblique value o f the sign fo r the sides o f things. Q oph is a tu rn in g , or c ir­
c u it, w hile Resh is the image o f neediness. Here Shin has its value as a
to o th o r teeth, and Tau, quite prosaically, is the sign fo r a sign. W hat is
peculiar in R euchlin’s analysis is both its idiosyncracy and its interw eaving
o f abstract and concrete values. The letters whose names carried strong
semantic value were not even interpreted m etaphorically, be allowed to stay
w ith in the web o f abstract interpretation. It is as though Reuchlin were
stretching the interpretive parameters as fa r as possible, but was con­
strained by conventions attached to the vocabulary fo r w hich he could not
manage a m etaphoric valuation. The interpretatio n does n ot succeed in
producing either narrative or sym bolic unity, and displays the d iffic u lty o f
attem pting an innovative version o f a highly tra d itio n a l system .11
W hile such values and systemic relations are spelled out b rie fly in the
Sefir Yetzirah the aspects o f the Kabbalah w hich pertain to alphabet sym­
bolism are n ot in any way exhausted by these listings. There remains the
entire com plex realm o f alphabetic m anipulation firs t through the elabo­
rate patterns o f le tte r perm utations and then through the three activities
o f gem atria, n o ta riko n , and temurah - or, w eighing o r calculating, cipher­
ing by ta kin g a w ord as an acrostic, and transform ing o r substitu ting the
sequence o f letters. Precise form ulae fo r these activities as w ell as
a description o f the conditions fo r th e ir application were described in
detail by A bulafia in the 12th century and Isaac L u ria in the 16th; th e ir
methods were used by kabbalists from th a t p o in t onward, often w ith little
a lteration.
The m ost sacred perm utations were those w hich employed the letters
o f the D ivine Nam e, Y H W H , but there were m any other form ulae as w ell.
A bulafia associated each le tte r o f the alphabet w ith a p a rt o f the body and
instructed th a t both should be m editated on sim ultaneously since
rearrangem ent w ould have bad effects on the health. The kabbalist was
cautioned n ot to m editate too soon after intellectu al study and to clear the
m ind through ritu a l bathing, fasting and abstinence. A bulafia also pre­
pared the novice fo r the effects which w ould be brought on by the m edita­
tions: A fte r much movement and concentration on the letters the h a ir on
your head w ill stand on end ... your blood w ill begin to vibrate ... and a ll
your body w ill begin to trem ble, and a shuddering w ill fa ll on a ll your
lim bs, and ... you w ill feel an add itio na l s p irit w ith in your body ... like
fragrant o il, anointing you from head to fo o t.’ 12
The Kabbalah

Prescribing specific patterns fo r the perm utation o f the letters o f the

alphabet, especially in com bination w ith the letters of the
Tetragram m aton, A b u la fia ’s was one o f the firs t o f many such form ula
books. The fundam ental system o f perm utation in a ll o f these involved the
231 gates, o r pairs o f letters o f the Hebrew alphabet.13 The patterns o f
perm utation increased in d iffic u lty as one ascended the Gates to achieve a
perfect coordination in w hich the body, m ind and flesh w ould correspond
to the s p irit o f the letters and one w ould in fa ct become the Torah itself.
A bulafia described the a ctivity o f ‘gazing in to the C hariot* by which he
m eant the letters o f G od’s name arranged in the shape o f the chariot or
throne w hich had been a central image o f M ekabah m ysticism . The most
im p o rta n t aspect o f m editation was to ‘surrender the sense* o f a passage
in the Torah; this could be achieved by rep etitio n, o r through perm utation
o f the letters in the passage through system atic com binations. Another
m editation involved perm uting the Tetragram m aton w ith the five vocalic
sounds w hile envisioning a movement through the centers o f the body: the
head fire, the belly water, the chest o r heart the center o f air. Abulafia also
cautioned th a t the student w ould encounter d ifficu ltie s and obstacles;
there were figures called ‘w ithh old ers’ w hich could interfere w ith concen­
tra tio n ; each student had to learn to recognize these and overcome them.
The Autiot

K 2 J T n 1 t n b
Alcph Bayt Ghimel Dallet Hay Vav Zayn Hhayl Tayt
Vayl or Waw

i a 3 4 3 6 7 e 9
______ e.__

*
X h 0 y ?
1
\ 91 1
'x
/

\ 1
Yod K af Lamme^ Mem '\ Noun v ^ Sammekh Ayn Pay Tsadde
Khaf Y \, NN Phay
1
10 30
90 \ 4°
.... \ 70 ®i°
\ \ 1
Z * //
/

P 1 0 r
*?
Chart showing gematrial values
Qor Raysh Seen Tav final' final final final final
of the Hebrew letters (Aryeh Sheen Khaf Mem Noun “Phay Tsadde

Kaplan, Sefir Yetzirah) JOO 900 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

Some o f the particula rs recommended by A bulafia contributed to the

aura o f magic surrounding Kabbalah: the best hour fo r m editative permu­
tations (known as tzeruf) was m idnight. The m editator was to lig h t many
candles, wear phylacteries and a prayer shawl, and w rite o u t the perm uta­
tions o f the alphabet w ith ever increasing speed. The resulting ecstatic
state accompanied by the desire o f the soul to leave the body could be so
pow erful th a t there was even the p o ssib ility o f death. A t the peak o f ecsta­
tic experience there w ould be a rush o f u n in te llig ib le language and the

Twelve zodiacal houses and the
spheres from earth to heaven,
from The Book o f Raziel com­
posed in the 14th century
Celestial alphabet from The
Book o f Raziel
The Kabbalah
kabbalist had to envision a surrounding circle o f angels who could help to
decipher the divine message. It was the sheer force o f the letters themselves
which brought fo rth the m eaning, since the only lin k between the Sephirot
o f non-verbal W isdom and verbal Intelligence was through the letters o f
the alphabet.
In a dd itio n to the ritu a ls o f perm utation, the methods o f nota riko n,
gem atria and tem urah were system atically applied. A n example o f such
practice is the kabbalistic analysis o f the Torah as the sym bol o f the heart
o f creation. T his sym bol is derived in tw o stages, firs t from the fa ct th at
since Beth is the firs t le tte r o f the firs t w ord o f Genesis (‘Bereshit’) and
Lamed the fin a l le tte r o f the last w ord in D euteronom y (‘Y israel’), they
fo rm the beginning and endpoint o f the Torah. Second the letters Lamed
and Beth were combined independently (LV) to spell the w ord fo r heart.
Such cipher readings were comm on - as were gem atrial calculations.
The bases o f gem atria were the num erical values o f the letters assigned
to the alphabet according to th e ir sequence. The letters fro m A leph to
Teth had values from one to nine, Yod to Tsade ten to ninety, and Q oph to
the end o f a sequence w hich added the alternate form s o f Hebrew letters
Kaph, M em , N un , Pe and Tau had values from one hundred to nine hun­
dred. A dding the values o f in d ivid u a l letters produced the value o f any
in d ivid u a l w ord o r phrase. There are several relations established by the
gem atrial values o f the opening and closing words o f the Torah: Bereshit
also has the gem atrial value o f 913, equivalent to the value o f the phrase
‘He created the law,’ granting it a double meaning. The gem atrial value o f
Yisrael is 541, w hich, added to 913 equals 1454. The value o f the name
Adam Kadm on ta llie d to one more than this (1455) thus show ing th a t he
encompassed a ll scrip tu ra l knowledge w ith in his supernal body.14
Preoccupation w ith the frequency and pattern o f letters in the Torah,
and in specific passages, was an inexhaustible source o f kabbalistic in te r­
p retation. Baal Shem Tov, an early H assidic Rabbi, stated th a t the qua ntity
o f each le tte r in the Torah had been set in advance, existing at firs t in a
state o f chaos, w hich God had p u t in to an order which granted them one
sense. However, the o rig in a l quantities could be calculated and interpreted
in studying the Torah as a means o f understanding the fixed and essential
character o f God. The letters o f the Torah could also be interpreted as a
continual sexual embrace between the m asculine energy o f God and the
fem inine Shekhinah so th a t the entire te xt was granted an erotic charge.
 In another exam ple o f gem atrial analysis a passage fro m Genesis was
interpreted as the fo re te llin g o f the com ing o f the M essiah. The passage
reads, ‘The sceptre shall n o t depart fro m Judah, n o r a law giver from
between his feet, u n til S hiloh com e;’ the last phrase (in Hebrew IBA
S hILH ) translates in G em atria in to the num ber 358; the num ber 358 is
also the G em atria equivalent o f the w ord M essiah (when spelled
in H ebrew as M S hIC h). T his same num ber was associated w ith the
serpent o f Moses (NChSh) and thus C h ristia n kabbalists were able to
lin k the s ta ff o f M oses, transform ed in to a serpent and back, in to the
image o f C h rist on the cross (which was sign ified by the le tte r Tau,
linke d to the sta ff) since they interpreted the H ebrew w ord fo r Messiah
to mean C h ris t.15 In one very sim ple exam ple o f a n o ta riko n acrostic
reading cited by R euchlin, a book w ritte n about the com m utation o f let­
ters as a ka bb alistic practice was given the title The Garden, which in
H ebrew is spelled w ith G N T h - the three letters w hich denote G em atria,
N o ta rik o n , and Them urah, the three m ethods of alphabet
m a n ip u la tio n .16
Finally, each le tte r o f the Hebrew alphabet was considered.to be con­
nected to an angel. Each tim e the le tte r was used the angel was invoked
and the group o f letters in a w ord w ould ca ll up a corresponding group.
The angels inhabited a celestial sphere in a space between the realm o f
the Sephirot and th a t o f the A lphabet w hich was also referred to as the
realm o f speech. The stars in this realm form ed a lin k between the realm
o f the Throne above, the interm ediate Sephirot, and the realm o f
C reation below and were visible in the stars. Since there was a p ro h ib i­
tio n against the p ro du ction o f graven images in Judaic culture, it was not
perm itted to make pictures o f the constellations o r o f the angels and their
configurations. O n ly schem atic tracin g in diagram s o f the connections
between stars was allow ed, and thus the study o f angelology results in the
pro du ction o f the celestial alphabets w hich correspond in tu rn to the let­
ters o f the H ebrew alphabet.
K abbalistic m editations flourished between the 13th and 16th cen­
turies, but by the 18th these had largely disappeared either through fear,
lack o f interest o r discred ita tion . The force o f more ra tio n a l interpretive
practices imposed themselves on m ainstream rabbinic culture, and the
process o f scrip tu ra l analysis opposed the ecstatic m editation on the
Nam e w hich had been essential to the Kabbalah.
Nonetheless, the kabbalistic tra d itio n continues to have its adherents,
even i f the structure o f the m editative practices has m odified, losing some
o f its q u a lity o f m edieval inca ntatio n to m ore somber s p iritu a l investig­
ation . C ontem porary believers are p ro fo u n d ly devout. Some, like Rabbi
Y itzchak G insburg, fo llo w the teachings o f the founder o f the Hassidic
sect, R abbi Yisrael Ba’al Shem Tov, in a serious investigation o f Jewish
th ought as em bodied in the letters. O thers, like Ben Shahn, have
reworked K abbalistic sym bolism as a fundam ental m ythic structure o f
Jewish tra d itio n .
 The Kabbalah

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Rabbi G insburg’s w ork, The A le f-B a it, expresses the awe and w onder
w hich a ll believers experience in the presence o f the letters. He cites a
famous te x t by Ba’al Shem Tov, who exhorts the p ra cticing Jew to make o f
d a ily life a continual practice o f devotion, one in w hich ‘Your way shall
ever be in the presence o f G -d.’ In such a co n d itio n , each o f the letters
w hich pass one’s lips are ascendant and unite w ith each other, carrying
w ith them the fu ll g lo ry o f th e ir three powers: the power o f W orld, o f
Souls and o f D ivin ity. The letters live th e ir own independent existence,
connecting to become words and then jo in in g ‘in true u n ifica tio n w ith the
D iv in ity .’ Thus every attem pt should be made to jo in one’s soul to the le t­
ters at every utterance so th a t it too m ight rise to jo in w ith the D ivine
God. T hrough such practices, one could inten sify one’s awareness o f
the power o f God and D ivine presence in every m om ent o f thought, 155
speech o r action, and thus increase one’s w isdom through fa ith and sp iri- —
tu a l practice.
M ore specifically, the H assidim id e n tify three creative powers fo r each
le tte r o f the alphabet: energy, life and lig h t. The letters are thus building
blocks in both a cosmic and alm ost lite ra l, physical sense o f a ll reality.
They are, as G insburg says, ‘the inner life-pulse perm eating the universe as
a whole and each o f its in d ivid u a l creatures (“ pulsing” every created being,
instantaneously, in to and out o f existence); and as the channels which
direct the in flu x o f D ivine revelation in to created consciousness.’ 17 Letters
form w ords, but are above a ll, L ig h t, the very state and co nd itio n o f jo in ­
ing w ith the D ivine as em anation from and return to th a t source. The
H assidim stress th a t the w ord fo r letter in H ebrew ‘also means “ sign” or
“ w onder.” ’ A nd th a t the term ‘w onder’ m ust always be granted the value
o f D ivine lig h t, than which nothing is greater. As a cosm ological system,
belief in the letters as the fundam ental elements allows th a t the m ost m un­
dane transactions o f quotidian existence are themselves permeated w ith
 The Kabbalah

sublim e value in each and every instance o f utterance o r w ritin g because

the alphabet is ine xtrica b ly bound to the D ivine Being as its expression
and its essence.
One o f the m ost v iv id ly m ythic versions o f kabbalistic im agery is told
by Ben Shahn in his version o f The A lphabet o f C reation, an Ancient
Legend fro m the Z o h a r, firs t published in 1954.18 Shahn’s tale anthropo­
m orphizes the letters, giving each an in d ivid u a l character and role to play.
He begins by stating th a t a ll tw enty-tw o letters originated in the crown of
G od, where they were engraved w ith a pen o f flo w in g fire. There were
tw enty-tw o generations before the creation o f the w o rld , one fo r each of
the letters. A nd each one begged th at the w orld be brought in to being
through its power and sym bolic value. In Shahn’s account, the letters
appear in reverse order, as i f each one’s rejection paves the way fo r the
appearance o f the next. Thus tau appears firs t, asking, as each letter after
does, th a t the w orld be brought in to being through him . God refuses,
saying th a t tau w ould later serve as a sign o f death upon the foreheads of
men. As each le tte r appeared, it gave its reasons fo r believing in its appro­
priateness as the foundation fo r creation w hile God gave the reason for
refusing to use it as the basis o f creation: shin argued th a t it was the first
le tte r o f one o f the names o f the lo rd , shaddi, but God countered that it
was also the firs t le tte r o f the w ord fo r falsehood in Hebrew ; resh stated
th a t the w ord rahum m eant ‘m e rcifu l,’ but God pointed out th at it was
in itia te d the w ord fo r e vil; koph began the w ord fo r kodesh, o r H o ly One,
but also fo r a curse and so on through the entire alphabet. As God reached
the end, w hich was in fa ct the beginning o f the alphabet, he came to gimel
w hich was the firs t le tte r o f both the words fo r ‘great’ and ‘retribution,*
and then passed on to beth. Beth had no negative a ttributes, beth was
associated w ith baruch the firs t w ord in prayer meaning ‘blessed is the
lo rd ,’ and bereshit, m eaning ‘in the beginning,’ again, the firs t words of
156 Genesis. B ut the Lord passed over beth, in spite o f the many virtues o f the
letter, and instead p u t aleph in its place because aleph made no claims at
a ll fo r virtu e o r goodness or strength, and thus by modesty and hum ility
won firs t place in both the Decalogue and the alphabet.
For both Shahn and G insburgh the alphabet is real and sym bolic, a
m ystical essence and a m aterial means o f access to the structure o f Divine
lig h t, power and w isdom .

The Kabbalistic Creation o f a Golem

The concept o f the golem evolved d ire ctly o u t o f the teachings o f the
Sefir Yetzirah. The w ord means ‘shapeless m atter,’ but specifically indi­
cates a hum an figure form ed from clay and brought to life through the
incantation o f m agical, kabbalistic perm utations. Interpretations o f the
lite ra l o r sym bolic value o f the golem vary, w ith many authorities w illin g

Mikolas Ales, Rabbi Loew and
the Golem, 1899
Star of David with letters of the
Tetragrammaton, (Henri
Serouya, La Kabbale, Paris, 1947)
The Kabbalah
only to lend c re d ib ility to the creation o f a s p iritu a l figure, n o t an actual
liv in g being. The earliest m entions o f the golem - in passing in the O ld
Testament and then more frequently in 5th- and 6th-century w ritin g s -
sometimes confound the figure w ith the stage o f creation in w hich a
hum an being exists but does not yet possess a soul. A t one tim e, the m yth
o f the golem was taken so seriously th a t it was debated w hether or not
golems could be included in a m inyan, the m inim um num ber o f men con­
sidered necessary fo r certain Jewish ritu a ls to be perform ed, such as a bur­
ia l. M yths o f the golem flourished p a rticu la rly in N o rth e rn European kab-
b alistic tra d itio n up to th e ir peak in the 16th century and resurfaced in
early 20th-century German expressionist film s and plays .19
The m yth o f the golem had an early p ra ctitio n e r in the 13th-century
scholar R abbi Eliezar Rokeach, o r Eleazar o f W orms. In his book The
Depths o f the Km g, Eleazar provided several techniques fo r the construc­
tio n o f a golem. F irst o f a ll, the novice m ust never attem pt to make a
golem alone, but should w ork w ith one or tw o colleagues, a ll o f whom
m ust p u rify themselves before starting. Together they must dig v irg in soil
and m ix it w ith pure spring w ater taken directly fro m ground, since plac­
ing the w ater in a vessel o f any k in d w ould cause it to lose its p u rity and
thus its power. Once the clay was m ixed, it should be form ed in the shape
o f a hum an figure, and over this figure a sequence o f le tte r com binations
must be pronounced. A ny errors in pronunciation w ould result in fa ilu re
o f the project, but if the sequences were pronounced correctly, the golem
w ould come to life . Eleazar stated th a t com binations o f letters in the firs t
h a lf o f the alphabet w ould anim ate the golem , w hile those from the la tte r
h a lf w ould deactivate it. In another place, Eleazar suggested th a t the clay
could m erely be spread o u t and th a t the form o f the golem w ould emerge
on its own, as a result o f the perm utations. One other passage suggests
th a t engraving the letters ‘Em et,’ or ‘Truth* on the forehead o f the golem
w ould b rin g it to life , w ith the advantage th a t effacing the firs t le tte r trans­
form ed the w ord in to ‘M et* o r ‘Dead* w hich w ould deactivate the golem.
In keeping w ith the kabbalistic tra d itio n , it was believed th a t recita tion o f
the letters o f the alphabet w ould b ring about a d irect infusion o f w isdom
in to the figure form ed in the clay.
The golem concept flourished in France, and then in select areas o f
Western Europe, rather than in the Spanish regions from w hich the central
kabbalistic tra d itio n had sprung. By the late 15th century, the texts
describing the creation o f a golem had been translated in to L a tin , render­
ing them available to C hristian kabbalists. The m ost renowned and
rem arkable tales o f the invention o f a golem were those associated w ith
16th-century Prague in the figures o f Rabbi Eliahu Chelem and Rabbi
Judah Loew. The source fo r tales o f the form er come from a te xt by tw o
C hristians, but the accounts o f Rabbi Loew ’s successful experim ents were
to ld by Chayim Bloch in the early p a rt o f the 20 th century .20 These stories
recount e x p lic it details o f the golem ’s invention, lim ita tio n s , and useful­
ness in com bating the attem pts o f the C hristian com m unity to persecute
the Jews through false accusations or deceptive misdeeds: the powers of
the golem are carefully subordinated to the aim o f preserving the Jewish
community
M o st kabbalists, even one as involved w ith ecstatic practice as
A bulafia, refrained from endorsing b elief in the golem as a lite ra l creation.
The practices he described were more clearly focused on the kabbalist’s
own body, and on fo rm ing a clear m ental image o f a body w hich existed as
a sp iritu a l double and was created through a m editation on the sequence
o f the alphabet w hich replayed the process o f creation. Though he also
provided recipes fo r the m aking o f a creature, A bulafia considered the
golem a sym bolic creation w hich was the cu lm ina tion o f m editative expe­
rience. In the m aking o f a golem , as in a ll kabbalistic practices, the funda­
m ental role o f the alphabet was as a p ro o f o f the existence o f God.
V II
RATIONALIZING THE ALPHABET: CONSTRUCTION,
real c h a r a c t e r a n d p h il o s o p h ic a l l a n g u a g e s

IN THE RENAISSANCE

The invention o f p rin tin g in the m iddle o f the 15th century had profound
effects on both the visual appearance o f w ritte n form s and on the social
functions w hich differentiated applications o f w ritin g . But the attitudes
towards the alphabet w hich emerged between the firs t publications o f
Johann Gutenberg around 1454 and the establishm ent o f the French and
B ritish Academies in the 1660s prefiguring the Enlightenm ent are n ot lim ­
ited to the effects o f p rin tin g .
In the 15th century, the pub lica tion o f the H erm etic corpus had rein­
forced the a u th o rity o f alchemy, grounding it in the supposed a n tiq u ity o f
these w orks. The a d d itio na l influences o f the kabbalistic doctrine o f ema­
nation and the N eo-P latonist concept o f transcendence, a ll com bined in
the early Renaissance to produce a cosm ological view o f the w orld. H ig h ly
structured, rig id ly hierarchical, and considered the m anifestation o f divine
m ystery and power, the cosm ological m odel was m odified considerably in
the 16th and 17th centuries. By the early 1600s the Corpus H erm eticum
had been reevaluated and its origins dated to the 3rd and 4th centuries o f
the C hristian era. The h isto rica l perspective provided by this realization
was in tu rn p a rt o f a larger set o f intellectual changes prefiguring the end
o f the Renaissance era: events in hum an h isto ry began to be placed w ith in
a chronologically linear fram ew ork and the disciplines o f science and the­
ology in th e ir more m odern fo rm displaced the cosm ological and alchem i­
cal models w hich had held sway earlier. By the late 17th century, the con­
ceptual basis o f knowledge had been transform ed from the A risto te lia n
logic w hich had prevailed among medieval scholastics to a m ethodology
grounded in an unquestioned fa ith in hum an reason. Though traces o f
H erm eticism , kabbalistic thought and m ysticism persisted they no longer
determ ined the m ainstream o f intellectu al o r religious activity.

iD u o tr tu a u & if it t ir a m f c & f c m im m
Johann Gutenberg, a line from A lphabetic w ritin g particip a ted in many aspects o f Renaissance
the 42-line bible, Mainz, 1454 thought, and in areas as diverse as philosophy, linguistics, and occult
sciences as w ell as in penmanship, p rin tin g and design, the alphabet
functioned as an index to the various changes in intellectu al currents
which occurred in the Renaissance.
the Jews through false accusations o r deceptive misdeeds: the powers of
the golem are carefully subordinated to the aim o f preserving the Jewish
com m unity.
M ost kabbalists, even one as involved w ith ecstatic practice as
A bulafia, refrained fro m endorsing b elief in the golem as a lite ra l creation
The practices he described were more clearly focused on the kabbalist’s
own body, and on fo rm in g a clear m ental image o f a body w hich existed as
a sp iritu a l double and was created through a m editation on the sequence
o f the alphabet w hich replayed the process o f creation. Though he also
provided recipes fo r the m aking o f a creature, A bulafia considered the
golem a sym bolic creation w hich was the cu lm ina tion o f m editative expe­
rience. In the m aking o f a golem , as in a ll kabbalistic practices, the funda­
m ental role o f the alphabet was as a p ro o f o f the existence o f God.
VII
RATIONALIZING THE ALPHABET: CONSTRUCTION,
REAL CHARACTER AN D PHILOSOPHICAL LANGUAGES
IN THE RENAISSANCE

The invention o f p rin tin g in the m iddle o f the 15th century had profound
effects on both the visual appearance o f w ritte n form s and on the social
functions w hich d ifferentiated applications o f w ritin g . But the attitudes
towards the alphabet which emerged between the firs t publications o f
Johann Gutenberg around 1454 and the establishm ent o f the French and
B ritish Academies in the 1660s prefiguring the Enlightenm ent are n o t lim ­
ited to the effects o f p rin tin g .
In the 15th century, the pub lica tion o f the H erm etic corpus had rein­
forced the a u th o rity o f alchemy, grounding it in the supposed a n tiq u ity o f
these works. The a d d itio na l influences o f the kabbalistic doctrine o f ema­
nation and the N eo-P latonist concept o f transcendence; a ll com bined in
the early Renaissance to produce a cosm ological view o f the w orld. H ig h ly
structured, rig id ly hierarchical, and considered the m anifestation o f divine
m ystery and power, the cosm ological m odel was m odified considerably in
the 16th and 17th centuries. By the early 1600s the Corpus H erm eticum
had been reevaluated and its origins dated to the 3rd and 4th centuries o f
the C hristian era. The h isto rica l perspective provided by this realization
was in tu rn p a rt o f a larger set o f intellectu al changes prefiguring the end
o f the Renaissance era: events in human h isto ry began to be placed w ith in
a chronologically linear fram ew ork and the disciplines o f science and the­
ology in th e ir more m odern fo rm displaced the cosm ological and alchem i­
cal models w hich had held sway earlier. By the late 17th century, the con­
ceptual basis o f knowledge had been transform ed from the A risto te lia n
logic w hich had prevailed among medieval scholastics to a m ethodology
grounded in an unquestioned fa ith in hum an reason. Though traces o f
H erm eticism , kabbalistic thought and m ysticism persisted they no longer
determ ined the m ainstream o f intellectu al o r religious activity.

iD u o u tu a u in f lt t f c a u t e t t f c m im i n
Johann Gutenberg, a line from A lphabetic w ritin g p articipated in many aspects o f Renaissance
the 42-line bible, Mainz, 1454 thought, and in areas as diverse as philosophy, linguistics, and occult
sciences as w ell as in penmanship, p rin tin g and design, the alphabet
functioned as an index to the various changes in intellectu al currents
w hich occurred in the Renaissance.
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance
The Rationalization o f the Alphabet
Ehrhardt Ratdolt specimen
sheet Venice, 1485
The conventional w isdom th a t the invention o f p rin tin g brought about
the standardization o f alphabetic w ritin g is essentially true, though it
must be qualified by the recognition th a t w ritin g continued to diversify in
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 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Luca
de Pacioli's constructed alpha­
bet, about 1500 (Les Plus Beaux
Types desLettres, Paris)
Palatino's constructed alphabet,
Llbro Nuovo, 1540 (Les Plus
Beaux Types des Lettres, Paris)
Albrecht Durer's construction of
majuscules 1525, Nuremberg
form as its functions became specialized. The p rin te d w ord was o nly one
area o f the w ider spectrum o f w ritte n form s produced in the Renaissance
period. Just as in the M id d le Ages the tra d itio n s o f in scrip tio n a l letters
based on stone carving had persisted alongside the developm ent o f highly
d ifferentiated hands fo r the production o f m anuscript texts, o r fo r use in
w ritte n documents w ith in the arena o f secular activity, so in the
Renaissance these tra d itio n s were reinterpreted according to the needs o f
the various areas o f hum an a ctivity served by w ritte n language.
G enerally speaking, the production o f books through the new process
o f p rin tin g displaced the a ctivity o f m anuscript copying and the firs t type­
faces designed fo r this purpose were, by and large, based on scripts devel­
oped in m anuscript form . The long tra d itio n o f reinterpreting the Roman
square capitals fro m Im perial inscriptions was also given a unique revival
in the Renaissance m ania fo r constructed alphabets, the subm ission o f
alphabetic form to elaborately systematic ra tio n a liza tio n . These designs
sometimes returned to the m edium o f the stone carver and sometimes
serving as the basis o f p rin tin g types o r decorative in itia l blocks.
M eanw hile, the a ctivity o f han dw ritin g per se became the specialized
dom ain o f w ritin g masters whose v irtu o s ity was displayed in published
manuals advertising the skills required fo r production o f charters, co urt
documents, legal, financial and business records - a ll o f w hich were p ro ­
duced by hand w ell in to the 19th century.
Typefaces based on late medieval script form s were cut in the firs t fifty
years o f p rin tin g ’s existence in Germany, France, Ita ly and England, the
period know n as the incunabula era o f p rin t. Some o f these firs t efforts in
the new m edium became the basis o f typeform s s till in use in the late 20 th
century, though m odified to suit later technologies such as photom echani­
cal reproduction o r electronic typesetting. The blackletter designs cut by
Gutenberg, fo r instance, were employed u n til the 19th century in
Germany. B ut other early typefaces reflected a late medieval sensibility
w hich subsequently fe ll fro m fashion and there are several early type styles
which are as rem ote and u n fa m ilia r to m odern eyes as are the ^manuscript
letters on w hich they were based. For instance W illia m C axton’s types, the
firs t cut in England, were based on an English blackletter w hich had a
cruder visual fo rm than the hum anistic book scripts w hich u ltim a te ly
determ ined the aesthetic standards o f p rin tin g types. The d iffic u lty and
laboriousness o f producing typefaces worked against the p ro life ra tio n o f a
w ide variety o f sizes and styles, though as the num ber o f trained punch-
cutters, printers and designers grew the range o f available faces m u ltip lie d
in p ro p o rtio n to th e ir numbers. It is estimated th a t between 8 and 10 m il­
lio n volumes were produced by 1500, less than fifty years after the firs t use
o f moveable type to p rin t a b oo k .1
The firs t types were designed in M ainz, Germany, by Johann
Gutenberg and used in his in itia l p u b lica tion , referred to as the 42-line
bible, w hich was com pleted around 1456. In p o in t o f fa ct, Gutenberg’s
‘invention’ consisted in large p a rt o f the design o f a device fo r casting in d i-
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance
a b rO tfffli
i( ilu in o ( i
q r i T s tu o
ra fn s n
Albrecht DQrer's black letter and
construction, 1925, Nuremberg
Geoffrey Tory's constructed
majuscules, Champfleury, 1529
(Edward I. Strange, A Manual o f
Lettering, London, 1898)
vidu al letters in variable sized m etal units w hich could in tu rn be recom­
bined in an in fin ite array o f sequences - the m echanical basis o f printing.
The actual concept o f p rin tin g letters from a re lie f surface had been in
existence fo r centuries in both C hina and the West, though in Europe the
applications o f this technology had largely been confined to the produc­
tio n o f stamped bindings fo r books. Gutenberg’s radical breakthrough in
production methods netted him very little gain: he was bankrupted
through a com plex o f circumstances and though celebrated by posterity,
suffered considerably in his life tim e from poo r business choices and unfor­
tunate partnerships.
P rintin g spread ra p id ly in Europe w ith the technology disseminating
from the German center, at firs t through individ ua ls and then through the
emergence o f a fu ll-b lo w n profession. C onrad Sweynheym and A rnold
Pannartz, fo r instance, tw o itin e ra n t printers who had gained th e ir exper­
tise from Gutenberg, helped spread the invention, m od ifyin g both the
form s and the substance o f printed books to meet the needs o f various
com m unities. Establishing themselves near Subiaco in Italy, Sweynheym
and Pannartz designed a typeface based on the hum anistic scrip t which
had been developed in the scrip to riu m o f the m onastery there. By the end
o f the 15th century n o t o nly had a significant num ber o f books been pro­
duced, but various genres had become established: the pocket-sized edi­
tio n , the illu stra te d book, the vernacular te xt and so fo rth .
The p ro life ra tio n o f type styles w hich accompanied the spread o f
p rin tin g reflected both local styles and tastes and the desire o f the new
profession to serve a varied clientele. The specimen sheets o f the German
p rin te r E hrhardt R a td o lt produced in 1486 - some th irty years after
Gutenberg’s firs t p u b lica tio n - provide some sense o f the range o f types
available in a single p rin te r’s establishm ent, though it should be kept in
m ind th a t R a td o lt was p rin tin g in Venice, a m ajor center o f typographic
a ctivity and ca lligra ph ic tra d itio n . W hile the persistence o f the w ritin g
styles from earlier m anuscript tra d itio n s are clear in the adaptations to
p rin tin g types, the page designs became m ore insistently linear and regu­
larized ow ing to the m echanical demands o f the p rin t m edium . It took
nearly a century and a h a lf before the designers o f te xt fonts used in p rin t­
ing conceptualized th e ir designs independently o f the m anuscript tra d itio n
w hich had offered such s trik in g models to the firs t generations o f printers,
w hile the increased variety in titlin g and decorative faces, largely used fo r
advertising, was a developm ent o f the 19th century.
In the realm o f titlin g types, majuscules o r capitals this h isto ry is dis­
tin c tly differen t. W hile te xt types to ok th e ir visual fo rm fro m m anuscript
faces, the developm ent o f capital letters returned to the tra d itio n o f
Roman capitals. B ut rather than lite ra lly copying the form s w hich at that
m id-15th century period existed about them in great numbers on the clas­
sical monuments scattered throughout Western Europe, the Renaissance
theorists o f le tte r design reconceptualized the form s o f these letters
through a process o f elaborate, h ig hly rationalized construction. The basis
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance
Geoffrey Tory's constructed 'A'
with compass image,
Champfleury, 1529
Geoffrey Tory's constructed T
and 'K' based on human propor­
tions; Champfleury, 1529
Geoffrey Tory's constructed 'O'
based on human proportions;
Champfleury, 1529
o f a ll o f these constructions was the m istaken n o tio n th a t the Roman
form s had resulted from a mechanical production based on the circle and
the square, the tw o geom etric figures considered to be m ost harm oniously
p roportioned (barring the golden mean, w hich, oddly enough, was never
pressed in to service as the basis o f le tte r form s). O n the basis o f this m is­
conception designers, geometers, artists and p rinters designed versions o f
the Roman capitals throughout the period o f the high Renaissance w hich
were based on elaborate theoretical models.
The firs t know n treatise on constructed letters is the w ork o f Felice
Feliciano (at least one treatise on constructed G othic in itia ls exists, but its
dates are unclear, and it may w ell have been a treatm ent fro m this later
period), but the firs t p rinted version o f a constructed alphabet was p ro ­
duced in 1480. Authored by D am iano da M oyle o f Parma, this w ork had
fallen in to obscurity u n til its rediscovery and p ub lica tion by Stanley
M orison in thel920s. Feliciano and da M oyle both e x h ib it the features
w hich were conspicuous elements o f constructed alphabets through the
end o f the 16th century: the use o f the compass and square, the establish­
m ent o f a set o f propo rtio ns fo r the w id th o f the m ajor strokes, and the
careful discussion o f the process by w hich letters should be derived
through application o f th e ir m ethod. Each designer had an in d ivid u a l
o p in io n on a w hole num ber o f points: the relative sturdiness o r delicacy o f
the basis strokes, o f the am ount o f subtlety to be invested in the construc­
tio n o f the ta il o f the ‘R ’ o r the ‘Q ,’ and the axis o f emphasis on which
th in and th ic k variations o f line in the ‘O ’ should be oriented from the
perpendicular and so fo rth . Peculiar exaggerations o f le tter form s resulted
from an insistence on the theoretical propositions: in the w ork o f
Feliciano, fo r exam ple, the ‘Z ’ and ‘D ’ become extrem ely w ide in order to
fill out the p ro po rtio ns o f a perfect square.
C onstructed alphabets were designed by such figures as the w ell-
know n and much adm ired geometer, Fra Luca de Pacioli, whose designs,
possibly developed in consultation w ith Leonardo da V in ci, were pub­
lished in 1509, and a whole ra ft o f other m athem aticians, w ritin g masters,
and printers. Foremost among these were A lbrecht D iire r and G eoffrey
Tory, whose m ajor treatises on le tter fo rm a tion were published w ith in the
same decade. The w ide ly contrasting sensibilities o f the tw o men are
im m ediately apparent in the contrast o f th e ir system atization o f le tte r
design. D urer’s 1535 O n the Just Shaping o f Letters is a mechanical
treatise w ith a rigorous aesthetic purpose w hile T o ry’s C ham pfleury com ­
bines cosm ological and m ystical insights w ith his hum anistically tempered
diagrams.
D iire r’s w ork is rem arkable fo r its use o f m ethod fo r its own sake. The
le tter form s he designed, like the diagrams he created through his own
peculiar adaptation o f Ita lia n theories o f perspective, were idiosyncratic.
W hat he had grasped in his visits to Ita ly in the 1490s and early 1500s was
th a t m ethod was a conceptual to o l, but the clear understanding o f its
mechanics never form ed a solid basis fo r his w ork. H is use o f circles, grids,
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance
Geoffrey Tory, Combination of
Tand '0 / Champfleury, 1529
LH O M M E LETRE
Champfleury, 1529
Geoffrey Tory's 'QU' the affec­
tionate pair, Champfleury, 1529
or p ro p o rtio n a l systems often seems a rb itra ry - as was often the case
w ith in the w orks o f Ita lia n designers o f constructed letters. In many
instances the schematic lines seem to have been added a fte r the drawn
construction rather than having used it to actually generate the letters. But
D urer’s application o f m ethod shared the in fa tu a tio n w ith the production
o f fo rm through ra tio n a l m ethod o f his Ita lia n contem poraries. But the
p ro o f o f his engagement w ith m ethod fo r its own sake was in his peculiar
application o f the theories o f construction to the design o f a blackletter
face based on the penned form s o f a m anuscript hand. The form s o f these
letters, generated fro m the gestures o f a scribe’s w ritin g movements, had
no relation whatsoever to the mechanical principles ascribed to the inven­
tio n o f Roman capitals. Yet D tire r o b lig in g ly created a constructed form o f
this blackletter alphabet in accord w ith precisely these same mechanical
principles.
The w ork o f G eoffrey Tory, the preem inent French p rin te r o f the early
16th century, incorporated the cosm ological synthesis p a rtic u la r to early
Renaissance scholars. T ory used his studies o f the letters as the means to
integrate classical and m ystical knowledge, draw ing on Neo-Pythagorean
and N eo-P latonic sym bolism . For instance, T ory used a theory o f propor­
tions derived from the hum an figure as the basis o f his designs, mapping
the body o f a man in to the g rid on w hich he based his majuscules - a
quintessential^ hum anistic, early Renaissance idea. B ut then he linked his
structuring g rid o f pro po rtio ns to systems o f m ythology and the Muses.
Insisting th a t a ll the capital letters could be constructed from a combina­
tio n o f the T and the ‘ O ’ (the straight line and the circle) T ory assigned to
each o f the ten units in his g rid a different^M use, adding A p o llo ’s as the
tenth name to com plete the set. These propo rtio ns also corresponded to
the openings and intervals on the m ythic flu te o f V irg il, themselves each
governed by a M use, w hile the m outh and shaft o f the flu te signified the T
and the ‘ O .’ Inscribed w ith in this system, the letters were inherently aes­
th etic and sym bolic. T ory term ed these A ttic letters and the sum to ta l of
tw enty-three letters could be projected onto the hum an anatom y to show
the perfection o f its organization in relatio n to the system o f the alphabet
as seen in his image o f U hom m e le ttre .
T ory made p a rtic u la r assessments o f the characters o f each o f the let­
ters as w ell, though his m ethod was n ot systematic. He characterized the
‘A’ fo r instance as ‘a sym bol o f the voice com ing fo rth between tw o parts
o f the palate,’ an image w hich he fe lt was evident in its form . But he also
asserted th a t the le tte r A was composed visua lly fro m images o f the com­
pass and straight edge, the fundam ental tools o f the geometer’s discipline.
T ory’s im agination extended to explain such anomalies as the dispropor­
tionate size o f the le tte r Q, the o nly m ajuscule w hich d id n ot fit w ith in the
space o f the square. ‘Q ,’ T ory explained, was u n w illin g to be parted from
his ‘trusty comrade and brother U ’ (or ‘V ’ in T ory’s vocabulary, the U/V
d istin ctio n s till unm arked in this era) and therefore he ‘embraces him w ith
his ta il from below .’2 Finally, T ory was a repository o f certain classical
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance
Geoffrey Tory's Pythagorean 'Y',
Champfleury, 1529
Geoffrey Tory, Pontifical capi­
tals, Champfleury, 1529 (Edward
I- Strange, A Manual o f
Lettering, London, 1898)
BSD
tra d itio n s in new Renaissance form : the sym bol o f the ‘Y ’ long associated
w ith Pythagoreanism, appeared in tw o form s in T o ry’s w ork. In both cases
the sym bolic opposition o f good and e vil, v irtu e versus te m ptation, were
visually projected onto the le tte r - at firs t em blem atically through a set o f
symbols tied to the branches o f the letter, m aking it in to an em blem atic
image, and in the other case by using it as the basis o f a visual narrative.
T o ry’s collection o f in fo rm a tio n on letters d id n o t end here; in the fin a l
section o f the C ham pfleury he published various alphabets: a set o f letters
used fo r Papal documents, a utopian alphabet he a ttrib u te d to Thom as
M ore and Chaldean, Persian and Greek letters among others. Com pendia
including the fantastic and the h isto rica l systems on equal term s featured
in the w orks o f both earlier and later historians, though T ory’s visual pre­
sentation was more elegant than most.
165
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance
Decorative initial used in print­
ing from Hans Holbein's Dance
o f Death designs
Alphabet of nude figures,
Martin Weygel, Munich, 1560
Italian woodcut initial used in
printing, by Paulini, 1570
Penmanship: W riting Masters and Manuals
Woodcut initial used in printing,
Italian, early 16th century
Though the conviction th a t ra tio n a l design was the best design would
persist, especially in France, w ell in to the 18th century and serve as a con­
spicuous influence on the developm ent o f the so-called m odern typefaces
o f Bodoni, G randjean, Le Be and others, G iovanni Cresci, who served as
the o ffic ia l Vatican scribe between 1566 and 1572, rejected the m yth o f the
circle and square, straig ht edge and compass, as the basic elements and
instrum ents o f le tter design. Cresci had a sensitive eye, and his observation
o f the inscribed form s on the Roman m onum ents aropnd him led to a far
more nuanced p roduction than th a t o f his more rigorously theory-bound
predecessors in the fie ld o f le tte r design. Though less m ystical and cosmo­
logical than T o ry’s w o rk, Cresci’s subtle com bination o f hand and eye
w ith systematic m ethod seems, in retrospect, m ore fu lly hum anistic than
the earlier application o f systematic ra tio n a liza tio n to the alphabet.
W hile p rin tin g became the prevalent m ethod by w hich books were pro­
duced by the end o f the 15th century, the documents used in business, legal
and financial transactions continued to be handw ritten. The h istorian o f
calligraphy D onald Anderson has noted th a t as the medieval scribe disap­
peared, the w ritin g m aster and m anual o f penmanship emerged as i f to fill
the vo id .3 W hile the letters o f the alphabet were n ot accorded sym bolic
value w ith in these w ritte n displays o f virtuo so s k ill, these documents
occupied a d is tin c t social niche by v irtu e o f th e ir visual fo rm . The first
w ritin g manuals (as opposed to pattern books o r specimen sheets) were
published in the early 16th century, w ith Ludovico V icentino degli
A rrig h i’s w ork o f 1522 q u ickly follow ed by th a t o f G iovannantonio
Tagliente in 1524 and G iovam battista Palatino in 1540. These three are
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance
Woodcut initial used in printing,
Lucas Kilian, ABC Buchlein, 1632
edition engraved by Regina
Hertlerin
Theodor de Bry, 1595, Woodcut
Initials with Adam and Eve motif
In the 'A' and Tetragrammaton
in the 'B*
considered the great penmen o f the Renaissance and each is associated
w ith a d is tin c tly in d ivid u a l style o f chancery cursive hand, but d is tin ­
guished w ritin g masters emerged throughout Europe in the 16th century:
Juan d ’Y cia r in Spain, Johann N eudorffer and W olfgang Fugger in
Germany, D aniel Sm ith in England, among others, and each was
renowned fo r p a rtic u la r s ty lis tic features.
One o f the m ost a rticu la te paeans to the v irtu e o f scribal a c tiv ity was
produced at the dawn o f the 16th century by Johannes T rithem ius. A
Benedictine m onk, T rithem ius defended m anuscript p ro du ction in his
w ork In Praise o f Scribes, arguing th a t parchm ent lasted longer than
paper, th a t copied w orks looked better than p rinted ones, th a t copying
was both educational and u p liftin g to the s p irit, and th a t p rin tin g had in
no way displaced the need fo r such in d ivid u a l productions. He him self
w rote a clear hum anistic hand and made copies o f many m anuscripts as
w ell as acquiring a significant collection fo r his monastery. B ut he p e rm it­
ted his w orks, inclu ding In Praise o f Scribes, to be p rin te d arguing th a t
they thus reached a w ider audience.
To advertise th e ir sk ills , w ritin g masters published th e ir w orks, firs t
through the laborious process o f w ood engraving.The com plex flourishes
and the grace o f regular rhyth m ic design had to be translated in to a rig id
w ood fo rm w hich copied the w ritin g m aster’s m odel. The success o f these
productions bespeaks the technical s k ill o f engravers o f the 16th century,
but the task o f p ub lica tion was fu rth e r aided by the invention o f in ta g lio
p rin tin g around 1570. The use o f a b u rin , o r sharp carving to o l, to
inscribe the surface o f a m etal plate was w ell suited to the reproduction o f
elaborate curves and decorative form s. In m any cases, these published
w orks bear the names o f both the p rin te r and the engraver, testim ony to
the p a rt played by both in the production. The best o f the w ork o f these
w ritin g masters was in tu rn incorporated in to designs o f type, as in
the case o f A rrig h i and Palatino and the types w hich bear th e ir names.
The use o f these master w orks fo r design also carried over in to in itia l
letters, w ith the w ork o f Juan d’Y ciar, fo r instance, repeatedly translated
from drawn fo rm to carved blocks fo r reproduction. The designs o f decor­
ated letters p roliferated in the Renaissance, m ainly fo r use in the p rin tin g
industry, but often derived from the com plex drawings o f artists. Hans
H o lb e in ’s in itia l capitals in the Dance o f D eath, w ith th e ir e x p lic it depic­
tions o f elements o f this narrative, are one example o f such production.
H o lb e in ’s letters, like those o f many other fam ous designs, were recut
and reproduced in many editions w ith varying degrees o f accuracy and
precision.
M anuals by distinguished w ritin g masters served to publicize th e ir
w ork, to guarantee th e ir reputations, and as the basis o f exercises fo r stu­
dents o f the a rt who continue to copy the models o f Palatino, A rrig h i,
Tagliente and others up to the present day. Such w orks as A Booke
C ontaining Divers Sortes o f Hands (1570) by John B aildon and John de
Beauchesne, the firs t w ritin g m anual published in England, o r D aniel
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

Sm ith’s C opybook (1651) from alm ost a century later, were straightfor­
ward com pendia o f scrip t styles w ith only modest am ounts o f decorative
display. Styles in w ritin g changed w ith styles in other visual and decorative
arts however, and the regular, rhythm o f chancery hands w hich predom i­
nated in the 15th and 16th centuries gave way to the play o f ‘contradictory
movements’ in the M annerist p erio d .4
By the 18th century, the w ork o f w ritin g masters was so elaborately
decorative th at its m ain m otivation seemed to be to indulge in complex
dem onstrations o f dazzling and alm ost ille gib le s k ill. M any historians
consider this the period o f decay, rather than the supreme achievement, o f
the w ritin g masters, whose technical a bilitie s com bined w ith the achieve­
ments o f the engravers to render th e ir w ork m echanical and inhum an
rather than the epitom e o f sensitive touch w hich some considered the basis
Palatino's first published book o f calligraphic perfection. O n the ipore mundane level, however, the most
on penmanship-, Libro Nuovo, p ractical o f manuals s till served as the source and standard fo r legible
1540 hands considered essential fo r business and legal transactions. Thus, into
the 18th century, a w ork like R ichard W are’s The Young C lerk's Assistant
(1733) displayed its modest goals in its title as w ell as in its models o f basic
scripts.

(CimwpL^Ci'iiibatltw
c.aurlm.(As,iAuiM
H^r(jitcflL^v^ti^cetpe.,
Ail no|torto<&o£,
T !<fe.&{^fa mHiOmoPtffofetaf<\ttoi^
f^factll
jo^RfOnfon^i«(ttocioKn^i’bBt^^qiicjtn^&McTA^ua^
<Jf|u«^kteiriM<\a(2iina; (t)
ftinajp nbft^Poflw;
confine,|k&mcft,n<>&Sfofl^ctn^’teaW ^,'catfto&Ge'
c.et.<*.Mint,jtj
ufi^tiW^ftxooL

*n0tJi|wi
*tcCL(Lr*€6‘ct•t)9^'ceI
|M> * fr6«^'it tt-rivVV
{Sbrojcti'Hf fittest jijnnnoa&unj

Italian mercantile hand from

Palatino's Libro Nuovo, 1540

Juan d'Yciar, riband letter

design (Henry Shaw, Alphabets)
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

‘t ^ i u g c ^ n ^ n w u c c ff^ J ir f jc ’ ✓

Jean de Beauchesne and John

f ttT -J9 i«/ -m r^T n 'tm T <f> v •<» *
Baildon, A Booke Containing
Divers Sortes o f Hands, 1571
*"$ -$ £ £ J j ( * ( * '* •
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

Flourish capitals typical of late

Renaissance German penman­
ship

170

Christopher Weyle, German,

early 18th century virtuoso pen­
manship (redrawn by Shaw)

Renaissance scribe at work, (Les

Plus Beaux Types des Lettres,
Paris)
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

Cryptography: the S w ift Secret Messenger

C ryptographic methods had been w ell know n since antiquity. A

process o f le tte r substitu tion a ttrib u te d to Caesar was the m ost comm on
form o f message coding practiced before the Renaissance. Invented sym­
bols and strange co rrup t form s o f foreign alphabets had also been used in
medieval codes, m ainly in the practice o f secret diplom acy. A num ber o f
esoteric alphabets were even considered the invention o f Charlemagne,
though the scholarship w hich supports this supposition is hardly substan­
tia l enough to contrad ict the fa ct o f his illite ra cy. In the 13th century,
Roger Bacon had included suggestions fo r no less than seven methods o f
producing secret w ritin g in his w orks, such as using letters fro m long dead
languages, invented characters and signs to make clandestine codes. But in
the Renaissance cryptography received a m ajor im petus from the w ork o f
Johannes Trithem ius whose publications provided the foundation fo r p ro ­
life ra tio n o f cryptographic w orks through the next tw o centuries.

C J ' f g b i k I m n o p cj r f t u x j z n

Secret alphabet attributed to

Charlemagne
Alphabetum frontaTe.
AB C D E G H K LM N O P Q R T V X Y t V
J _4 to 12 14IM * 8 £9 2 IF22 24
£ J tj i n f 16 9 20 22 I
s: 6 2 \\o 12 141 5 11 1819 2 0 21 . 0
3 :7 to i i f x *3 f 16
'i 21 2 2 24 }
7 lo t X 1 2 1 3 *4 i f 16 v? '_9 1 2 2 *3 *4 4
8 io r r 2 i 3 14 i f 7*6 i j 20 2 122 Z’4 1 2 f
171
9 I 2 t *4 r y ;i 6 *7
“ 1a I I r * j§ 6
lO y x jix 6 iT8ji9 I I £3*4 J 7
tor 13 <4 16, 17 19 so­ zTg *4 '4 8
K ro n r z 13 .16 17 18 20 i l 324
E 11 n *3 14 i f 16 17 1 8 1 9 2 1 22 2J 24 4 10
2O M i 13 I f 1.6 I 18 f 9 20 Ta 24 XJt
-8 N ’ T 141 1 6 1 7 1 8 2 0 21 *4 F2
■SL O 1 4 1 f 16 1 7 i«9 2J 22* r I O 1 112 I 3
• I;
I f 16 1 7 1 8 22 y 2 10 111213 14

Q l l * 7 *8 19 *3* 24 3 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 14 i f
18 < 122 24 910 f 16
L r L2 1
19 223 I ro 1 1 12 n r i T frd * 7
T r9 2 0 2 I 2 3 2 4 X 1j 9/ii ro r 1 *2 L i i f 16 17 18
r *
2 0 2 .1 2 2 3 *4 3 7 10 1 I 12 lJ L4 i f 16 L7L? i j
Grid used to produce alphabetic 2 1 2 2 23 4 1 9 1 1 ,1 ^ *3 *4 1 f x-6 *7 20
code, Trithemius's version, 22 2 324 * 3 J lO j f 161 1819 2p XI
Steganographia, 1499 (1721 *3 1 1011 i 2 1617 20 2t 2 2

edition, Nuremberg) W 24 4 9 1 c n 1 2 1 a . H lif J i 6 1 7 1 8 I 9820 X 12*2 23

Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance
Spells used to call upon 'angels*
of Trithemius's code,
Steganographia, 1499 (1721
edition, Nuremberg)
,<$ S T S e jX Q G R M t r u ;
Cam has vel quaslibet alias aeceperir Iiteras princeps ant alrer
cui m ittunttir, in arte perirus figno Dorothielis cognito fe vertat ad
Chorum (ubi iple fpiritus cum ducibus & fervitoribus fuis moratur)
faciensomnia&fingulaquasars ipfarequirit. Deinde (piritum voce
fubmifla facile vocet ut liovit.
Conjuratio 2.
Dorothiel onear chameron vlyfeor madufynpeony
oriel nayr drufe mouayr Pamerfon etro dumefon da-
voricaho. Casmiel hayrno fabelronthon.
Clavis <5? Settjus.
oNeArVlYfEoRpEoNyNaYrMoVaYrEtRoDaVo
RiCaHoHaYrNo. S m fis. 9uU)icmt Him r if f bill’d) bin,
Completo carmine ifto fi moram fecerit fpiritus in veniendo;
iterum legat usque tertio: & fine omni dubio vifibilis apparebit,& re*
velabit ad aurem commiflk.
Tenor arcani.
3$ bfom utvtr ©nabc tvotle mime ©ruber 3dcobbae ?(ltar
fifben«
W hile no systematic study o f the relations between diplom acy, cryp­
tography and specific p o litic a l circumstances exists, there is sufficient evi­
dence to suggest th a t the m ajor role o f secret w ritin g was in the realm o f
struggles over power, m ilita ry manoevers o r behind the scenes p o litica l
intrigues and conspiracies .5 These w orks have a very d ifferen t aim and
sensibility from those o f the alchem ical texts w hich used ciphers to protect
arcane knowledge from the vulgar and u n in itia te d . The cryptographic
texts universally fu n ctio n as guides to the production and use o f secret
w ritin g , though, as in the case o f T rithem ius’s w ork, they are sometimes
so coded themselves th a t they require unravelling before providing useful
tools fo r the novice.
T rithem ius’s m ajor w orks on cryptography were the peculiar and much
m isunderstood Steganographia, w hich firs t appeared in p rin t in 1499, and
Polygraphia, a m ore straightforw ard m anual published in 1506. In the first
w ork Trithem ius stated th a t messages to be transm itted secretly could be
carried by sp irits w hich had themselves to be called* "upon by means of
u n in te llig ib le conjurations. He then provided an exhaustive record o f the
various spells to be used to bring fo rth sp irits - who had names which
resembled those o f the H ebrew angels. One such phrase read: ‘Parmersiel
A noyr M adrisel Ebrasothean Abrulges Itra sbiel Nadres Orm enu Itules
Rablon H am orp hiel.’ These invocations are themselves in code: taking
every other le tte r results in the production o f a German phrase instructing
the reader to ‘take the firs t le tte r o f every w o rd .’ T his process was then to
be applied to the sentences w hich follow ed to reveal the substantive mes­
sage. The messages Trithem ius used fo r his examples were generally suited
to m ilita ry situations and involve calls to arms, assignations fo r flig h t and
struggle.
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

x b c d e f g f a i l m j t o p q r f t u x y z

Scriptumiamfuperiori cxempioliterarum numerum inquartam partem dedtt-

ccmus hoc modoterunt ergotrigmta characters.

Addimus prxterea etiam his poflefingulisfexliteral pratfigurari,

vltra pnrdiCtis quatuor addere duo.
a b e d e f g h i I m o o p q r f t u x

a b c d e f g h Ur n o op q *

|\/V - W V - r f t U X

S.
i

F r im a s hasfiguraodo,pallet pradiCUshocmodo. 173

Giambattistai Porta, De furtivis

literarum, 1563

Thus the m any ‘angels’ invoked in Steganographia were in fa ct messen­

gers, but in the m etaphoric sense th a t the spells fo r th e ir conjura tion were
keys containing prescriptions o f differen t codes. T rithem ius’s form ulas
involved such sophisticated patterns o f substitu tion - some required a con­
tin u a l m utation o f the coding process so th a t the reader was to ‘take* the
letters in varying patterns and sequences - th a t his prescriptions were con­
sidered the bases even fo r m odern cipher w ork. H is language however was
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

com pletely obfuscating, and the phrases invoking sp irits led to his being
accused of co njuring and tra ffic k in g w ith demons. Somewhat
chastened by harsh c riticism , T rithem ius’s Polygraphia presented the
procedures fo r coding in less arcane language, but his image as a conjurer
persisted fo r generations .6 M any o f his contem poraries actually refused to
read Steganographia fo r fear o f its m aleficent influence and copies o f the
book were b u rn t by church officials leading the Spanish in q u isitio n .

Tbe Secret and Swift Mtjfenger. 37

A a .h k C c 'D c k J L e .T J .g g .jt k
J fi. K k »jClMUtiMti*Oo.Tj>,
Cipher disk attributed to
Giambattista Porta, late 16th
century
^JsSft'S Tv.vW wXr..Jy.’Z * . *
JhzJeconbjifrA&idb.
John Wilkins's 'double'
jfa .3 A C c .fD & .& s .g f.< fe M
alphabets, a code distinguished
by using two types of letters In
JO0 .T j> .S ir.
the same message; The Secret
and Swift Messenger, 1642

O ther cryptographers were m ore visua lly im aginative than Trithem ius,
who lim ite d him self to alphabetic substitutions, though not more sophisti­
cated in the actual mechanics o f code production. O f the many texts pro­
duced on cryptography in the 16th and 17th centuries, those of
G iam battista della Porta and Gustavus Selenus are among the most
renowned. P orta’s p u b lica tio n o f 1563, De fu rtiv is literaru m notis vulgo
zypheris lib r i quinque (Five Books on Secret L etter Signs - in the
Vernacular, Ciphers) contained several novel innovations. Am ong these
were ciphers w hich substituted an a rb itra ry but system atic set o f symbols
fo r the letters o f the alphabet. Messages produced in this code had the
bizarre fo rm o f unknow n w ritin g , and obviously the recipient had to have
the key to the code to fa c ilita te decipherm ent. De fu rtiv is also contained
codes made by a process o f dislocating the letters in a message from their
linear sequence, so th a t the'Spatial attributes o f a g rid p articipated in the
code, sometimes through such elaborate d istrib u tio n s th a t both encipher­
m ent and decipherm ent were frau gh t w ith errors even in P orta’s examples.
Porta made use o f other inventions, among them a cipher disk whose
ro ta tin g wheels could be used to determ ine the substitutions o f letters or
fo r efficient deciphering. C ryptom enytices et C ryptographiae published in
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance
By M athem atical Figures.
Method of translating alpha­
betic sequence into points as the
basis of diagrams in code; John
Wilkins, The Secret and Swift
Messenger, 1642
1624 by Selenus (pen name o f Duke August o f Braunschweig and
Lunenberg) presented a sum m ary o f knowledge on cryptography based on
the holdings in the D uke’s own extensive collection. Porta and Selenus
acknowledged th e ir debt to T rithem ius as d id Blaise de Vigenere, author
o f Traicte des C hiffres (1586), John W ilkin s in M ercury: the S w ift and
Secret Messenger (1642), and Gaspar Schott in Schola steganographica
(1655).
W hile these w orks a ll contained various prescriptions fo r codes or
ciphers, none surpassed T rithem ius in his fundam ental grasp o f the con­
ceptual basis o f cryptography. D escriptive im agination was n o t lacking,
however: Schott suggested th a t images and messages could be carried in
the a ir in the same way images are carried in a m irro r; these in tu rn could
be impressed on a recipient w ith in a 24 hour period, after w hich they
w ould, presumably, fade. These later scholars were not w ith o u t insight
in to T rithem ius’s lim ita tio n s. Schott criticize d one o f his predecessor’s
schemes w hich proposed the use o f tw o magnetized needles, each w ith in a
circu la r fram e w ith the alphabet on its rim , whose movements could sup­
posedly be coordinated w ith each other across a physical distance so th at
a message spelled on one could be read in the movements o f the other.
Schott pointed o u t th a t th is procedure w ould never w ork in a ctu a lity since
the magnets could n o t be linked in this way.
The w orks o f these authors often com bined th e ir cryptographic studies
w ith other aspects o f the fu n ctio n o r h isto ry o f w ritte n language.
T rithem ius, fo r instance, included a b rie f h isto ry o f w ritte n form s in his
Polygraphia, tracing its invention from the age o f M ercury and reproduc­
ing supposedly secret alphabets a ttrib uted to the N orm ans, ancient Franks
and a m onk, O tfrid , o f Weissenberg.7 M any proposals fo r schemes o f
cryptographic w ritin g hardly, if ever, led to p roduction o f actual docu­
ments.
W ilkin s, fo r instance, suggested using the m usical notes and s ta ff lines
as an alphabetic code and la id b ut the p articulars in his w ork, but no
instance o f its use has ever surfaced in w ritte n fo rm . W ilkin s was p a rticu ­
la rly thorough as w ell as inventive: he anthologized instances o f the use o f
smoke signals, sign language and cryptogram s using string , knots, sticks
and even geom etric figures whose coordinates could be mapped onto an
alphabetic g rid to produce sense. Published in 1641, W ilk in s ’s ideas and
suggestions seem to have been pressed in to actual service in the secret
com m unications used in d ip lom atic circles d urin g O liver C rom w ell’s
p o litic a l struggles .8
Perhaps the m ost interesting aspect o f the Renaissance fascination w ith
cryptography was n o t the novelty o f inventions fo r ciphers o r codes but
the realization th a t language was susceptible to abstract m anipulation as
in fo rm a tio n . W hile the earliest codes were, in p o in t o f fa ct, lite ra l, th a t is,
they made use o f a transposition and exchange o f letters, later systems o f
code began to evolve an epistem ological structure in w hich the relations
between hum an knowledge and language were explored. In the w ork o f
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

W ilkin s, the realm o f cryptographic studies verged on the lin g u istic inves­
tig a tio n which in tu rn inspired the production o f several schemes fo r a
universal language.
A ll o f these involved codes in the transform ation o f lin g u istic inform a­
tio n in to a schematic structure, but the enterprise was conceived on stark­
ly differen t intellectu al premises than were the cryptographic methods
used to construct secret messages.

Common W riting, Real Character, and the Area Glottotactica

A ttitud es towards language evolved in the Renaissance fro m the con­

victio n th a t language could be analysed fo r its perfection, as evidence of
divine in sp ira tio n , to a realization th a t languages were embedded in
hum an history, were inconsistent, im perfect, and subject to change. The
boundaries o f cu ltu ra l experience expanded w ith increased exploration
and trade increasing exposure to an array o f foreign languages which
appeared exotic to Europeans whose own languages were p u t in to per­
spective by contrast. The universal language schemes w hich emerged in
this period, p a rtic u la rly in the 17th century, were m otivated by one or
more o f the fo llo w in g desires: to recover the lo st perfection assumed to be
em bodied in the o rig in a l language spoken by Adam ; to find a system o f
polyglo t tran slatio n capable o f breaking down the barriers between
peoples w hich were embodied in lin g u istic differences; and to construct a
system in w hich lin g u istic categories w ould designate logical categories in
a more perfect relatio n o f language and knowledge. It was w ritte n lan­
guage, rather than spoken language, w hich len t its e lf to these proposals, in
p a rt because the concrete q u a lity o f its visual fo rm len t its e lf to more
ready m anipulation w ith in descriptive systems.
O f these many systems, the sim plest were the proposals fo r translation
systems, w hich were basically m echanical means to provide a universal
lexical key. Alexander Top’s The O live Leafy firs t published in 1603, was
the one o f the firs t o f such suggestions fo r a ‘U niversall A lphabet.’ Top’s
book contains an e xho rta tio n to his readers to recall th a t the one and only
o rig in a l alphabet, invented by God, consisted o f the tw enty-tw o uncor­
rupted letters o f the H ebrew tongue. A ll diverse w ritte n languages there­
fore had one source and could, through Top’s analysis, be linked to each
other in a universally readable code. The fu ll title o f Top’s w ork was The
O live L e a f o r U niversall A lphabet: W herein is set fo rth the Creation,
Descent, and A u th o ris e o f Letters - together w ith the E stim ation, P rofit,
A ffirm a tio n o r D eclination o f Them fo r the fa m ilia r use o f a ll students,
teachers and learners o f w hat C hirography soever m ost necessary. The
p ecu lia rity o f Top’s w ork was th a t he resolved to translate one language
in to another by means o f a chart o f letters, w ith o u t regard fo r vocabulary
o r syntax. B ut as every le tte r was believed to im p rin t some aspect o f the
L o rd ’s creation, it was im p o rta n t to return the diversity o f tongues to their
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

o rig in a l u n ity by dem onstrating the s im ila rity o f letters in a ll alphabets.

W hile Top’s proposal was n o t w orkable as a means o f tran slatio n
it contained certain elements w hich featured in early proposals fo r a u n i­
versal language. Am ong these was the conviction th a t there had been an
o rig in a l language w hich had been confused and m u ltip lie d at Babel. It was
believed th a t if recovered this single tongue w ould be found to have been
based on a natural relatio n between words and things. The n o tio n o f
a book o f the w orld in w hich elements were letters to be read as G od’s
w ork became one o f the prevailing m etaphors by w hich this concept was
represented, though in the course o f the 17th century, the m ystical and
cosm ological tendency became distinguished from philosophical and
theological discussions. There were tw o aspects o f these assertions about
an o rig in a l language: th a t in its o rig in a l fo rm w ritin g could represent
knowledge in a natural relatio n between w ord and th in g and th a t lan­
guage could embody knowledge directly. In such a p ro po sition , language
is presumed to be capable o f containing its own referents, o r o f being
m eaningful d ire ctly rather than serving as a sign to represent som ething.

177

Alexander Top, The Olive Leaf,

1603

The concept o f a n atural language led Renaissance scholars to a search

fo r a set o f visual signs w hich w ould serve to embody the system o f human
knowledge (conceived o f as the apprehension o f a divine order) and also
in to attem pts to produce a universal language w hich w ould transcend the
lim ita tio n s o f existing languages. These lim ita tio n s were th a t existing lan­
guages could be understood only by trained o r native speakers, rather
than apprehended d irectly by any in d ivid u a l, and they were a ll highly
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Phitosophical Languages in the Renaissance

im perfect w ith respect to em bodying the structure o f knowledge. M ost o f

the authors o f these schemes fro m Top to W ilkin s to D algarno contained
h I C
an exho rta tio n to p u t in to place a single language th at w ould help to
j>zoJ\(uxMvi nctitia,.
resolve in te rn a tio n a l conflicts. T his u n ifyin g sensibility contrasted sharply
n s r E b rE b rE b r ^ j w ith the emergence o f strong n a tio n a listic identities in the 18th century.
jo ' 9 9. r. c

is j is j ( s i is f r s / The various projects w hich arose from these several observations were
JLT. 1^ . JS. JZ. J t.

f ^ j r ^ i r ^ J r ^ j; is * not always clearly d ifferentiated from each other - o r from the various
20. 19. 18. i?. i(T ..

IHJ efforts to recover the o rig in a l language. But alm ost a ll o f the schemes for
<W 50. * 0. .“10. 25.

f^ j f^ j o r^ J f^ J a philosophical o r universal language contained a proposal fo r a new

200. J00 . • ,90. «o. 70.

I S ' R2J IS J f£>J f^ J w ritin g . These w ritin g schemes varied in accord w ith the conceptual
700. <>00. S00. }<X>. 300.
premises they were invented to fa c ilita te , but the thread w hich united them
fo rii i ^h i n s j fa iz i la b
■J001*. 2000. _|000. 900. • 80 0.
came fro m the Renaissance fascination w ith hieroglyphics and the deeply
ra £ j r a o fW J fi£ J
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The force o f this hieroglyphic im agination was intensified by the con­
e j. is j rs i fej- riif v ic tio n th a t knowledge could be schematized in a single philosophical sys­
Johannes Becher, Pro Notitia tem. The attem pts to realize such a system culm inated in the w ork o f
Linguarum Universal!, 1661 George D algarno and John W ilkin s in the 1660s. T h e ir w ork represented a
clear break w ith the systems o f A risto te lia n scholasticism . T his change
had originated in large p a rt from the im petus o f Petrus Ramus (1515-
1572), who rejected the rig id teaching techniques and fixed categorization
OO o f form s w hich had characterized medieval pedagogy and philosophy
fftre m itt folio# aUthe RaUcaI and replaced them w ith a descriptive structure determ ined fro m observa­
Chtrttttrs of Vtrbt And
MountsfHAdeufoof tio n . The w ork o f Ramus, along w ith the w ork o f Francis Bacon, heralded
in this Work. the onset o f the em pirical m ethod on w hich m odern science is based.
Strains o f H erm etic philosophy and N eo-P latonic thought s till interwove
a to be
a to make th e ir arcane sym bology through these universalizing systems, and the rep­
resentation o f knowledge in the fo rm o f com plex visual emblems o r signs
a to fpeake
often com bined the Renaissance fascination w ith w hat was considered
% to driuke
ancient w isdom and a ra tio n a l structure fo r the presentation o f universal
e to love
knowledge.
K toklcanfe
For the firft, l we
K to come
to begin Sing* ye plur.
10
e to create he. they -M -
Their place in conjunction with a Verb or Noune, is
to light the left fide thereof, as
& toihine
I drink we drink my r0 =
<} to live 'd
thou drinkeft, ye drink thy
todarkeQ J/d *0
tocomprehend he drinketh. they drink their ^
It
to fend But joyned with cither Advers,Prepofitions,or Con-
a jun&ions, their place is on the right hand, as
toname
1L V from me,
T J iB BNB. from thee,
IV//
Francis Lodwick, A Common
from them.
It# -
W riting, 1647 The demonftrsuive Characters are thefe,
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

A n early discussion o f the possible basis on w hich a universal language

could be constructed emerged in an exchange o f correspondence between
the philosopher and m athem atician, Rene Descartes and the mechanist
M a rin Mersenne in the 1630s. M ersenne’s p ub lica tion o f H arm onie
Universelle (1636) contained a p roposition: ‘To determ ine i f the sounds o f
the voice can have a relatio n to things signified such th a t one may fo rm a
universal language.’ W orking fro m the idea th a t if the letters could signify
naturally, th a t is, w ith o u t relying on conventions, then m eaning w ould be
im m ediately apparent, Mersenne went on to say th a t there were in fact
certain meanings inherent in letters. By letters Mersenne m eant sounds:
thus the ‘a’ and ‘o ’ indicated things w hich were large and broad, the ‘e’
was a sign o f subtlety and sadness, the ‘i ’ signalled elements w hich were
sm all and penetrating, lik e ra in , the ‘u’ things w hich were obscure and
hidden, the ‘m ’ was associated w ith whatever was great (as in m onstrous
and magnum ), the ‘f ’ indicated fire and windy as d id ‘s’ and ‘x ,’ w hile ‘ 1’
was liq u id and hum ble, ‘n ’ negative and hidden and so fo rth . C learly this
is a ll associative and suggestive, but Mersenne proposed th a t such assess­
ments m ight provide the basis o f an abstract algebraic language. In his
response to these propositions, Descartes suggested th at a language mere­
ly based on elemental units (letters o r sounds) w ould n o t suffice since
these were obviously im pure and unsystematic. Instead, he proposed a
reduced and sim ple gram m ar w hich could be rendered in num bers, the
basis o f the numbers w ould be a universal d ictio n a ry in w hich each cipher
w ould stand fo r a basic o r ‘p rim itiv e ’ term . There was a fundam ental dis­
tin c tio n between M ersenne’s system o f inherent values and Descartes’
concept o f an abstract system o f values translated in to a sym bolic code
governed by m athem atical o r other rule-bound conventions. Descartes’
desire fo r a system o f correspondences and calculations was actually relat­
ed to Raym ond L lu ll’s earlier concept o f a com binatory a rt, and the
philosopher G o ttfrie d Leibniz com bined these tw o sources in his De A rte
C om binatoriay published in 1666. The distinguishing feature o f these sys­
tems was th e ir abstraction: language was transform ed in to 'lo gica l rela­
tions, words in to num erical values, and the substance o r m eaning o f lan­
guage in to quantifiable term s. W hile the m athem atical sophistication o f
these systems perm itted them to fu nctio n as the basis o f logical science,
the structure o f the key o r lexicon contained the more substantive in fo r­
m ation about the concept o f the structure o f knowledge. The conception
o f the universal language, however, had already evolved from one which
was lite ra l and elemental to one w hich to ok in to account an overall system
and rule-bound relations.
A nother persistent strain, however, was the sim ple conceit o f inventing
a n ota tion system w hich corresponded to a p o lyg lo t dictionary, generally
inclu ding the comm on vernacular languages o f Europe (English, Germ an,
French, Ita lia n , Spanish, plus L a tin and sometimes others). T his was used
as the basis o f tw o elaborately title d w orks: Francis L od w ick’s A Com m on
W ritin g Whereby Two, A lthough N o t Understanding One the O th e r’s
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

Language, Yet by the H elpe th ereo f may C om m unicate th e ir M inds One

to A nother (1647) and Cave Beck’s The U niversal Character, By w hich a ll
the N ations in the W orld may Understand One A n o th e r’s Conceptions,
Reading o u t o f the Com m on W ritin g T he ir O w n M o th e r Tongue (1657).
The idea o f a ‘com m on w ritin g ’ was sim ply th a t o f a code in to which
vocabulary could be translated so th a t m other!m adre!m ater!m he!m utter
were a ll given the same num erical value. One m ight readily ‘translate’
through such a system on a w ord by w ord basis, a p rim itiv e approach to
language grounded an assum ption th a t words were elements o f meaning
independent o f syntax o r id io m a tic subtlety. The form s o f the ‘common
w ritin g ’ attem pted to use a very sim ple visual code. In another such sys­
tem designed by the chem ist Johannes Becher, fo r instance, the addition o f
a lin e , d o t, o r hooked curve m odified the basic term w ith respect to gen­
der, num ber, person, tense, voice o r other gram m atical category, depend­
ing on where it was placed (above, below, le ft o r rig h t and so fo rth ). Beck
used existing letters and numbers recom bined according to his lexical
code (nouns were represented by the letters ‘p ’ ‘q ’ ‘r ’ and ‘x ’ w hile the
infin itives o f verbs were represented by num bers, w ith tenses indicated by
other letters). A ll o f these systems required either p ro lific photographic
m em ory on the p a rt o f the user o r depended on the a va ila b ility o f the
handbook as perpetual guide - certa inly guaranteeing a m arket for
auth or’s p u b lica tio n should the system catch the pub lic im agination.
A nother version o f these lexicon based system was Athanasius
K ircher’s Polygraphia N ova et U niversalis published in 1663. K ircher’s sys­
tem included one unique feature, his Area G lo tto ta ctica , w hich functioned
as a p rim itive com puter fo r the processing o f lin g u istic in fo rm a tio n in
coded fo rm . K ircher was the great polym ath o f the Renaissance, though
his conceptual fram e o f reference was much grounded in late medieval
th in kin g . A pow erful leader in the Jesuit com m unity in Rome, K ircher had
travelled extensively and had published significant tomes across the fu ll
spectrum o f hum an knowledge. H is w orks included studies o f the struc­
ture o f the subterranean w orld o f underground rivers, volcanic lava flow
and caves, an exhaustive te x t on a ll extant devices fo r producing lig h t, illu ­
m inations and projected images, vast com pendia o f in fo rm a tio n on China,
Egypt and every conceivable area o f science, h isto ry and culture. Am ong
these w orks the Polygraphia is an alm ost inconsequential co ntribu tion ,
and ce rta inly it had none o f the widespread influence o f his China
lllu s tra ta o r Oedipus Aegyptiacus, w orks w hich were cited by historians o f
language and w ritin g w ell in to the 19th century. In many ways K ircher was
a collector rather than a conceptual thinker, his w orks were more fre­
quently exhaustive am algam ations o f in fo rm a tio n than the bases fo r
a new episteme o r theoretical m odel o f thought. H e had the advantage
o f great resources and tremendous in tellectu al reach, excellent printers
and illu s tra to rs , who rendered the elaborate schemes he described w ith
articu la te and detailed clarity. A m id the pages o f his w orks on Egypt was a
table o f alphabetic characters fro m ancient languages, inclu ding celestial
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

Infcriptionis Cbaldaict cinttyu* .

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Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

alphabets. He d id a detailed analysis o f a Chaldean in scrip tio n which he

considered o f antediluvian date, tran slatin g it in to Hebrew then Syriac
then L a tin to arrive at the deciphered te xt: ‘faciet concipere Virginem
Deus’ w hich he expanded to mean ‘God w ill cause the V irg in to conceive,
and thus the Son w ill be b o rn .’ The sheer volum e o f his w ork, even if he
only served to supervise his Jesuit brethren in these productions, is over­
whelm ing. Yet in the h isto ry o f language K ircher has lo st the prim acy o f
place he occupied in his life tim e , the long shadow o f his idiosyncratic the­
ories on the decipherm ent o f Egyptian hieroglyphics w hich lasted u n til'th e
19th century decipherm ents having been the m ost lasting aspect o f his
influence.

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 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

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The mechanics o f the Area G lotto tactica were relatively sim ple. The
system proposed the use o f physical structure ‘whereby tablets various lan­
guages ought to be set in order fo r the purpose o f com posing letters.*
Rather than relying on the usual lexicon in book fo rm , K irche r’s system
perm itted placem ent o f m arkers in a physical place to indicate the use o f a
w ord o r phrase. The wooden ark, sketched o ut in an illu stra tive plate, was
divided in to boxes, each o f w hich corresponded to a p a rtic u la r category o f
term s used in correspondence, the epistoliographia pentaglossa. By using
strips placed in to the requisite boxes o f the a rk’s g rid (each ide ntifie d by
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

an alphabet code), a message could be spelled o u t in any tongue through

this d is trib u tio n ; the recipient o f the message could ‘read’ it in retrieval by
reversing the process, lin k in g the box to the category in whatever language
was native to the reader. W hile essentially a lexical system, the Area
G lotto tactica was distinguished by its use o f a physical structure to
process the in fo rm a tio n in abstract fo rm , and because the categories used
to structure the ark were a p rim itive step towards organizing knowledge as
abstract in fo rm a tio n , rather than by reducing the e x is tin g structures o f
language to a sim p lifie d fo rm . W hile he claim ed th a t ‘The Box is valid for
w ritin g documents throughout the w o rld ,’ the languages to w hich Kircher
granted a place included only French, Ita lia n , Germ an, Spanish and Latin.

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Glottotactica from Polygraphia

Nova et Universalis, Rome, 1663

Becher, Beck and even K ircher stopped short o f m aking a thorough

conceptual classification o f knowledge as the basis o f th e ir polygraphic or
comm on w ritin g systems, but the proposals o f John W ilkin s and George
D algarno each a rticulated a com plete A risto te lia n analysis as the basis o f
a new system w hich they term ed a ra tio n a l gram m ar o r philosophical lan­
guage. These w rite rs made the m ost substantial contribu tion s to universal
language schemes in the 17th century synthesizing threads from diverse
fields o f intellectu al investigation. They also made use o f the medieval ars
com binatoria o f Raym ond L lu ll, w ith its universalizing m echanical struc­
tures and com bined these w ith Ramus insights in to a m ethod grounding
hum an knowledge on em pirical observation and the ra tio n a l analysis o f
sign systems w hich prefigured John Locke’s theory o f know ledge .9 These
w orks therefore made a h ig h ly significant co n trib u tio n to the development
o f the h isto ry o f ideas, especially w ith respect to the theo riza tion o f rela­
tions between knowledge and representation.
Both W ilkins and D algarno succeeded in accom plishing the intellectu­
al task o f describing the w orld through a natu ra l philosophy capable o f
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

being o utlined in a single comprehensive system. D algarno and W ilkins

were w ell acquainted w ith each other and even worked collaboratively; the
exhaustive tables w hich W ilkin s eventually included in his A n Essay
Towards a Real Character and P hilosophical Language (1668), had o rig i­
n ally been composed to assist D algarno in designing his Ars Signorum
(1659).10 Both men were in te n t upon constructing a language system in
w hich structure o f knowledge (posed as the structure o f the w orld itself)
could be accurately represented. Two separate activities were required fo r
this: firs t the systematic o u tlin in g o f this structure and secondly a visual
code fo r its representation. W ilkin s in p a rtic u la r was fascinated w ith the
p o ssib ility o f a w ritin g w hich com m unicated d ire ctly to the eye w hile
D algarno was interested in constructing a language w ith a visual base to
provide a means o f com m unication fo r the deaf and dum b (which he pub­
lished in 1680 under the title D idascalocophus).

John Wilkins, An Essay towards a

Real Character and Philosophical
Language, London, 1668
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

The Ars Signorum began w ith an analysis o f the a rt o f signs, which

D algarno term ed sem atology, a precursor to later semiotics. He proposed
three categories o f signs: the supernatural (such as the com m unications by
God w hich use extra ord in ary means such as dreams o r visions), the nat­
u ra l (expression o f em otions by means o f weeping, sighs o r laughter) and
the in s titu tio n a l o r conventional (the* use o f images w hich have no relation
to the things they represent). A lphabetical characters fe ll in to this final
category, and D algarno bemoaned the fa ct th a t no com bination o f such
characters ‘m aking up a w ord should have any a ffin ity to o r resemblance
to the th in g fo r w hich it is substituted.’ He suggested th a t a ‘real character,
on the other hand, w ould teach much knowledge as it w ould be suited to
the nature o f things.’ D algarno refused to construct such a character,
adhering to a set o f alphabetic codes to represent his categorical system.
He even went so fa r as to criticize John W ilk in s ’s attem pts at a ‘real char­
acter* as too far-reaching and am bitious fo r his purposes. By relying on
existing letters, D algarno could reduce the entire o f his schematic outline
o f knowledge to a set o f notations: the le tte r ‘M ’ fo r instance, was meant
to indicate a ll geom etric form s, w ith ‘m ab’ standing fo r circle, ‘m m b’ for
sphere, ‘m ib ’ fo r cube and so fo rth . D algarno even gave a h in t o f kabbalis-
tic influence in his w ork as a ju s tific a tio n fo r retaining the existing alpha­
bet, stating th a t the letters acted as radical elements o f a cosmic order. In
keeping w ith this tra d itio n , he assigned the consonants to represent the
gross and m aterial parts o f hum an a c tiv ity w hile the vowels were reserved
fo r aspects o f the soul.
D algarno’s o u tlin e o f the structure o f universal knowledge was la id out
in elaborate tables labelled the ‘G ram m atico-P hilosophical Lexicon or
Table o f Things and o f A ll Simple and General Concepts Both A rtific ia l
and N a tu ra l Including Reasons and M ore Com m on Aspects Arranged by
a Practical M eth od .’ These were the p ro o f o f his belief th a t it was possible
to include ‘every conceivable object, process, quality, state o f being and
idea ’ 11 and give it a place w ith in a system w hich was its e lf the basis o f a
philosophical language. Equating language d ire ctly w ith knowledge was a
m ajor conceptual leap from the m echanical projects o f either ars combina-
to ria o r the com m on w ritin g . In the process, language was made more sci­
e n tifica lly ra tio n a l and m ore s p iritu a lly perfect, encoding the divine struc­
ture o f the universe w ith in an epistem ological system. In D algarno’s hier­
archy the seven fundam ental categories (represented by the vowels) began
w ith the highest possible abstraction, term ed Thing o r Being (i.e. God or
the transcendent D ivine S p irit) occupied the firs t place, w ith Substance,
A ccident, and C oncretion as the next fo u r categories; these were follow ed
in tu rn by the m aterial categories Body (w ith o u t s p irit), S p irit (w ithout
body) and C om position (the perfect com bination o f the tw o in to the
hum an being).
John W ilk in s ’s Essay reiterates these ideas, and makes use o f the same
schematic o utline o f universal knowledge (o f w hich, after a ll, he was
apparently either fu ll o r p a rt author). B ut W ilk in s ’s unique co ntribu tion
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

was his invention o f a real character, which he developed in p a rt after his

critiq u e o f a ll existing form s o f w ritin g . D isplaying considerable acquain­
tance w ith the letters o f the Hebrew, A rabic, Syriac, Illy ria n , G eorgian,
G othic, Aetheopic, C optic and other alphabets, he dismissed a ll o f them
as inadequate to his purposes. He declared (and w ith good reason) th a t
the letters were in confused order and d id n o t express things directly, they
were unsystem atic in th e ir correspondence between form and sound, and
ce rta inly d id n o t encode a system o f knowledge. W hile a d m ittin g th a t the
alphabet may have been o f divine o rig in , W ilkin s indicated little interest in
the project o f recovering an o rig in a l language o r alphabet. In fa ct W ilkins
asserted th a t language was a rb itra ry in its form s - a considerable break
w ith the m ystical tra d itio n s w hich considered language as the m ost funda­
m ental D ivine m anifestation. Since it was arbitrary, W ilkin s stated, a ll
people should ‘agree on the same expression as they agree on the same
n o tio n ,’ in a language com prehensible by a ll nations. The philosophical
language w ould reflect th a t structure o f the w orld in its own fo rm , and the
‘real’ character was a w ritte n code in which each ‘w ord’ w ould be defined
by its place in the overall system. M eaning and position in the hierarchy
w ould be the same, and by reading the character, learning the language,
one w ould be absorbing the universal structure o f knowledge. There were
several elements in this w ritin g system: radicals and d istin ctio n s, o r funda­
m ental elements and th e ir co nd itio na l m odifications. The atom ic and
schematic nature o f this language again removed it from vernacular tra d i­
tions and id io m a tic expression, rendering it a fa r more ra tio n a l and p h ilo ­
sophical system than one embedded in hum an exchange o r lived circum ­
stances, but also more perfect.

l 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 M .JZ 0 14
1 0 U2 CC a e 0 u 2
1 °l 3L sL ‘1 ± JL Jx x T T i.
3 1 T 1 jL J \ jL 7 H P f* b f > T
4 TV \ \ k X \ KX W \ A. \
6V / J / </ 1 / J Y r / I / 7 /
6 bT A A T ± \ B 1 4 T 7 ± 4
7 r V i £ 3d 4 b P I b V T >
8iV I 1 1 1± lL T V •f 1* % 7
9 J_ V 4. ir 7 4* ir. F & F f .' T k
10J L 1 1 •I [ I i 1 1. D T > 1 T > i
11t L X L L L L T t b k L L L
12ih . 1 1 1 17 1 IH ? 7 T T *> 1
13 i h L X •L L I X I Tb c k I 6 k A.
14 3 T T Tl 7 T T 7 G T T I T } X
15 I ] i l 7 I i: 7 1 C 11 i. 1 1 i
16 3k T T T r T T 7 Gh T T V T V 7
17 I K I X i i i £ I Ch A A . 1 L i X
18 k I 7 i 7 e 1 z Z A I I I I
■9 T]S 5 * i 'S T 5 S 5 T X f ' i £
Oo z h 7 , I C i I t I Zh Z T X r" i
21 sk 3 J 5 j 5 J J Sh A J X 3" 3 X
2% I ) " } y 3 K T J L T > T T > X
23 L L 1 1 i 1 1 1 hL T A A j I > i
M r ( T < i I < I R t T CT c
2$ I r . X X K l X r< I t i l l T T \ Cl r J_i
John Wilkins's Visible Speech, An 2( TU n n T QI T TQ M T 2E T T a

Essay towards a Real Character

V) hm 0
IE t l j a
JL g v
J j J 7 j
x g b H "7 T
N 7 J a JJy a
a 7 f>" x

V Ka j j J a j a A kN cf \ > a 3 J L i j
and Philosophical Language, 3c ng u 13 u uJ ! u u Ni IF iF UJ l> u
London, 1668 31 bnt I ) IT lo io p jfliM F F
s ^ r o iu in F
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

In the distin ction s between the systems o f K ircher, W ilkins and

D algarno, there is an evident contrast between a schematic medieval hier-
archicization and a rationalized system o f philosophical analysis. W ith the
p ub lica tion o f John Locke’s A n Essay on H um an Understanding in 1679,
philosophers shifted th e ir investigations o f language in to an analysis o f
the m ental a ctivity o f thought, and away from the relations between lan­
guage and cosmic o r universal order. The concept o f the hieroglyphic
(m istakenly and frequently linked h is to ric a lly and conceptually to Chinese
characters) persisted fo r another century, though it had more influence on
the com position and inte rp re ta tio n o f visual form s, such as emblems and
devices, than on the analysis o f the alphabet. The idea o f a universal lan­
guage w ould recur, p a rtic u la rly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as
a possible so lu tion to the n a tio n a listic tendencies w hich inflam ed w orld
p o litics in to w ar; but the philosophical aspects o f th e ir undertaking lapsed
from favor.

Phonetics and Shorthand

O th e r interesting developm ents in w ritin g in the Renaissance took

place in the areas o f phonetic n o ta tio n and shorthand. Phonetic n otation
was linke d to spelling reform , and w ith increasing re a liza tio n o f the dis­
crepancies between the letters o f the L a tin alphabet and the sounds of, in
p a rtic u la r, the English language, the im petus tow ard reform gained
m om entum . Phonetic n o ta tio n was m ore clearly the dom ain o f the spe­
c ia lis t, w hile projects fo r a changed spelling were freq ue n tly proposed by
frustra te d pedagogues at th e ir w its end w ith the d iffic u ltie s o f teaching
illo g ic a l orthography. These d iffic u ltie s increased as vernacular lan­
guages evolved; by the 19th century there was h ardly a n a tio n in Europe
l8 8 o r A m erica n o t beset w ith such problem s o r plagued by proposals for
th e ir reso lu tio n. C ertain m in o r reform s eventually crept in to modern
languages, though few nations adopted the rad ica l changes w hich char­
acterized the tra n sfo rm a tio n o f o ld Russian to new in the early 20th cen­
tury. B ut the beginnings o f these reform projects was in the 16th century,
when one John H a rt published A M ethode o r C om fortable Beginning
(1569). H a rt w ent to the trou ble and expense o f having new p rin tin g
types cu t to f it his proposed m ethod w ith the goal o f reducing the d u p li­
cate sym bols fo r s im ila r sounds and inventing suitable ones fo r the
sounds n o t adequately represented. A host o f othe r such proposals were
published in England in the 16th century in clu d in g Thom as S m ith’s De
Recta et Em m endata (1568) and W illia m B u llo k a r’s S hort In tro d u ctio n
o r G uiding (1580), but none had the visual inventiveness o f H a rt’s. In
general, the suggestions fo r new sym bols were m odest, often depending
on letters m od ifie d by an a d d itio n a l strike through w ith a lin e , o r other
change readily achieved w ith in the e xistin g resources o f the com positor’s
case.
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

M e th o d s .

b i^g ifts, andfo r our

helh,andudr bic^bcne-
fitsjbuer-ui&bi indued?
us, befo r ma-ni ov our
purbridrnjm i(&repre-
togntbim: letuadPerfor
helpsuGin adder uan-
ts tu ourfou-er: buer-
beidefem-le^ntetak ek-
s-ampl, tu deglo-ri ot>
our almib-tigodso hiit
John Hart's spelling reform pro­
posal, A Methode, London, 1569
£yodsavbis€urG,-***«■
Spelling reform and suggestions fo r a changed orthography proceeded
largely fro m an an assessment o f the relations between the sounds o f lan­
guage and the signs fo r its nota tion : such methods analyze the acoustic
aspects o f language. Phonetic nota tion , on the other hand, tended to
emphasize the a rtic u la to ry process and was frequently in itia te d by an
analysis o f the organs o f speech. R obert Robertson’s 1617 p u b lica tio n On
P ro nu ntia tion is considered to be the firs t such analysis. Robertson
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

mapped the ten positions taken by the tongue in relatio n to the ro o f o f the
m outh, assigning a glyphic sign to each. These he used in tu rn in notation
w hich had no dependent relatio n to the L a tin alphabet and which func­
tioned as a self-sufficient system. One o f the more daring and remarkable
propositions fo r reform came fro m the same John W ilkin s who had invent­
ed the ‘real character.’ He proposed a fo rm o f ‘visible language? which
schem atically m im icked the organs o f speech in sm all glyphs. H is analysis
o f a rtic u la tio n was published in a fu ll visual chart w hich sho^ys the
sources o f the glyphic form s he proposed fo r a n o ta tio n system. W hile
W ilk in s ’s proposal was no m ore successful than th a t o f his predecessors,
the proposal fo r such a ‘visible speech’ w ould be another recurrent theme
in later centuries.
Shorthand systems had n o t been much im proved since the invention of
T iro n ia n notes. Though medieval m anuscripts were fille d w ith abbreviated
messages, comm entaries and notes, these were largely idiosyncratic inven­
tions o f an in d ivid u a l scribe. The transform ation o f shorthand in to a sys­
tem atic m ethod o f transcribing speech had the im petus o f a varied clien­
tele. On the one hand, shorthand had the appearance o f a cryptographic
m ethod, which len t it a certain m ystique and use value; on the other hand,
because shorthand was in m ost cases an abbreviation o f spoken language,
it could be based on an analysis o f orthographic peculiarities sim ilar to
those w hich m otivated spelling reform . Later there were form s o f short­
hand w hich attem pted to notate a rtic u la to ry processes, m apping the activ­
ity pronunciation, but these proved to be to o com plicated to become pop­
ular, and the concept o f an abbreviated orthography remained the most
popular basis fo r shorthand systems.
T im o th y B rig h t’s C baracterie (1588) is considered the firs t systematic
shorthand m ethod o f the English Renaissance, and is was reputedly put
in to service in the co u rt o f Elizabeth I. A published proposal fo r short­
hand w ritin g appeared in 1628 w ith John W illis ’s A rt o f Stenographie:
Teaching the Way o f Com pendious W ritin g . W illis had been the author o f
a treatise on the a rt o f memory, and his shorthand extends mnemonic
operations to w ritin g . Basically W illis suggested a series o f contractions
in w hich the skeletal form s o f words are made to serve for* later recall o f
fu ll speech. By e lim in a ting the vowels, W illis fe lt he had arrived at an effi­
cient means o f speeding up the recording process, but the m ethod was s till
fa r too slow to fu n ctio n as a real shorthand. Samuel B otley’s M axim o
in M in im o or M r. Jeremiah Rich's pens d exte rity (1674), had certain
charm ing features: he used visual means to condense meaning: thus a
scrip t m ajuscule ‘A’ indicated an angel, w hile one tipped to the side in d i­
cated a fallen angel. A series o f lowercase ‘b’s’ was supposed to indicate
b rotherly kindness, w hile an arrow looped in to a circle w ith a sharp
inw ard tu rn in g p o in t was to stand fo r ‘the devil goeth about.’ The lim ita ­
tions o f such a system - th a t it w ould require a d ifferen t visual sign for
every w ord o r concept - are as clear as are its sources o f in sp ira tio n - the
m yth o f the visual directness o f Chinese characters and E gyptian hiero-
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

glyphs. U ltim a te ly it w ould be the demands fo r recording in the areas o f

business and finance w hich provided the strongest support fo r a fu lly
developed shorthand system, but th a t, also, w ould not happen fo r several
centuries. In the in te rim , shorthand systems rem ained lim ite d in fo rm and
in influence.

Occult Sciences and Mysticism

M ystica l, occult and in tellectu al tra d itio n s were blended in the early
Renaissance, but the w rite rs whose conviction th a t divine mysteries were
behind a ll knowledge perpetuated in a d is tin c t m etaphysical tra d itio n .
W ith M eric Casaubon’s realization, published in 1615, th a t the H erm etic
texts had been the product o f the early C hristian era, the basis fo r one
m ajor element o f Renaissance m ysticism was discredited as ancient (and
thus irrefutable) w isdom . But the d istin ctio n between ra tio n a l and m ysti­
cal approaches to knowledge was more a m atter o f in d ivid u a l disposition
than h isto rica l developm ent, and inquiries in to the value o f the alphabet
fram ed in term s o f occult practices remained a flo u rish in g intellectu al
practice in to the 17th century. The com bined strains o f H erm etic, Neo-
Pythagorean, N eo-P latonic and kabbalistic tra d itio n s blended in th e ir own
peculiar hybrids o f thought. The activities o f the C hristian kabbalists was
treated in the previous chapter, but the kabbalistic strain o f m ystical
thought w hich engaged w ith the letters o f the alphabet influenced w riters
who were n o t defined e ntirely as kabbalists. Several outstanding figures
who were involved in a serious pursuit o f occult knowledge in the
Renaissance, C ornelius A grippa von N ettesheim , John Dee, and
G uillaum e Postel, made unique contributions to alphabet history.

i nr ci 2 i
A B O D E T G H I I M

Alchemical alphabet from

Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta
Philosophia, 1529 N O P C L R S T V X Y Z ft

H ein rich C ornelius A grippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535) was

renowned fo r the exhaustive three volume w ork De O cculta Philosophia
w hich he in fact w rote at the suggestion o f Trithem ius. It was published in
1529, nearly a decade afte r it had been w ritte n , and the same year as
G eoffrey T ory’s C ham pfleury. A g rip pa ’s w ork was influenced by those
3rd- and 4th-century N eo-P latonic w rite rs who had been m ost engaged
w ith m agical and supernatural beliefs: Iam blichus, Porphyry and Plotinus.
A g rip pa ’s thoroughness as an anthologizer was such th a t his w ork remains
a m ajor reference w ork on occult beliefs o f the Renaissance and M id d le
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

Ages. A grippa considered his book to be a guide to p ractical magic (by

contrast, fo r instance, to the w ork o f the other significant occult anthofo-
gizer, Pico della M ira nd ola,w h o considered his w ork to be a handbook for
m ystical experience).
In the th ird volum e o f his w ork A grippa cited several occult alphabets,
a ll o f w hich have been referred to and reproduced repeatedly by later his­
torians. The firs t o f these was a by now fa m ilia r fo rm , a Celestial
Alphabet, the second was the alphabet o f M alachim (or ‘royal’ alphabet,
from the Hebrew fo r the w ord king ), the th ird was an alphabet known as
‘Crossing the R iver’ and fin a lly there was an alphabet reputed to be o f
great a ntiquity, the Theban alphabet. T his was supposedly recorded by
one Petrus Apponus fro m the renegade pope H o rio riu s, but in fa ct appears
in later compendia o f alchem ical alphabets. A g rip p a ’s C elestial Alphabet
reappeared in the Oedipus Aegyptiacus o f Athanasius K ircher, more than
a hundred years later, where it was ide ntifie d as an alphabet w hich had
been transcribed from the angels, the same a ttrib u tio n w hich Agrippa
granted to his S criptura M alach im . The alphabet w ith the in trig u in g title
‘Crossing the R iver’ is sim ila rly identified in Kircher, but also w itho ut
explanation. W hile the visual form s o f the C elestial alphabet bear some
vague visual relatio n to the letters o f Hebrew, the form s o f the other three
are visually peculiar. A grippa presented them w ith Hebrew names, stating
th a t they had a ll been revealed to the Jews in antiquity. In addition,
A grippa invoked the kabbalistic tra d itio n presenting the letters in a grid o f
three lines. These he associated w ith the three classes assigned to the
H ebrew letters: those belonging to the angels, to the heavens, and to the
mundane w orld in descending order.
G uillaum e Postel (1510-1581) made several contribu tion s to alphabet
history, including a lite ra l description o f the origins o f the celestial alpha­
bet in the map o f the heavens. Postel was a visionary whose dreams o f a
w orld united under a single government and religio n had led him in to con­
flic t w ith the entrenched forces o f ru lin g monarchs, and he was saved from
serious re trib u tio n only by his reputation as a visionary and scholar. Postel
was well-versed in H ebrew and A rabic, and his concept o f a celestial w rit­
ing displays influences o f both a kabbalistic sensibility and an older astro­
logical tra d itio n from the ancient N ear East. The positions o f the stars in
the heavens were, he believed, n o t m erely the source fo r the shapes o f the
o rig in a l Hebrew letters, but were the eternal letters themselves in their
cosmogenic fo rm . The connection o f the points o f lig h t visible in the night
sky created a celestial w ritin g w hich, Postel suggested, could be read. This
n otio n combines the kabbalistic concept o f the letters as eternal and
essential w ith the more general n otio n o f the w orld as ‘book’ o f divine rev­
elation w hich permeates C hristian m ysticism thoughout the Renaissance.
Postel’s celestial alphabet was, o f course, n o t unique, but his a rticu la tio n
o f it inserted the idea in to m ainstream French thought, and the idea was
taken up by Jacques G affarel, the kabbalistic lib ra ria n o f C ardinal
R ichelieu.
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

chim uel Melachim,hoc eft angelorum fiuercgalem:&eft alia qua uocant

traniitus fluuii}&liorum omnium chara&cres&figurx tales funt.
Scriptura Coeleftis
Thetb Cheth, Zm , Vm . He, Ddleth, Cimel, Beth, Aleph,

U I~ IT I m i x X
Zide Pe Aiit Smecb Nm Mem LMed Ciph lod

T ill Shin Res K u jf

Angel alphabet; from Cornelius 7 1 1 1 / 1 7

Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia,
Scriptura Malachim
1529 z ill

ccLXxinr. D E O C C V L T A P H IL O S O P H IA .

xm vm He Dufrt/i Gimel Beth Aleph

m tt
UJMem LM ed
6
Cdph
6
lo i Thfth Cheth

'i H tJ D J . ,
Res Kwjf Zdde Pc Aitt Smech Sdtnech Shift TdU
Alphabet of Kings; from
Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta
Philosophia, 1529 v iu ix u r ^ m
Scriptura traniitus fluuii.
Cheth Z ik VdU He V ilrth GimeI Beth Aleph

1 < - e =I J
Smech Nutt M en Lim ed Cdph 1(4 Theth

3
Tm
7
Sch'm
ZH Res
1
Kuph
1
Xdde
H Pc Am
Alphabet of Crossing the River;
from Cornelius Agrippa, De
Occulta Philosophia, 1529
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

Postel was also the a uthor o f a theory supporting the p roposition that
the o rig in a l settlers o f Europe had been the G a llic people. He stated that it
was Janus (or Nachus), the father o f Japhet, who had brought the
Phoenician characters to the West.12 He suggested th a t these letters were
later ruined by the Greeks, and th a t an A rcadian wom an, Carm enta, had
actually discovered the L a tin le tte r form s. Postel held Cadmus responsible
fo r ‘ butchering’ the Phoenician characters so th a t they appeared to have
been a Greek m od ifica tio n, thus losing a ll trace o f th e ir G a llic origins.
Postel’s themes, w ith th e ir anti-classical and a n ti-L a tin bias, were revived
in the 18th-century theories lin k in g the alphabet to natural origins.

J i 5 p e c iin e n o f the T a b le s t^B boJc o f E N O C H ".

a a a m a B ca M D iin u a w H n n D n d ig a H U D E ira n R a ^ ^ ™ P S Q 3 S !!l9 a

□nanaonD nuana'
s r 11 in 1X i
3m h i LL 77V
H at I ill I I $
i i ' ?■
1* 1: Vt
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u
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iZ ra
s .*i
•> 41 m

John Dee's Enochian table 1586 iH S U R U H a p sa au sjaiH fiaaauggfifflinna gtinnB gjagatjnn

John Dee (1527-1608) o rig in a lly achieved renown fo r his expertise in

m athem atics, and in the 1540s he lectured extensively on the principles o f
geom etry - inclu ding Pythagorean sym bolism . A gain it is im p o rta n t to
recall how blurred the boundaries o f disciplines were in this period which
later became d istin ct: Johannes Kepler’s o rig in a l fo rm u la tio n o f the solar
system was based on a m odel o f five perfect Pythagorean form s. Dee
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

blended N eo-P latonist and kabbalistic ideas in to his scholarly inquiries

and was disposed to an occult in terpretatio n o f n atural phenomena, serv­
ing at the end o f his life as astrologer to James I o f England. In 1581, he
became involved in a series o f experim ents invo lvin g a device know n as a
scrying glass. He was assisted by Edward K elly who functioned as a m edi­
um and read the sh iftin g patterns o f lig h t and m arkings in the visionary
glass, transform ing his impressions in to a stream o f described images. Dee
became convinced th a t these were direct com m unications from angels and
he became in te n t on learning the angelic language, believing th a t it was
the o rig in a l language spoken before Babel.
In 1586, as p a rt o f these com m unications Dee fe lt th a t he had received
a version o f Enoch his B ook, subtitled 48 Claves Angelicae (Angelic Keys).
The Book o f Enoch, one o f the books o f the A pocrypha ,13 was believed to
contain the oldest accounts o f creation. A ccording to legend, Enoch had a
vision in w hich the angel M eta tron (the archangel o f the Presence o f God)
said ‘come and behold the letters by which Heaven and E arth were creat­
ed, the letters by which were created rivers and seas, the letters by w hich
were created the trees and herbs .’ 14 T his alphabet o f creation was suppos­
edly revealed in tu rn to Moses by M eta tron , and the legend as to ld in
Enoch continued w ith an account o f o rig in a l emerald tablets, engraved
w ith sacred laws, which Moses destroyed in anger over the orgiastic rites
o f his people. The ten commandments, by contrast, were m erely mundane
laws necessary fo r c o n tro llin g th e ir behavior and w ritte n in o rd in a ry
Hebrew.
Dee’s version o f the alphabet was received by him le tte r by letter, and
in reverse order, since its power was so great th a t it was supposedly
destructive m erely in transm ission. The Enochian letters were also
grouped in to ‘calls’ o r ‘keys’ and Dee later embedded these in a set o f five
squares o r tablets, each associated w ith one o f the p rim a l elements (fire,
air, earth, w ater) and a fifth element, aethyr. In a m anner typ ica l o f occult
practice, Dee made endless lin ks through num ber sym bolism , so th a t the
fo u r elements were linked to fo u r castles o f the alphabet, in tu rn linked to
the fo u r w inds o f C eltic legends, the fo u r archangels (M ichael, Raphael,
G abriel and U rie l) and so on. T his Enochian invention seems to have been
Dee’s own co n trib u tio n to alphabet history, since the book is referred to
elsewhere as recording an o rig in a l language, but never w ith any images or
illu stra tio n s.
The prevailing and persistent theme o f the w orld as the Book o f
N ature can be found in a w ide range o f sources in this period. For
instance, in a w ork proposing a criticism o f academic learning fo r its lack
o f s p iritu a l content John Webster in his Academ iarum Examen (1654)
seriously discussed the p o ssib ility o f restoring the O rig in a l Tongue. The
aim o f a ll learning, Webster asserted, should be to see the Godhead ‘o f
w hich a ll the causes and effects o f nature are characters o r hieroglyphics
o f his power so legible th a t those who w ill n o t read them and by them him
are w ith o u t excuse.’ The language o f nature was the very ‘protop last o f
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance
Jacob Boehme, frontispiece from
Complete Theosophical Works,
Amsterdam, 1682
Adam ,* since he was made in the o rig in a l image o f G od’s w ord. The cu ri­
ous collapse o f O ld Testament concepts and C hristian belief in the Logos
are typ ica l o f the synthetic tendencies o f m ystical Renaissance thought. In
his fu rth e r discussion Webster revealed his N eo-P latonist o rien ta tion in
his description o f the divine source o f a ll being as a generative force.
D escribing the angelical o r paradisical language he stated th a t it was
‘brought to lig h t by peripheral expansion and evolution o f the serviceable
w ord.’ G oing on he elaborated: ‘The w orld is the great book, every crea­
ture a character liv in g and speaking sym bols, n o t dead letters.’ Webster
subscribed to the concept o f Adam ic language o r nam ing, in which it was
assumed th a t Adam had know n this o rig in a l language o f N ature, and that
the names he had given to the creatures and creations had corresponded
precisely to th e ir fo rm and identity. W hile sim ila r in its belief th a t there
could be a rig h t relatio n between name and th ing , w ord and referent,
w hich characterized the philosophical language o f W ilkin s, Webster and
the m ystics are differentiated by th e ir b elief in the power o f revelation and
transcendent approach to G od, rather than the power o f ra tio n a l thought
to apprehend divine order through scientific inquiry. W hile W ilkins was
m oving tow ard a ra tio n a l belief in m ental a c tiv ity as the basis o f human
thought, com m unication, and representation, the mystics o f the
Renaissance functioned w ith the conviction th a t the D ivine Essence could
appear to the hum an m ind through m ediative exercise and devotional
practice. Webster is only one o f the many w rite rs o f the period to use this
m etaphor o f the Book o f N ature and the term letters as a term inter­
changeable w ith sym bol, hieroglyph o r emblem. Jacob Boehme was per­
haps the best know n and m ost p ro lific among these, his m onum ental
M ysterium M agnum tracing o ut a detailed h isto ry o f the process by which
the tongues o f hum an speech had become d ifferentiated in the course of
the d iffu sio n o f the descendants o f N oah. T his h isto ry w ould serve as the
basis o f many 18th-century historians’ w ork, but as it appears in Boehme
it has little in it specific to the alphabet.
A nother Germ an m ystic involved in the theoretical investigation o f the
alphabet was Franciscus M ercurius (Baron) Van H elm ont (1618-1695),
who published a treatise title d A lp ba be ti Vere (1667). In this sm all text,
Van H elm ont, largely through means o f a series o f engraved plates,
showed the precise correspondence between Hebrew letters, Chaldean
originals and the a rtic u la to ry organs o f the m outh. In his w ork he pro­
posed th a t the divine o rig in o f the alphabet was thus demonstrated
through these evident correlations and th a t the ‘holiest scrip t o f the
Hebrews’ was based on ‘resemblance to the m otions o f the human
tongue.’ For H elm ont, these correspondences made Hebrew the most ‘nat­
u ra l’ k in d o f w ritin g , by w hich he meant both the earliest and m ost o rig i­
nal and also the m ost tru th fu l fo rm o f the letters. I f ‘speech could be
described in painting,* he asserted, th a t w ould best be achieved ‘by the
various m otions and form ations o f the tongue its e lf.’ H elm ont was a mys­
tic , n o t a lin g u ist o r phoneticist, and fo r him these conclusions had the
 Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

value o f divine revelation by w hich he accorded the Hebrew letters and

Chaldean alphabet (attributed to Abraham ) great a n tiq u ity and sanctity
The last great Renaissance figure to use m ysticism as the basis o f his
scientific pursuits was R obert Fludd, the English m edical and alchem ical
researcher. H is m ajor w ork was the unfinished but m ulti-volum e
U triusque cosm i ... h isto ria o r The Technical Physical and M etaphysical
H is to ry o f the M acrocosm and M icrocosm , w hich was published between
1617 and 1621. Fludd firm ly believed th a t alchemy held the key to under­
standing the structure o f nature, and like K ircher his slig h tly later contem ­
porary, caused b e a u tifu lly detailed images o f the schematic fo rm o f this
knowledge to be drawn on copperplates engraved to accompany his text.
The visual structure o f these w orks provides an insight in to the devices
and conceptual mechanisms by w hich Fludd related various spheres o f
knowledge, and his use o f kabbalistic im agery necessarily led him to make
use o f the alphabet as one o f his cosm ological ordering devices. The image
title d The D ow nw ard Spiral o f C reation is a clear diagram o f C hristian
kabbalistic thought, w ith each dom ain o f the universe demarcated to
define its id e n tity as a position in the whole, and associated w ith a letter
from A lpha at the highest sphere to Tau at the center, the E arth and
H um anity.

Baron Van Helmont, Alphabeti

Vere Naturalis Hebraici, 1667

Fludd’s enorm ous reputation and influence were com prom ised to some
extent even in his own life tim e by his public apologies o f Rosicrucianism .
Published in 1616 and sh o rtly thereafter, these were tracts w ritte n in
defense o f an organization w hich may n ot even have existed at the tim e.
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

The earliest published documents linked to the secret brotherhood

appeared about this tim e, but they are generally considered specious invo­
cations o f a m etaphorical rather than actual organization. Fludd’s earnest
belief in the existence o f the order, to w hich he aspired no doubt on
account o f the d iffic u lty in fin d in g a receptive audience fo r his blend o f
alchem ical and scientific agendas, led to his being rid icule d, though this
d id n ot interfere w ith either royal patronage o r the pub lica tion o f his
m ajor w ork. The R osicrucians, when they actually came in to being as a
group in the early 18th century, remained com m itted to the perpetuation
o f kabbalistic and H erm etic doctrine in com bination w ith a C hristian re li­
gious conviction and thus were a m ajor avenue fo r the transm ission o f the
occult tra d itio n in to the 19th century, where it w ould again become a pop­
u la r phenomenon.
V III
t h e s o c ia l c o n t r a c t , p r i m i t i v i s m , a n d

NATIONALISM: THE ALPHABET IN THE 18TH CENTURY

The s p irit o f rationalism w hich characterized the late, high Renaissance

and m anifested its e lf in the elaborate taxonom ic structures o f philoso ph i­
cal languages became more fu lly developed in the 18th century, m oving
away from a description o f divine order and in to debates between the sci­
e n tific and theological bases fo r knowledge. In keeping w ith the general
intellectu al tenor o f the period, theories o f language and m eaning produc­
tio n , p a rtic u la rly w ith respect to w ritin g as a fo rm o f representation,
became more closely bound to inquiries in to the h isto rica l basis o f society
and the distinguishing characteristics o f so-called civilize d culture. The
m yths w hich had made the hieroglyphic the very essence o f a sym bolic
fo rm in the Renaissance began to crum ble w ith the w ork o f lin g u is tic a lly
rather than m ystically inclined scholars such as N icolas Freret and Abbe
Barth61emy. Chinese characters and the purported a n tiq u ity o f Chinese
c iv iliz a tio n m aintained th e ir m ystique, w ith scholars struggling to recon­
cile the b ib lic a l account o f a single creation w ith the existence o f exotic
cultures and language.
The term s natural and p rim itiv e , which appeared w ith re g u la rity in the
published inquiries in to the origins o f language, to o k on a new value in
18th-century European parlance. W ritin g was considered one o f the d istin ­
guishing signs o f c iv iliz a tio n and the alphabet was accorded an active and
significant role in m aintaining the hierarchy o f social orders. The analysis
o f the alphabet as a sym bol engaged w ith debates about the pro du ction o f
lin g u istic m eaning in w hich the concept o f natu ra l was idealized as o rig- 199
in a l and pure, but coded in human terms. The term p rim itiv e was bound
up w ith tw o ideas: the o rig in a l co nd itio n o f hum ankind and thus the o rig ­
in a l language, and w ith the characterization o f th is co nd itio n: either as
crude, supposedly preceding the developm ent o f in s titu tio n s w hich
advanced hum anity through reason, o r as pure, innocent and unspoiled.
M any debates on the origins o f language had at th e ir heart an assertion o f
the fundam ental rightness o f the social contract. Language was the very
means to fo rm the bonds w hich linked hum an beings in a ra tio n a l and
rulebound social order - and it was also the sign par excellence o f the
ways social relationships, p o litic a l power, and econom ic exchange were
governed by th a t order. The 18th-century debates on language were d is tin ­
guished from those o f the Renaissance by th e ir dim inished (often to the
p o in t o f dism issal) emphasis on the role o f G od o r a D ivine Being as the
source o f w ritin g o r speech, and instead on the im plications o f this devel­
opm ent fo r a sense o f social h isto ry and hum an identity. Influenced by
John Locke’s Essay on H um an U nderstanding, 18th-century philosophers
Rationalizing the Alphabet: Construction, Real Character and Philosophical Languages in the Renaissance

The earliest published documents linked to the secret brotherhood

appeared about this tim e, but they are generally considered specious invo­
cations o f a m etaphorical rather than actual organization. Fludd’s earnest
belief in the existence o f the order, to w hich he aspired no doubt on
account o f the d iffic u lty in fin ding a receptive audience fo r his blend o f
alchem ical and scientific agendas, led to his being rid icu le d , though this
did n o t interfere w ith either royal patronage o r the pub lica tion o f his
m ajor w ork. The Rosicrucians, when they actually came in to being as a
group in the early 18th century, remained com m itted to the perpetuation
o f kabbalistic and H erm etic doctrine in com bination w ith a C hristian reli­
gious conviction and thus were a m ajor avenue fo r the transm ission o f the
occult tra d itio n in to the 19th century, where it w ould again become a pop­
u la r phenomenon.
V III
t h e s o c ia l c o n t r a c t , p r i m i t i v i s m , a n d

NATIONALISM: THE ALPHABET IN THE 18TH CENTURY

The s p irit o f rationalism w hich characterized the late, high Renaissance

and manifested its e lf in the elaborate taxonom ic structures o f p hiloso ph i­
cal languages became m ore fu lly developed in the 18th century, m oving
away from a description o f divine order and in to debates between the sci­
e n tific and theological bases fo r knowledge. In keeping w ith the general
intellectu al tenor o f the period, theories o f language and m eaning produc­
tio n , p a rtic u la rly w ith respect to w ritin g as a form o f representation,
became m ore closely bound to inquiries in to the h isto rica l basis o f society
and the distinguishing characteristics o f so-called civilized culture. The
m yths w hich had made the hieroglyphic the very essence o f a sym bolic
form in the Renaissance began to crum ble w ith the w ork o f lin g u is tic a lly
rather than m ystically inclined scholars such as N icolas Freret and Abb 6
Barthelemy. Chinese characters and the purported a n tiq u ity o f Chinese
c iv iliz a tio n m aintained th e ir m ystique, w ith scholars struggling to recon­
cile the b ib lica l account o f a single creation w ith the existence o f exotic
cultures and language.
The term s natural and p rim itiv e , w hich appeared w ith reg ula rity in the
published inquiries in to the origins o f language, to o k on a new value in
18th-century European parlance. W ritin g was considered one o f the d istin ­
guishing signs o f c iv iliz a tio n and the alphabet was accorded an active and
significant role in m aintaining the hierarchy o f social orders. The analysis
o f the alphabet as a sym bol engaged w ith debates about the p roduction o f
lin g u istic m eaning in w hich the concept o f n atural was idealized as o rig- 199
in a l and pure, but coded in hum an terms. The term p rim itive was bound
up w ith tw o ideas: the o rig in a l cond itio n o f hum ankind and thus the o rig ­
in a l language, and w ith the characterization o f this co nd itio n: either as
crude, supposedly preceding the developm ent o f in s titu tio n s which
advanced hum anity through reason, o r as pure, innocent and unspoiled.
M any debates on the origins o f language had at th e ir heart an assertion o f
the fundam ental rightness o f the social contract. Language was the very
means to fo rm the bonds w hich linked hum an beings in a ra tio n a l and
rulebound social order - and it was also the sign par excellence o f the
ways social relationships, p o litic a l power, and econom ic exchange were
governed by th a t order. The 18th-century debates on language were d istin ­
guished from those o f the Renaissance by th e ir dim inished (often to the
p o in t o f dism issal) emphasis on the role o f God or a D ivine Being as the
source o f w ritin g o r speech, and instead on the im plications o f th is devel­
opm ent fo r a sense o f social h isto ry and hum an identity. Influenced by
John Locke’s Essay on H um an Understanding, 18th-century philosophers
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

o f language emphasized the concept o f its a rb itra ry and social basis for
language.
The social forces at w ork to m otivate these conceptual changes includ­
ed an increased contact w ith cultures beyond the lim its o f Western
Europe, p a rtic u la rly in those areas where co lonization had follow ed the
paths m ade'by the explorations o f the previous centuries. Settlements
under co lo nia l rule were grounded on a hierarchy whose legitim acy was
justifie d by assumptions o f the inherent supe rio rity o f European form s o f
government, science and belief. M eanw hile, w ith in Western Europe, the
rise o f the nation state as an entity, its consolidation w ith in principles o f
law and in stitu tio n s o f government along national lines, prom oted con­
cepts o f id e n tity in n a tio n a listic terms. The theory o f the o rig in and iden­
tity o f the alphabet and language also became bound up in these emerging
identities. The claim s fo r a C eltic, Anglo-Saxon o r G aulish o rig in o f w rit­
ing gave evidence o f the force o f this m ythic invention. W ritin g was
assigned a privileged place as both key to and means fo r the production o f
h isto ry as w ell as o f the uses to w hich such claim s m ight be p u t in the con­
te xt o f struggles fo r consolidation o f new te rrito ria l boundaries.

A S P E C I M E N
BT J O H N B AS K E R V I L L E
Of B I R M I N G H A M L E T T E R- F O U N D E R <mi P R I N T E R .

Double Pica Roman. Double Pica Italic .

A A N D E M aliauando, Quirites! A N D E M aliquando, Quirites! L . Ca-
A

B T L. Catilinam furentem audacia,

fcelus anhelantem, peftem patriae nefa-
rie molientem, vobis atquehuic urbi fer-
rum flammamque minitantem, ex urbe
C A B C D E F G H IJ K L M N O P .
r tilir.amfurentem audacia, fcelus anhelan­
tem, pedempatriae nefarie molientem, vobis atqueB
kuic urbiferrumJlammamque minitantem, ex urbe
vel ejecimus, vel emifimus, vel ipfum egredientem
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P .
G

D Great Primer Roman.

A N D E M aliquando, Quirites! L. Catilinam
Great Primer Italic.
'A N D E M aliquando, Q uirites!' L . Catilinam fit-
D

E T furentem audacia, fcelus anhelantem peftem pa-

trisc nefarie molientem, vobis atquc huic urbi ferrum
flammamque minitantem, ex urbe vel ejecimus, vel e-
200 John Baskervilie's printing types, miflmus, vclipfum egredientem verbis profecud fumus,
F abiit, exceflit, evaftt, crupit. nulla jam pemicies i t .
1789 sample sheet, Paris A BC D E FG H IJR LM N O PQ R S TU V .
r rentem audacia,fcelus anhelantem, peftem patriae
nefarie molientem, vobis atque huic u rbiferrum Jlammam- E
que minitantem, ex urbe vel ejecimus, vel emifimus, vel
tpjum egredientem verbis p ro fecutifum us. a b iit, excefftt,
evaftt, crupit. nulla jam pemicies a monftro illo , F
A B C D E F G H l f K L M N O P Q R S T U V fV.

Theories o f language changed in the 18th century, s h iftin g th e ir focus

from taxonom ic a rtic u la tio n o f logical and lin g u istic categories to the
study o f lin g u istic systems. G ram m ar, w hich had had a secure place in the
study o f classical languages, became a foreground player in the study o f
vernacular languages. Though the study o f gram m ar brought little to bear
on the study o f the alphabet, the s h ift away from elements and parts,
words and letters, to sentences and relationships had a progressive and
forw ard lo o kin g aspect to it w ith w hich the discussions o f the p rim itive
language seem oddly o u t o f synch. But the com pilations o f scraps and
snippets o f in fo rm a tio n on the origins o f language from classical and b ib ­
lic a l sources often served as preface to w orks on gram m ar - o r to the
other m ajor new lin g u istic ind ustry o f the 18th century, the dictionary.
M any m ajor gram m atical texts, such as the much referred to Hermes
by James H a rris, published in 1751, included these several aspects o f
 The Social Contract Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

language study side by side w ith o u t evident co n flict. N o r was there any to
the 18th-century m ind in w hich the ongoing interest in the h isto rica l
developm ent o f w ritin g was s till largely nourished from textu al sources,
though the study o f ancient sites and monuments was p u ttin g an increased
pressure on received tra d itio n to accommodate the m aterial evidence o f a
vastly differen t chronology - th a t suggested by p h ilo lo g ica l and archaeo­
logical investigations.

•^nX>46

T esto Pa l e s t in a

jSJella decadenza dell’

Impero Romano paf- I I Pontefice
farono le Scienze tra Leone X . fece
gli A ra b i, e fioriro-
no allora gli A lb u fa -
rifio rire in Ita ­
™ gj, gli A b u je ld i, gli lia le L e tte re ,
A vicenj , gli A ve ro i, che da lungo
e cent’ a ltri, de’ quali
vedi Jacopo K ettero.
tempo langui-
vanoin un mi-
ferabile oblio.
Giambattista Bodoni's modern
type, Parma, 1771

Typographic Inventions and Decorative Devices 201

A t the opening o f the 18th century p rin tin g , was an ind ustry w ith tw o
hundred and fifty years’ established tra d itio n ; the specialization o f the
trade had become such th a t printers were no longer required to possess
every s k ill in the trade. Punchcutting, type-casting, m arketing and d is trib ­
u tio n o f types had become the province o f dealers and foundries selling
th e ir wares to a m arket o f printers who in tu rn supplied the service o f
p rin t p roduction to th e ir clients. The specimen sheet as a p rin te d form
p ro liferated in the 18th century as a means fo r foundries to advertise th e ir
stock to printers, and there was a significant increase in typographic styles
- both the num ber o f faces and the range o f available sizes. The extrava­
gantly elaborate form s o f display faces w ould be a product o f the 19th
century when the in d u stria l revolution created new markets fo r advertising
and com m ercial p rin tin g . Though there was an increase in decorative
titlin g types in the 18th century, the period was distinguished in p rin tin g
h isto ry by the invention o f the so-called m odern type faces.
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century
Closeup of Bodoni's modern
type in the 18th century edition
of Horace, Parma
Designs by committee of the
Academie des Sciences for the
Romains du Roi; copperplate
engraving by Louis Simmoneau
from 1702
ODE I.
AD VENEREM.
In te rm is s a , V enus, d iu
Rursus b e lla moves. Parce, p re c o r, preeor!
N on sum qualis eram bonae
Sub regno Cinarae. D esine, d u lc iu m
M ate r saeva C u p id in u m ,
C irca lu s tra decern flectere m o llib u s
la m d u ru m im p e riis . A b i
M odern type faces were differentiated from the oldstyle rom an and
blackletter faces by an increased contrast between th e ir th ic k and thin
strokes and an overall greater delicacy o f fo rm . T his was made possible in
p a rt by im provements in paper production since the newer, more regular
surfaces could accommodate a m ore sensitive im pression. The types o f the
English p rin te r John Baskerville showed the effects o f these changes while
preserving many o f the design features o f earlier faces. Baskerville’s
designs were sometimes referred to as vernacular faces, and th e ir subtle
form s are considered by typographic historians to have a ‘sparkling’
appearance on the page.1 B ut the m ost distinctive m odern types were a
radical departure fro m earlier rom an faces and were designed w ith o u t
regard fo r earlier models o f either calligraphed o r in scrip tio n a l form s.
These faces were made in accordance w ith s tric tly m athem atical programs
o f p roportions and form . There were several versions o f such types devel­
oped through the course o f the 18th century, p a rtic u la rly in France in the
w ork o f the D id o t and Fournier fam ilies. B ut perhaps the best known
examples in current use are those w hich were invented ju st at the tu rn o f
the 19th century by G iam battista Bodoni in Parma, Italy .2 However, o f a ll
the various proposals fo r type constructed in accord w ith ra tio n a l p rin ­
ciples none more com pletely embodies features o f the early 18th century
associated w ith the French Enlightenm ent than the designs fo r the Royal
Type o f Louis XIV.
The project was actually begun in the 1660s, as p a rt o f the in itia l
attem pts to lin k the new ly established Academie des Sciences w ith the
technical professions in order to forge m odern innovations in industry .3
The Im prim erie Royale had been established in France in the 1640s, and
the new project was supervised n o t by p rinters, but by a com m ittee o f rep­
resentatives o f the Academie. The so-called Romains du R oi were to be
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

fu ll sets o f both rom an and ita lic faces, upper and low er case and the title
TYPES was used to distinguish them from the bea utifu l Greques du R oi produced
4UtI»
EARGRANDJEANETALEXANDRE. earlier. These designs - w hich were never cut as faces in th e ir o rig in a l form
1093.» - differed sign ifican tly from the constructed faces o f such type designers as
RO
U&IN. ITAUQ
OE. D iire r and T ory by the fa ct th a t they were n ot m odified by an experienced
p rin te r’s eye but were produced in s tric t accord w ith program m atic m athe­
A a A a
m atical form ulae. The copper engravings w hich were to be the basis o f
B b B b
these types were produced in large p a rt by Louis Simmoneau from designs
C c C c
by Jacques Jaugeon, Pere Sebastien Truchet and G.F. des B illettes at the
D d D d
end o f the 1690s. One s trik in g p ecu lia rity o f the face was th a t its ita lic
E e E e form s were in fact m erely sloped rom an letters, and in this sense resem­
F f F f bled the transform ations effected in early d ig ita l m utation o f le tte r form s
G g G g more than they resembled older models o f calligraphic o r inscribed alpha­
H h H h bets. These designs remained unpublished u n til 1965, though they were
1 i I i adapted by Philippe Granjean fo r his cu ttin g o f the eighty-tw o fonts
J j J ) know n as the Romains du R oi9 a massive undertaking only com pleted by
K k K k G ranjean’s pupils in 1745.4
L i L I G ranjean’s adaptations m odified the origin als, ta kin g in to account the
M m JVl m variations required fo r le g ib ility at differen t p o in t sizes and fo r softening
N n N n the otherw ise relentlessly ‘perfect’ designs. These designs came in fo r seri­
o o 0 o ous criticism , even in the m id-18th century. The h ig hly esteemed p rin te r
P P P P Sim on-Pierre Fournier, fo r instance, disparaged the o rig in a l designs,
Q q Q. though he a ttrib u te d the defects o f design to the absence o f a sufficien tly
R r R r w ell-q u alified engraver to achieve the w ork. In fa ct, the designs in the o rig ­
S sf S in a l copper plates were w ell-realized on th e ir own term s, though ill-su ite d
T t T t to the aesthetic requirem ents o f p rin tin g . Fournier, like G ranjean, realized
U u U u th a t the effect o f these types on the page, had they been produced in
V v V v accord w ith the o rig in a l designs, w ould have been one o f deadening stabil­
ity. Fournier possibly lacked the h isto rica l perspective to realize th a t these
X X X x
le tte r form s, by th e ir very harm ony and regularity, embodied both the
Y y y y intellectu al principles held in high esteem as a theoretical ideal and also
Z z z l the w orldview o f the m onarch by whom they had been com m issioned. The
compass and the square, used to divide the spaces from w hich the le tter
Granjean's cutting of Romains form s emerged, were appropriate tools fo r designing type w hich was to lay
duRoi, 1693 claim to universality, transcendence and im m u ta b ility in the same manner
as Louis X IV ’s unshakable egocentrism shaped his claim s to absolute
monarchy. The extrem ely fo rm a l characteristics o f these le tte r form s —
w hich were sharply criticised by later designers - were precisely those
which made them so indicative o f the p o litic a l sym bolism o f th e ir aesth­
etic fo rm . W hile the Royal types remained the exclusive pro pe rty o f the
Im prim erie Royale, the u ltra -ra tio n a l aesthetic w hich had inspired th e ir
design was shared by the so-called m odern faces o f Fournier and the D id o t
fam ily, whose w idely im ita te d w ork set the tone fo r much o f Western
Simon Fournier, titlepage of European p rin tin g in the 18th century. F ournier’s designs were published
1742 Module des Charact&res in 1742, in the M odule des Charact&res. These faces were characterized by
th in , unbracketed serifs, extreme va riatio n o f th ic k and th in strokes and a
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

strong vertica l emphasis - in other words, by a d is tin c tly ra tio n a l seeming

form alism .
The 18th century saw a dram atically increased a va ila b ility o f p rin tin g
types to serve the needs o f the expansion o f Western European culture in
its contacts w ith foreign languages and scripts. M otivated by colonial,
religious and, later, anthropological concerns, type designers cut many
new ‘exotic* faces to accommodate the demand fo r publications in non-
European languages. A specimen book such as the ABC Buchdruckerkunst
o f C hristian Friedrich Gessner, produced in Leipzig in 1743, provides sig­
n ifica n t evidence o f th is trend: typefaces fo r m ore than fo u r dozen lan­
guages - among them Aetheopic, A rm enian, Brahm in, Syriac, Saracen,
M alabarischen and Chinese - were a ll made available fo r sale. Gessner’s
were p a rtic u la rly rich holdings in this realm , but not unique. The display
in D id e ro t and D ’A lem bert’s Encyclopedic seems very modest by contrast,
w ith its mere dozen o r so alphabets corresponding largely to languages o f
the N ear and M id d le East, and these a ll presented in copper engravings,
rather than as type fonts. The reason fo r this may have been pedagogical,
since th e ir presentation emphasized com parative gram m atography rather
than u tilita ria n applications. By the tim e o f its 1799 p u b lica tio n Edmund
F ry’s Pantographia contained images o f several hundred alphabets in an
u n c ritic a l blend o f m ythic and actual examples.

A l p h a b e t s O iu e n t A u x A k c ie n s
,, SJIUJ4QLW Ustra/tphtlc
M ilatr Mom JP/yurc

f'Z ytllcjJn JrtYir^wll

ft X OlapL n T “i r xC
taicicttucMairicrc]|^
2Ww
a a, a ti t i
.4 Gotnaf

phtnhlo il
? pu/ud ^L]
mrfM.UnJK
7r r ?

I ) 01 D Ut- % 1 Of- Of-

1 c 01 c ji q i

( A
0 Km. 00 0 a a 0 a 0
RaoJto C 1 r Z.IM vf 1 k 1 I* } 1

204
u
/ a
JUL n U ftrd km*** lu U*. M JO >k ik

Tf/itutUo .1 4> D T/rd h ^

k k
1 ^ > IT.d/u j<L « M. - A A X !

Z«yg/S /
C °'
£> Hup/, T / a q ik i

( ? h. Louta/A V X. i x i
( 0 ±£> to
1 * M int fo y*. so •p.^. 1
O/Joflo U\ i J Van
o v t J ^ > 1

JI1anici-c2Touvcllc £D 0 Semknd inn tfr>- pr^ JA hL

Jfitpl/io a * y -E,’ U s>. x x
£> 53 Pr & iS is a &
h’lltUU, c
X SsoMe* ft J f iT 3

If/tuuMii 1^ £> ? r,,o p i v3<u? 10 to. 0 a n

S&y 0/0 O 6 > *1 Ikuth

**T » #■ b i h n
A. Seta rT - ^ i*. X A h i .
( A
Oflofio \
'I. 9
1 p Tut, o/T A K K 1 Js

EdtantiUun nonwu.iinmM ■I\ «pi rir. IVuljn-rc Ktli.m lil/.vi .(,>t'lltrifu rt .tto-.tnqAdt, |
ltu Suillmliiut Fiilri.*M fn/1“
SmTAfiw. I f J£ I> oils.
/.> .lib l ’ ,/t;<uAA.-' j n l___irtT _— m _ U q im
ftijirc fclttCilnvn^*m**M*tui*giMHi'uitrmfe.iuanof.ml
p fti.r
rw P »
£#»•>/»«y«v/l /** tfAArttoyr •• 4/Mn
' /rtfa tiort 1 (V.U n ld n x ^ i rd c y H ii
P la te o f 'A n c ie n t O rie n ta l Jf ).iTn%Qvy / • r d X ^ it 'n a
yUru /•' MMtfa
A lp h a b e ts ' fro m D id e ro t a n d
/ / I n h a b e ts ,
D 'A le m b e rt's E n c y d o p G d ie //a,'tens Jhufi'rni'y*.
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

m a j w edL,

Q % . o / / u ) o m w /i& u //d J 2 & rm tc /u v 7 v t//i_ 2

*fo u n t n rc e ^ iff/rp O ^ rv a tw rtx i on //e (S rce/A m oy- o //u ) o /so/ye*.A ^uondor^

o jfjt/M fc J frn te /n c e j on ffy o /s s o n s / w o n o t M <S% ?rrnjy f$ n .J o ri< ^ r, /y /a to n y So^

ty /le n r/a n r/o y e o o /^ S & o o /^ /r/f^ rj o ji J e m -m l O c c a fio n j;o c c ff/n te tJyw Y M rtY n u i^
205
c ^ t/ie (9 /v ^ n tn /^ ^ /^ n n y e j, a /tY /^ /y t/n /n /'if on a ////u ’J ffio n d d ? io /o y o m c fto tt^

<?///*•T /'/ti/iS/uM'j/i//iaunyW&econ/tw/tJy?>rt/ie<.?/muMn<>nt {ff'e /e Ctmouj..

George Bickham, The Universal j . o x d o n :

l & n i f e t / f a t M t i l f o / t / P ir r t w a /f/te / / '/ " / c it f w n>{>A<w/ ?t<.'tr</tr6:.
Penman, 1743
174.3.

M ore significant than the statistical enum eration o f these facts o f

production is the effect on European attitudes towards language. The
boom in universal languages o f the late 17th century found its echo in the
18th as w ell, also m otivated in p a rt by the desire to transcend the d iffic u l­
ties o f cross-cultural com m unication. But more overwhelm ing was the
The Social Contract Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

in te rre la tio n between h isto rica l and c u ltu ra l perspectives as scholars o f

language struggled to determ ine lin ks between c u ltu ra l id e n tity and lin ­
guistic fo rm , as w ell as to understand the chronological development
w hich had resulted in such widespread p ro life ra tio n and diversification.
The tale o f Babel rem ained a m ajor touchstone fo r these researches in the
18th century, and the variety o f languages was explained in relatio n to that
p o in t o f b ib lica l reference. B ut the diversity o f narratives in to w hich this
single reference fitte d was considerable, m aking use o f alphabetic w ritin g
as one o f the key elements lin k in g n ational id e n tity and h isto rica l p riority.

f c m t t jjlm t u n e t lip £ o f jf a m e ,

t\)t of a tifiitJ j^ a m c .

The tra d itio n o f penmanship developed in the Renaissance continued

in the 18th century, though m any historians o f calligraphy consider this to
have been a decadent period characterized by excesses o f decoration,
flo urish ing , and p ic to ria l conceits. These are m anifest in display pieces
and in the a rtfu l copper engravings o f such s k ilfu l designers as M auro
Poggi, T.A. Pingeling, Gaetano Giare and others .5 Themes o f travel and
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

architecture entered in to these elaborately engraved designs, adding to the

m ythological, religious and mundane themes o f the earlier centuries, w hile
the p ro life ra tio n o f natural flo ra and fauna accurately observed and pre­
sented reflected the 18th-century reexam ination o f the physical w orld.
One landm ark p ub lica tion in this area was George Bickham ’s U niversal
Penman, a w ork w hich helped popularize new calligraphic styles as w ell as
p rom oting a clear, legible hand. O ther practical manuals fo r the teaching
o f penmanship as a useful and necessary to o l had appeared in the 18th
century, but in the 19th, as the needs o f ind ustry and commerce required
increasing numbers o f skille d clerks and secretarial w orkers, these publica­
tions became the basis o f standardized tra in in g and cu rricula.

(X fa ^ L P H A B E T M .S /u ’
.S q u a r e H a n d s .
%
/eore/tny.
Jcoreiary.*-
Qiaa c^aci OXn 0/1 m\
o<x> 0
<£ccc C.tn Vvv Pp-fp
£c\c\
Cccc £ u y OXtv OKvr
m \ m $ 0f$ $$>OJ
m me
Xxxy 3 vm. opt# OH)vo
m M f X xx X xg
Richard Ware, The Young Clerk's m Vvv
Assistant, London, 1733, title Qttm h '* -
page and chart of 'square' hands
207
Decorative devices and elaborate in itia ls were also created to serve the
p rin tin g trades in the fo rm o f w ood o r m etal in itia l letters designed fo r use
w ith cast m etal type. Once again, themes fro m the Renaissance persisted,
such as th a t o f p la yfu l naked p u tti or flo ra l patterns, w hile newer themes
made th e ir appearance as w ell. A gain, an increased a ttention to n aturalis­
tic deta il in the depiction o f plants and anim als was evident, and the use
o f exotic seeming creatures and foreign views were a ll popular m aterial fo r
new designs reflecting an interest in cultures beyond the borders o f
W estern Europe.

Copperplate engraved initials,

by Mauro Poggi (late 18th cen­
tury) and T. A. Pingeling (1780)
The Social Contract Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

Letter M from Johann David

Steing ruber, Architetonisches
Alphabeth, 1773

Decorative initial with theme of

exotic travel, possibly by Jan van
Vianen

Natural Language and Letters

In the 18th century the term ‘n a tu ra l’ came to be associated w ith the

idea o f self-evident o r irre futab le fact. The idea o f a natural language was
one grounded in the logic o f physiology, in keeping w ith the era’s fondness
fo r granting privileged status to e m p irically observable phenomena. One
extension o f this sensibility was in the schemes used to account fo r the
shapes o f alphabetic letters in term s o f a lin k between th e ir visual shape to
the organs o f a rtic u la tio n . The m ost notable 17th-century precedent fo r
this in te rp re ta tio n was the w ork o f Van H elm ont, whose assertions had
forged a lin k between the movements o f the tongue, lips and m outh and
form s o f the Hebrew alphabet. But H elm on t’s aim had been to demon­
strate the divine o rig in o f Hebrew, w hile 18th-century w rite rs conceived o f
D ivine invention in a m ore oblique manner, if they considered it at a ll. In
a dd itio n, these w rite rs a ll concerned themselves w ith the fo rm o f the
Roman alphabet. Thus th e ir desire to ground the visual shapes o f letters in
the organs o f a rtic u la tio n included both a peculiarly ahistorical ignorance
o f the developm ent o f the alphabet and a fa ith in the hum an body as an
o rig in a l source fo r natu ra l form s.
The idea o f a p hysiolo gica lly based n o ta tio n system has some cre d ib il­
ity as a guide fo r pronunciation: the m apping o f the organs and relative
positions o f tongue and so fo rth in a shorthand code was one o f the bases
on w hich the eventual developm ent o f the In te rn a tio n a l Phonetic
A lphabet was developed. B ut the attem pts to see the alphabet in term s o f
physiology was m otivated by a desire to read the letters as a set o f m o ti­
vated signs, grounded in some o rig in a l source, rather than as an a rb itra ry
set o f visual elements. These proposals were also testim ony to the
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

increased sophistication o f phonetic analysis, since the categories o f la b i­

als, dentals, palatals, fricatives and plosives provided a suggestive fram e­
w ork w ith in w hich to propose a visual in te rp re ta tio n . A nother theme was
the increasing recognition th a t the correspondences between the letters o f
the alphabet and the sounds o f contem porary French, English o r other
spoken language were h ig hly inadequate. In the in tro d u ctio n to his 1758
p u b lica tio n , A n In tro d u ctio n to Language, L ite ra ry and Philosophical,
Especially to the English, L a tin , Greek and H ebrew , Anselm Bayly, the
English p h ilo lo g ist, bemoaned this fa ct, stating th a t ide ally ‘each letter
should correspond to a sound.’ T h a t it d id n o t was p ro o f o f its im perfec­
tio n - arising either from the deterioration o f the o rig in a l, pure fo rm o f
language, o r fro m the as yet n o t perfected co n d itio n o f hum an knowledge.
In the debates over the n atural versus social character o f language, Bayly
to o k the side o f culture: children learned language only w ith d iffic u lty , he
pointed o u t, and though he believed strongly th a t the o rig in a l language
had contained more perfect connections between words and th e ir mean­
ings, he s till considered it to have been a hum an invention grounded in
lessons fro m the great In stru cto r and Creator.
Interpretations in w hich the alphabet was considered to have been
based on physiology divided in to descriptive systems - those w hich assert­
ed th a t they were discovering the true o rig in o f the le tte r form s o r th e ir
meaning - and prescriptive systems - w hich attem pted to design a univer­
sal n o ta tio n system based on the mechanisms o f pronunciation. The
Englishm an, Charles Davy, and French scholar, Abbe J. M arie M oussaud,
were both authors o f descriptive systems, w hile Charles de Brosses w rote
one o f the m ost famous o f a ll physiological alphabet texts, inclu ding a
proposal fo r a universal w ritin g .
D avy’s 1772 C onjectural Observations on the O rig in and Progress o f
A lphabetic W ritin g ascribed the o rig in o f w ritin g to hum an invention,
rather than divine g ift. Davy emphasized th a t it was the principles o f pho­
netic representation, rather than the specific a c tiv ity o f letters, w hich were
the rem arkable achievement in alphabetic w ritin g , so th a t it was the con­
cept o f representing sound, rather than the means by w hich this was
achieved, w hich he fe lt was to be m ost adm ired. D avy’s analysis o f le tte r
form s was lim ite d to diagram s o f the lips, teeth, tongue. He considered
th a t the alphabetic sequence had been determ ined by the patterns o f the
m outh in pronunciation: ‘aleph’ closed the lips, ‘ beta’ opened them and
p u t the tongue in position to pronounce the ‘gim el,’ as its fin a l ‘ 1’ in tu rn
readied the m outh fo r the ‘daleth’ and so fo rth . B ut the letters he schema­
tized in his illu stra tive diagram s were Roman letters, majuscules, and the
in terna l contradictions o f this m ethod were never m entioned - the
im p ro b a b ility th a t letters whose form s were developed in m onum ental
inscriptio ns had derived from the organs o f speech. In a d d itio n , his under­
standing o f the physiology o f speech was quite lim ite d : he relied on the
obvious features o f the m outh (teeth, tongue, lip s), rather than extending
to the palate, g lo ttis and la ryn x as W ilkins had a century earlier.
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

A L P H A B E T IC W R IT IN G . 87

O-mega exhibited the ho llo w o f the

m outh in profile, w ith the lips th ru ft
forw ard as in fpeaking : rpovyixxncti n yap
iv ecvru to fo ft-x , m i m p trtM ti r d

g a
Betawas a delineation o f the lips in
profile, in the natural fituation o f the
head.

B E B ,

Mu exhibited them turned upwards.

m W M i<
Pi was their inverted profile.

v j r i *

An d P h i Was a drawing o f the lips as

they appear in front, w hich was erected
for the fake o f taking up lefs room.

^ $ cjb

Zeta and N u may Jie confidered both

as palatines and linguals,

Z N
Zeta (the found o f w hich feems to be
compounded o f the founds o f 9 and <r * ) is
Charles Davy's tiny diagrams.
Conjectural Observations,
pronounced by railing the tip o f the
London, 1772 tongue

Davy invoked h isto rica l themes w hich were quite typ ica l o f the 18th
century, p a rtic u la rly in his attem pt to reconcile his insights w ith contra­
d ictin g b ib lica l and classical texts. For instance, Davy argued against the
 The Social Contract Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

p o ssib ility o f an antediluvian o rig in fo r the alphabet on the sim ple

grounds th a t there was no evidence o f w ritin g before the Flood. He
favored the theory o f its invention in the Sinai, p a rtic u la rly its use to
inscribe the Decalogue o f Moses. This was a fa irly standard p o sitio n fo r
his tim e, though there were other scholars who continued to argue fo r
Adam ’s role in the invention o f letters as w ell as language. D avy’s discus­
sion linked the invention o f the alphabet to the p ro h ib itio n against graven
images, thus distinguishing it from the firs t w ritin g , hieroglyphic. Because
they pictured the elements they represented, hieroglyphics were unaccept­
able to the Jews, he fe lt, since they were under the strictures o f Moses’s
new Laws. Finally, Davy echoed the sentim ents o f Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s
famous fo rm u la tio n th a t language had been invented to com m unicate
the hum an passions and em otions, and he added th a t the uses to w hich
w ritin g had been applied had moved in rapid succession to business, to
memory, to specifying the conditions o f the covenant, to determ ining the
conveyance o f property. In sum m ary Davy considered the alphabet to be
an invention w hich com m unicated humanness by the social purposes to
w hich it was p u t, and to be p ic to ria l, but abstractly so, because it repre­
sented sound through depicting the mechanisms o f pronunciation.
M oussaud, like Davy, analyzed the visual fo rm o f the Roman letters in
term s o f a rtic u la to ry organs. H is w ork, U A lph a be t Raisonne ou
E xp lica tio n des Lettres, was based on the p rin cip le th a t letters either rep­
resented the organs o f speech or they represented the movement o f a ir pro­
duced by those organs. The several hundred pages o f his tw o-volum e w ork
were devoted to exhaustively deta ilin g these patterns, though the graphic
evidence he presented was lim ite d to a few schematic designs. U nlike Davy,
M oussaud defended his choice o f the Roman alphabet, m aking clear th a t
his was a deliberate selection, and stated th a t the perfection o f the form s
o f the letters made it obvious th a t these could n o t be a degraded o r deteri­
orated fo rm o f the early alphabet. He fe lt th a t it was h ig hly im probable
th a t the scratchings, awkw ard glyphs and ‘ barbarous’ images o f the Sinai
o r Phoenicia could have been the pure originals o f letters w hich were supe­
rio r aesthetically. H aving established the prim acy o f the majuscules o f the
Roman alphabet on aesthetic grounds, he then proceeded to a direct
analysis o f the sym bolism o f the letters: ‘A’ was the sim plest, representing
m outh and tongue; ‘E’ the sign o f existence, the very breath o f life , was
the image o f the nose from below, tw o n ostrils and the diaphragm separat­
ing them ; T was n o t an organ, but the shape o f the sound, fast clean and
sharp, like an arrow, and the d o t on the low er case ‘i ’ was a stranger, a
rem nant o f an older n ota tion system; ‘O ’ was the m ost fu ll sound, the
shape o f a globe; and the tw o p arallel lines o f the ‘U ’ were the guiding
canal o f the voice. M oussaud divided letters in to the passive consonants
and the active vowels, the tra n q u il voices o f reflection and the dynam ic
language o f the passions. In so doing he was able to discuss language as
the interw eaving o f tw o strains - one natural and independent o f in s titu ­
tions, im m ediate and expressive which consisted o f the vowels, and the
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

other conventional, understood only through tra in in g , w hich was that

contained in the consonants. T his ingenious so lu tion to the apparent con­
tra d ic tio n between the expressive m a te ria lity o f language and the clearly
social nature o f its form s, meaning and conventions was Moussaud’s
unique c o n trib u tio n to alphabet theory.

CARACTERES P A R T IC U LA R S ,
/■epn/idmetphmeiavfou 7'epetesdms le corns de / Onvrape,

FOYELLES.
A -U .A 0 -0 . □ .
rta. • it OUil . U -U .XF.
E -c .e .a .a E .
I —I ponctue. Oll-^ j/rex. y . ^ capfujue .
CONSONNES.
B--}. 3. B . Q -9-
c -n .u .o .e .^ ,. R- fc. * .
D - 3 . A yaw. (d)/S>.S/> . vD—0 fieiraiyue. S. ^ . 2 y/wyue.
F -a .a . 2. * £ 2 C * 3 . XA.X.
cedUfe-. iX!... S . co.oo .
H -H . I i . T -H . | V - <1 .
J-'t“D. ‘"DC"1. J L . X-OC.'OC . I . D C.
K - M . E . W.IC. . 4 f . ^y-.
L-[_, j . <%-X. T .
M - ^ . k . ^ . c / E c - U . <dt'tv/iAi v a, i, o .
N -S • t/'an rttMiteatt .
P-.tf. cf . V yinyk.
Moussaud: chart of letter values,
from L‘Alphabet RaisonnGe,
1803
'■____—
--- :--------- --------- ----

Moussaud: chart of letter values;
the 'A' and 'B' and 'V;' the 'D',
from VAlphabet Raisonn4e,
1803
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century
Charles De Brosses’s Traite de la F orm ation M echanique des Langues
became the best know n o f the a rtic u la to ry interpretations o f alphabet
form s. H is assertion, quite sim ply, was th a t a ll languages shared this
physiologically based sound sym bolism and were o f a necessity determ ined
by nature itse lf. De Brosses’s treatise contained a search fo r value, not
m erely the o rig in a l o f a le tte r fo rm , but the essence o f m eaning, w hich he
fe lt resided in an onom atopoeic reading o f sound sym bolism . He had
very little to say about the visual form s o f the alphabet, but from the firs t
pages o f his two-volum e w ork, he was prom oting the analysis o f spoken
language.
The firs t example he offered was a contrast o f the pronunciation o f the
French words fo r soft (doux) and rough (rude). In the association o f the
gentle sound o f the w ord doux and the harsher sound o f the w ord rude the
kernel o f his entire treatise was contained. De Brosses believed th a t the
physical q u a lity o f the words was evidence o f th e ir kernel m eaning, and it
follow ed from this th a t a ll language was onom atopoeic in its o rig in a l
fo rm , much o f w hich, he fe lt, could be recovered w ith careful exam ination
o f existing elements. B ut his m ajor co n trib u tio n was a proposal fo r a w rit­
ing system grounded in physiology, one adaptable to any and a ll lan­
guages, and more or less apparent to the eye. H e designed this w ritin g sys­
tem in s tric t accord w ith phonetic analysis, his m arks designating lips,
nose, tongue, teeth as the basis o f w hat he term ed an ‘organic alphabet.’
Though never adopted, his scheme provided in sp ira tio n fo r later inventors
o f phonographic n o ta tio n systems. The drawbacks to De Brosses’s scheme
were th a t though it m ight have been pronounceable to the in itia te d , as a
n ota tion system it w ould have jettisoned the rich p h ilo lo g ica l h isto ry o f
language apparent in tra d itio n a l w ritin g w hich in p a rt conveyed meaning
by the visual form s o f morphemes, prefixes and suffixes, rather than mere­
ly by th e ir sound.
The u n ifyin g feature o f these proposals was th e ir profound belief th a t 213
a close relatio n between w ritte n fo rm and physiology w ould result in a
more perfect alphabet - whether it could m erely be dem onstrated as his­
to ric a l fa ct o r whether it had to be reinvented. The assum ption th a t
e m pirical, observable natural form s, such as those o f the m outh, were in
themselves inherently perfect, was the basis o f th is attitu de . The body car­
ried no association o f carnal im p u rity in such systems, but was a natural
fa ct, and therefore, could be the basis o f a neutral or even positive image.
The social order was not in co n flic t w ith this natu ra l image, but a logical -
o r even, as in the language o f M oussaud, reasonable — extension o f its
character.
The d istin ctio n between these and earlier physiologically based in te r­
pretations resided chiefly in the absence o f a m ystical o r transcendent
b elief in divine sources fo r alphabetic form . There is none o f H elm on t’s
leap o f fa ith in these texts and theological conviction has been subsumed
in to a cool logic and ra tio n a l analysis.
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

P /a /tc A e -Z T P o n t. I . /? . j S o .
JLed a rd cid a & o n d o u m /le ccto n d d id sw c
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p- t. m. f. u .

co Jlfoyen/.Fouce. Mude.
51^ ^ gokgeO 0 O
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g JMcn/e^.jDaeia>.Rude. V - Q U
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b d. t& . t.
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go Jkfqye/i'Fauco. Jlude.
^ ^ e a la is ^ t ^ X P s P y r- B .
y z. cJi. Z e ttre A P o rA e A
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d ffo y e a . R ude.
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w

L L L
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go * JB a d fu la S ta l u £ a d u d e n ta l*
H a n a lo g u e , a u b . a n a lo g u e ru t- t.

9
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CO
F ta .jj. fotde dupcdais v—^ Cottle la h a l
8
a n a lo g u e a ic z . ou. S t^d e z /im tbed douoc
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Charles De Brosses's schematic P tp . J # -g a n a lo g u e a s . r a n a lo g u e a £ a y ,
d jfild o u . C A o/3edu p a llid a n a lo g u e a j-a d i.
diagrams for his organic alpha­
bet, Traits de la Formation
Mechanique des Lettres (Paris,
 The Social Contract Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

P la n e he T o ffid p .id i.
Zed ale c le /fr'e d ou-co/iAo/med d icn o u ve l
a lp h a b e t o ry a /u g u e •
LE V B E . G-ORGE . DENT . K E 21
" V / p . O c . U d . C * s '

o oK. u t i . ^ . st

X ^ J V t. 0 K .Q U . ^ T * /
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O c l. fe*
U ^ D j . Q /^ S cr.
"0 ~ C r .

ya & H z. (f) C s. t S p D * . Sc .
A ^ B l. 'te h o r. J

^ V s ^ P r. « 0 c t . ♦ f c h T r . K * SP

\^ P s . © * o l. P A L A IS . Spr.
/ .
X /P l. - 0 - G r. ^ C / > Spl.

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e ll. Z j»
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^ S r.
^ S ? N . J

—n B . C^-» S m

Charles De Brosses's schematic

diagrams for his organic alpha­
bet, Traits de la Formation
Mechanique des Lettres (Paris,
4 s1'
1765) Sn
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

I J/a n c/u ' m . TobuZj, , ^

LATIN
ft ft
U k 1 f k ljU X H
JPa/er . n o s ie r y u t \ eJ in ce/us s a n td fic a iu n v sit> fa iu rv nom en advenia P iuean fyntun

T IA L IE N

I 1 \\ H H i 11 U t ll tt \I 11 [f
\ ; * \ •> \1 \ y \ / X T-H X U
P adre. n osiro c/ut \ set net. c ic /i sa ncg /ic a ib s in tu o nom et v e /y a . iu o t'tyno

ESTAGNOL

1 f =m I 1 If 11 f
v \ A
Padre /ueedtro estas c/i
'U
ctc/os
n w y
sancir/tcad? SOI
>
iu . nom o/e
t\
venyn
X
i/c
til
fty /io
Charles De Brasses' schematic
diagrams for his organic alpha­
F R A N C O IS
bet, Traite de ta Formation i ; 1 1 1
Mechanique des Lettres (Paris, ii ^ ;V d U \{ \\ X *> 1 1- X
P tv r nosire. yreo ; eS en c t’enor s a n c it/ie s o rt io n /10/n m e /t/tc io /j-
\nym*
\
1765)

Primitive Origins and the Social Contract

18th-century accounts o f the origins and developm ent o f w ritin g evi­

denced an increasing concern w ith a coherent and consistent narrative his­
to ry w ith in w hich to present th e ir arguments. T his involved both a neces­
sary com parison o f the co nd itio n o f m odern culture w ith th a t o f the past,
and also, a more elaborately detailed chronology than had previously been
customary. A gain the underlying subtext o f these w orks was the guiding
question o f whether hum an society had deteriorated o r im proved on its
o rig in a l state. C ontact w ith people and cultures <in A frica and the
Am ericas had raised doubts about the nature o f so-called p rim itive exis­
tence, and the image o f Edenic innocence was both supported by the
observation o f indigenous people liv in g in harm ony w ith th e ir natural
environm ent and contradicted by th e ir apparent difference from the pre­
conceived image o f Adam and Eve as nude but conventional Western
Europeans. The role o f w ritin g in these various discussions was as clear
evidence o f c u ltu ra l superiority, but assessing the co nd itio n o f w ritin g in
the early stages o f hum an h isto ry became a crucial p o in t on which to
determ ine the course o f progress o r lack thereof.
The figures whose w ork gave definitive fo rm to discussions o f the
developm ent o f w ritin g in the 18th century included W illia m W arburton,
C o u rt de G ebelin, and Thom as A stle, a ll o f whom rem ained frequently
cited sources throughout the next century. Each believed th a t w ritin g was
a hum an invention w hich was bound up in the term s o f the social contract
between individuals and government. The influence o f Enlightenm ent
w rite rs on these historians was evident, and the a uthor who established a
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

founding lin k between social theory and alphabet h isto ry was Lord
M onboddo. In The O rig in and Progress o f Language (1772) M onboddo
insisted th a t n o t only w ritin g but language depended on the existence o f
the state since w ith o u t a basis fo r regulation hum an relations w ould n o t
have been able to evolve in to ra tio n a l fo rm and exchange. By contrast,
C o u rt de G ebelin fe lt th a t language was more properly to be considered
the instrum ent o f the state and its fa c ilita tin g m edium , seeing in the a ctivi­
ty o f w ritin g an effective technology fo r realizing the aims o f a ra tio n a l
and scientific government. Thom as A stle, along w ith W illia m Massey,
James H erries, James W illiam s, and a host o f other lesser know n figures
concurred on the p o in t th a t language was ‘the firs t and m ost adm irable o f
hum an inventions* w hich had been ‘enlarged as hum an affairs and circum ­
stances* rendered necessary* and th a t if there were any divine intervention
in the invention it was only in the sense th a t a ll hum an a c tiv ity was
inspired by divine models o r Ideas. W ritin g , even more than language, was
evidence o f the hum an character o f social systems and the to o l o f law, rea­
son, science and em otions.
The idea o f divine invention d id not lack fo r supporters, however.
D aniel Defoe w ritin g in 1726 and an anonymous French auth or responsi­
ble fo r the D issertation H istoriqu e sur VInvention des Lettres published in
1772 dem onstrated the tenacity o f the n o tio n o f w ritin g as a d irect g ift
from God. Defoe m aintained th a t it was an indisputable h isto rica l fact
th a t the firs t alphabetic characters had been w ritte n by God on tablets o f
stone, and to support his arguments gave detailed chronological accounts
o f events leading up to the m om ent at w hich the o rig in a l letters had been
inscribed in the year 2515 o f b ib lica l history. Defoe’s essay was subtitled
A n In q u iry in to the A n tiq u ity and O rig in o f Letters proving th a t the tw o
Tables w ritte n by the Linger o f God on M o u n t Sinai was the firs t W ritin g
in the W orld and th at a ll other Alphabets derive from H ebrew . Defoe
absolutely dismissed hieroglyphic w ritin g , stating th a t it could n o t have
had any relatio n whatsoever to the form s o r principles o f the alphabet. He
also dismissed the p o ssib ility o f an antediluvian w ritin g , 'th e b ib lica l
a u th o rity fo r the M osaic Tablets bearing such strong w eight in his argu­
ments, but the a uthor o f the D issertation was convinced th a t the firs t w rit­
ing had been on tw o colum ns o f b rick and stone, know n as the colum ns o f
Seth, w hich had existed before the Deluge. Like Defoe, this a uthor relied
exclusively on textual sources, but was less interested in reconciling them
to a single narrative than in enum erating th e ir various co ntribu tion s to the
h isto ry o f w ritin g . This practice o f giving equal w eight to m ythica l, b ib li­
cal and h isto rica l sources continued u n til the force o f archaeological evi­
dence contradicted the tra d itio n a l accounts, but attem pts to accommo­
date a divine o rig in fo r w ritin g w ith in a h isto rica l fram ew ork w ould per­
sist w ell beyond the 18th century.
W illia m W arburton’s m ajor co n trib u tio n to the study o f the h isto ry o f
w ritin g was in the area o f hieroglyphics; to W arburton goes credit fo r
fin a lly dem ystifying the E gyptian w ritin g system and placing it w ith in a
The Social Contract Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

lin g u istic context, w ell in advance o f the decipherm ent by Thom as Young
and Jean Francois C ham pollion. W hile W arburton d id n ot and could not
supply the meaning o f hieroglyphic characters, he recognized th a t they
had served a w ide range o f mundane and p ractical purposes in th e ir o rig i­
nal fu nctio n and had o nly become a more arcane and secret system in
th e ir later use. N ow accepted as the standard h isto rica l account,
W arburton’s proclam ations on this p o in t were revolutionary in an 18th-
century context in w hich the em blejnatic and enigm atic character o f the
hieroglyph was s till taken fo r granted and the term its e lf p ra ctica lly equiv­
alent to esotericism . But W arburton’s w ork had other im plica tio ns, and
the m ulti-volum e D ivin e Legation o f Moses, published in ra p id ly succeed­
ing editions w ell in to the 19th century, was a w ork w hich participated in
the p o litics o f contem porary life as much as in h isto rica l discussion. On
the one hand, the w ork was an encyclopedic co lle ction o f m ost o f what
was contem porary knowledge about the ancient w o rld .6 W arburton m ain­
tained th a t w hile Adam and Eve had lived in a co nd itio n o f natural re li­
gion, one in w hich humans realized by v irtu e o f th e ir ‘Reason and
Freedom o f W ill’ th a t they were m oral agents accountable fo r th e ir con­
duct to th e ir M aker. W hile W arburton m aintained, in keeping w ith Locke,
th a t hum an reason was universal, he argued the D eist b elief in nature as
the only source o f knowledge about G od, and in favor o f supernatural rev­
elation. Such a D ivine Revelation had been made o nly to the Jews, and it
was through Moses th a t knowledge had been passed dow n, though it was
through C hrist th a t certain aspects o f this Revelation were later intensified
and restored. W arburton argued passionately fo r the m utual benefit
derived from relations between the state and re lig io n , and th a t the con­
tra c t w hich united them was o f the same variety as th a t w hich united the
state and its people. W arburton’s thesis was th a t religio n had lost its hold
on the m ind o f the people who now, he com plained, cared only fo r what
they term ed c iv il lib e rty and denounced the value o f the C hristian fa ith .
R eligion had served a social fu n ctio n , as laws had served a s p iritu a l func­
tio n , in tam ing the more selfish instincts o f hum ankind, but a ll this was to
be lost i f the in stitu tio n a lize d structure o f state religio n were eroded.
W arburton’s w ork was intended as propaganda to b ring the wayward
back in line w ith organized religio n and obedience to the C row n.
W arburton’s w ork, firs t published in the 1740s, supported the idea that
certain early cultures o f hum ankind were o rig in a lly p rim itiv e , barbarous,
uncivilized and th a t the earliest form s o f w ritin g , hieroglyphics, were evi­
dence o f this. A lphabetic w ritin g represented an advance on this condi­
tio n , and the increasing degree o f abstraction possible in w ritin g as it
moved from the lite ra l representation o f things to the suggestive represen­
ta tio n o f concepts was evidence o f increasing social sophistication in his
eyes. W arburton to o k up the earlier classifications o f hieroglyphics w ith in
the descriptive sem iotic analysis o f Clem ent o f A lexandria. He made use
o f the term s cu riolo gica l, tro p ic a l and allegorical, but linked them to an
evolutionary hierarchy bolstered by the n o tio n o f progress.
 The Social Contract Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

/ivxtig£ fofi TOW. PLATUVIL

H i e ro g ly p liic s T e tte rs . I’ H ie ro g ly p h ic s . T e tte r s .

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William Warburton's diagrams
showing evolution of letters
‘• W H r>. i k A
from hieroglyphics, based on the ■ 1 1 6. ^
Count de Caylus's diagrams (The > X .
V
X
4
Divine Legation o f Moses,
London, 1765)
1 A v i

W arburton saw no reason to assign a divine o rig in to the alphabet,

stressing its social rather than religious fu n ctio n , and fu rth e r insisted th at
had the letters been invented by God and given as a g ift, th a t this fact
w ould have been so m omentous th a t it w ould have been e x p lic itly com­
mented upon by Moses, n o t m erely im plied in the story o f the Tablets.
Letters, W arburton said, had been in comm on use before they appeared in
the Commandments. The alphabet had been im ported fro m Egypt by
Moses and then transform ed, and here W arburton also interpreted the
second com m andm ent as an in te rd ictio n against the use o f hieroglyphic
w ritin g o r other p ic to ria l depictions. W arburton, in spite o f his tendency
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

to slight the Jews and disparage the continual cred it granted to the
Hebrew language as o rig in a l, was an astute th eo rist o f culture. The thrust
o f his analysis was to examine the fu nctio n o f religio n and in p a rticu la r
the social uses o f the m ythic concept o f a D ivine Revelation. The desire to
receive a ‘revealed W ill fo r the rule o f th e ir actions,’ he said, was o f para­
m ount im portance in rendering religious law effective as a means o f social
co ntrol. It is this argum ent w hich he turned upon the purported divine
o rig in o f letters, underm ining its c re d ib ility by asserting th a t there w ould
have been no better ‘sanction to recommend th e ir use’ than this fact, or
‘security against return to the idolatrous practice o f hieroglyphic w ritin g
to w hich this people [the Jews], so fond o f E gyptian manners, were vio ­
le n tly incline d.’

C O M P A R IS O N O F M A S S E Y , H U G O and H E L M O N T ’s V A L U E S F O R
T H E LETTERS OF T H E HEBR EW A LP H A B E T

Massey — 1763 Hugo — 1738 H elm ont — 1657

alef chief, prince, firs t sound, ox princeps chief

beth house house house
gim el a camel camel camel

daleth agate door

he (the sound) (from the sound) this or that
vau hook a hook hook

zayin weapon, club weapon, a dub weapon or spear

heth quadreped (from the sound) or quadreped w ild beast

teth cover or wrapper (from the sound) wrapper or womb
yod a hand hand hand
koph the palm, or to bend palm (hand or tree) cavity or hollow
lamed a goad or spit goad teaching
mem a b lo t stain or blemish m other, increase

nun a fish (or sound) fish everlasting

sameleh abase base support, bedpost

ayin a fountain, or eye eye eye

pe m outh or face mouth or face m outh

tsede hunting pole, fish hook spear or fish hook hook

qoph circle or monkey cirde or monkey drde

re the head head head

shin a tooth teeth teeth
William Massey: values assigned
tau a sign or boundary final sign fina l sign
to the letters contrasted with
Based on W illia m Massey The Origin and Progress o f Letters: an Essay in Two Parts, 1763, (often citing either
those assigned by Hermanus
Bellarm ine, Joseph Scaliger or Angelus Caninius), Hermanus Hugo, De Pritna Seribendi Origine, 1738, and
Hugo and Baron Van Helmont Baron von H elm ont, Alphahetum Naturae, 1657.

I f on the one hand W arburton was in te n t upon distinguishing the

abstract chararacter o f alphabetic w ritin g from its m im etic hieroglyphic
precedent, then other w rite rs o f the period were equally in te n t upon fillin g
the void o f m eaning w ith accounts o f the p ic to ria l o rig in and value o f the
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

letters. Such accounts arose in every period, through the systematic

description o f the letters o f the alphabet in relatio n to presumed p ic to ria l
sources according to either th e ir names (the aleph = the ox variety) o r
th e ir appearances - w hich often included im probable examples from the
physiological models described above to sets o f tools, plants and anim als.
One o f the firs t thorough accounts o f p ic to ria l value was recorded by
W illia m Massey in 1763 in The O rig in and Progress o f Letters. It is evident
Massey had researched earlier sources thoroughly and conscientiously
supported his assertions by c itin g other authorities. The w ork o f both
Herm anus H ugo (De Prim a Scribendi O rigine , firs t published in 1617) and
Van H elm ont haunted Massey’s text. This is significant n o t only because
o f the way in w hich the tra d itio n a l interpretations o f the letters was
passed on through this succession o f w rite rs but because the idea o f an
in terpretatio n o f the letters as m eaningful in themselves became accepted
through this tra d itio n . W hile such values were n o t translated in to a sym­
b olic inte rp re ta tio n o f words on the basis o f the letters fro m w hich they
were composed, the social significance o f the early alphabet came to be
defined in p a rt according to the correspondences o f letters and objects in
these analyses.
By the 19th century the assignment o f a p ic to ria l o rig in w ould be ju s ti­
fied by these interpretations, but in the 18th century the meanings were
assigned more exclusively through lin g u istic links. For instance, some o f
Massey’s values were: aleph = prince, chief and the firs t sound w hich c h il­
dren uttered ;7 beth = a house, though Massey stated unequivocably th a t he
saw absolutely no visual resemblance; gim el = a camel, because the w ord
was the same; daleth = a gate, and so fo rth . The most te llin g letters were
in fact those whose names d id n o t have a descriptive value: thus ‘he’ was
considered a name derived entirely from the sound o f the letter, ‘mem’
described a ‘b lo t,’ w hile ‘samech* was ‘a th in g drawn in to its e lf.’ The range
o f values assigned to these more am biguously named letters was quite 221
broad; Massey tended to contrive more lite ra l solutions fo r the enigm atic
names w hile H ugo and H elm ont had been content w ith abstractions.
Gebelin also proposed values fo r the in d ivid u a l letters but his scheme
contained a fa r more elaborate subtext: Gebelin saw the letters as symbols
o f the necessary and sufficient elements fo r a p rim itive way o f life , th a t o f
the nom adic Sem itic tribes. F irst published in the early 1770s, G ebelin’s Le
M onde P rim itifv /a s ra p id ly accepted as the standard account o f the early
h isto ry o f hum ankind. Gebelin was one o f the m ost prom inent scholars o f
ancient N ear Eastern language and culture o f his day, and considered,
therefore, an outstanding a u th o rity on the early epoch o f hum an activity.
The fu n ctio n o f w ritin g in society, Gebelin stated, was to preserve know ­
ledge, science, and invention through a stable means o f externalizing
thought. G ebelin believed th a t a ll hum an beings and cultures had the same
source and th a t the p ro o f o f th is resided in w ritte n form s where the sim i­
la ritie s between Chinese characters, H ebrew letters and E gyptian hiero­
glyphic form s could be dem onstrated.
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

222

Court de Gebelin's visual correla­

tions of alphabetic characters,
hieroglyphics and Chinese char­
acters (Histoire Naturelle de la
Parole, Paris edition of 1816)

Gebelin determ ined th a t i f w ritin g had been a n atu ra l invention, that

is, one w hich follow ed fro m the hum an co nd itio n as m ewing fro m a cat or
barking fro m a dog, then a ll early w ritin g w ould have been sim ilar. The
existence o f hieroglyphic w ritin g , so d iffe re n t fro m th a t o f alphabetic, was
on the one hand testim ony to the a rtific ia l o r cu ltu ra l character o f w rit­
ing, though on the other hand, Gebelin added, the observation th a t these
form s o f w ritin g were d iffe re n t was in fa ct an error. H ieroglyphics had
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

A l p h a b e t P r im it if

A W .
£.esm ernes Caracferes
ife /is yit'e/fes O/fye&Tpu.’e&s <ut C/unois
Lettres (/esiynent- pet?e7if J'vm/s/e fr,<zz/r corresponelartj'
1
n 1
JQfre JProcttatr j ^fttotcfie
ne- ' If &n a-fantre
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l r
(rorye

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0 Cott
a

1
j i

c
Cretin cte/a
utf/am
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1
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CoupereT
; J \ Tonfee gna
Tonfee yrta J
Q , Coiyse | ;! J se rfa Cozier
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5 Dentin fe y l2*fa fro ie r
a firiser

T ort; j— Tcnf
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1 4 ^ I Couverf-
j---------- / h \
1
P a rfe lt j I Terfictzon

• Crr'aru/ 1 Jhae
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------- " , ™ .........

223

N ez | , . *Trii//e
!t K j /
JPotnfo ■ t . j • sltnju
I.i .
Court de Gebelin's visual correla­ i|
tions of alphabetic characters, 1 A&J
11 L 2p
T r'a s
hieroglyphics and Chinese char­ !1 ’ S
li /
acters (Histoire Naturelle de la
Parole, Paris edition of 1816)

been the first, the earliest w ritin g , and had like a ll human inventions,
been based on im itation. Using the popular notion o f hieroglyphic w rit­
ing, Gebelin considered it a form o f pictorial denotation which ranged
from lite ra l to more abstract. By the logic o f his own circular reasoning,
he further asserted that since all w ritin g was sim ilar, alphabetic w ritin g
must also be a form o f painting, and thus should be interpreted as an
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century
224
Frontispiece from Gebelin's Le
Monde Prim itif, with Mercury,
led by Love, about to grant writ­
ing to humankind.
assemblage o f hieroglyphic characters. G ebelin thus projected images onto
the schematic form s o f the alphabet. Very few o f G ebelin’s assigned values
corresponded w ith those o f either Massey o r other historians (only in the
value he assigned ‘daleth’ and a secondary value fo r ‘aleph’) but his alpha­
betic glyphs were a ll them atically related to the a g ricu ltu ra l life o f the
ancient N ear East. Gebelin elaborated his theory o f p ic to ria l origins by
m aking an a dd itio na l - but incongruous - lin k between the objects the let­
ters resembled at th e ir invention w ith the organ w hich produced their
sound. In some cases, as w ith ‘B’ o r ‘P’ he claim ed th a t this la tte r was
revealed in the p ic to ria l value, w hile in other cases it was unclear on what
grounds he supported this p a rt o f his argum ent.
The d e fin itio n w hich G ebelin gave to the term p rim itiv e was revealing:
he considered th a t the only fo rm o f hum an culture w hich was tru ly civi­
lized was th a t embodied in the structure o f ru ra l, agrarian society. N o t
only were hunters and gatherers excluded from consideration as c iv il peo­
ple, but the concept o f c iv iliz a tio n was linked to w ritin g through the con­
tro l o f property. G ebelin went so fa r as to say th a t there was absolutely no
need fo r w ritin g among people who d id n o t possess property, since the
fu n ctio n o f w ritte n language was to keep accounts, provide docum entary
evidence o f ownership o r transfer, and to m aintain records o f such
exchanges. Thus it was pointless to consider the ‘savages’ (by which he
m eant non-European indigenous populations of the A frica n and
Am erican continents) as children o f nature - it was in fa ct o nly farmers
who ju s tly deserved th a t designation.
G ebelin concluded his study o f the origins o f language and w ritin g by
tracing the developm ent o f the alphabet from the N ear East to Greece, dis­
playing his acquaintance w ith the various transform ations o f the letters
and the changes from tw enty-tw o letters o f the H ebrew alphabet to the
seventeen letters o f the alphabet o f Cadmus and so fo rth , but again the
fact th at the le tte r form s w hich form ed the center o f his investigation were
the Roman majuscles o f Im pe ria l inscriptions was a p o in t w hich went
com pletely unm entioned. The force o f tra d itio n was so strong in Gebelin’s
m ind th a t he saw visual lin ks in the form s o f the letters, interchanging the
A leph fo r the A lpha and the majuscule ‘A’ w ith o u t any hesitation. They
were a ll the same letter, he argued, and thus shared the same origin al
value. W ritin g had been a c iv iliz in g force, as fa r as he was concerned, but
could only occur in cultures disposed to become civilized. Gebelin’s dis­
tin ction s loaded the term p rim itiv e w ith a rom antic association, lin k in g
the image o f an A rcadian early co nd itio n fo r a g ricu ltu ra l society w ith a
n otio n o f natural su pe rio rity w hich in tu rn translated in to social superior­
ity : so though the p rim itiv e was a co nd itio n o f innocence it was n o t to be
confused w ith the state o f the savage, and though it had been o rig in a l, it
had n ot been universal.
Though A stle’s w ork was published in 1784, he was in many ways the
precursor to 19th-century scholarship, rather than a p a rticip a n t in the
speculative practices o f his contem poraries. The distinguishing elements
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

o f A stle’s m onum ental w ork, O n the O rig in and Progress o f W riting , as

w ell H ieroglyphic as Elem entary, were his accurate account o f the d iffu ­
sion o f w ritin g fro m the source o f its invention in the N ear East, the asser­
tio n th a t letters were a rb itra ry form s, and the conviction th a t the alphabet
had developed gradually through a process o f transform ative adaptation.
In other words, Astle was on the verge o f an evolutionary narrative rather
than a creationist one, and his use o f classical and b ib lica l sources was
seriously tempered by his synthesis o f archaeological evidence. N o t sur­
prisingly, it was A stle’s w ork w hich became the touchstone fo r such 19th-
century scholars as the perpetually venerable Isaac Taylor.
A stle’s conviction th a t the letters were a rb itra ry was coupled w ith an
increased emphasis on the surrogate character o f w ritin g : speech was the
‘substance, and w ritin g the shadow w hich follow s it . ’ T his a ttitu d e , in
which w ritin g loses its enigm atic power as a visual form as its relatio n to
lin g u istic systems is dem onstrated, enjoyed an upswing o f p o p u la rity as
the languages linked to cuneiform , hieroglyphics and other ancient scripts
were system atically reconstructed by the decipherm ents o f the 19th centu­
ry. Astle had no patience fo r the m ythic conceptions w hich had dom inated
the field o f his research, and he expressed sharp criticism o f those scholars
who, pressed by ‘the d iffic u lty o f accounting fo r the invention o f the a rt o f
e xh ib itin g to the sight the various conceptions o f the m ind, w hich have no
corporeal form s, by a sm all num ber o f elem entary characters o r letters’ ,
fe ll in to the easy solution o f supposing them to be ‘o f divine o rig in a l.’8 He
understood th a t the significance o f alphabetic w ritin g was its dependence
on the analysis o f spoken sounds and its independence from m im etic rep­
resentation. Though he fe lt th a t the letters were in some way derived from
hieroglyphics, he was also fu lly convinced th a t letters d id n o t ‘derive th e ir
powers fro m th e ir form s’ and th a t, as a consequence, these form s ‘depend­
ed entirely on the w ill and fancy o f those who made them .’ A stle responsi­
bly cited W arburton, M onboddo, Gebelin and others, and w ith rem ark­
able clarity, rejected the p o rtio n s o f th e ir theses w hich d id n o t support his
own. H is w ork was n ot entirely w ith o u t its m ythical traces - hd provided a
fa m ily tree fo r T h o th , and linked him to the ancient Greeks and to the
Phoenicians, but he also provided the firs t diagram m apping the relation
o f alphabetic w ritin g systems to each other, a diagram w hich was both
replete and surprisingly accurate.

Nationalism and the Descendants o f Noah

One conspicuous genre o f 18th-century alphabet sym bolism was

the analysis o f the alphabet in term s o f the geographical d is trib u tio n o f
the sons o f N oah throughout the globe and the use o f these histories as
the basis o f m yths o f n ational identity. Linked to the emerging concepts o f
the natio n as a fundam ental entity, and the stresses o f European p o litics,
these theories inevitably bore w ith in them claim s o f the authors to have
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

discovered (and be descended from ) the o rig in a l people and the one true
language. M ost prevalent were theories asserting the p rio rity o f one or
another o f the C eltic, G aulish, o r Anglo-Saxon groups in the settlem ent o f
Europe. These texts revealed strong partisan sentim ents, supporting the
rig h t o f the Iris h to rem ain independent o f B ritish rule, a conflicted area in
18th-century p o litics, o r o f the Anglo-Saxons to be defined as distinct
from th e ir N orm an conquerors, and the English language as a form whose
o rig in a l p u rity had been violated. On the continent such a theory had
been proposed by G uillaum e Postel as early as the 16th century when he
p u t fo rth the claim th a t the Celts had been the o rig in a l settlers o f France.
Posters n a tio n a listic m ythology was p a rt o f a widespread movement in
French lite ra tu re w hich was conceived as a reaction to the claims o f
Classicism and the legacy o f Greek and Roman culture as it was being
reinvented in the Renaissance.9 The 18th-century w rite rs who to o k up this
theme made little reference to Postel, however, often m aking use o f highly
o rig in a l analyses o f both the letters and language in the fo rm o f new,
unorthodox etym ologies.

Rowland Jones's T diagram

showing origin of prepositions,
(iHieroglyfic, London, 1763)

O f the authors who used the letters o f the alphabet as evidence o f early
hum an history, Rowland Jones was one o f the m ost p ro lific and o riginal.
He w rote fo u r books w hich explored his premises: th a t the original
Europeans were Celts, th a t a ll the letters o f the alphabet were based on the
com bination o f tw o elements, the I and the O, and th a t the C eltic o rig in o f
the English language could be discerned through an etym ological investi­
gation w hich made use o f the sym bolism concealed in letters and words.
In H ieroglyfic o r A G ram m atical In tro d u ctio n to A n U niversal H ieroglyfic
Language (1763) and The O rig in o f Language (1764) Jones expounded the
fundam ental principles w hich he explored fu rth e r in The Io Triads and
The Circles o f Corner.
Jones’s stated m otivation was to restore the o rig in a l language and thus
recover w hat he called ‘p rim itive know ledge.’ By this he meant the condi­
tio n o f hum ankind before the confusion o f tongues at Babel. Themes o f

Jones's page of 'sacred hiero­
glyphs,' which he stated could
not be adequately represented
using printing types.
(Hieroglyfic, London, 1763)
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet In the 18th Century
racial p u rity rather than the innocence o f hum ankind were evident in the
w ork o f Jones, N elm e, Vallancey and other w rite rs concerned w ith the
origins o f language in term s o f national id e n tity : none o f them attem pted
to recover the language o f Adam , fo r instance, o r o f Abraham , but instead
focused on the d iffu sio n and d iffe re n tia tio n o f languages among the sons
o f N oah. As fa r as Jones was concerned, the o rig in a l pre-Babel language
had been th a t o f the a people he identified as the C um bri, equivalent to
the G a lli-C e ltic group. Since a ll liv in g hum an beings were necessarily
descended from N oah, a ll others having perished in the deluge, the a ctivi­
ties o f the sons o f N oah to o k on considerable value in Jones’s w ork. It was
G od, n o t N oah, who had determ ined the d is trib u tio n o f the earth to
Japhet, Shem and H am , and it was thus by divine in te n tio n th a t the sons
o f Japhet, Gom er and M agog, had settled the lands o f Europe, w hile the
Shemites (or Semites) had rem ained in the East and the H am ites had
m igrated in to A frica . Jones focused on Gomer, the oldest son o f Japhet, as
the p rim a ry settler and o rig in a l C elt. He fu rth e r asserted th a t it was on
account o f Japhet’s virtuo us character, superior in a ll respects to th a t o f
his brothers, th a t he had been the only one o f N oah’s descendants p e rm it­
ted to retain the unspoiled, o rig in a l language.
J t - i 0 3 “ • 2 £ § : 3 M<3: : > 3 g . i - o
4 p 3 g s 3 - C O 5 5 - -n 1 -•*
o r 6 ■$, 7 > < p * or f
Qj. cq cq 9 < >
»T1)> * T ) ) » 13 L L ^
< > o r < **> . > ° fr , r .
1 . T h e date o f man previous to the form ation o f Eve and his efTcntial modes.
<z. H is compound date or the nonellential modes and d ivifio n in to parts and
a&ions. 3. Emblems o f concupifcible appetites, innate parental traces, ener­
gies and paflions acquired by the fa ll. 4, T h e date o f man and woman after the
fa ll, as enchanted and confined to place or matter. 5. T h e Serpent, an emblem
o f fpeech. 6. A theta inftead o f the Coptic ke i, an emblem o f man's p rim itiv e
ftate, & c. 7. Birds j but the round u is made ufe fo r the Coptic c. 8. Beads
and B ulls. 9. Fifties, 10. T w ig s and trees. B ut more o f this hereafter.
A n d as a ll letters are thus deriveable from the parts o f man, refem bling all
other things, Adam m ig h t be very w ell in ftru& ed in th e ir ufc in paradife;— A n d
the divifions o f tim e appear to have been made from the days o f the creation. See
the form er treatife.
Jones’s e fforts to recover this language in the existing form s o f English
made extensive use o f the analysis o f the le tte r form s, w hich he considered
the elem ental radices o f the tongue, claim s grounded in little m ore than
Jones’s own projections onto the visual form s. The le tte r form s, he said,
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

were the sm allest elements o f w ritin g and had the same effect upon the
sight as vibrations had upon the ear. Adam had been instructed in their
use, and these o rig in a l form s had been in existence u n til Babel, but they
were s till in possession o f the Celts by way o f Gom er - whom Jones equat­
ed w ith Hermes and M ercury and ‘other dru id s.’ In analysing the letter
form s, Jones derived a sim ple and incom plete cosm ology o f w hich the let­
ters ‘o ’ and ‘1’ were the p rim a ry elements. ‘O ’ was an indefinite
circle, sign ifying the universe w hile ‘ 1’ was an ind efin ite line signifying
‘man in his state o f innocence.’ The ‘o ’ and ‘1’ together o r ‘ol* was equiv­
alent to ‘a ll’ o f the hum an and cosmic universe. Jones saw in the sequence
o f the vowels o r voices (w hich, oddly, he enumerated as the Greek vowels)
a series o f sexual sym bols o f male and female posteriors, member, clito ris,
and so fo rth w hich he characterized as ‘the im pulse and springs o f genera­
tio n .’ The num ber o f letters in Jones’s system was sm all, and he associated
th e ir basic sym bolism w ith a p a rt o f speech he term ed ‘particles,’ by which
was meant a radical o r fundam ental element o r sim ple, articu la te sound.
The ‘T ,’ ‘M ,’ ‘N ,’ and ‘L ’ were associated w ith images o f a man’s body
u p rig h t, w ith arms o r w ings, thighs, in various postures, but there is no
apparent system to his discussion - fo r instance, he indicated th a t ‘R ’ was
the image o f anim als and th e ir parts - but he had no values fo r any letters
beyond these few nor any in d ica tio n o f how these sym bols had come into
being.
In a dd itio n to particles, Jones’s gram m ar included nouns, pronouns,
and prepositions. These la tte r were a ll contained w ith in the ‘o ’ w hich was
the universal expression fo r the circle o f m otio n and extension and the ‘i ’
he sim ply presented w ith p u t com m ent. The ‘T ’ was an ‘i ’ w ith a trans­
verse line and capable o f bearing a ll d irectio n al prepositions in its glyphic
fo rm o r com binations, as Jones indicated in a sm all diagram . Jones ended
his H ieroglyfic w ith a table o f ‘sketches o f creation,* o r versions o f the
‘sacred hieroglyphs,’ made up out o f p rin tin g types. These he claimed
were ‘drawn from sacred characters made use o f by Priests and D ruids to
preserve o rig in a l, ancient and secret know ledge.’
Each o f Jones’s books contained a version o f this cosmology, and the
lin ks he suggested between his claim s fo r an o rig in a l C eltic language and
the analysis o f letters o r words were supported m ainly by his assertions
rather than by sustained argum ent, le t alone convincing evidence. In The
O rig in o f Language he elaborated a reduced creation m yth in geographic
term s: ‘a’ and ‘e’ recorded the division o f the earth in to land and water
and so fo rth . He then a rticulated detailed discussions o f a little more than
a dozen letters w hich len t themselves to his p o sitio n , occasionally inter­
jecting etym ological interpretations. The radical ‘a r’ fo r instance he
claim ed was equivalent to the C eltic w ord fo r earth and the basis o f the
w ord ‘A ra ra t’ w hich, in the language o f N oah, signified ‘returned upon
earth.’
The same m ethodology employed by Jones to dem onstrate the C eltic
o rig in o f language was used by L.D . Nelm e to prove its English-Saxon

Nelme's diagram of the chart of
radicals, from which all other
letters could be made: from An
Essay towards an
Investigation..., 1772
Distribution of the Earth among
the sons of Noah (from Nelme)
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century
o rig in . Nelm e stated th a t his aims in m aking this dem onstration were to
return to a pure language w hich w ould enable the spread o f the Gospel.
Like Jones, Nelm e saw the ‘o ’ and ‘1* as the ‘o l’ o r ‘all* o f English-Saxon
radicals, the ra d ix o f a ll bodies and letters from w hich could be derived
ten more radical symbols. To these symbols values were assigned which
Nelm e term ed unifo rm and unchangeable, values w hich he claim ed ‘never
fa ile d ’ in the interpretive process know n as ‘decom position.’ N elm e’s b ib ­
lic a l h isto ry was essentially the same as th a t o f Jones: he claim ed Japhet as
the o rig in a l settler o f Europe and the B ritish Isles, his language was the
only one not confused at Babel, and the ‘poisoning’ o f the English-Saxon
tongue had occurred through the invasion o f the N orm ans w ith th e ir
L a tin based language.
Sac-fon o r letters
R adicals, a ru /y D e riv a tiv e s ,
'd im iin fh e d augmented N
Nelm e contributed certain unique propositions, however, such as the
analysis o f the C haldaic aleph as a map o f m igrations fro m the central
circle o f Eden. Chaldea was the name given to the land o f Abraham , and
the C haldaic characters w ith th e ir form s composed o f w hole lines and
w hole circles described the rivers, ways, and roads by w hich m igrations
had taken place before the deluge. In the circle o f the earth N elm e charted
the divisions o f te rrito ry in the usual d is trib u tio n among the sons o f
N oah, this case m erely ide ntifie d as differen t cu ltu ra l groups: the Celts, o r
Chosen Ones, the Scythians o r Shot-O ut-O nes, and the Pelagians who
to o k the name E trurians.
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

The Chaldean aleph as a map or

chart of the movement of peo­
ple out from the Garden of Eden
(from Nelme)

Nelme's image of the Ogham

alphabet as a combination of his
radicals (from Nelme)

Inscription on ancient Etruscan

vase, showing primitive alpha­
bet of Celts (from Nelme)

Celestial, Hebrew and Radical s y £□ 2D n ? n

alphabet showing correlations w H a a *7 3 1 £ n D 1
(from Nelme) 1 0 s A b c d n u I € r
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

Signs Values for the Radicals

1 symbol o f altitude, a rod or staff in natural state, sceptre, river, branch or tree
0 circle, symbol of horizon, rod or staff bent around, boundary o f sight
dislocated orb, serpent hissing, radical ideas o f similitude
A dislocated line, mountain, Ararat, chevron

b line to circle, cut from the West, as a fixed place, East, possessed by sons of Shem, most glorious part o f the world
c chasm o f circle, left after (b) was cut off, West as inheritance o fJaphet

a West o f circle, lath, central part, Ham deemed unworthy

n unity, negation, possession o f Ham
u first part o f the division, fourth end of lath, possession of Cush, deformity, lim itation

€ height and u tility, egg, eye, island

Nelme's List of Radicals and their union o f (I) to (C) to (E) to (M ) = increase, compound as in (ma) or (man)

Values r the last radical, priority, gives life and spirit to the whole system, in Saxon Rod-icals res - thing

N elm e also had his chart o f radicals and his analysis o f th e ir com bi­
nations. The ‘I* was the rod , o r sta ff in a n atu ra l state, the ‘ O ’ the rod o r
s ta ff bent around to fo rm the horizon o r boundary o f sight, a figure
whose use he said had been p ro h ib ite d among the Jews by the second
com m andm ent and as to be considered a sign o f the G entiles. M any o f
the other radicals were glyphs depicting geographical divisions o r d is trib ­
u tio n , and from these com binations an entire lexicon o f English-Saxon
was derived, w hich he elaborated in the d ictio n a ry fo llo w in g his in tro d u c­
to ry te xt. N elm e also linked the Ogham tree alphabet know n fro m Welsh
inscriptio ns to the basic form s o f the English-Saxon ‘ O l,’ though the fu ll
developm ent o f discussion o f Ogham was made by another author,
Charles Vallancey.
Vallancey, in his Prospectus o f a D ic tio n a ry o f the Language o f the
A ire C o ti o r A ncient Iris h , claim ed th a t the Iris h had lo st th e ir ancient
alphabet, w hich had consisted o f 18 letters (or 16, depending on whether
certain repetitive sym bols were counted independently), a ll o f w hich had
been named fo r trees. The Ogham alphabet, w hich he claim ed had been 231
invented by T h o th at the tim e th a t the Israelites came in to Egypt, ” ”
retained some o f these letters, th e ir names and th e ir form s.' The resem­
blance between these letters and those o f the Hebrews was apparent,
Vallancey fe lt, and he stressed th is connection by em phasizing the many
tree m etaphors associated w ith w ritin g in the O ld Testam ent: the
‘branchy’ vine, the three vineyards o f the learned, the blossom o f a
branch sign ifying a letter, the th o rn as a sym bol o f offence, and the image
o f orderly p ru nin g as a sym bol fo r the com position o f verses. H aving thus
connected the image o f w ritin g and the sym bolism o f trees, Vallancey
cited the recently found m anuscript published by Joseph H am m er
Purgstall in w hich an early medieval A rabic scholar had included a ver­
sion o f the Ogham tree alphabet.10 The o n ly explanation fo r this,
Vallancey fe lt, was th a t there had been early contact and a com m on
source fo r O gham , A rabic, and H ebrew - a p o in t he fu rth e r dem onstrat­
ed through p o in tin g o u t the s im ila rity o f Hebrew letters and Iris h tree
names in an a rtfu l piece o f p h ilo lo g ica l co nto rtio n ism .
The Social Contract Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

The Iriih. Ogham or Tree Alphabet lately discovered

in an Arabian Manuscript in Egypt.

to 5 s & in r 1 n 1 4 3 C h a ld : j

J L Z, Sf 3 z J 1 A ra b :
r J sf J J
e <\ CJ 4 & 9 £ S B 2 A § E gypt:

> t t ¥ % I ¥ ¥ ¥ r r 1 r T re e

n & *1 ? T D V j C h a ld :
£>' t j s O o € Cu/ j A ra b :
1k
A H -J u A ? f fed m E g y p t:
1 1 I ¥ ¥ $ % r ¥ T re e

C ha ld:
6 6 A ra b :
* E g ypt:
Charles Vallancey's chart show­ &
f * f Tree
ing the tree alphabet from
Joseph Hammer PurgstaN's
newly published manuscript and
* If t T ! 1-1 1 1 t \ = F r I r if li
correspondences with Chaldean • t P * * % ¥ f f t Ogham
[Hebrew], Arabic and Egyptian,
1802

Vallancey’s w ork linked the existing language o f Ireland w ith ancient

C eltic, ancient Persian, and also w ith ‘H ind oo stan i, A rabic and
Chaldean.’ Vallancey thought th a t there was both lin g u istic and cu ltural
evidence o f these lin ks, and th a t tra d itio n s, ritu a ls , religious beliefs and
the figures o f deities o r m ythic figures were a ll shared by these disparate
groups. It is perhaps useful to note th a t the concept o f a single source fo r
European language and culture had been given a boost among scholars
and linguists at this tim e. It had become apparent th a t Sanskrit contained
the oldest shared form s o f Indo-European gram m atical structures, and
th a t it was closer to an ‘o rig in a l’ language than the classical Greek and
L a tin , o r even Hebrew. The excitem ent caused by this realization had
resolved some o f the frustra tion s w hich had m et linguists attem pting to
reconcile lin g u istic change and diversity w ith b ib lic a l h isto ry o r m ythic
tales o f an o rig in a l, prim eval language. The d isto rtio n s o f the ling uistic
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

concepts in popular fo rm , however, lacked the p h ilo lo g ica l soundness o f

this research and borrowed instead the casual com parative m ethodology
employed by Vallancey and Gebelin.
Vallancey’s genealogies were n ot always clear. He proposed th a t the
Welsh were Gom erians, the Iris h were earlier settlers o f the region than the
Welsh; o ld Iris h was Punic, ancient Irish had been know n as Bearla, w hich
was the same as Pheni, i,e. Phoenician, and the Phoenicians were direct
descendants o f Japhet, also know n as Indo-Scythians and so fo rth in a
p ro life ra tio n o f rather m uddled identities. Vallancey extended the reach o f
his lin g u istic connections in to Asia, dem onstrating th a t there were many
verbal and cu ltu ra l lin ks w ith the people o f In dia , p a rtic u la rly w ith
respect to the practice o f erecting linga stones as p h a llic sym bols in re li­
gious enclosures. The G aelic language, he w ent on, was the same as th a t
spoken near T ib e t, and as there was indisputable p ro o f to the pro po sition
th a t people who shared a com m on lin g u istic base were o f the same stock,
these geographically dispersed people nonetheless com prised elements o f
the same nation. T his collapse o f cu ltu ra l id e n tity w ith natio na l id e n tity
was one o f the m ost revealing o f Vallancey’s tenets, w ith its obvious
attem pt to legitim ize claim s to te rrito ria l sovereignty and provide grounds
fo r resisting rule imposed from outside - namely, th a t o f the C row n o f
England on the island o f Ireland.
Jones, N elm e, Vallancey, had in comm on th a t they were defending the
heritage o f a group o f people whose cu ltu ra l id e n tity they based on
ancient h istory: the very a n tiq u ity o f these claim s was supposed to provide
a legitim ate basis fo r resisting inco rp o ra tion in to the s till new U nited
Kingdom o f England, Scotland, and Wales. T h e ir w ork also gave evidence
o f the tensions o f religious id e n tity ; th e ir continual dism issal o f classical
authorities as historians and also o f L a tin o r Greek sources fo r English,
C eltic o r Saxon, made clear th a t there were s tric t lines drawn between
members o f the L a tin C atholic church and th a t o f the Anglicans. There
were also strains o f another persistent European theme, anti-Sem itism , in
the w orks o f these w rite rs, who dismissed the Hebrew origins o f alphabet­
ic w ritin g on various grounds, m aking sure th a t th e ir o rig in a l C eltic or
Saxon alphabets were n o t confused w ith the Chaldean alphabet o f
Abraham . In The Remains o f Japhet, fo r instance, a w ork by James
Parsons w hich shared many o f Jones’s ideas (that Gom er was the patriarch
o f Celts, M agog o f the Scythians, th at the sons o f H am were Phoenicians,
Egyptians and Ethiopians, and th a t Adam had o rig in a l w ritin g and th at
after the Deluge there had been centuries w ith o u t ‘the use o f letters’),
Parsons made it absolutely clear th a t there was to be no confusion
between C eltic sources fo r w ritin g and Hebrew alphabets. He stated th at
such assertions in Greek and L a tin w rite rs could n ot be supported since
the classical authors had no knowledge o f the w ritin g o f a n tiq u ity - only
the Iris h d id , through the H o ly W rit. The Iris h were Pelasgians and
H om er, a C elt, had used the Pelasgi language, after w hich the Greeks
m utilated the ancient tongue. T his ancient language was Pelasgi-Celtic,
The Social Contract Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

n o t Hebrew, and Parsons stated unequivocally th a t the Hebrew letters

could n ot have been the o rigin als because ‘the form s o f every letter are o f a
differen t a ir and com plexion n o t at a ll reconcilable to any o f the other
tables o f European letters.’

H EBREW LETTERS C E LTIC LETTERS

Aleph = some tree A ilm = fir, plane, or oak

Beth = thorn Beith = birch
Gimel = tree in moist ground G ort = ivy tree
Daleth = a vine D uir = oak
He = pomegranate tree Eadhan = ivy tree, five-fingered leaf
Vau = palm tree U r = heath
Heth = small tree Huath = white thorn
Iod = ivy Idho = yew tree
Koph = bull rush, old vine Coll = hazel tree
Lamed = twig, small branch Luis = luis
Mem (no value) M uin = vine
Nun = coriander Nion = ash
A in (no value) Oan = broom or furze
Vallancey's values for the Celtic
Ts (no value)
Letters (Charles Vallancey, An
Sin (no value) Sail = willow
Essay on the A ntiquity o f the
Irish language, 1802) Tav (no value) Tine = fig tree

A nother w rite r determ ined the dispel any connection between the
alphabet and culture o f the Greeks and the Hebrew alphabet o f the Jews
was P h ilip A llw oo d. A llw o o d ’s version o f the lineage o f the H elladians, or
people who settled H ellas, was th a t they had originated on the p la in o f
Shinar, m igrated in to Egypt (where th e ir language and customs became
slig h tly m odified through contact w ith the M iz ra im ), and thence in to
Greece. A llw oo d called these people Am m onian, and linked them to the
C uthite shepherds who had m igrated in to ancient Egypt to an area near
Thebes. These were the people who had possessed the firs t language o f
hum ankind, a p rim itive , expressive language. The figure o f Palamedes,
who figured in classical accounts as either inventor o r im p o rte r o f the 16
letters o f the Phoenician alphabet adapted to the Greek language, was
described by A llw o o d as ‘P’A l’Am -Hades,’ a figure who com bined the
m ythic id e n tity o f Ulysses elements o f b ib lic a l tales o f H am . H is elevation
to the status o f a deity in ancient accounts was p ro o f o f the value placed
upon w ritin g ‘whose discovery was considered the highest e ffo rt o f the
hum an in te lle c t.’
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

Philip Allwood's drawings of the

derivation of letters: 'A / 'pi' 'M'
and 'omega' (Literary
Antiquities o f Greece, London,
1799)
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

A llw o o d ’s account o f the dispersal o f the C uthites, Pelasgi, descen­

dants and Shem, H am and Japhet, was unique m ainly fo r its insistence on
a lin k between the people and culture o f ancient Egypt and th a t o f the
Greeks. H is description never com pletely clarified the details o f geography
in the way th a t N elm e’s o r Jones’s had, and he included such b affling and
apparently co ntrad icto ry analyses as the decom position o f the term
O lym pia in to ‘A1 O m pi A’ m eaning ‘ O m -P i’ o r the O racle o f Ham -
though H am was tra d itio n a lly the son o f N oah cast in to disregard, and
exiled in legend to the fa rth e r reaches o f the A frica n continent: Like
Parsons, A llw oo d disparaged the c o n trib u tio n o f the Jews, claim ing that
they had been lim ite d in th e ir d iffu sio n and disdained among the people
w ith whom they had come in contact. The sources o f the form s o f the
alphabet, therefore, were to be found among tra d itio n s o f the ancient
Egyptians: the in itia l aleph, fo r instance, recorded the fo rm o f a simple
device used to gauge the height o f the flo od waters o f the N ile on a yearly
basis, the p i was derived fro m the portals o f a tem ple, the ‘M ’ from the
shape o f the cow holy to Isis and essential to a g ricu ltu ra l life , and the
omega was a pure hieroglyphic image o f a serpent curled around the
globe. It is n o t clear w hat advantage A llw oo d sought to gain from this
p a rtic u la r construction o f the h isto ry o f Greek culture and identity, since
the d istin ctio n he seemed in te n t on m aking was between the Semitic
people and the Greeks; but it d id allow fo r the Greek culture to be ground­
ed in w hat he called a ‘fable’ o f ‘perfect innocence’ and to be connected
w ith the Egyptian tra d itio n , s till revered in the late 18th century as the
source o f ancient w isdom .

The Occult Traditions

Interest in the occult use o r properties o f letters was fa r fro m absent in

the 18th century. K abbalistic activities continued and in the C hristian
com m unity became bound up in the developm ent o f secret societies such
as the Freemasons and Rosicrucians. The iconography o f these cu lt
groups made elaborate use o f Hebrew le tte rin g and dem onstrated the
same respect fo r the a u th o rity o f the holy scriptures as fo r C hristian
teachings. Both the M asons and the Rosicrucians made free and rather
unsystem atic use o f w hat they considered ancient w isdom - borrow ing
from H erm etic, kabbalistic, alchem ical, E gyptian and other tra d itio n s
. w ith o u t hesitation. As so-called secret societies, these groups had restri­
cted m em bership, determ ined through professional o r social a ffilia tio n s
(or both ), they defined th e ir aims in term s o f a m ixture o f C hristian fa ith
and an intellectu al in q u iry fo r profound ‘w isdom ’ associated w ith ancient
occult tra d itio n s. They saw themselves as a s p iritu a l brotherhood deter­
m ined to better the co nd itio n o f hum ankind through knowledge o f divine
revelation. These sects contributed little new in fo rm a tio n on the h istory
o f the alphabet, m ainly d is to rtin g earlier tra d itio n s to suit th e ir need fo r
 The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

ritu a l signs and arcane sym bols in th e ir c u lt practices, in itia tio n cere­
monies and publications.
As the d istinctions between em pirical science and alchemy had already
displaced the occult tra d itio n fro m its claim s to supreme a uthority, so the
increasing understanding o f ancient cultures intensified the d istin ctio n
between the scholarly ‘orien ta lists’ and the m asonic cu ltists’ version o f
esoteric knowledge. Nonetheless, the boundaries were n o t so d is tin c tly
drawn th a t a well-respected scholar, such as Gebelin, could n o t particip a te
in the Freemasons and s till retain the highest respect among his contem ­
poraries. In fact, an incident involving Gebelin and the Ita lia n occultist
Giuseppe Balsamo, C ount C agliostro, demonstrates th a t the conflicts
U,V B D 0 D A acted o u t were less frequently to differentiate scholarly from esoteric prac­
tices than they were to preserve c re d ib ility and power in the w ider
*K >
1‘ C
s p y - v
1,J,Y Th II %
sphere.11
W hen C agliostro arrived in Paris in the early 1780s he created a sensa­
rF.P,PI»
t Uo T P N VM tio n . H is reputation fo r possessing powers derived fro m knowledge o f
X
Egyptian a n tiq u ity brought him tremendous success. H is p o p u la rity pene­
T ? w ~ v 'd '\ j trated as fa r as the royal C o u rt, as he gained the special atte ntio n o f a
T ft H K ,0 Ts la d y-in -w a itin g to M arie A ntoinette. He established a ‘tem ple’ in Paris
Cagliostro's magic alphabet (P. under the name H athir-Schatha, Prince o f Sages, and entertained his select
Christian, Histoire de la Magie, circle (which included women ‘by the special perm ission o f Isis’) w ith fan­
Paris, 1872) tastic tales o f enchanted, m agical lands.

Rosicrudan cross with

Cagliostro's alphabet on it (P.
Christian, Histoire de la Magie,
Paris, 1872)
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

Fearful o f the considerable influence w ielded by this foreign seer, the

a ristocratic French Freemasons raised a protest against C agliostro’s claims
to authority. A n in te rro g a tio n was scheduled in w hich the esteemed
Gebelin was to be given an o p p o rtu n ity to unm ask C agliostro fo r a char­
latan. In the course o f the p ub lic interview , C agliostro n ot o nly demon­
strated his intim ate understanding o f the E gyptian tra d itio n s w hich d istin ­
guished his occult practice, but engaged in a series o f divinations involving
a magic alphabet in w hich he fo re to ld the death o f Louis X V I, M arie
A n toinette, and the rise and fa ll o f N apoleon Bonaparte, giving dates,
names, and details o f the m anner and place o f th e ir trium phs and defeats.
The company were so impressed by C agliostro’s dem onstration, which
to o k place in M ay 1785, th a t they conceded the su p e rio rity o f Egyptian
m asonry to th a t o f the French order. T his concession d id little to save
C agliostro from a series o f misadventures w ith the French authorities, his
banishm ent, and eventual undoing at the hands o f Church officials in
Rome fo u r years later.
The M asons’ involvem ent in the events o f the French R evolution may
have added retrospective deta il to this account, but whatever the tru th o f
this tale, it points up the seriousness w ith w hich d ivin a to ry practices, eso­
te ric knowledge and sym bolic in te rp re ta tio n were regarded w ith in elite
circles o f European power. John Locke may have defined new directions in
philosophy and language studies w ith his discussion o f the a rb itra ry
nature o f lin g u istic signs and th e ir dependence upon social context and
tra in in g , but the desire to see in the letters o f the alphabet a set o f arcane
glyphs potent w ith sym bolic value had rem ained a m ainstay o f intellectual
thought in the 18th century, alongside the interpretations o f the letters as
natural images o r as the encoded record o f hum an history.
THE ALPHABET IN THE 19TH CENTURY: ADVERTISING,
VISIBLE SPEECH, AN D NARRATIVES OF HISTORY

A rguably the single event m ost significant fo r the h isto ry o f w ritin g in the
19th century occurred at its very beginning: the decipherm ent o f Egyptian
hieroglyphics in the years im m ediately fo llo w in g the discovery o f the
Rosetta Stone in 1799. Though credit fo r this w ork is generally granted to
Jean-Fran^ois C ham pollion, his success was n o t by any means the result
o f mere in d ivid u a l e ffo rt. The decipherm ent was based on decades o f
developments w ith in the scholarly com m unity concerned w ith a study
then know n as ‘o rien ta l languages’ and the contributions o f Thom as
Young and Silvestre de Sacy were p a rtic u la rly im p o rta n t to the project.
T h e ir decipherm ent o f hieroglyphics p u t the m yth o f the enigm atic visual
image to rest once and fo r a ll w ith in the scholarly com m unity, though the
popular image o f the hieroglyph remained associated w ith the qualities o f
m ystery and esotericism .
But the significance o f C ham pollion’s much acclaimed achievement fo r
historians o f w ritin g lay in the fa ct th a t the visual features o f hierogly­
phics, so long considered the essential key to th e ir m eaning, were now
subordinated to th e ir role as surrogates fo r sound values and words. This
realization, th a t even th a t m ost in trig u in g ly visual o f a ll w ritin g systems,
hieroglyphics, conveyed m eaning by representing the sounds o f a spoken
language had a profound im pact on the status o f the visual characteristics
o f other w ritte n languages. I f hieroglyphics d id n o t produce m eaning by
direct appeal to the eye, then the fa r less glam orous form s o f w ritin g , such
as cuneiform o r Cretan scripts, were th a t much less lik e ly to be granted
im portance as visible images. The fa ith th a t the m eaning o f ancient w rit­
ing could be understood sim ply through visual means was greatly d im ­
inished as a result o f these developments. In general, the p hilolog ists and
linguists o f the 19th century concentrated th e ir research on structures
in te rn a l to in d ivid u a l languages o r language groups, analyzing th e ir gram ­
m atical structure and th e ir developm ent over tim e.
C uriously, however, the 19th century was also the period w hich w it­
nessed the fullscale adoption o f the theory o f p ic to ria l origins o f the
alphabetic form s - either linked to hieroglyphic precedents o r to the
objects associated w ith the letternam es. T his theory dom inated narratives
used to explain the h isto ry o f the alphabet and its integral relatio n to the
ancient Sem itic culture in w hich it had originated. The increase in archae­
ological a ctivity by European teams in the N ear East, M id d le East and
areas o f Crete, Greece and Asia M in o r provided massive am ounts o f new
m aterial fo r constructing the chronology o f ancient history, a situ atio n
w hich continued in the 20th century as w ell. Im proved methods o f dating
The Social Contract, Primitivism, and Nationalism: The Alphabet in the 18th Century

Fearful o f the considerable influence w ielded by this foreign seer, the

a ristocratic French Freemasons raised a protest against C agliostro’s claims
to authority. A n in te rro g a tio n was scheduled in w hich the esteemed
G ebelin was to be given an o p p o rtu n ity to unm ask C agliostro fo r a char­
latan. In the course o f the p ub lic interview , C agliostro n o t only demon­
strated his intim ate understanding o f the E gyptian tra d itio n s which distin­
guished his occult practice, but engaged in a series o f d ivinations involving
a m agic‘ alphabet in w hich he fo re to ld the death o f Louis X V I, M arie
A n to inette, and the rise and fa ll o f N apoleon Bonaparte, giving dates,
names, and details o f the m anner and place o f th e ir trium phs and defeats.
The company were so impressed by C agliostro’s dem onstration, which
to o k place in M ay 1785, th a t they conceded the su pe rio rity o f Egyptian
m asonry to th a t o f the French order. T his concession d id little to save
C agliostro from a series o f misadventures w ith the French authorities, his
banishm ent, and eventual undoing at the hands o f Church officials in
Rome fo u r years later.
The M asons’ involvem ent in the events o f the French R evolution may
have added retrospective detail to this account, but whatever the tru th o f
this tale, it points up the seriousness w ith w hich d iv in a to ry practices, eso­
te ric knowledge and sym bolic inte rp re ta tio n were regarded w ith in elite
circles o f European power. John Locke may have defined new directions in
philosophy and language studies w ith his discussion o f the arb itra ry
nature o f lin g u istic signs and th e ir dependence upon social context and
tra in in g , but the desire to see in the letters o f the alphabet a set o f arcane
glyphs potent w ith sym bolic value had rem ained a m ainstay o f intellectual
thought in the 18th century, alongside the interpretations o f the letters as
natural images o r as the encoded record o f hum an history.
THE ALPHABET IN THE 19TH CENTURY: ADVERTISING,
VISIBLE SPEECH, AN D NARRATIVES OF HISTORY

A rguably the single event m ost significant fo r the h istory o f w ritin g in the
19th century occurred at its very beginning: the decipherm ent o f E gyptian
hieroglyphics in the years im m ediately fo llo w in g the discovery o f the
Rosetta Stone in 1799. Though credit fo r this w ork is generally granted to
Jean-Fran^ois C ham pollion, his success was n o t by any means the result
o f mere in d ivid u a l e ffo rt. The decipherm ent was based on decades o f
developments w ith in the scholarly com m unity concerned w ith a study
then know n as ‘o rien ta l languages’ and the co ntribu tion s o f Thom as
Young and Silvestre de Sacy were p a rtic u la rly im p o rta n t to the project.
T h e ir decipherm ent o f hieroglyphics p u t the m yth o f the enigm atic visual
image to rest once and fo r a ll w ith in the scholarly com m unity, though the
popular image o f the hieroglyph remained associated w ith the qualities o f
m ystery and esotericism .
But the significance o f C ham pollion’s much acclaimed achievement fo r
historians o f w ritin g lay in the fa ct th a t the visual features o f hierogly­
phics, so long considered the essential key to th e ir m eaning, were now
subordinated to th e ir role as surrogates fo r sound values and words. This
realization, th a t even th a t m ost in trig u in g ly visual o f a ll w ritin g systems,
hieroglyphics, conveyed m eaning by representing the sounds o f a spoken
language had a profound im pact on the status o f the visual characteristics
o f other w ritte n languages. If hieroglyphics d id n o t produce m eaning by
direct appeal to the eye, then the fa r less glam orous form s o f w ritin g , such
as cuneiform o r Cretan scripts, were th a t much less lik e ly to be granted
im portance as visible images. The fa ith th a t the m eaning o f ancient w rit­
ing could be understood sim ply through visual means was gteatly dim ­
inished as a result o f these developments. In general, the p hilolog ists and
linguists o f the 19th century concentrated th e ir research on structures
interna l to in d ivid u a l languages o r language groups, analyzing th e ir gram ­
m atical structure and th e ir developm ent over tim e.
C uriously, however, the 19th century was also the period w hich w it­
nessed the fullscale adoption o f the theory o f p ic to ria l origins o f the
alphabetic form s - either linked to hieroglyphic precedents o r to the
objects associated w ith the letternam es. This theory dom inated narratives
used to explain the h isto ry o f the alphabet and its integral re la tio n to the
ancient Sem itic culture in w hich it had originated. The increase in archae­
ological a c tiv ity by European teams in the N ear East, M id d le East and
areas o f Crete, Greece and Asia M in o r provided massive am ounts o f new
m aterial fo r constructing the chronology o f ancient history, a situation
w hich continued in the 20th century as w ell. Im proved methods o f dating
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History
Mould for hand-casting of hot
metal type: Charles Thomas
Jacobi, Printing (London: George
Bell and sons, 1908)
Typecasting machine: Charles
Thomas Jacobi, Printing
(London, George Bell and sons,
1908)
m aterials from excavations offered evidence w hich challenged the specifics
o f b ib lic a l chronologies, i f n o t th e ir cast o f characters o r events. If the
18th-century debates on origins and developm ent had posed theology and
science as equal contenders fo r authority, then the 19th-century inves­
tig atio ns o f w ritin g continued this debate in term s o f creationist and evo­
lu tio n a ry models. Increasing evidence o f the gradual evolution and trans­
fo rm a tion o f w ritin g systems, in p a rtic u la r the alphabet, had to be either
reconciled w ith accounts in the Scriptures o r else established on entirely
new intellectu al and conceptual grounds. The very idea th a t there m ight
be a m anner o f n arra ting h isto ry w ith o u t recourse to scrip tu ra l auth ority
was a radical departure from even the sophisticated insights o f 18th-
century historians aware o f the social and c u ltu ra l fu n ctio n o f alphabetic
w ritin g . M any 19th-century historians o f the alphabet chose a m iddle
path, choosing to retain some traces o f b ib lic a l im agery in a vague
chronology o f the h isto rica l developm ent o f le tte r form s, sim ply overlook­
ing the contradictions inherent in p u ttin g archaeological evidence next to
scrip tu ra l authority.
The m echanization o f p rin tin g processes in the 19th century involved
the invention o f high speed presses and m echanical devices to automate
every aspect o f type setting, casting and d is trib u tio n . The effect o f these
changes was a dram atic increase in both the rate at w hich m aterials could
be p rinted and the am ount o f m aterial w hich appeared in p rin t. The first
invention essential to this change was an innovation in paper m aking: in
1806 H en ri F ourdrinier designed a machine capable o f producing a contin­
uous ro ll o f paper, w hich could move through a mechanized press at a
speed way beyond th a t o f in d ivid u a l sheets. W hile the rate o f 250 sheets an
hour had been considered fast production on a hand-fed press, the use o f
ro ll paper in com bination w ith steam driven p rin tin g presses (firs t used in
1814 in the offices o f The Tim es in London) pushed th a t num ber in to the
thousands. By the m id-20th century, newspaper web presses using letter-
press methods were capable o f producing 70,000 copies o f a 96-page eight-
colum n newspaper in an hours tim e on machines w hich differed only
slig h tly in design from those in use a century earlier.1
But w hile the rate o f p rin tin g was dependent on innovations in paper
production technology and power driven presses, it rem ained lim ite d by
the rate at w hich m etal type could be cast, set and redistributed fo r recom­
position . The methods o f cu ttin g m etal punches, m aking m atrices, and
casting type in hand-m olds w hich was in place in to the m id-19th century
were in alm ost a ll p articula rs the same as those used in the shop o f Johann
Gutenberg. C om position was done le tte r by letter, casting as w ell, and dis­
trib u tio n o f type back in to the cases follow ed this same m odel. In addi­
tio n , since type was frag ile it wore o u t o r broke frequently and thus a
means o f readily available replacement was sought. Finally, handset form s
could n ot be accommodated to high-speed presses. These, it became evi­
dent, w ould rely on cylinders passed over a continuous ro ll o f paper,
rather than the fla t, locked up form s produced by tra d itio n a l typesetting.
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

The problem s faced were thus to fin d a means o f rapid casting, rapid set­
tin g , and a substitute fo r the fla t form s o f tra d itio n a l type.
The firs t improvements came in the area o f casting, w ith power used to
force the h o t m olten lead in to the m oulds, replacing the ancient m ethod o f
using a hard shake o f the w ris t to throw the m etal in to the m a trix. D avid
Bruce, responsible fo r th is innovation, devised a continuous casting
machine. By 1834 he could produce a row o f the same le tte r through
mechanized processes. B ut w hile this casting machine produced a q u a n tity
o f type fo r replacement purposes, it d id nothing to speed up the processes
o f setting and d is trib u tio n w hich were s till done by hand, le tte r by letter.
These problem s were resolved o nly afte r invention o f the typ e w rite r in the
1860s and early 1870s, w hich provided the firs t means o f keyboarding a
rapid sequence o f letters. By lin k in g the keyboard mechanism to a casting
machine, tw o means o f fa bricatin g composed type were devised: O tto
M erganthaler’s Linotype machine and T olb ert Lanston’s M onotype
machine. M erganthaler’s m achine, in p roduction and use by the 1880s,
cast one line o f type after another using brass m atrices .2 These were auto­
m atica lly redistributed in to storage magazines afte r each line was set,
m aking possible continuous production o f cast type w hich was already
composed. D is trib u tio n was no longer an issue - the slugs o f m etal were
sim ply m elted down when the jo b had been p rin te d , and then recast.
Lanston’s machine, also in production by the late 1880s, cast one le tte r at
a tim e, but had certain aesthetic advantages over linotype.
Though lino type and m onotype were capable o f fu lfillin g the casting
and com posing needs o f p rinters, in p a rt by tu rn in g the p rintsho p back
in to a foundry, they could n o t provide a so lu tion to the m ore fundam ental
problem : the need fo r a supply o f steel punches. A ll o f these casting
devices relied upon brass m atrices w hich were themselves produced w ith
the use o f steel punches - the handcarved m etal instrum ents on w hich the
form o f the letters was carved as the firs t stage o f the design and casting
process. These punches were also fragile, and frequently had to be
replaced. T h e ir p roduction remained the province o f hig hly skille d crafts­
people and the hand process could n o t keep up w ith the demand. L in n
Boyd Benton’s invention o f the pantographic punch cu ttin g machine in
1884 thus provided the last piece o f technology necessary fo r rapid
production o f high q u a lity type. Benton’s m achine was also applicable to
production o f w ood type, generally used fo r larger display sizes and elabo­
rate, decorative w ork.
A nother invention w hich contributed to highspeed pro du ction was the
stereotype, a means o f d u p lica tin g whole pages o f set type so th a t they
could be curved onto the cylinder o f a high speed press. Stereotyping, firs t
experim ented w ith by Lord Earl Stanhope around 1799, was developed in
the 1840s and perfected some years later as a casting m ethod .3 O rig in a lly
using papier mache, and la te r a resinous w ax m aterial, stereotyping was a
m ould casting process. The soft m aterial was poured onto a standing form
o f type, le t harden, and then used as the m a trix fo r casting ia flexible m etal
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

sheet o f an entire page. These flexible sheets could be wrapped around the
cylinders o f w hat was term ed a ‘perfecting press/ one w hich p rinted both
fro n t and back o f a ro ll o f paper simultaneously. Stereotypes, and the
related electrotypes, were also used to make duplicates o f form s which
could be shipped to geographically dispersed plants fo r p rin tin g . T his was
a m ethod especially popular w ith advertisers, who preferred n o t to have
th e ir designs either recast o r reset fo r each p ub lica tion .
The im pact o f these com bined inventions was a rapid escalation in the
q ua ntity o f m aterials in p rin t. But these m echanical innovations had an
effect upon the design o f le tte r form s as w ell. Linotype faces had to be
recut to adapt to the fit o f the brass m atrices used to cast type in lines.
Letters had to fill o u t the fu ll w id th o f the m a trix in order to align w ith
each other properly. Such designs at firs t lacked some o f the subtlety asso­
ciated w ith th a t o f type set by hand, but gradually lino type faces acquired
th e ir own aesthetic sophistication. The use o f the pantographic cutter to
replicate the steel punches at the basis o f type production made fo r more
regular results than those achieved through tra d itio n a l handcutting. Here
again the technological means o f production came to be,an aspect o f the
aesthetics o f le tter form s, an integral feature o f th e ir identity, reflecting
and em bodying the m echanization characteristic o f the period.

Typography: Advertising, Display and Nostalgia

The m ajor force influencing 19th-century typographic design was the

im pact o f in d u stria liza tio n . M echanization o f the p rin tin g trade resulted in
the substantially increased volum e o f w ork produced by high speed p rin tin g
presses and in d u s tria lly made paper, both often o f low er q u a lity than any
employed in p rin tin g up u n til th a t tim e. N o t only were huge numbers o f
242 books and journals p rin te d , but increased am ounts o f p u b lic ity and com­
m ercial p rin tin g appeared alongside the more tra d itio n a l religious, lite ra ry
and jo u rn a lis tic form s. In response to the needs o f the burgeoning business
o f advertising, tremendous numbers o f new type faces were designed whose
capacity to engage the eye o f the ever-more saturated reader was am plified
VBGSTABLB through decorative means. Large sized type, engraved in w ood by mechani­

[OINTMENT, cal processes, was used to produce huge posters w hich papered the walls,
kiosks and other surfaces o f the m odern urban environm ent w hile the tech­
AGUE IN FACEi SWELLED BREASTS,
SOREKlinBIOHCBITU,BOIE THMM, QH1HBT,GEODT,
Felon*, R lng-w oni*, Bonn, niques o f display advertising made th e ir im pact in the pages o f m ost jo u r­
SCALDS, 11UHN3, SHINGLES, ERYSIPELAS, SALT RHEUM,
nals and newspapers.
I tmio/m7iDn cr ?m ixzs atib Bom®, sAinsas, In an a d d itio na l boost to aesthetic invention, the fle x ib ility o f lith o ­
FretliCul Woiiuds,lllllouiCliolIc.Sci-ofiil.o.noil S
Sm il i- leo sores, inflammatory rheumatism a gout. I graphic reproduction, used in mass production cylinder presses by m id­
I N*oilierOI1VTJIEXTInc\l»lcnccore
qua
lpowern
m lI
iIiiIiiIiikInllnmiunllunn m l iibIb. “
' onto, ntid In ruo, century, freed professional le tte rin g and calligraphy artists from the
re cfTecleil, 11
[ PRINCIPAL DEPOT, NO. 38 C0U1TLANDT ST, REV TOIL restraints imposed by m etal type. The im agination o f designers expanded
AIIM STIIOKU & IIU IIII, Proprietor., {
by quantum leaps in ever more dazzling displays o f visual ingenuity and
Advertising showing use of invention. In m etal type as w ell the shaded, expanded, condensed, bejew­
varied display faces elled and decorated form s o f display types offered by the average jo b shop
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

outstripped the modest offerings available in the past, p e rm ittin g the m ost
ynbllc Meeting
?V-; GLOUCESTER, WORCESTER, mundane o f advertising circulars to be typeset w ith gaudy abandon.
ilddermlnfter, Stourbridge, Dndley,
' V : B IR M IN G H A M ■
V isual language overflowed the lim its o f in tim a te space, fro m the page
o f the book to the poster placard, and the engagement o f p ub lic space and
gB A JLW A T .
p u b lic readership thro ug h the seductive dynam ics o f display typography
IF
played a sig n ifica n t role in tra n sfo rm in g the experience o f language from
th a t o f a lite ra ry , leg al o r business tra n s a c tio n to one o f overblo w n
M . w ll n. ll»l J tfUDJby
com m ercial persuasion succeeding through tactics o f rh e to ric a l in fla tio n .

:^;vV;;:.
)BIUooco^
tio»ToS'*”“*’*«“•«
Advertising showing use of
varied display faces
K «
In v is u a l term s the re su lts were an a lm o s t lim itle s s p ro life ra tio n o f
fa n ta stica lly decorated faces. Typographic specimen sheets fro m the 19th
ce n tu ry com bined the richness o f these new o ffe rin g s w ith an eclectic
vernacular vocabulary the end resu lt o f w hich were sheets w hich resonate
across the space o f more than a century w ith p a rtic u la r poetic and cu ltu ra l
suggestivity.
Im provem ents in p rin tin g technology made specific co ntribu tion s to
the historiography o f w ritin g through the p u b lica tio n o f elaborate black-
and-w hite o r co lo r reproductions o f examples o f u n fa m ilia r scripts fo r
both scholar and amateur. The w orks o f H enry Shaw, w ith th e ir detailed
lil redraw ing o f m anuscript le tte rin g from the M id d le Ages, were produced in

THE the m id-19th century, as were the m agnificent volumes o f Joseph Balthazar
Silvestre. H is 1841 Paleographie Universelle was unrivalled fo r its exquisite
facsim iles o f ancient and foreign p apyri, cuneiform tablets, illu m in ated

HER m anuscripts o r calligraphed documents from Egypt, In dia , the East and
the Am ericas. Silvestre’s w ork, produced w ith the co lla bo ra tion o f

Mount
C ham pollion-Figeac, brother o f the E gyptologist, was a testam ent to both
the possibilities w hich p rin tin g offered to the scholar and to the existence
o f an audience fo r deluxe editions o f significant scale concerned w ith the
h isto ry o f w ritin g .

Form A t the end o f the 19th century another d irection was defined in the
dom ain o f fine arts p rin tin g - w hich u ltim a te ly had an effect upon com ­
m ercial design w ork as w ell. T his was the revival o f interest in older form s
o f le tte r and page design. M o st marked in the w ork o f designer, and p rin t­
Type specimen sheet shoWing er W illia m M o rris , these nostalgic reinventions o f the tra d itio n o f the illu ­
display faces m inated m anuscript o r Renaissance p rin tin g , w ith its com plicated a rti­
sanal decorative borders, black le tte r type, and elaborate in itia l letters,
became the distinctive style o f the A rts and C rafts movements in England,
Europe and the U nited States. T his fine a rt im ita tio n o f older form s and
the fantastic range o f new display types used in advertising had in com ­
mon a keen attention to the visual aspects o f le tter design and a conviction
th a t the s tylistic choices had some im pact on m eaning pro du ction . N o t
coincidentally, theories o f synaesthesia - the in te rre la tio n o f the senses in
the varieties o f aesthetic experience - developed in late 19th-century
Sym bolist a rt, literature and music. There were m any w rite rs and artists
o f the period who w rote o f the ‘color* o f vowels, the ‘power* o f letters or
th e ir sym bolic value. Texts by V icto r H ugo and A rth u r R im baud are
among the m ost w ell-know n instances o f such a rtis tic e xplora tion , but the
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

w ork o f Paul C laudel and others also reflected this interest in to the early
20 th century .4

Page from William Morris's, The
Earthly Paradise, 1888, showing
244
___ S T R A N G E P E O P LE .
19th century printed version of
manuscript book
XH E^VAN JD ER ER S
C E R T A IN G E N T L E M E N A N D
M A R IN E R S O F N O R W AY, H A V IN G
C O N S ID E R E D A L L T H A T T H E Y
H AD HEARD OF T H E E A R TH LY
P A R A D IS E , S E T S A IL T O F IN D IT ,
A N D S O A F T E R M A N Y TR O U BLES
& T H E LAPSE O F M A N Y YEAR S
C A M E O LD M E N T O SOM E W ESTx
E R N L A N D ,O F W H IC H T H E Y H A D
N E V E R B E FO R E H E A R D : T H E R E
T H E Y D IE D , W H E N T H E Y H A D
D W E L T T H E R E C E R T A IN YEA R S ,
IN E X C E E D IN G H O N O U R O F T H E

H ugo, fo r instance, trie d to create a ‘h ieroglyphic’ reading o f the le t­

ters o f the alphabet.5 H e saw in the le tte r ‘Y ’ a tree, the branching o f tw o
rivers, tw o roads; and also saw in the ‘Y ’ the head o f a donkey o r cow
(though surprisingly he d id n o t see a steer o r ox w ith horns); the ‘Y* was
also a glass on its feet and a supplicant w ith arms raised to the heavens. ‘A*
was an arch, the peak o f a ro o f; ‘D ’ was the back; ‘B’ was one D on anoth­
er, thus, a hum pback; ‘C’ was a crescent, croissant, and the m oon; ‘E’ was
the foundation, the rig h t fo o t, the entire basis o f architecture; ‘F’ was a
gallow s, a gibbet and a fo rk ; ‘G ’ was a horn; ‘H ’ the facade o f a building
w ith tw o towers; ‘J’ the cornucopia o r horn o f p lenty; ‘K ’ the angle o f
reflection equal to the angle o f incidence; ‘L ’ the leg and fo o t; ‘M ’ a m oun­
ta in , or a campsite w ith tents side by side; ‘N ’ was the door barred w ith
the diagonal stroke; ‘ O ’ was the sun; ‘P’ was a p o rte r carrying a load; ‘ Q ’
was the rum p o f an anim al w ith a ta il; ‘R ’ was the p o rte r leaning on his
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

staff; ‘S’ was a snake; T * was a hammer; ‘U ’ was an urn ; ‘V* a vase; ‘X ’
crossed swords; and ‘Z ’ was G od, though no visual image was invoked to
explain this. H ugo’s hieroglyphic alphabet had no system atic logic, nor
d id it expand in to a code fo r in terpretin g words as com binations o f these
elements. It was purely a subjective exercise, a p rojection o f images
through a process o f personal association, onto the graphic form s.
Schematic in the extrem e, the letters o f the alphabet len t themselves to any
num ber o f such projections.
The Sym bolist poet Stephane M allarm e, proposed an equally idiosyn­
cratic and im aginative reading o f the letters in his te xt title d Les M ots
A nglais, a m etaphysical study o f the powers o f English words. M allarm e,
w ritin g in the last decades o f the 19th century, was best know n to later
generations fo r his typographically com plex w o rk, Un Coup de Des (A
T hrow o f the Dice)> but to his contem poraries the fu lle r dim ensions o f his
w ork on m usic, language, and his dram atic texts were a ll in flu e n tia l and
fa m ilia r. M a lla rm e ’s interpretations o f the alphabetic letters had in com­
m on w ith H ugo’s th a t they derived from no source but his own im agina­
tio n and yet purported to provide an insight in to the sym bolic value o f the
letters and th e ir significant fu n ctio n w ith in words. M any o f his values
have apparent origins in the form o f the letters he was analyzing: the ‘W ’
in s tills a sense o f o scilla tio n in the double wave o f the le tte r; the ‘F’ com­
m unicated a sense o f flyin g , a p rojectile s trik in g space, transposed by
rh e to ric in to the record o f this sensation in the very w ord fo r flig h t; ‘J ’
expressed a quick, direct action; ‘K ’ was the image o f knottiness o r jo in ­
ing, k n ittin g together. Through a com bination o f associations, M allarm e
blended the iconographic value he perceived in the le tte r w ith English
words in w hich it was the firs t letter. M allarm e believed th a t the letters
were the ‘ bones and tendons’ o f language, and th a t his interpretive prac­
tice had recovered o rig in a l, Anglo-Saxon roots w hich were the substrata o f
the o rd in a ry life o f words. In p o in t o f fact, M allarm e had made an assess- 245
m ent very typ ica l o f the late 19th-century Sym bolist sensibility, rather
than a scholarly discovery o f etym ological radicals, and was synthesizing
the visual characteristics o f the letter in its graphic fo rm w ith associations
invoked by the specific English vocabulary he had selected.6

Penmanship and Business

T he v irtu o s o d is p la y o f c a llig ra p h ic s k ills w h ich had becom e

characteristics o f a rtfu l penmen in the 18th century had little a p p lica tio n
to the d a ily activitie s to w hich penm anship was p u t as a basic to o l fo r the
clerks, business people and secretarial s ta ff o f the 19th-century w o rld o f
com m ercial life . George B ickham ’s Universal Penman was already more o f
a practical m anual and less o f an extravagant showpiece than th a t o f some
o f his contem poraries - fo r whom c u ltiv a tin g the tastes o f an upper-class
clientele more concerned w ith decorative devices than sim ple le g ib ility was
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History
Proper writing posture for hand
and pen
Good and bad postures for
writing
Measured analysis of letters
All from Platt R. Spencer, New
Compendium o f Spencerian
Penmanship
param ount. B ut one has o nly to compare the plates in th a t w o rk w ith the
m anuals o f one o f the p rin c ip le w ritin g masters o f the 19th century, P la tt
R. Spencer, to see the changes in m ainstream attitudes towards penmanship.
Spencer was interested above a ll in w hat he term ed ‘p ractical w ritin g .’
T his was the developm ent o f skills useful to anyone entering the w orld o f
business, education, law, jou rn a lism or other arena o f a c tiv ity dependent
upon literacy. Spencer firs t developed his methods o f teaching handw riting
at the age o f 15, in K ingsville, O hio. B ut it wasn’t u n til 1852 th a t he set up
an in s titu tio n a l basis from w hich to im plem ent his pedagogic program , the
firs t Spencerian C om m ercial College. A few years later he established the
‘Spencerian Log Sem inary’ housed in a log cabin near his home in Pittsburg,
w hich served as a summer school fo r w ritin g , w hile other branches o f the
‘In te rn a tio n a l C hain’ o f Spencerian in stitu tio n s p ro life rate d, accompanied
by a corresponding increase in publications dissem inating his m ethod.
Beginning in 1848 he produced a trem endously successful series o f manuals
on Spencerian or ‘Sem i-Angular Penmanship.’ W ith th e ir elaborate instruc­
tions on the correct posture, gestures and m aterials fo r w ritin g , as w ell as
th e ir systematic developm ent o f skills in fo rm in g and spacing letters, these
were a m ajor fixtu re in business colleges and cu rricula throughout the la t­
te r h a lf o f the century.
For Spencer, as fo r other teachers o f h an dw ritin g, the d iscip lin in g o f
the hand in the developm ent o f good habits fo r w ritin g was tantam ount to
a course in m oral righteousness, and the rh e to ric w hich wove through his
manuals made clear th a t slovenliness o f h an dw ritin g was no less a sin than
any other m ajor fa u lt o f character. But the benefits he prom ised from vhis
m ethod were more rooted in the m aterial w orld. The in tro d u ctio n to his
N ew Com pendium o f Spencerian Penmanship, published posthum ously
by his children in 1887, listed among the motives fo r learning penmanship
th a t it led to ‘pro m o tion and advancement’ in the w orld o f business from
the very firs t well-penned le tte r to the establishm ent o f a place w ith in the
business hierarchy. Spencer hinted th a t ‘a legible, rap id , elegant han dw rit­
in g ’ w ould net a w orker greater recompense w ith in a pay scale and lead to
other ‘pecuniary advantages’ by p ro viding a com petitive edge. Good pen­
m anship was no longer the singular privilege o f the wealthy, but the neces­
sary to o l fo r office workers at every level o f the business w orld. Spencer
was n o t alone in pro m o ting a course in p ra ctical penmanship, the names
and numbers o f his rivals were many, inclu ding one George Eastman o f
Rochester, who asserted th a t it was he who was the inventor o f Spencer’s
‘sem i-angular hand.’ Penmanship was n o t m erely an aid to business, but
was big business itse lf, w ith the numbers o f students enrolled in
Spencerian program s alone numbered at more than 12,000 a year in the
1860s7 - a figure w hich does n o t reflect the to ta l num ber o f school ch ild ­
ren involved in learning scrip t form s o f penmanship through various
methods.
Decorative calligraphy continued to fin d its practitioners as w ell, and
the b e a u tifu lly achieved flourishes o f handdrawn lettering , produced fo r
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

p u b lica tio n from copperplate engravings, provided models fo r the h ig hly

dextrous. A n example o f such publications was the product o f another
com m ercial penman and pedagogue, George Becker, who gave his title as
Professor o f D raw ing, W ritin g , and Bookkeeping in the G irard College in
P hiladelphia. T itle d O rnam ental Penmanship. A Series o f A n a ly tic a l and
Finished Alphabets (1854), Becker’s book provided both specific examples
o f h ig hly flourished and decorated hands, and some basic principles on
w hich they could be constructed. W hile his drawings had much in com­
m on w ith the elaborate form s o f both display faces o f m etal type and the
ornate form s o f lettering used in lithography, they had the a dd itio na l d e li­
VARIOUSUTSHADEDROMAN FRINT.
cacy o f the copperplate m edium to emphasize the flicke rin g contrast o f
lig h t and heavy strokes.
A B C D E FG H I
Spencer and Becker conceived o f le tte r form s very differently, a fact
J K IM K O P Q M
w hich is evident in th e ir d iffe re n t emphases in le tter production. Spencer
S T U V W IY Z &
--^ stated repeatedly and unequivocally th at the m ost im p o rta n t aspect o f
Three images from George good penmanship was the d iscip lin in g o f m oto r activity. The skills w hich
Becker, Ornamental he used to tra in students in his m ethod thus treated the letters as com plex
Penmanship, 1854 form s b u ilt o u t o f a series o f repetitive movements, each o f w hich m ust be
mastered as an act o f m uscular co ntrol. The expressive p ote ntia l o f an
in d iv id u a l’s movements became the conceptual premise fo r another field
w hich came to m a tu rity in the 19th century, graphology: by the century’s
end the exhaustive d eta ilin g o f characteristics associated w ith any and
every possible drawn version o f a le tte r fo rm had become the basis o f a
vast num ber o f publications used in fields as diverse as business, psycho­
logy and p a rlo r game entertainm ent. Becker, on the other hand, in his
‘a n a lytica l’ approach to decorative letters, broke them dow n in to com po­
nent graphic parts as if in im ita tio n o f the Renaissance constructed alpha­
bets. He treated the letters as purely graphic elements, images on a surface
whose creation was an effect o f design decisions determ ining shapes, b or­
ders and patterns. Thus as h an dw ritin g became increasingly linked to the 247
c u lt o f in d ivid u a l personality, the p ro life ra tio n o f graphic styles in p rin tin g
types provided increasing possibilities fo r the social pro du ction o f mean­
ing in relatio n to style through associations o f elegance, a uthority, popu­
la rity, hum or o r dependable solidity.

Phonography, Phonetics, and Pedagogy

W hile good h an dw ritin g was a standard business s k ill, elegant, w ell-

form ed w ritin g could n o t serve a ll the needs o f the com m ercial w orld w ith
its m yriad o f rapid transactions and p ro life ra tin g activities. The demand
fo r s w ift, accurate methods o f recording spoken language developed in
the realm o f journalism and law, as w ell as in the corporate m eeting room
and sales manager’s office. Various methods o f shorthand w ritin g had
been created since antiquity, as has been m entioned before, but in the 19th
century these became regularized, w hile they intersected w ith areas o f
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

History of shorthand in chart form by William Upham

1 a 5 4 6 6 j r i & 9
1602 1648 46io 46*8 1685 164-t 4650 46V5 1&69 465A- 4658 \65<1 4W 4681 4^01 \GV* 46T4 46T8 4691 v m m 6 nvr
T A "7 " A A A A A / C a <y C / / / < A A « / c . i \ /
b n 1 1 A A 1 An < 1 n 1 A 1 r\ In AS 1 n 1 1 P9 /
c ( T r r* > c C 1o c Cl c c c - L i. c c c C c
n~ 3 __ n n > N > 3 > 3 3 \ \ \ > n 3 / D> N 1 \
A
e O^ g e e d' o * 0- fr O / e e € . * c o o / V
£ u 7 u L n L. L “1 n L, 1 1 9 i- T L L. n ~1 7
g -J J L _ q -J J q A JL - q n 9 A A r r A M -J 1 r J r i f
h o h Z s < O o h h <r h V L L o P a O —
i - \<JT L
i cx 1 IS 9 L. r 1 • L. 1 / . <-— • » 1- 1 • •— ♦\ 1 /
T > 'T q •1 r L A 4 9 1 A 1 J r 1 1 7 j _LL —
r AN r\ < 3 an C r\ r\ JL_ r\ C r\ c c c An < AN H Z r \ A A~\ c c
T 3 V7 o vy — yy \y v> V yj vy - yy c V/ v V 1 0 o
m u \ \ w \ \ 3 N — C \ \ —■ > 3 \ u \ 3 \ \ \ AN
IX \ H— — \ C — 7 — — \ < — - — — 7 . \ — — / ~A ' —
o c oc c c / C n6~~ V w /) 0 0 7 o w c r /N <_/ g "ZT"
/ per C -=><r M cr* P p°” <y — “1 /?o- /A AN /> cr* /Q o 0-Q_ ^ T i / A»
J L ?
9 0 ~ _9_ w _9_ 9 9 —3 9 ? 9 < ~rC 9 9 q 7 c
r — T y — y r V 1 p Y V r r r r K r — r r 3 Y
_L±_
8 1 /> 1 1 P 1 g~ 9 t r O PC 1 r / o l o cr- r 1 cr \. n / f J / o"
t c / C / 1 / / / / / 1 i l / / / / / i i 1
u X __ _*__ ■ . V V V \ / LX \ <_ L— • . . u i—
V V v V V V V V V \ V X? L. N A V V V V n \ A
Vs 3 > 9 3 P C 7 L. —> 7 d- A T 1 L ? V Av X x 1/ — A~
X <x ■\ >o X X X X? 4 S c< cK /-V& An X X t X _x_ X ’+ x X j s X
y y Y y c< y V * y 9 J ~ y y 7 y y M 9 ' y ] ~
z X g z z 2 z z Z z z Z 1 z / z. z z s f r r /

xs %e 9 .9 So &4 S 9. S6 ST Sb S9 J40 4*4 4 -X 4 *6 4 -4 45T 4 *6 v r 4 *8

\T 6 0 4 160 4164 416 1 VT66 M 1 5 - M 1 5 4119 4119 4185L 418S 4 18 6 4 1 8 1 4189 \1 9 6 - \8 ,0 \ 4802, 1682 4<p86 4 8 0 9 48S1
a o Q. v • - / * • — \ o A <7 C • • 9 / « / \ ~ — , ip i
/ \ r —S f n a- \ ON / S c \ N / 1 1
\ 9 C
c — o C C l C o_— \ _ A n/ r c C C 1 o A — T o AS C <7 C (
1 D P *— \ c ; ) 3 I V -/ C-L-t 3 \ / \ . 3 9. 1 3 >, / /
4
e o <L o* y • * / • • — \ _ | © \ • . . > t— « «/ e• .
c 8*
/ — / —s \ l <? o- j -J r Leu < \ / Q_ — 7 7 \ o -b -
f >
% —
r /7 3 r <L/ 'X D 9 3 r . \ 3 rs <A cr~ 3 <7 9 V 3 c_

1 c \ 9d t— \ / \ c_ Sh j Z' I n \ 9 ?
l f> 9
i . 1. 5 ( o . • • • — - / 1 3 » • » • %J » 7Z
— D r -7 j■ o- *7 3 0 • 0 C“
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i c yj n 3 /> < * * AS 1 \y w \y W VO / 9 z u V/ </ 3

iu r\ __ t 3 O n 3 A n \ A "\ 3 3 \ A CA AS AS AN s X V o~ AS
Ml An — i / — V KJ _ — AS — AS — — V/ S/ V 3 — 7 — —r U V
O O a<7 * . O V • o 5 O e n o • b • <> I c c. ♦ • £<7
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o cs-c c cr" c As C 9 1 ” i ** A n r —> 5 <0 9 9- A 1

x q
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O — ■ 1 fo — — v -x / / o — 19 o — o — c . s—/ / $ 1 Si — 1 ,
3 /
j 1 / — 1 1 / / l 1 / 1 / 7 1 Ir .1 / 9 / / 1 —

u \ o <ur % • • <7 V o • 1 o /<» 1/ V o S7 - / V V * c> e

V / J / yj t— \ J U <r* t J V .— \ / ON V-/ . 1/ V \ <r~~
w n7 w \j X- P b O u r "N o 7X — (P i q r~ U ) <rs %
X A" X c* T " X <77 X — O ' X x + >o ^ • v- X o ' -C> X X c_ « \V
y "N >3 <N o — - / y r o' « 9 o y • 7 7

z O 1 / — / rj o s 6 — o — S _/ /
z /»
T

1 John Willis, 1602 11 Job Everardt, 1658 21 Philip Gibbs, 1736 31 Holdsworth and Wm. 39 Samuel Taylor, 1786
2 Edmond Willis, 1618 12 Noah Bridges, 1659 22 Aulay Macaulay, 1747 Aldridge, 1768 40 W illiam Graham, 1787
3 W itt, 1630 13 W illiam Mason, 1672 23 Peter Annet, 1750 32 R. Graves and S. Ashton, 41 W illiam Mavor, 1789
4 Henry Dlx, 1633 14 William Mason, 1682 24 Thomas Gurney, 1753 1775 42 Thomas Rees. 1795
5 Mawd, 1635 15 William Mason, 1707 25 Henry Taplin, 1760 33 Wm. Williamson, 1775 43 John Crome, 1801
6 Thomas Shelton, 1641 16 Elisha Coles, 1674 26 Thomas Stackhouse, 1760 34 Thomas Hervey, 1779 44 Richard Roe, 1802
7 Thomas Shelton, 1650 17 W illiam Hopkins, 1674 27 David Lyle, 1762 35 W J. Blanchard, 1779 45 Archlsden, 1632
8 Theophilus Metcalf, 1645 18 Lawrence Steel, 1678 28 Alphabet o f Reason, 1736 36 W .J. Blanchard, 1786 46 Ralph Fogg (Salem), 1636
9 Jeremiah Rich, 1669 19 Abraham Nichols, 1692 29 Mark Antony Meilan, 1764 37 John Mitchell,1782 47 (Printed at Boston), 1809
10 John Farthing. 1654 20 Francis Tanner, 1712 30 John Byrom, 1767 38 Michael Nash, 1783 48 Thomas Towndrow, 1837
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

interest to linguists and teachers. The h isto ry o f spelling reform , phono­

graphic shorthand, phonetic analysis, and the developm ent o f an alphabet
suitable fo r both non-W estern and Western languages were a ll interrelated
in the 1800s, w ith solutions in one realm often o ffe rin g p ossibilities in
another.
A shorthand system can be a system fo r representing words in sh ort­
ened fo rm as a single sign, know n as a lexica l o r alphabetic approach, in
w hich case it is specific to a p a rtic u la r language. O r it can be a system fo r
representing the sounds o f speech, a phonographic approach, in w hich
case it has the p ote ntia l to be applicable to a w ide range o f languages,
dialects, and speech situations. M ost o f the classical systems o f shorthand
n o ta tio n , such as th a t reputedly developed by C icero’s slave T iro , were
alphabetic in nature. Know n as notae, these systems were in use up
through the 9th o r 10th centuries in Europe, but then largely disappeared
from use. One 19th-century h istoria n o f shorthand stated th a t the h ab it o f
abbreviation and use o f notae in m anuscripts had become so widespread
S&//'/it/
&>t<s,t<6
fj/tttxs/r d&tjevtf/rt/ S/rct/ttt/j
tt/trutAittif
as to obscure meaning and p rom pt the p ub lica tion o f o ffic ia l edicts p ro ­
C //, . /r.. Arm
t/r.s/tne,
•j
r i
h ib itin g this practice .8 A lphabetic shorthand systems reappeared in the
(7? V\ rtrt-l. e/ovic.
t> /i‘rtn% /tun 7T r ite. m co u rt o f Elizabeth I o f England, o f w hich the m ost famous published ver­
6. <rt five. y
16 , tt/ft. z sion was authored by T im o th y B righ t. These systems made use o f glyphic
!
■' ty
t.$(A y , r' n’/tt, Irjttt/c.
•t• turf. « //, r4<tAtfC,<4*44
Cl . /ty met "**•/-
/
***y. J . r marks fo r frequently used w ords, relying on n o ta tio n a l designs to m ark
OIL ’A tIt; /Am (
<y* At/irvi*, ( vowels o r record the skeletal fo rm o f speech by w ritin g o nly the conso­
tA» r
£#$*«*, __
U ttt/li tti/Si*ctw ,afc trx
^ ....
tjtt.[j^tttf.v 't/te trI /U
r.tm
,/Aft nants in shorthand code fo r the rest o f the record. But they were cum ber­
/utit. ^ ^ w i jlwfi*AArft^ f ^ttr, mf*lu ^rXwrij
!$^lrtt>t/it/cr&^^*n/nttitA\^Ojrtt/r//*^tre)t/a-» some, because they required extensive m em orization o f these form s and
A/ s / C A * T /£ u tttttttyf. Jittj/.. were both ine fficien t and frequently inaccurate. In the 18th century a move
A;*. ? /un t//A \ + cujij-ttjx/i
t£it S
? S
A ttc fi. £
trt//,. u
rtt/7
tow ard a phonographic system was made by John Byrom in his U niversal
/ / s M+ s tun /t/' TMt
A N. An nT y vtrt/itn i. S&rttyA English Short-H and, Byrom grouped his glyphic ‘letters’ by the a ffin ity o f
r* /U S
/•
;«/* *> ■ //tti, fJttU.
p /*■'. 7/x U e rt' /ittejulr the sounds o f the words they represented, w hile the later w orks o f a M r
Druon lyIsaac fi/utmt. J'(tnegrajjhcr.
R ichardson in London and then a M . Blane o f Paris both to o k up m usical
m etaphors - Blane quite lite ra lly by using staffed notepaper. N one o f
&/»/!»2.
these systems ever achieved widespread use, and the m ost popular short­
hand system o f the late 18th century was th a t o f Samuel Taylor. Published
in 1786 it was the system in w hich Isaac Pitm an was instructed as a young
man. B rie f and more sim ple than m ost lexical shorthands, the system s till
had shortcom ings in term s o f its le g ib ility, and Pitm an proposed his own
Phonography as an im proved m ethod in the 1830s.
Pitm an’s system was both sim ple, com plete, and log ical, based on a
correlation between the sounds o f speech and conventional spelling trans­
form ed in to a set o f ra p id ly produced shorthand marks. The system thus
had fa r fewer m arks than a conventional lexical system containing an
extensive vocabulary o f in d ivid u a l glyphs. Essentially, Phonography was
an abbreviated, rap id ly w ritte n alphabet, w ith certain contractions.
Pitm an’s understanding o f phonetics, however, was s till p rim itive at this
Jtal/brdi Zi<htq>\\otyJ>ritM'- p o in t. He divided his m arks in to ‘consonants’ and ‘vowels’ - categories
The engraved piates o f Pitman's fa m ilia r to the w ide pub lic w hich adopted his system but inadequate fo r
Stenographic Soundhand, 1837 advanced w ork in linguistics. The success o f Pitm an’s shorthand can be
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

accounted fo r by the fa ct th a t it was based on such fa m ilia r conceptual

categories. The system was also relatively easy to learn because it was
based on fewer characters than any previous system. The basic elements
Isaac Pitman's 'Penny Plate' were a set o f marks fo r consonants (a straight line in one o f fo u r direc­
containing all fundamentals of tions, a quarter circle in one o f eight positions) and m arks fo r vowels
his phonographic shorthand, w hich could be elim inated in a rapid skeleton n o ta tio n fo r texts which
1840 were to be im m ediately transcribed in to longhand.
♦ fnwUtdb Drown by /. Pitman,Jfffdson Place.BATH, PKlCt OWC PtNNV. Mounted on Canvass i boundin Cloth.ht/tisdwith tooehoptws/not th* N. T. (MotSbfrtiQo:addihona/esereirestffiOUOOH' S.Begstv. tS. tbfemoster Now, td/Q
^ votesTorWHIWfCilluttmtUbyCT/UMlA5. 5joined /.* a hook te imall t*//*r Shentwo vowels begin 9.A frit Me stroke s in M*se\
t , | I . Waftbtw /.ff/biqu • (p. it conns a dol. as spl V ant f Its I orendaword,put vat d o t* / casts only, when a word!
Mi*/ff. ipr"s is insteadcPsA*1tirite, lithe otherst q little dis - f \ k contains only s i* vowel,
^ | light rorawriUV,otcough*- V. 6. Vewets beforeteneenants*r* piecedfa /anteos iota4, oasis9/
0r1.ffj6ilvTVst1.0j nejjociale'—'P ’ Mjlsft
____ o/perp___ inificularAletnlnd st/vks lislsh’XVictoriatc. downwards,ot IssuesJ tece( sale P 27 ComAeon are written by a lid).,
firnwrifcV*. ff/boyv^arg*./unlit weatlwaidhHw.
as eat I waidhti wall. eya*) ________
speXowl \A.ffevtrjoin a shoJ \\%Jtoh*Tandi\\n with a tick when dot beforethe neatconi'.os comply ,4
"3 cr UiKffj qwrite h f*\t/a n d ebovt horizontal strokes. straighttefftr {which either tetter stands atont.osor/rye d Xconsider!Aaccombya heavy dot; ?
t i one o fMe douMe ortreble -vowdt at ------■
eage —r*—am ----- v*>Afinev_»walkers is otwovs a double oceanrtwhen it is suoeeededby the ->/accommodatetaccomplished t»
mod* ofw(pronouncethis tetterfile * he 7. 'Vowels after cent?go to th* right, or treble eons!) to a loopsenfy.os arised‘t\ts f oceansr Bf o r p u t af small dot after H.S
withoutth* tspiroft/as ou«n<—-^uui orunder.jjJoy/*toeh hlghNcey<— tetterin the samedi­ 20. TAe/mrs chn t rch must never helast cons!a t starting(thepluro/tt
T V/> «Jv»is o when commencing q 5. Mr.vowtifplaces are counted rection, butwrite the stand alone, nor with the loop s ndsit a large dot.or workings —^11«
? Syllable,in which tat* fhtynerer r---- /jff/wMsbeginninq ofthtesnsie.* A singlecon*!*fort/.or
‘ wifi* /A,<» VrAl>/ie/i>i/i SP mLwble
wft r
mh« /» r A>\eoff th*p*n. aster)
only added, because of*\rik rl i f it a word reaches mo raw, a r\ J
2L Each tetterin th* Alphabet stands does notjo in jrel/.loht off th* pm.
-------- daubftl..„„ os sheJdLhawf ply\ weekt_noi;e tbrtA* word* p u t to it. /except the os constituted{( chargeable ^
vowtif.0/Yorkshire*V, weal z wife X- r->royal/ a.o. h their derivatives nompltsin shorthandfiltoff others JO Choosefhtjlsrmanner ctwriting I
2. Csptooffy 'observe /he bfyptrsound take the second'p/act or middleof ofthe some sound, os ’ 1ondeyo.lcc a word.os pertXno/)atm o t/^ h a tX
ofthe short towels, tw y oat o f which Me condos t \ \r oaH uppe/Xaehe_i_ for otherwords write offthe eonsonoah Jl Generally omit h. tbr the soA* |
rathe common hand is out ofplat*. otrXand A.O* their duiyo/iveshave that sound.(joining them togsther.) It
Mi//, neat'”! knitn age/'edge/ th* thirdpioceor tnd.es PiN, io o f thprinoipet vowth. as appeared X
psalmr-s. Sam(Saitiuel)f^.r««^ duel.now«_* ho.usO. youth1 22.5maybeaddedtoon Atphabtiicdl beginning o f a word, should be
rot/i Iona^ tunt^poolVr pullV* 9. When t.e l o or* put to eons? wordwithout taking o ff the pen ....m.mpointoftime, before the cent!
3* Pronounce The vowels os they thty may point any may. when os words 3 thoughts t hands o to whith it isptoad.as peaoeabl«\
sound in the alphabetical worn* they standalone for words they thinks'-’ OtherUtters musr be s*pa- 53 mUHLS. Writ* the digits thus.
oad otomptos placed At them, /de­ obeys Iron to the right,ffJwhom«. rattdos established i distinction^ O . t. 2. J. 4. J. 6. 7. f. -
nounce every consonant at oncoby 10. A vowel between two cons? tlMehoriionlsIA hairsized oons? < , %< v. v. •; -* i _
‘/neons o fthe smoll vow*/put tg ft. (ineitherofthem the loop s)isA> b* (km.ndA4 when representing wards, n /t off other numbers in short­
Leant hyhtortthe natural order of placedthus. • first or secondplace stand ot Metopof the /the forwards hand wards, as 20 / orjoin
the single towels ksingle. consonants vowriafter the first con$!« teamt- contain/ first p/ac* vowels, andat the digits.placing a line1undtr.
ot beta*, htewnomu art given to sent* cotrfTTweed[trifle fyoid't net 1 Msbottomfor words contf second k as J96 G 666\ 16401 6862 ‘
of/he sinote tons? to ctprtss their boof^ Alhirdp/ace vowelgev-bdor* W\\ibpiece vowels. In the Alphabet, 34 STOPS. Combo' St/Hfcoton .
/rut sound,or At hup /Atm in un/ftrn the last corn's/rich/”1loomA/duk« these words are divided by a colon. Colon"ftried., orient* t i f t ! inch
4- Mark the difference between U man mouth‘d shaft J 24.////middle(face vowrtsio.wa spaus. Hyphen... Irony I txdnma-
s^Ji jj>r. Sjk ^r. ichAJchr, ih Icshr. 11. The loopli1dol i'Astfeno vowtii whtnsfonding alone.yootthe bottom tio/A\) b off other' stops itnjarks
when a vowtl/s put dost to one. it ofthe tine, as away. yet. one os usual, /totic. See Psalm t£b.
a/ the commencementofwords/obo bttonys to the cons! oonntfted with 2f. Comooundwords must be redi Accent, ddeent f ndbtov\denyJL
p ji rpi. Ijp&rfs, chsAnchs. h s i rki i/.os oatsVj securei^Sslekles_ 'laiVyl/preseiti^prelerit*^
ttd to their primitives, and w rifftnV.-.., , f ------cr_____ , ...... tn/teo-^
12. //two vove/S'Com* between two ne/grtogether, <«within‘‘wilhout '11//cvir.nsvfallS<7j
front.nsT^faliSffj Isit sd..o
orrfot
fot** Y /ll
eons?give one"to *gch. os poet'lj iltegsther"—somewhat/-.'y o u rs e lv e s .^ fivctiiit/km w r* /IN J ^
.-92 DOUBLE VOWE L S s a ^tW .* c olthough scarF N w an. any: no.
r Welsh < *rv ■x p re sorte \ minoai^unco?
W ,*I r *]polor T *rth ) earth, forth. m t c wantinto: went
*\y o w /’ ? ' C o/rtody. Sth ) worthy. (//nbintr<anli
ALH/CtttY. ad, J morsn'O nd t hand under
Fallen *rsf. J tt\purFid~*r ucl r Ftinc/P^nd
g. (tt) yo u -r-t. .woo. w o b f\ / dare. or. d real, rv/e. •V r chonyef/
*[n tw .ty b e \A itL .............
itt'/h . *iL&* <t*eb our, recot •m fbmSponoem! at journo!£,
jrf/» yaster-n we//, whan, \ sharps ^ ,rn w morning: tv aoehonorobfi
yprdh lay, p rf thetgchLj \ suburisK. M mjfme.moy. HC \*/ thinyEngl/Jl
language.
\yg s.' what, J he art, short. om. multi.men*.
MJ were, ij/gn.. J wttd. heard. unj importont, ugk
<r Mror i aHfO g. w ould-st. • / ohun^ecotdS ,mt meef,might. think: thonK
’Ll) I. by. th 'F ULL _ ((h i) vgjee. [how. S charges/ urn 1 o-midstmodi *gg V. sing/e:ang%
♦r(pjneK^'laUldi
. .ATDrAir vAwri■" i
(60) thqy,about. work. ty ty X no ('mercy: K. he. him hoc.
the towels. Utters /nork-hsssg „r*"t burg. Sweden- net NSmenimore hr her-e. frtood
odthus * a rt fb ftig rt j.tV /1. Whf, htt2Z|Z|p5<)tt \ai„d)4 SUHHAKfafthiStNCLCOOffSPtiMuhsdSmrt'romk, 2Liquids, iA/ajah./AspimU
/(p ro vin cia l sounds. (tline Ub(2£un]iM6) wound. (M fiamnceedohcEMeBSIW.BXL CON3ONANTS0fo«»«iNpitd>.J{t)Jt,d -*uvd.ft
PSALM 100. ^ c (\ § ^ V * ^ Tard(thebosttenst/ir added!0a hookedk fkrbymaking it h o if length, os
) ^ t ( f . o .''•/< * / ll ftldMilled[tv'stvdadeserved£ ThtsnTnlJtConsEnpnsentfftt pastlensesat
tU verbspfaetdtotheDoui/eConsjfrom which thy a rt derivedas carried -
Note-. ipf\etprcsenls spirit-ualslrl strong.strength: skr^-seriplur *i
ME LOW'SINVITATION. Matthew/!. 28to 30 Written in fuff.
^ <-*' /*■ - ( rC i d \ f't 1f1 -v . A„
i r}N * ^ 'U )'fT v iC L L C
-y - v
: r JG V •“*,
r..jo<y
» nT - >
) Vt ^ v>-) r\.
THE LORD'S PRAYE/v Matthew. 6.9to/3. Ornamental
’Usngoagimaybt milk* in/honogfeiAoMUngdif/nnceinthe soundo/smkttn
— ?C I ✓ X % . . ✓ I • c <c- P' I . ( • ' < 'French k I. > r
k fo rl^ S fo ^ ^ *1 . O 0 ^ cermon x U r ^ r LV,
*®Any Arson may receive lessens /rom the Author bypostgra/uffousty. Each lesson must becodosedin apoid teffer. Thepupil can write about a dozen verses From the 6ibfe, feoving spaces between the tines /or the corrections.

Pitm an’s system, like Spencer’s in his arena, was a tremendous com­
m ercial success. Pitm an sold many copies and m any editions o f his works.
The firs t o f these, title d Stenographic Sound-H and (1837), was p rinted in
an edition o f 3000 copies whose production was closely supervised at
every stage from the p rin tin g to binding by Pitm an him self.9 W ith in a few
years, having made improvements on his system and renamed it
Phonography, Pitm an opened the ‘F irst Phonographic In s titu te ,’ in Bath.
By the tim e o f the publications in 1839 and 1840 o f the single sheet ‘Penny
Plate’ versions o f his ‘new and natural system o f shorthand,’ his system
was w ell-w orked out. Pitm an established a jo u rn a l and a series o f manuals
designed to in stru ct a student in the gradual acquisition o f a system which
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

m ust have looked rather daunting to the recipients o f the m icroscopically

m inute engraving on the Penny Plate version o f the system.
Pitm an’s shorthand had the great advantage th a t it was adaptable w ith
only slig h t m odifications to m ost European tongues, and could even be
extended to accommodate other languages. For example, this fle x ib ility
was dem onstrated in a tin y p ublication w hich used Pitm an’s system to
w rite Esperanto. Pitm an’s Phonography was based on a fixed, logical set
o f relations between sounds and characters, w hich had no visual relation
to alphabetic form s. B ut Pitm an’s interests in both the phonetic character
o f English, and in the d iffic u ltie s w hich arose from try in g to teach school
children to read and w rite a language whose orthography was so idiosyn-
cra tica lly irregular, led him to extend his e fforts beyond the realm o f
shorthand and in to the dom ain o f pedagogy. Using some o f the p ro fits he
realized from the sale o f his shorthand manuals, he helped finance a cam­
paign fo r spelling reform in English. A t this juncture he began co lla bo ra t­
ing w ith the lin g u ist Alexander E llis whose own w ork had grow n out o f
the need to develop a phonetic n ota tion system accurate enough fo r tech­
nical lin g u istic analysis.
« 7
______________ T A B L E O F CONSONANTS. T A B L E O F S IN G LE A N D D O U B L E CONSONANTS.
Letter CW«/«r Name A t In ’ | L HOOK I i HOOK N HOOK F & V HOOK

P \ po R a£o Pomo
P \ p> P* V pn \ p£
B \ bo R oto fio to bn bl \>
B \ bl v br X \
T 1 to
do
Ba/o
Lerfo
Tono
T 1 tl r tr 1 tn J tr I
D 1 Dorao
D 1 dl r dr 1 dn J df I
f t
6
/
/
to
fio
Snfo
K ttfo
(Sno
deno
ft / I r «r ; to J tr /
1 fio /
— ko Kufto /fa fo
ft / fir ; J fif
K
K _ kl C_ kr = - kn kr _3
Pago Ga’.o I

(
G — go

fo B u/o Foko !
G _ gl C_ gr e— go —3 g£ —»
F V. fl fr ^T\ (n
F
V V VO Lavo F ilo
V vl vr vn ^3
C ( CO Paco Colo i
i
s ) so Kiso Sato i c ( cr *) cn C
s sn )
z zo Ntuo Zono : )
3 )
z zr zn )
$ J So F i/o .falo i ) )
Jr in J
I ) J Jo AJo > 0 | ii J 11 < J J )
updovro
J

M mo L i mo M ono j
J
M
J
ml C ''
Jr
mr
T Jo J
mn
N no Patio N apo 1
i i N w nl nr nn 251
11
L f up to K ilo lo k o L r in r
ro Maro fiad o j
• liI R
/ up R .— up rn rt
a
^ up Fo/o R m
f jf J jo 7«go
u tkcn J < r" J" J£
I °
i 0
3 ho M irto H oko
1 H i H /« - hn hi

fio E lo
A r
i I ^ r duwn J io to

Pitman's system adapted for
Esperanto, around 1840 (George
Ledger, London, 1890)
In a dd itio n to receiving an im petus from advocates o f spelling reform ,
the p roduction o f new phonetic n ota tion systems had been in p a rt stim u­
lated by m issionaries, p o liticia n s and those involved in extensive contact
w ith non-European lin g u istic groups. The interests o f these various groups
overlapped in th e ir recognized need fo r a n o ta tio n system w hich, like
Phonography, w ould be based on a clear relatio n between sound and
graphic sign, but based on more sophisticated phonetic insights. The
advocates o f spelling reform realized th at in order to be practical, th e ir
proposals m ust alm ost o f necessity be based upon the existing contents o f
the p rin te r’s case - or at the very least be able to be accommodated w ith
very little m odification o f these means by the use o f d ia c ritic a l m arks o r a
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

handful o f a d d itio na l characters. But the disadvantages o f relying on the

conventional alphabet were m anifold, since, in fa ct, it was this m ism atch
between an essentially L a tin w ritin g system and the heterogenous English
language w hich had caused the very d ifficu ltie s spelling reform ers were
in te n t on resolving. Published proposals fo r spelling reform in English can
also be traced to the era o f Elizabeth I, in the w ork o f John H a rt and sub­
sequent authors such as Alexander G ill and Charles Butler, who struggled
w ith the d iffic u lty o f m aking a sim ple correspondence o f one sound to one
sign. A gain, the am bitions o f phoneticists escalated beyond those o f
spelling reform ers because o f th e ir increased contact w ith foreign lan­
guages containing sounds unknow n in English. One 18th-century propos­
al, by an Am erican named D r W illia m T h o rn to n , aimed to create a m ark
fo r every sound the hum an voice could possibly produce, even those tones,
clicks and other features never employed fo r producing o f lin g u istic mean­
ing in European languages.

THE PHONETIC ALPHABET.

The phonetic letters in the fir s t column are pronounced
like the ita lic letters in the words th atfollow * The last
column contains the names < f the letters •
CONSONANTS. L iq u id s .

M u te s . L 1 fa U .........
rope........ p i R r ra re ....
p p
B b robe . . . . Coalescents.
T t fa te . . . . W w w e t ........ >v e
D d fa d e . . . . . d i Y y y e t.....
e q OfcA • • »* QB A s p ira te .
J j edge . . . . j e H h hay....
K k le e k . . . . VOWELS.
0- league.. • ge G u ttu ra l.
C on tinu an ts ,» A a a m .........
P f B ttfe ..., A a a lm s . . . .
V ▼ s a v e .... B e e l l .........
£ 4 w re a th .,. . i t 6 e a le .. . . .
a d "wreathe. . d i I i i l l ........... . i t
*
S 8 h is * .... b i e e l.........
Z z h ip......... L a b ia l.
2 J vicio u s. . . i / 0 o on...........
v irio n . • . * i <D o a ll ...........
N a sa ls . 8 v « p ......... .
Mm 8eem. • . . . em CF cr ope.........
N a seen. • • . U u f a ll........... u t
z in g . . . . TU m fo o d .-.. .
Pitman's Phonetic alphabet with D ip h t h o n g s : * 1 . XI u , O U ouj 0 1 oi.
a t heard in by. new, now, "boy.
types cast according to his
A lib . parcel o f Traots explanatory o f Phonetic Shorthand and Phonetto
specifications Printing, may bo had from I , r it man, Phonetio Institute, B ath; postpaid, M .
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

VOWELS. CONSONANTS.
0 Short hand,. Longhand. Type. Eits
xasm
Short hand. Longhand. Type Eits
xamsopule
ndo
.f 1 opledof
un .
c|
A 1
N .l H feet i
\ Pp pay pi
1 of* Ii fit it
\ Bb bay bi
2 •1 8c mate 0
ti
1 Tt toe
•1 c Ee met ct
1 0 0 cl D d doe di
n >1 v& sa M te mare JC /->
chew
/ 4 9 ®5 9s
3 •I c & tjs A a psalm f l­

/ jew
co Rg Sam at / / U
c Cc call cc
4 © e caaght e
— G g 4*11 ge
C /o’ 0 o cot ot f?
-| •J y Pf few ef
5 °l/u o U u car* u
XJu carry Xlt °0 'v ' V v view Vf

6 l] ^ O' O Q bone o ( p / rt Migli it

7 J W u o ur ui fool UI ( 7? V Z d thy di
—
1 U ra fall ut ) Ss seal es
COMPOUND VOWELS.
) Z » Zz zeal ze
1 6 liigli i
1 (P & $ 6 lioy 6 J 2J mush iJ

.J Z z how. 75 J //V^/ measure 3^

iJ hew J
r L I •ley el
COALESCICNTS.
{ fit O' f i r ray re
«| y , Y y yea y*
«| n 'w . W w way WE
s~\ Mm SUWi am
Phonographic and Phonotypic BREATHING. iA T/n, N n su n en
alphabets (models for handwrit­
C(•) J (jfv H li /iay he fir ij sung
ing and types), 1840s f t
W eary o f half-w ay measures, Pitm an and E llis w orked together to
design a system they dubbed Fonotypy. F irst issued in 1844, the system was
m odified considerably in its graphic fo rm (as w ell as in the nuances o f
sound/sign relations) in succeeding editions. The Phonotypic [sic] alpha­
bet was the typographic equivalent o f the Phonographic shorthand charac­
ters, and consisted o f a fu ll set o f typographic letters designed, carved,
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

PS

HE
&
k ov

GRST BRITCN ANDEIRLAND.

OBDJEKTS.

1. in trodukcon ov an im prm vd mcbod ov

titc ig tu r.id de prczent buks, bei a kors ov in -
strukcou in fb n e tik buks.
2. tie ekstencon ov de a rt ov Fcmografi, o r Fcr-
n e tik Corfchand, bei de formecon ov fr.i or peii)
klascz, and bei g ra tiu itn s t.itc irj b ru i de post.
3. cle reform scon ov de orbografi ov de Iijg lic
la ijg w ttd j, bei de ytus, in lorjhand re itig and p rin tiij,
ov a Fcm etik A lfa b e t dat kontenz a leter fo r itc
sim pel and d is tiijk t sound in de laijgw edj.
—O e r C A D C ‘
JEnlrans F I, 6rf., A n iita l Subskripcon Q>d. or eni heier
amount, p tu b cl a t de leim ov d jo in ig de Soseieti, and on de
1st Dcsembcr, d r a t eni teim d iu rig de mund.

3is Hard ov Mcmbercip Sertifeiz dat

r
iz onrold a Member ov de Fonctik Scrsoieti, Kla9 -X-. jj

Sckrctari.

Membership card of the Tonetik

Soseieti' of Pitman, 1850s
K

punched and cast. Though Pitm an prom ised in 1846 th a t he w ould make
no more changes to the system, thus p e rm ittin g it to be adopted in p u b li­
cations intended fo r teaching purposes, he continued to refine the system
u n til he had had seventy-two versions o f the alphabet designed, many o f
them cut at his own expense. E llis became disgusted w ith this continual
m od ifica tio n, seeing in it the d ow nfall o f the system since the endless
m utations made the very standardization fo r w hich it aimed im possible. In
spite o f th is, Fonotypy was adopted in succeeding decades by m issionaries
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

in C hina, India and A fric a , as w ell being used to record the language o f
the M icm ac tribes in Nova Scotia, a ll testim onial to its usefulness in the
field.
Pitm an prom oted his w ork through the establishm ent o f a ‘Fonetik
Soseieti’, p ub lica tion o f the Phonographic Journal and then the Fonetik
N u z . B ut the success o f Fonotypy remained modest by contrast to the
adaptation o f his shorthand. Pitm an’s system was in p a rt incorporated
in to the In te rn a tio n a l Phonetic Alphabet, along w ith elements o f E llis ’s
Glossic, developed in the 1870s, and the Rom ic characters o f the renowned
phoneticist H enry Sweet (whose character inspired Shaw’s fic tio n a l H enry
H iggins). Founded in 1886, the In te rn a tio n a l Phonetic Association had as
its m ajor aim the developm ent, p rom otion and standardization o f an
in te rn a tio n a lly useful phonetic alphabet. Here again the h isto ry o f sim ilar
proposals could be traced in fine d etail, but the themes w hich weave
through this h isto ry include the desire fo r a universal language system
w hich w ould transcend lin g u istic boundaries. The IPA had no such am bi­
tions, but such systems as Joseph M a im ie u x’s Pasigraphie (1797) or
Ferdinand Schutz’s S im plificatio n de PEtude des Langues (1855) conflated
the concept o f universal n o ta tio n w ith universal language - as had Bishop
Front page of a journal of an John W ilkin s a century before that. The Universal Language movement
American spelling reform society gained considerable m om entum as w ell in the course o f the 19th and early
inspired by Pitman's work and 20 th centuries, but as these proposals have little to do w ith alphabet histo­
using his Phonographic and ry and more do to w ith lexical systems (and the p o litic a l tem per o f the
Phonotypic models; 1849 times) they w ill n ot be dealt w ith here.

ae tonetic nuz .
CONDUCTED B* 3C PRQPR'I'ETUR, A.LECSANDER J. ELIS. B.A.

NR 1.] S A T E R D A , 6 JA N X JE R I, 1849.
<THE ENGLISH PHONETIC ALPHABET. Adifunal leterzfor foren ssad: hwi( dtu not oeur in igglif.
(FACTS FOR SPELLERS OF THE The loiter The letter ii always at Ictcr it sltets He leter is olwt
OLD SCHOOL. written, prntd written, prntd tpunded tc ril'n, prntd i ssuded as rit’n, print!,
HEADER! Do you ask why wc propose to change the S 6 It ee in ed <?> fa , PP P in pole I -a a fremj W y&M •HI bl wel/ {11}
English orthography ? We reply : A it Ha a . . ale Bb h .. Aowl y f: 4 , ! ‘A 1 treng (£} •Hr hr wcl/ (rA)
1. 12? IS A FACT, that no one oan tell the sound of # 4 An a . . alms r t Tt t .. lo t 'l l 40 j "Uu freng {,1} & 4 L jl, italyan {g l}
on English-word from its spelling.
Proof.—To read tho book he has read; to present apresent, (be
O'co- OA a ..a ll 25 d Dd d ..doc O’ & j "O S freng (,‘u} N| nj italyan (gn)
slough of a.snake found in a slough ; lead mo to the lead mine; GTsor QQ o a. ope 9. 6 %g ch .. eAccr 2? £ •E e freng H
refuse' tho refuse, tic.. Sic. ; the tforda in ilolics ore pronounced IW ,au U7ui oo ,, io oi Jj
S .. ;'eer $6 £ j Kk jerman (eh}
differently, that is, euro different spoken words, according to (heir
meaning alone; and there arc 201 words of this kind in our lan*
Ce 6 rC e .. rstnie jfc yd •A.a fr. /ort & ^ ! Qq dug (g)
guqso, which are pronounced in 406 different ways;—2. The same f I t . >1) £ P
6 S 9 .. yame & & Oo fr. /ort (0}
-combination of letters has very different significations in different
words: compare hear, heard, heart; here, where; hoe, shoe; noto,
€ * e . . ell % 40 U <i fr. /ort N J9 Arabic sqitt
know; loverK clover; lumber, plumber; laughter, slaughter; doe,
j f 40 a ..am & f / . ./car & y& •O 6 fr. /ort <eu} *43 poli/ (rs)
don («;.), doeth ; eyed, keyed, conveyed, journeyed; and so on, in (T o- o .. olive a . . teer
nn infinite number of cases.—3. There is' a very large number of % 40 u .. »p z * th .. /Aigh 4071 an freng (in) •It slroQli prondnit drabie leters
words concerning the pronunciation of which even orthoepists arc Or Indicated in rJtLr|. b[ subserjhig,
not agreed: as, knowledge, (nol-lcdgc, no-ledge); leisure, Qcc-zhur,
%L u 00 .. loot & cd th •• ^'.v y07t Oil j reng (an) and in print lij przltcsin, a d ot: dus,
MuMmmmt s.ilc { M e l croc L Ah).
lezh-nr); inimical, inimical, and so on.—4. No one can be sure of
the pronunciation of anyword be lias not previously been taught: let
a . y s ..zeal yOH oh j freng (on} For fur.'lcr parlicitlcrz, and sim-
luilz fur internirdiet srudz, sc dc
tho render try the unusual words, batman, bcaufin, rowlock, hour- 1 .. isle %* s .. coal 4 on UD l freng (uu) EstnJitU oe Fonttics, b| JJecsaader
Jon'EUs, D.A.
geoise (type); and the names of places and persons, Beaulieu,
A—'hir.leek, Jlochelaga, and so on. Turn the page and read
oi .. oil %^ . . VICIOUS
3 o t Ignorant or foren lnggncjcz n r advftd lui pronlns
y 019 . . Old .. virion
•y vC yvfyto jj 'c fS ffy '» i ofsnq ‘o n jfn j ‘ujffig 'u puunvg <J, i, t, a, o, n, k, q, zj,
2. IT IS A FACT, that no one con tell the spelling %■ if .. mnle asa, q. v, a, o, p, y, e, g, $,
of an English word from its sound. Ol r respeettrli, tui omit a, and (w .dlsrrydrd de mure or stroi) Ictcr*. nntO da coa
lent dr trui irndz. In frene 8, u nm be prontnst nz or, Vi and d, a az «, i ;
Proof.—1. There are 405 spoken words, spelled in 857 ways , but € . lu ll in jerman 6, 6nia be ipoe'nljp », t, nod u, u lie r. t. , _
the variations of (he spelling never depend on the sound, and cannot
he learned from it.-—2. There arc upwards of 1500 words, about
frZ , mum •It t|n O iz jdasf over de rsel in di aejfoicil silakT, or at itz do*, nwen
it to not printed, iteword: miof berednr if it ttud
I) on dr Iqst sllab'l but won or ol wurdz o r tui silob'lz, and o* ol wnrdz
the spelling of which authors are not agreed.—3. Thl style of spelling endin In fe or iff, nud or ol' ivurdr harii) o n /, n j , ur n y b ito r dor last reel,
cannot even be predicted from a knowledge of etymology: compare & a A .. Aay ng .. sing and o r ol wurdz haviy un r, s, q, o, t>, to, |, o, or > In ilar Iqsl sUab I but irun:
.fancy pAantom, concede succeed, island buy, Awband bouse, r/iymc,
gAost, city, flyi flies, buryess hourgeoise burgher, &c., &e.—4. No The sign (’) to prefixed (o I, m, m. to show that they form syllables by 2) on dc Iqsl sDob’l but tmor ol uller wurdz.
sound in the language is uniformly represented by the conic sign.— tbcroselres; thus, lit‘1.» n r ‘ni.op'a —-little.spasm,©pen. Tho pireuthetesO Wurdz holli printed in capita)*, and front «ri»rdz, (hwlt bar no rdcuIerB
Indicate the! the inclosed words arc not spelled phonetically.) acslntcd silub’b ,) form dt null etseofim tui <k obur rails.
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

TABLE X

Initial Teaching Alphabet by Rote

No. Char­ Name2 Example No. Char­ Name2 Example
acter acter
i. £ ain £bl 23 - y yay yellce
2. b bee but 24. z zed or zoo
3- c kee cat zee
d 25 - s zess as
4- d did 4 og 26. Wh whee whie
5- 66 een €€(h 27. & chay (huf(ii
6. f ef fun 28. |h ith jhin
7- 9 gay gaet 29. Ih thee then
8. h hay hay 30 - Jh ish jhip
9- ie ide ies 3 *- 3 zhee meguer
IO. j jay jam 32- g ing sig
i i . k kay kig 33 - r er her
12. 1 el lip 34 - a ahd father
I 3* m em man a ask
14. n en not 35 - a at at
r 5* ce ode cepen 36. au aud autum
16. P pee pae 37 - e et egg
q 38 . i it it
r ray rat 39 - 0 °g on
I l-
Initial teachingalphabet 18. s ess sit 40, u ug up
designed inthe mid-20th 19. t tee top 41. CO oot book
century bySirJamesPitman, 20. tie une Ues 42. CD ood moon
grandson of Sir IsaacPitman, 21. V vee vois 43 - ou oun out
•1
(SirJamesPitman, Alphabets 22. w way wet 44. oi oin O il

and Reading, London,1969) X

a z : c jx : OT:o;;crxa:at: c :x :: n:x:o;;:
3 e:::::a::.se:ae‘ ie z n o rz d ::::c x h i o x jx
a.u z 3o ai ^lu cl ts [a : p:::pp:
( h x d im 3 * .V-.'F - f:± ± r:::e x ;;:
c € ;r :::c r::^ ::; #1 _4 L' tb-t+i g xsq g : s IS Z
ie :x t::e ::fe :: J liv o tito ib v . h : ± : ix
•
t z tz tz
u e :g ::o ;t& g £ : i ; c; UZTJO_
oe;;D:::ce::_ce::: \Vh M N i:N s h ::. |i __i__i__i
-4 4 - _ V 3 X
Pencil movementswhenforming x ::x :: w :m ~
initial teaching alphabet a : : : x : 3 ;:a :: 1 ± y :s iy r :
characters oa;n;n';;ao::nQZ m ;n;o:ra: z zzz

VOWKI.s.
Alexander Bell's diagrams of the
organs of speech and their rela­
tion to the letters of his Visible
Speech, 1867
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History
Pitm an’s pedagogic goals were perhaps best realized by his own grand­
son, Sir James Pitm an, whose IT A , o r In itia l Teaching Alphabet, was firs t
published in the m iddle o f the 20th century. Used as a to o l fo r teaching
young readers the intricacies o f English pronunciation in a system atic and
logical n o ta tio n system, it had been adapted fo r the firs t years o f p rim ary
teaching in a num ber o f successful experim ents. B ut the needs o f profes­
sional linguists and phoneticists was better served by the developm ent o f
the IPA.
Before E llis and Pitm an parted ways over th e ir disagreements on the
fin a l fo rm o f Fonotypy, E llis had already proposed his own phonetic
alphabet, w hich he term ed ‘The Alphabet o f N ature.’ Published in 1845,
his book surveyed the existing phonetic n ota tion systems and proposed
th a t his co n trib u tio n w ould notate the ‘m echanical conditions requisite
fo r the p roduction o f sensations term ed spoken sounds.’ T his was a vastly
d ifferen t project than th a t o f Pitm an, who wished merely to notate the
acoustic effects, i.e., audible sounds, rather than notate the means o f th eir
p roduction. Feeling th a t the production o f this alphabet was outside the
scope o f his skills at the tim e, E llis proposed a ‘T ransition A lphabet’ pre­
sented in a chart w hich listed labials, palatals and gutturals classed
according to whether they were explosive, sib ila n t, trille d , nasal o r other­
wise m odified and indicated th e ir nota tion w ith the use o f adapted and
augmented conventional letters. H is next com prom ise so lu tion was the
Phonotypic alphabet he developed w ith Pitm an, about w hich he had many
reservations, n o t the least o f w hich was th a t it d id n o t embody any physio­
logical in fo rm a tio n .
O f the many other stages along the way to the developm ent o f the
In te rn a tio n a l Phonetic A lphabet, such as the co ntribu tion s made by
R ichard Lepsius’s ‘Standard A lphabet,’ (made o f d ia c ritic a l marks
appended to the conventional letters), none was more innovative o r o rig i­
nal than th a t o f Alexander M e lv ille Bell. B ell’s Visible Speech, published in 25 7
1867, retained no remnants o f the tra d itio n a l alphabet. Instead it used an
e ntirely new symbology, a set o f schematic signs based on the organs o f
a rtic u la tio n . Though based on the same kin d o f analysis w hich had
inspired both Van H elm ont and W ilkins, B ell’s system was linked to a
sophisticated phonetic analysis o f hum an language. S im ilar kinds o f
sounds were indicated w ith sim ila r sym bols, d iffe re n tly oriented to in d i­
cate th e ir place in the m outh. Though n o t im m ediately and obviously
readable, this system could be readily learned and provided, again, a fle x i­
b ility adaptable to the study o f foreign languages. The advantage o f B ell’s
types and system over th a t o f Pitm an derived largely from his m ore devel­
oped understanding o f the a rtic u la to ry basis o f phonetics.
W hen H enry Sweet, considered the forem ost English phonetician o f
his day, began to search fo r suitable n ota tion systems w ith w hich to im ple­
m ent his own phonetic w ork, he vacillated on the usefulness o f B ell’s
types. He had already rejected Pitm an’s phonographic system w ith such
disdain th a t he nicknam ed it the ‘P itfa ll system,’ m aintaining th a t it was
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

grossly inaccurate as a means o f recording the phonetic structure o f lan­

guage. Sweet u ltim a te ly adopted BelPs system in his editions o f the late
1880s, the P rim er o f Phonetics and The H is to ry o f English Sounds. Sweet
also made use o f his own system, Rom ic, since it was a sim pler adaptation
o f conventional letters and less foreign to the eye.

CO M PLE TE T A B L E OK R A D IC A L SY M B O LS .
The fundamental principle o f Visible Speech is, that all Relations o f
Sound are symbolized by Relations of Form. Each organ and each mode of
organic action concerned in the production or modification of sound, has its
appropriate S y m b o l; and all Sounds o f the same nature produced at different
parts o f the mouth, arc represented by a Single Symbol turned in a direction
corresponding to the organic position.
The following are all the Radical Symbols :—
I 0 The Throat open. [Aspirate.]
2* 0 ” *' contracted. [Whisper.]
3 X " “ ' closed. [G lottal Catch.]
4* I " *' sounding. [Voice.] The Stems of all
5* I 11 " " and the lips ‘ rounded. Vowels.
6* c Part o f the M outh contracted. ] '
a .. , J-Thc Stems <
7* 0 " divided. )
8* 1 The Nasal Valve open. [Soft Palate,]
9* • Vowel Dcfiner. )
IO* n W ide Vowel Dcfiner. J ^ ° 'nc to 4 $•
11* 1 Shutter. Joined to 6.
12* ty
<K M ixer. Joined to 6 and 7.
*3 \ Consonant Dcfiner.
»4 Y Force Director.
•5 > Breath Director.
16 c Tongue Director.
1/ Stopper.
18 I Divider.
'9 * Vibrator.
20 1 Holder, or Long.
21 . Abrupt.
22 > Hiatus.
23 0 Link-.
24 ' Accent.
1
25
26
!
} Modulators.
27
28 ■r 1
inlii-il * Innkn 1I|. nil lliu V.i’

CO M PLETE T A B L E O F L E T T E R S ,— W IT H T H E IR NAMES.

Consonants. . Vowc/s.
i
u 1 I ll i 1 i t I M& u
Aspirate, 0 H igh, 1 1 1 I 1L t
Throat, 0 X M id, ] 3 X I I c
T hroat Voice, 0 Low, I J 1 I I 1
Back, C GC B a a H ig h Round, I 1 1 I I f

i !h 1
Back Voice, G S 8 8 0 0 M id Round, i X 1 : c
Front, O n CO W a 0 Low Round, J f I i
F ro n t Voice, 0 a © 93 Q CD
Point, O u <0 W D 0 Glides.
P oint Voice, O w CD 03 0 0
L ip , 0 D 3 S3 D D 1 I 1 SI I 4 i I I i
L ip Voice, 3 » l 19 19 O B
F IX1E D r m [ T p m L L E O X m
M odifiers and Tones.

1 Nasal. 1 T rille d . < Suction Stopped. . [A brupt. - Level Tone.

f Nasal M ixed. T Divided. > Emission Stopped. | Hiatus. / Rising Tone.

i Inner. c Inverted. 0 L in k . W histle. \ Falling Tone.

(To Back.] —
The 'letters' of Bell's system and i Outer. 3 Protruded. ' Accent. <» Voiced Whistle. V Compound Rise.
tm u p j
r H ig h Key.
their correspondence with spo­ 7 Close. Stopped. 1 Emphasis. A

V Open. < Suction. 7 Holder. J Low Key.

ken sounds, Visible speech, 1867
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

The In te rn a tio n a l Phonetic A lphabet was the result o f the co n trib u ­

tions from Pitm an, E llis and Sweet com bined w ith the efforts o f French
phonetician Paul Passy. The guidelines fo r the alphabet were stra ig h tfo r­
ward: th a t each le tter should indicate a d istin ct sound, any sound found in
several languages should use the same le tter to represent it, as much as
possible the letters o f the IPA should consist o f letters from the L a tin
alphabet, and new letters should suggest sound by th e ir resemblance to
older letters. Finally, the system should be easy to acquire and use, and
this was the p rim a ry reason fo r rejecting an organic alphabet grounded in
the physiology o f a rtic u la tio n such as th a t o f Bell. The IPA made an early
adm inistrative decision to rem ain independent o f the S im plified Spelling
Society, recognizing th at th e ir aims and consequently th e ir methods were
necessarily d ifferen t. As O tto Jespersen, another prom inent phoneticist
who contributed to the developm ent o f the IPA, pointed o u t, a nota tion
system w hich had sufficient precision to be useful fo r linguists was fa r too
d iffic u lt and specialized to be o f value to young readers.

Phonological diagrams by
Andrew Comstock, A Treatise on
Phonology, Philadelphia, 1846
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

THE IN T E R N A T IO N A L P H O N E T IC ALPH ABET

Bi-labial Labio­ Dentaland Retroflex Palato- Alveolo- Palatal Velar Uvular Pbaryngal Qlottal
dental Alveolar alveolar palatal
Plosive , pb td U cI kg qo ? ~
to
H Nasal m n 1 Jl Q N
LateralFricative . Mi
3
o LateralNon-fricative . 1 I A
s Rolled . . . r R
8 Flapped • . r r R
Fricative . . . f v 9 9 |s z |i Si o xy IS h fl
FruitonlcssContmuants
andSani-wweh w |q V I H u) (w ) V
Front Central Back
to Close . . . . iy iu mu

I
The International Phonetic Half-close . . 00 VO

I
£
g
Half-open . . . (ffl D) ece AO
Alphabet, early 20th century 'a V
Open . 0>) a ao

U ltim ately, the phoneticists, spelling reform ers and p ractitioners o f

Alphabets designed for children
showing familiar animals, brave
soldiers and longing women,
from Henri-D6sir6 Porret,
Illustrations Typographiques,
Paris, 1834-42
shorthand had little use fo r any investigation o f the alphabet w hich went
beyond the practical applications o r m echanical n o ta tio n . Nonetheless,
there were ind ivid ua ls whose w ork crossed the lines between subjective
in terpretatio n and an interest in phonetics in to the realm o f sound sym­
bolism . One such figure was Charles K ra itsir. The Significance o f the
A lphabet, K ra its ir’s m ajor c o n trib u tio n to the study o f letters, was pub­
lished in Boston in 1846. K ra its ir was essentially a phoneticist, and con­
cerned w ith the analysis o f the sounds o f language, but his in tro d u cto ry
remarks expressed the conviction th a t ‘the laws w hich regulate the com bi­
nations o f sounds in to w ords’ were the basis o f a ‘refined and expressive
natural language.’ W ith this statem ent K ra its ir reintroduced a fa m ilia r
theme, th a t o f the o rig in a l n atural language w hich he fe lt should be the
object o f philology.
The basis o f K ra its ir’s sym bolism was sim ple: the categories o f vocal
sounds (labials, liq u id s, gutturals and lin g u a l dentals) were each associat­
ed w ith d istin ct qualities. Vowels were n o t included, because they were not
produced, he stated, by the a rticu la tin g organs, though they could be ‘p ro ­
duced by the w in d in trees, on the A eolic harp, by a ll m usical instrum ent,
by anim als; the cat produces a ll the vowels as they are pronounced on the
continent o f Europe and A sia ....’ He proceeded, in his own unsystematic
manner, to characterize the ‘sounds’ o f the consonants. The liq u id conso­
nants ‘L’ ‘M ’ ‘N ’ ‘R ’ expressed the ‘flo w in g m aterial o f nature, element,
alim ent, alm us.’ The ‘M ’ expressed m eeting, and this was the basis o f the
value o f a ll words in w hich it appeared: ‘m iddle, means, measure, amity,
m ultitu de , m ight, m ystery.’ ‘N ’ was a ro o t le tte r fo r ‘in ’ and fo r w hat ‘per­
tains to the nose, in alm ost a ll languages.’ ‘M ’ was ide ntifie d w ith ‘me’
and ‘mama’ both cited by K ra its ir as instances o f selfish love w hich were
indicated by the closing o f the lips and cu ttin g o ff o f the breath o f life in
pronunciation o f the letter. ‘R ’ was the sym bol o f rough and ‘o rig in a l’
movement, associated w ith the phenomenon o f activity. The labials named
the lips, and everything th a t the lips signified, w hile the gutterals and den­
tals were sim ila rly characterized by association. K ra its ir’s m ethod was a
com m on one in the h isto ry o f sound sym bolism - echoes o f P lato’s
C ratylus resonate through his pages - and the o nly rem arkable aspect o f
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

his w ork was th a t it prefaced a serious te xt on phonetics rather than being

couched in poetic, philosophical, o r m ystical term s.
One fin a l area in w hich the alphabet and pedagogy overlapped in the
19th century was in the area o f rhym ing alphabets. The emphasis on ch ild ­
ren’s engagement w ith the letters was stressed in these w orks, designed to
fa m ilia rize the young w ith the sounds and shape o f letters through inge­
nious rhymes and visual designs. These ranged through every possible
theme from the encyclopedic draw ing o f flo ra and fauna to h isto rica l fig ­
ures, hum orous tales, fa m ilia r events o f d aily life exem plifying the vices
and virtues o f the naughty and the d u tifu l and so fo rth . These were w idely
published in the form o f nursery books, in journals intended fo r fa m ily
readership o r fo r an exclusively juvenile audience. Though these rhym ing
alphabets had little to do w ith h isto rica l investigations in to the sym bolism
o r developm ent o f the alphabet, they d id broaden the range o f m aterials
through w hich children could be fam iliarized w ith those letters w hich, in
spite o f a ll the efforts by reform ers, remained the basis o f European w rit­
ing, p rin tin g and publishing.

E was an ELF, who danced w ith

a F A IR Y ,

261

D was a DRUNKARD, and slept F was a FO X, both cunning and

Rhyming alphabets of the 19th in the street. wary. -
century containing moral'tales,
banalities, history and Biblical
stories, from The Mother's
Picture Alphabet, London, 1887;
Little Pet's Picture Alphabet,
New York, 1850s or 60s; and The
illum inated Scriptural Alphabet,
Philadelphia, n.d.

B E N JA M IN ’S cup was found, it is true,
I n the mouth o f his sack, and the gold w ith it, too;
But poor little Ben, though in very great grief
lln d this jo y to sustain him —he wnns't a thief.
C A IN was a man o f w ild passions, 'tis said;
Abel was gentle ns the lambs that he le d :
They were brothers; but Cain very envious grew
O f his dcargcntlo brother, w hom he wickedly
slew.

Adan (he first man, full plainly we | B Was young Benjamin, happy and Is fo r Cain, w ho his brother did k ill,
A • v ie ,
Praying to Cd, as good men ought to do.
JL ® • free,
T ill the cup was discovered, as thus we
W h o bore him the kindest o f broth-
erly w ill.
m a y see.
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

Narratives o f History

Debates about whether the alphabet had been a hum an invention

under divine in sp ira tio n o r sim ply a divine g ift continued in the early years
o f the 19th century, though p rim a ry place w ould soon be taken by ques­
tions o f how the letters had - o r had n ot - derived fro m E gyptian hiero­
glyphic precedents. Two advocates fo r the hum an invention were Andrew
Carm ichael and F ortia d ’U rban. They shared w ith the m a jo rity o f their
contem poraries a profound belief in the existence o f a D ivine C reator, but
argued th a t it was through the g ifts granted to humans by the benevolence
o f this C reator th a t w ritin g , among other inventions, had come in to being.
T his a ttitu de was characteristic o f much w ork on the alphabet in the 19th
century, in w hich the existence o f God w ent unquestioned, but was
reduced to a background assum ption. M eanw hile the m ajor foreground
issues o f the day fe ll in to tw o areas: one the fa m ilia r question o f how to
reconcile archaeology and scripture and the other the co n flict over single
versus m u ltip le inventions o f w ritin g , an issue com plicated by the evident
disparities between hieroglyphic and alphabetic w ritin g , a co n flict some­
tim es triangulated through consideration o f the Chinese characters.
Andrew C arm ichael introduced his discussion o f the origins o f the
alphabet, prosaically title d A n Essay on the Invention o f A lphabetic
W ritin g (1815), by stating th a t the d iffic u lty o f accounting fo r the inven­
tio n o f w ritin g n a tu ra lly led to a belief in divine invention. C itin g the w ork
o f various authorities whose c re d ib ility he refused to question (such as the
obscure ‘H a rd y on M an ’), he nicely sidestepped the co n flict by p o in tin g
out th a t in the largest sense the achievements ‘attained by the m ind o f
m an’ were the result o f ‘those laws by w hich Providence visib ly governs the
w o rld .’ H aving resolved a p o te n tia lly tric k y b it o f theological logic,
Carm ichael p u t fo rth the points o f his own argum ent. The alphabet, he
stated, had been invented o u t o f the strong necessity to have a record o f
the harm onious flo w o f sounds produced in poetry. Poetry could n o t be
represented by hieroglyphics o r Chinese characters since they m erely p ic­
tured objects, n o t spoken verse o r language. A pparently unaware o f the
developments w hich had occurred in E gyptological studies, Carm ichael
based his entire discussion on the conviction th a t the alphabet was the
only form o f w ritin g w hich represented speech. C arm ichael extended his
analysis by studying passages o f com plex rhym e in the w ork o f V irg il. By
basing his arguments on such solid foundation, Carm ichael could assert
th a t it was through the visual experience o f seeing patterns in the nota tion
o f sim ple sounds th a t V irg il was able to compose his verse w ith such
supreme success. H is extended study o f sound patterns in V irg il’s w ork
concluded w ith a reite ra tion o f his opening statements, th a t he considered
it ‘ unphilosophic, inconsiderate and puerile’ to ‘disentangle every perplex­
ity by resorting to m iraculous in te rp o s itio n ’ when it was clear th a t the
achievements under discussion could be readily a ttrib u te d to the g ifts w ith
w hich ‘the C reator in his m unificence has endowed m ankind .’ 10
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

Though in keeping w ith the 18th-century n otio n th a t w ritin g had been

invented to serve the hum an passions firs t and forem ost, C arm ichael’s
assessment was o rig in a l, w ith o u t extensive precedent in its dependence on
a poetic te xt as a means o f dem onstrating the hum an o rig in o f the alpha­
bet. This w ork anticipates some o f the arguments put fo rth by 20th-centu­
ry classicists in defense o f the su periority o f the Greek alphabet over its
Sem itic sources, and in th a t regard has an interest beyond the m erely id io ­
syncratic character o f its discussion. F ortia d ’U rban, by contrast, argued
in his 1832 p ub lica tion th a t the forces o f necessity w hich led to the alpha­
bet’s invention arose from the practical needs o f hum ankind, rather than
from the urgencies o f th e ir em otional life . F ortia d’U rban’s basic positions
were fa irly standard: th a t w ritin g had been invented by the Hebrews, th a t
it was older than Moses, and th a t it had been spread by Cadmus in to
Greece. A t the center o f his te xt was the question o f whether o r n o t there
had been w ritin g in Greece at the tim e o f H om er, an in q u iry w hich, again,
w ould continue to haunt the w ork o f classicists up in to the late 2 0 th cen­
tury .11 W hatever the m om ent o f its invention, however, w ritin g served one
m ajor purpose as fa r as he was concerned, and th a t was to preserve the
record and m em ory o f certain facts and to make them know n to absent
people. In F ortia d’U rban’s conception, w ritin g had the basic fu nctio n o f
producing history. It was this lin k , between the creation o f narratives
about the h isto ry o f w ritin g and the realization th a t it was w ritin g its e lf
th a t created history, w hich was perhaps the m ost d istin ct characteristic o f
19th-century theories about the alphabet.
O n the other side o f the argum ent on divine versus hum an invention,
was one o f the authors whose w ork was to have influence in the continua­
tio n o f m ystical tra d itio n s in to the 20th century, Fabre d ’O livet. He was
the author o f the m onum ental The H ebraic Tongue Restored and the True
M eaning o f the H ebrew Words Re-Established and Proved by th e ir
R adical A nalysis, firs t published in 1817. D ’O live t’s w ork was concerned
w ith the ro o t values o f the letters and syllables o f the earliest form o f the
Hebrew language. The divine s p irit was om nipresent in D ’O live t’s w ork,
not m erely as the source o f w ritin g , but as the very essence o f alphabetic
form s. The influence o f kabbalistic thought can be fe lt in this w ork but it
is more properly a treatise o f Jewish m ysticism , conspicuously lacking any
reference to the sephirot, the tree o f knowledge, o r the tra d itio n a l kabbal­
is tic texts. D ’O live t’s express m otivation was to return ‘the Hebrew tongue
to its constitutive principles’ and thereby restore the generative force o f its
form s .12
D ’O livet began by tracing the h istory o f the Jews, th e ir betrayal
o f Moses through ido latry, the dispersion o f the ten tribes, and the loss o f
th e ir o rig in a l language. C o u rt de Gebelin was the a u th o rity to whom
he referred m ost frequently, citin g his theories on the tw o form s o f gram ­
m ar - the universal gram m ar w hich embodied the general s p irit o f hum an­
ity and the p a rticu la r gramm ars which were proper to a specific people
and reflective o f th e ir c iv iliz a tio n , its knowledge and its prejudices. T his
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

conviction, th a t the form s o f a language embodied the s p irit o f a people in

a c u ltu ra l code, then led him to adapt G ebelin’s analysis o f the Hebrew
letters and expand upon them in an exegesis w hich linked culture and lan­
guage, the alphabet and the s p iritu a l life o f the Jews. From his discussion
o f the in d ivid u a l letters he proceeded to an elaborate investigation o f the
roots o f the H ebraic language in an exhaustive study stretching to several
hundred pages treating the meanings o f the ‘radical vocabulary.’
D ’O live t’s transform ation o f G ebelin’s system involved reducing the
num ber o f letters to sixteen ‘p rim o rd ia l characters’ w hich he then ana­
lyzed in connection w ith w hat he term ed ‘th e ir hieroglyphic p rin cip le .’
These reiterated the values o f Gebelin had assigned lin k in g the letters w ith
parts o f the body. The letters had acquired these values from th e ir inven­
tors, he fu rth e r explained, ‘only because they already contained the idea’
because o f the suffused presence o f divine w isdom . But the letters evolved
beyond this sim ple sym bolic association, and became w hat .D’O livet
term ed nouns, after w hich they to o k on the value and id e n tity o f signs.
D ’O livet believed th a t a force o f a sign in a language deteriorated over
tim e as languages became blended, m ixed o r interrelated. Hebrew, how­
ever, had ‘shot from the dried tru n k o f the p rim itive tongue,’ and thus
preserved alm ost a ll the form s and actions o f the signs.

NAM E V A LU E
aleph power, stability, unity

beth v irility , paternity, action

gim el ideas from corporeal organs or their action
daleth sign o f nature, divisible, abundance in division
he life , abstract idea o f being
vau knot which unites, or point separating nothingness and being
zayin demonstrative sign, lin k which unites things
heth elementary existence, equilibrium , effort, labor
teth resistance and protection
iod potential m anifestation, spiritual duration, eternity
kaph a m ould which receives and makes forms
lamed expansive movement, power derived from elevation
mem maternal, female sign, exterior and passive action
nun produced or reflected being, corporeal existence
samech circum scription, circular movement w ith lim it
ayin m aterial meaning, as vocal sound it is bent, perverse, bad

Pc speech, and that w hich is related

tsade scission, solution, goal, term ination

qoph agglomerating or repressive form , giving the means o f forms
resh all movement, good or bad, original sign o f renewal
Fabre D'Olivet's system of values
shin relative duration and movement
for the letters of the Hebrew
tau sign o f reciprocity, all that is mutual and reciprocal
alphabet, 1812-13
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

D ’O live t’s concept o f a p rim itiv e tongue containing kernels o f m eaning

w hich were themselves a life force from w hich a ll culture and knowledge
was generated, and which could be recovered in the roots o f language, was
a developed cosm ological m odel o f the alphabet founded on fa ith as much
as on p h ilo lo g ica l research. H aving established his set o f alphabetic signs,
D ’O livet freely constructed interpretations fo r the syllabic roots o f the
Hebrew language. From the m eaning o f ‘A* as ‘ universal m an, m ankind,
the ru lin g o f the earth’ ‘A B ’ became the ‘ro o t whence come a ll ideas o f
productive cause, efficient w ill, determ ining movement, generative force,’
m ost p a rtic u la rly ‘p a te rn ity ;’ ‘A T H ’ was a ro o t w hich developed ‘the rela­
tions o f things to themselves’ and so on in a sequence in w hich concepts
b u ilt upon each other as w ell as on the ro o t signs.
Such a theory depended upon the belief th a t Hebrew was the p rim itive ,
o rig in a l language, and th a t the letters o f the Hebrew alphabet bore w ith in
them at least a trace o f the form s w hich had been revealed to Adam or
Moses in m ythic fashion. The archaeological evidence was ra p id ly under­
m ining the scientific basis fo r this belief through the course o f the 19th
century. W ith each succeeding decade, the image o f the h isto rica l past was
being, reform ulated. The crucial tu rn in g p o in t was the 1874 posthum ous
p ub lica tion o f Emmanuel de Rouge’s w ork on the hieroglyphic origins o f
the alphabet, but the sensibility w ith in w hich his w ork was received had
been b u ild in g since earlier in the century, though often through peculiarly
idiosyncratic theories, such as th a t o f Charles W a ll.13
The O rthography o f the Jews, published in 1835, p u t fo rth W a ll’s the­
sis th a t the Hebrew alphabet had had p ic to ria l origins. He believed th at
this could be dem onstrated from a close reading o f the Pentateuch. The
language Moses had used in these books was h ig hly figurative, so much so
th a t the o nly explanation fo r the rem arkable character o f the w ritin g
resided in its connection to hieroglyphic ‘picture w ritin g .’ T his highly
o rig in a l p ro po sition was in tu rn supported by a flash o f insig ht in to the
distinctions between alphabetic and hieroglyphic w ritin g . W all realized
th a t there was a m ajor difference between using an image, however
schematic, to represent some th in g and the representation o f a sound w ith
an a rb itra ry m ark. The tra n s itio n ‘from the idea to the le tte r’ was n o t sim ­
ple m atter o f passing from idea to the sound by w hich it was expressed but
‘from an idea to som ething w ith w hich it is u tte rly unconnected.’ W all fu r­
ther puzzled over the quandary th at alphabets, in th e ir contem porary,
19th-century state, d id n o t even have a sound value - only syllables and
phonemes d id - w hich widened the gap between hieroglyphics and
letters .14 W all d id n o t resolve any o f the questions he raised, but he had
in tu itiv e ly grasped a connection between Hebrew and hieroglyphics,
though on a basis w hich was as unsound as it was o rig in a l.
The problem o f establishing th a t there had been a tra n s itio n from
Egyptian precedents to the early alphabet continued to be an obstacle to
conceptualizing the tw o as related; but on the other hand if this could not
be resolved there remained the d iffic u lty o f accounting fo r tw o o r more
The Alphabet In the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

(Chinese characters being the th ird system frequently cited) independently

created w ritin g systems w hich w ould appear to be contrary to every scrap
o f b ib lica l evidence supporting the theory o f the monogenesis o f human
culture and h isto ry James B rodie’s The A lphabet Explained, published in
1840, began w ith a discussion o f the relations between the sound values o f
hieroglyphics and H ebrew letters. In this regard he was on solid lin g u istic
ground, at least, basing his in q u iry on principles w hich w ould eventually
assist De Rouge in his analysis o f the lin ks between the tw o w ritin g sys­
tems. Brodie reached no conclusions, fin a lly suggesting sim ply th a t the
alphabet had either been an independent creation o r it had been an adap­
ta tio n o f hieroglyphics, but his m ajor objection to reaching a clear conclu­
sion was th a t there was no visual evidence on w hich to trace the trans­
fo rm a tion o f hieroglyphic form s to alphabetic letters, certa inly a judicious
position .
Brodie was a cautious scholar, u n w illin g to make leaps o f fa ith w ith o u t
sufficient evidence. Increasingly, ‘evidence* m eant em pirical m aterials or
a rtifa cts o f the so rt supplied by expeditions whose m ethodology and tech­
niques granted them an a ir o f scientific a u th o rity lacking in mere textual
reference and lite ra ry tra d itio n . But n o t a ll scholars o f the period were
equally circum spect. George Sm ith, in his 1842 A D issertation on the very
early o rig in o f A lphabetic Characters, L iterature and Science, proposed
some s ta rtlin g ly o rig in a l ways ‘ to harm onize the early records o f sacred
and profane history.’ Sm ith objected to the hieroglyphic theory o f the
o rig in o f the alphabet on the basis th a t it contradicted Scripture. T his sin­
gle p o in t was so pow erful (and n ot just fo r S m ith), th a t he created an
account by w hich the Greek letters were carried by Thoth/H erm es to
Egypt where they became hieroglyphics. Sm ith cited and often refuted
D iodorus, Cicero, Sanchoniatho, Josephus, Berosus, P liny and a host
o f other often co n tra d icto ry authors up to and inclu ding W illia m
W arburton and the unnamed author o f a recent w ork on ‘A n tiq u itie s o f
Egypt* to support the details o f his history. W ith a ll these co n flictin g histo ­
ries to so rt out, Sm ith fe ll back on the version w hich m ost com pletely cor­
responded to tra d itio n a l interpretations o f the O ld Testament: th a t it was
the descendants o f Shem who, ‘after the confusion o f tongues’ were
allowed to retain n o t only the ‘p rin cip le on w hich the alphabet was con­
structed but its proper use as an alphabet.’ The descendants o f H am , the
‘unhappy sons o f M isra im ’ , were so fa r removed from the use o f letters
th a t when T h o th arrived among them he found them m aking ‘sounds like
brute anim als.’ In fa ct, Sm ith a ttrib u te d any conditions in w hich humans
appeared p rim itive o r barbarous to a decline sim ply on the basis o f the
b elief th a t G od w ould n o t have made humans im perfect. A nd as fo r the
alphabet used among the descendants o f Shem, it was the o rig in a l one, in
place w ell before the Deluge. Used by Seth as w ell as N oah, it was even
know n to Adam , as Sm ith states, on the a u th o rity o f the D r Parsons
whose Remains o f Japhet had contributed to 18th-century theories o f
alphabet history.

Charles Forster's view of the
Wadi Mokatteb in which he
found the Sinai inscriptions (The
One Primeval Language, 1852)
Glyphs from various authors,
assembled by Charles Forster, to
show the origins of a letter in
one inscription and its possible
derivation (The One Primeval
Language, 1852)
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History
Sm ith’s fin a l conclusion was th a t the alphabet had been perfect in its
o rig in a l fo rm and com m unicated d ire ctly fro m God. It was through the
e fforts o f T ho th to restore learning ‘a fter the Flood’ th a t the less perfect,
more barbarous and p rim itive hieroglyphic w ritin g had appeared.
H ieroglyphs represented a deteriorated co nd itio n fo r w ritin g rather than
its o rig in a l state. Sm ith was typ ica l o f his contem poraries in his scrupu­
lous atte ntio n to the scholarship w hich preceded his, but his cita tion s were
lim ite d to the w ork o f those theologically inclined authors whose sources
were textual rather than to w rite rs in the emerging field o f ancient lan­
guages. H e w ould, however, have found little support there fo r the version
o f this h isto ry he was proposing.
O f the authors whose w ork was considered significant by th e ir contem ­
poraries, Charles Forster stands out fo r his com bination o f archaeological
and b ib lic a l approaches to the study o f the developm ent o f the alphabet
and the in te rp re ta tio n o f other early w ritin g systems, notably cuneiform .
Forster’s w ork faded more q u ickly than th a t o f earlier, m ore clear headed
w rite rs such as Thom as A stle. Forster’s w ork was given c re d ib ility because
he actually visited a num ber o f im p o rta n t sites in the A ncient N ear East
and based his observations on evidence he collected him self, such as his
exam ination o f the famous Behistan m onum ent. One area in w hich he
expended considerable e ffo rt was the Sinai, and The One Prim eval
Language traced E xperim entally through A ncient Inscrip tion s in
A lphabetic Characters o f Lost Power From the Four C ontinents inclu ding
the Voice o f Israel from the Rocks o f Sinai and the vestiges o f Patriarchal
T ra d itio n fro m the M onum ents o f Egypt, E tru ria and S. A ra b ia , published
in 1852, was based on this experience.
iy y 6 f 2 UM
/( " J
y o -Y t? * ^ ^ n 6 1 / 6 b
"B eer, 1 1 0 , 1 1 1 . b G ray, 153. C165. d 8 8 , 8 9 . 0 N ie b u h r, Tab. x lix .
'W ilson, N o. i. s Beer, 8 8 , 89. G ray, 8 8 , 8 9 : th e second exam ples are
a” " r> but the in itia l m onogram s m arked a are e v id e n tly id e n tica l.
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

The book had a great deal o f va lid ity, but, like m ost o f Forster’s w ork,
was on rather shaky scholarly ground. Forster had a tendency to rely on
im agination where evidence was lacking, and to convince him self o f rela­
tions among languages, cultures and scripts largely on the basis o f visual
sim ilarities among form s. It is an axiom o f the discipline th a t this is n ot a
solid basis on w hich to make connections, and even in the 19th century
this caveat was su fficien tly w ell-know n th a t Forster pushed his interpreta­
tio n o f the inscriptions he found in the Sinai region through an analysis o f
the ‘powers’ o r sound values associated w ith the visual form s. I t was in
fa ct this extra step w hich moved his scholarship tow ard the m ainstream
fro m w hich Emmanuel De Rouge’s w ork emerged, using sim ila r bases fo r
com parison o f E gyptian hieroglyphics and early alphabetic form s.

E G Y P 1 1 A N P H C E N IC IA N C n E E K L A T 1 r1

PELAS-
6 j , J M , z

CIAN
“ § Sg h i £X t
xd x< $£- 5 k Ss 25 S3 38 5

a eagle. % oJbeph X alpha/ A A A A A A A AAA a

b crane'. * bedv $ beta/ * 8 B * B B & B b

TllMOM.Mr.

r r < c 8 » ; <c < C

^ bowl. qvmeb 1 gamma/ 1 r 0
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Xocria.
Arcadia,
d> hand/. daleth/ 4 delta/ a A 0 A t>D E,i8<eto At>D D d

Tv ptanofhouac? m ha n epsilon £ & Corinth, F E &E fc E II e

elo.

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[f]
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t'ftckp) duck/. & & zayirv 13= z eta/ X X I X X Cleltar 0

from C.J
JC(kJo) sieve. © <r> chcth M eta/ B B B H(h«) BHoi) B H ft,

th tongs', loop. teth 0 theta/ <8> ® o ® o

Crete.
There,
V leaves. ffv yod/ % iota/ f 1 1 51 1 i
etc.

ft throne/. Z . haph r happao >1 K k k K K ft

1/ lioness. £ loaned/ 6 lambda/ A A AA Laialda, P V l I

I-A rg o ./ /N Dceotia,
ate.
nv awl. mehv mxv y.
k A 'A A 'M M 1TV
} y

11 water. nun T U I/
K P N 1* N N rv
ui Later
m Argo*.
8 door-bolt. -M- scanekh/ * oco ffi m heAttica. * [t&w] S
liS aS iS tt;
H weapon. ayirv o omiUron o o A Paroa, O 0 o o o
Siphaoe.eta.
ClClTeloa.
p daor. S J4 pc pb n r | rn pn r r p P
7

t(ts) emaka. tsouda son (as) n M rp HaUcomasrua, A\

> ' Tro»,Me»embHa.

q fcn.ee/? A A qoplv ? koppa/ 9 9 9

(9 ) 9 9 <L

One authoritative and standard r mouth. O resh

4 rho <1 P m ft m * a r
Q'elo,
version of the derivation of S(sfv) field/. M il shin/ w sigma/ * i f 5 M Plioda, it 5 s s
Argo*, eto.
Corinth,
Hebrew from Egyptian . i .u, T
t(tu) arm/with »- n tcuuu X taxi/ T T T T T b
oaksin/handi
characters as it had come to be
ADDEDLETTERS'. upsilow VY VY V V U/,Y
accepted: E. Maunde Thompson,
Handbook o f Greek and Latin cob [JZc] X + A' X CO

Paleography, London, 1893 phi ® o> © 0 ®

 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

Forster stressed th a t the huge num ber o f inscriptions w hich he had

seen in the ‘how ling wilderness o f the Sinai’ were in an im probable site fo r
any kin d o f hum an activity, and th a t they therefore could n ot be account­
ed fo r w ith o u t recourse to the b ib lica l account o f the wanderings o f the
Jews in th a t region fo r fo rty years. A ccording to Forster, specific incidents
recorded in the Bible about th is period in Jewish h isto ry were also record­
ed in the inscriptions he had located. In p a rticu la r, he cited the stories o f
tw o m iracles, one at the beginning o f the fo rty years o f wanderings, the
other at the end: the stories o f the rocks o f M eribah and M eribah Kadesh.
In both instances w ater had appeared from the stones to save the
Israelites, and Forster interpreted w ritte n inscriptions he had found as
o rig in a l accounts o f these events. Forster went fu rth e r, stating th a t a ll o f
the Sinai inscriptions contained details o f the d a ily life and events o f years
spent by the Jews in the wilderness. The form o f these inscriptions was a
schematic h yb rid , between hieroglyphs and le tte r form s, according to
Forster. T his was confirm ation o f th e ir o rig in since it was ‘o nly reasonable
to suppose th a t the characters employed in them w ould bear a close a ffin i­
ty to the w ritte n language o f E gypt,’ the land fro m w hich the Jews had
been sent in to exile.
W hile such assertions may have served fo r tru th in Forster’s eyes, the
lin g u istic basis fo r his interpretations o f the scripts was never supported,
though he claim ed to have grounded them in scholarly com parisons. H is
b elief th at there was a single o rig in fo r the alphabet, a single prim eval lan­
guage, led to his constructing an elaborate chart in w hich he asserted
transform ations and relations among nearly fifty scripts inclu ding the
cuneiform from Behistan, E nchorial form s from N im rou d, C eltiberian,
Abyssinian, T a rta r Siberian, E gyptian H ieroglyphic and the alphabet from
M onum ents o f C entral Am erica. A gain, because the concept o f a single
o rig in a l language was the o nly theory o f w ritin g w hich reconciled w ith
scripture, it persisted in the face o f contrad icto ry evidence.
M any o f Forster’s views were shared by H enry N oel Hum phreys, who
cited Forster’s w ork in support o f his own in The O rig in and Prpgress o f
the A rt o f W ritin g (1853). Hum phreys, however, believed th a t the firs t
alphabet o f the Hebrews had been Sam aritan. T his had been abandoned
after c a p tivity in Babylon and then adopted and m odified when Abraham
was in Chaldea. Both m ajor changes in alphabet theory were afoot by this
period in the w ork o f the oft-m entioned De Roug 6 , and continued in the
w ork o f Francois Lenorm ant and then Isaac T aylor in the 1860s and
1870s.15 By the tim e o f T aylo r’s pub lica tion o f the tw o volum e The
A lphabet, m ainstream historians had determ ined th a t the lin ks between
E gyptian hieroglyphics and the alphabet were more than mere specula­
tio n , though the influence o f cuneiform syllabaries was only vaguely taken
in to account. T aylo r’s w ork remains m onum ental, his detailed discussion
o f the relations o f alphabets and th e ir developm ent s till largely reliable,
straightforw ard and clear. He was not always correct in every p articula r,
but his overall grasp o f the scope o f the h isto ry o f alphabetic scripts and
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

th e ir d iffu sio n and d iffe re n tia tio n were a rem arkable achievement and
rem ain undim inished in spite o f the co ntribu tion s o f other scholars to the
field. In spite o f the soundness o f T aylo r’s and other scholars’ w ork, many
o f th e ir contem poraries continued either unaware o r uninfluenced by it in
th e ir own idiosyncratic w ritin g . A year after De Rouge’s w ork was pub­
lished, D aniel Sm ith produced a tom e in w hich he traced the letters o f the
alphabet to th e ir origins in basic tria n g u la r form s and a year after publica­
tio n o f T aylo r’s The A lphabet, George W ood had such a poor grasp o f the
h isto rica l w ork available to him th a t he could o nly suggest general p rin c i­
ples fo r the origins o f the letters and none o f the specifics detailed exten­
sively in the w ork o f other authorities.
W ood’s w o rk, published in 1883, w ith the te llta le title A Popular
Treatise on the H is to ry o f the O rig in and Developm ent o f W ritten
Language, hardly bears investigation. Suffice to say he accepted the idea o f
the Egyptian hieroglyphics as the basis o f the alphabetic letters, but in
com ing up w ith visual images w hich he believed to have been the basis o f
this transform ation he sim ply allowed his im agination free rein. W ith no
regard whatsoever fo r cu ltu ra l o r lin g u istic differences, he proposed th at
the o rig in o f the ‘A ’ had been an axe, o f the ‘B’ a bow, o f the ‘C ’ a crescent,
the ‘E’ an eel, the ‘S’ a serpent and the ‘T ’ a tree o f the variety best know n
outside the T ig ris and Euphrates valley.

A xe . Bow. C rescent.
Above and right: The hiero­
glyphic principle as the basis of
letter derivation, according to
Wood (George Wood, A Popular AA A a . ) B b
Treatise, Hartford, Connecticut,
1883) Eel. S erpent. T ree

270

The rebus principle of writing,

according to Wood

D aniel Sm ith, on the other hand, though he cited a ll the proper

authorities, even the prom inent German lin g u ist Professor Bopp (a firs t fo r
alphabet historians), stuck resolutely to the conviction th a t the o rig in a l
sources fo r le tte r form s were com binations o f triangles. H is w ork,
Cuneorum Clavis, The P rim itive A lphabet and the A ncient Ones o f the
E arth (1875), shared w ith th a t o f Charles Forster a desire to connect the
cuneiform inscriptions w ith the o rig in a l alphabet. He based his conviction
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

on visual experience. H aving seen records brought to lig h t by excavations

> A E 1E ! at Nineveh he had been struck by the sim ilarities between the simple

e
form s o f m onum ental Greek inscriptions and cuneiform . He also clung to
the belief th a t a ll the early nations had had the same language and alpha­
bet: the fa ct th a t Abraham had fled from U r o f the Chaldeans in to Canaan
V w |HJEaiES| and thence to Egypt was p ro o f th a t there had been no language b arrie r to
this movement. Sm ith’s w ork was published posthum ously w ith extensive
Derivation of letters 'A / *B/ and notes by an editor, H.W . H em sw orth. H em sw orth’s running com m entary
'W' from triangles (Daniel Smith, provided some useful perspective. For instance, as Sm ith finished his
Cuneorum Clavis, or The ancient account o f the ease o f com m unication among b ib lica l people and kin g ­
ones o f the Earth, London, 1875) doms, the e d ito r interjected th a t if the w ork had come to him earlier, d u r­
ing Sm ith’s life tim e , he w ould have asked h im to expunge the b ib lica l
F iji. FnmAtoM»3280.
m aterials because they were ‘unscientific.’ T his was a unique instance in
p rin t o f the perceived contrad iction between the tra d itio n s o f text-based
1> < % | Y > |
scholarship and th a t o f archaeologically-based scholarship, w hich was
F iy.2 .
generally resolved by authors sim ply adhering to one or the other o f the
fitutxA.U.25iIh>m 7.

A<B positions and ign oring co n flictin g evidence.

S m ith’s claim th a t the entire p rim itive alphabet had been made o f t r i­
3. Fhm hM .3O0to5m angles, however, met w ith no such objections from his editor, who consid­

A K 5Ei 1A A f . ered it a quite rem arkable b it o f scholarship. Sm ith asserted th a t triangles

were the basis o f a ll cosm ology and chem istry, th a t they were the m ost
fiy.5. F iy 6 . fundam ental elem ental form s. Through an a rtfu l com bination o f abstract
n and p ic to ria l diagram s, Sm ith dem onstrated th a t the letters were sim ulta­
nni i n neously based on com binations o f these triangles and on the visual image
n i n '
fro m w hich the le tter had derived its name in the by then w ell know n
Smith's version of the evolution A =aleph scheme o f values.
of Greek alphabet from P u t r V II.

Prim itive. Cadmean. Etrufcan. Pelafgic. Bardic. Samaritan. Phoenician. Palmyrene. H °lvew . Roman A * 1,
Cuneiform originals, giving
dates of the process (Daniel
Axvleph, nn
ox or leader. A h n A A A

Smith, Cuneorum Clavis, or The

Beth, houfe
or tent. X c a ■V- : 4 B & 3 3 D
ancient ones o f the Earth,
Gintel,
camel. <. .« < > 1 1 i 2£_ G
Dawleth,
tent door. X A' ...... > <k.4 A a <\ ,3 D
London, 1875)
He.
e . . . E pfil m, . . . y 3 A A n E
Vau, hook
pin. V F Y V A \ ’1 77 1 For V
Zain,
armour. 2 2 ~fr A y z
Cheth. g? E B A 71 CH
Yod. V 1 1 1 1 z CTt s I
Kaph and
koph.
Lamed, or
T K >1 K y 3 H 7 3 K o rC L

ox goad. 2 V \ L 2 L .A y V L
Smith's full chart of the Mem, water. w v W III YA W £ M
evolution of the alphabet, Nun, filh.
w. N V\ Y\ v\ ■J ^1 A / ] N
showing some values for letter
Samech,
prop. I i 'V X Y S O S
Ain, eye.
0 0 U-o 0 u y V 0
names; note that He, Cheth, and
Yod, typically, lack iconic value
Tfade, filh-
hooks.
_ £ j
/ * AAA/ ttCN(V 2 TS
(Daniel Smith, Cuneorum Clavis,
Refh, head.
A. AA 2 y 1-M <\ A A y 3 R
Shin, tooth. •W w M/ V •m SH
or The ancient ones o f the
Earth, London, 1875)
Tauv, crofs.
+ A T x.+ *+.t n T
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

There are tw o themes through w hich these h isto rica l narratives may be
summ arized. Firstly, the concept o f the p rim itive w hich was used in the
w ork o f G ebelin, W arburton and others a century earlier to focus discus­
sion on the inherent character o f hum an nature and society was used in
the discussions o f George Sm ith, Charles Forster, and th e ir contem po­
raries in contrasting models o f developm ent: creationist and evolutionary.
C onsiderations o f the o rig in a l co nd itio n o f hum ankind were n ot pressed
in to the service o f reflections upon the nature o f the state, social contract,
o r p ote ntia l fo r c iv iliz a tio n among d ifferen t hum an groups in this la tte r
w ork. Instead, the arguments w hich proceed from id e n tify in g the early
stages o f alphabet fo rm a tio n served to distinguish between those who
believed in its early, o rig in a l p e rfe ctio n - either as a divine revelation o r as
a hum an invention under divine in sp ira tio n , both assim ilable in to the
same creationist m ythology - and those who believed in slow develop­
m ent, organic m uta tion , transform ation, in short, a description based on
evolutionary theory. O rganic m etaphors, tree diagram s, and other figura­
tive representations o f this m odel found th e ir way in to alphabet literature
at the same period in w hich alphabetology was becoming legitim ized
through the scientific m ethods. By m aking use o f archaeology, linguistics,
decipherm ent and ancient h isto rica l study, historians o f the alphabet par­
ticipated in the general intellectu al tenor o f the late 19th-century in fa tu a ­
tio n w ith the a u th o rity o f em piricism and m aterialism .

. G E B E L IN V ataeof Chines. „ , CHASE

Letter* Value Character Hebrew Chinese

A master man aleph.“ prince —

ox ox
B box, house any container beth = house, place, box receptacle, enclosure
G neck, throat passage gim el» camel top, head, neck
D door, entry door to a house daleth » door door, hatchet, knife, cleaver

H field: source o f life field he » hollow niche, support, ladle

(v) vau » hook hand, claw, hooked

(z) zayin a armour work, art, bow, shield

E life , existence being, life heth » (doubtful) table, sun

(0 teth » (unknown) archetypes representing the sun

I hand hand ‘ yodhahand put aside, reject
C hollow o f the hand — kaph « hollow hand hollow , branching, grasping
L w ing, arm w ing lamedh « instruct man, head, or covering ,
M tree, productivity plant, mountain mem » water channel, water

N product, fru it knot nun = fish, smoke air, vapor, long journey

(s) samech = prop prop, support

0 eye eye ayin ■ eye eye

OU ear ear

P palate m outh pe = mouth indosure, m outh

(ts) tsadhi = locust a locust, s h rill, cutting sound

a scythe cutting tool koph = ear ear or orifice

Chart comparing Court de
R pointed nose sharp angle resh > head a mound, the m iddle
Gebelin and Pliny Chase's s saw, teeth m ortar shin a tooth (unclear origin)

systems for deriving the alpha­ T roof, shelter cover, shelter tau - (meaning doubtful) cutting or piercing

bet from Chinese characters T perfect perfection

 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

The second theme w hich arises in sum m arizing the w ork o f these 19th-
century authors is th e ir co ntribu tion s to the developm ent and acceptance
o f a p ic to ria l basis fo r the letters. The relationship between the words
w hich give the letters th e ir H ebrew names and the form s o f the letters
became consolidated in th is period, stabilizin g in to a code in w hich there
were both fixed and m utable term s. In other w ords, the idea th a t the ‘A’
had derived from the image o f the ox-head linked to the w ord ‘aleph’ fit­
ted so easily in to a logic o f p ic to ria l derivation th at it was rarely ques­
tioned, but certain letters whose names were less figuratively specific, such
as ‘H ’ and ‘he* continued to acquire values w hich varied from author to
author. Archaeological evidence o f early form s o f the letters produced
only schematic models. The p ic to ria l hieroglyphs linked by sound to cer­
ta in early alphabetic form s, such as those w hich De Rouge used to demon­
strate his theory o f th e ir relations, are alm ost never the same as those used
in the standard m ythologized A =aleph fo rm . The m nem onic device o f
acrophony, the use o f a w ord beginning w ith the le tte r as its name, was so
suggestive th a t the projected p ic to ria l values came to be seen as a factual
basis fo r the o rig in o f the letters. The contents o f these schemes varied, in
some cases, as w ith Fabre d ’ O live t’s adaptation o f G ebelin, they were
based on a cosm ology o f the hum an anatom y and n o t necessarily pushed
tow ard a visual co rrela tion ; in other cases, such as th a t o f Sm ith o r Taylor,
the iconography embodied the a rtifa cts o f a nom adic desert culture, w ith
its tents, camels, rods and staffs. The desire to see in the schematic form s
o f the letters o rig in a l images from which they were derived is no d iffe re n t
from seeing the images o f m ythological characters in the configurations o f
the stars w hich fo rm the constellations, and the sequence o f events by
w hich names, images, and schematic form s came in to being was roughly
equivalent. The names had a genuine history, but the images on w hich
they were supposedly derived were n ot supported by any visual evidence.
N o t every h istoria n o f the alphabet whose w ork was published in the
19th century w rote in com pliance w ith m ainstream sensibilities. The
search fo r the o rig in a l inventors o f the alphabet extended beyond the lim ­
its o f Hebrews, Phoenicians and Egyptians. Some o f these proposals
hinged on debates about the relative a n tiq u ity o f Chinese, Indian,
E gyptian o r other cultures. One was the modest co n trib u tio n by Charles
Schoebel, whose 1882 M em oire attem pted to weave insights in to the rela­
tive perfection o f Sanskrit gram m ar in to a theory o f the In dia n, specifical­
ly D ravidian, o rig in o f the alphabet. In other cases, such as the w ork o f
G odfrey H iggins, older speculations about natio na l id e n tity emerged.
G odfrey H iggins published tw o extensive w orks on the D ru id ic origins
o f the alphabet, The C eltic D ru ids, in 1829, and Anaclypsis a few years
later. H igg in s’s arguments th a t the D ruids o f the B ritish Isles were the
ancient C eltic nation were very close to those o f Charles Vallancey, whom
he acknowledged among his sources.16 C itin g Greek a uthorities who
asserted the early existence o f tw o alphabets, the Pelasgian and the Ionian
(or W estern and Eastern Greek alphabets according to more conventional
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

historians), H iggins asserted th a t these had had a com m on source. This

was in fact true, though n o t in the manner H iggins suggested. T his com­
m on source was, predictably, th a t alphabet in place before the Deluge.
C onsisting o f seventeen letters, inclu ding the always m ysterious digam m a,
this was the alphabet o f the D ruids w hich the Greeks had adopted and
transform ed, and then, through th e ir own careless disregard fo r ancient
tra d itio n s, forgotten where it came from . Aside from disparaging the
Greeks, w hich H iggins d id throughout, he assiduously prom oted the supe­
rio rity o f the Irish people and th e ir letters. H iggins contended th a t various
figures from a n tiq u ity - Hermes, the Cumaean syb il, and V irg il among
them - were in fa ct C elts, born among the D ruids, and schooled in th eir
language. The letters o f the ancient Irish language were given the names o f
trees and the oldest o f these alphabets was the Ogham alphabet know n by
the names o f its firs t three letters, ‘b eth -lu is-n io n .’ He to o k the leaf
m etaphor lite ra lly, claim ing th a t the prophecies o f the sybils had been
noted on tree leaves, thus proving th e ir relation to the D ruids. T his circu­
la r logic supported extensive claim s in H iggins’s texts, and he u ltim ately
concluded th a t the in sp ira tio n fo r the Egyptian hieroglyphics had come
from the ancient Irish alphabet.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Beith
SL B Boibel j B A A A A P i
_L L Loth L Luis 3 E 3 E ft
X F Foran N N uin * F 1 I 1
S Salia \ F Fearan H
N 3 K
N N eaigadon L S Suil l J
tf if L >1
D Daibhoith > D D u ir ) K M M \M
&
T Teilm on ( T Tinne NI L U N \A
C oll .
H. C Casi GS C A \ M A P $
£ M M oiria <5 . M M uin
M N q r A
i G Gath G
P
G ort
Poth
A P Z S *
P — q R f T X
a R Ruibe 7 \) R Ruis
z S V u V
A Acab \L Z A A ilim T
t
0 Ose A ')
0 On
x
Godfrey Higgins, Tree alphabet, r U Ura AV U Ux F ig. 12.
>—
3 E Esu E Eactha
yYy
names and forms {The Celtic
J Jaichim '7 J Jodha > 111r Y—
p—T11T H^ f fi FH-
f-
Druids, London, 1829) %

H iggins w ork, however, had its precedents, and was clearly w ith in a
n a tio n a listic tra d itio n . A nother p osition w hich waxed and waned in popu­
la rity in texts on the origins o f w ritin g was the claim o f China and
Chinese characters to great antiquity. Pliny Earle Chase, in Remarks on
the A sia tic O rig in o f the A lphabet (1863), to o k up the theme proposed in
the earlier w ork o f G ebelin, Joseph Webb, and M . de Guignes, who had
suggested links between hieroglyphic symbols and Chinese characters.
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives of History

Chase d id not only see a connection, he granted p rio rity to the Chinese,
thus contradicting centuries’ earlier theories w hich had asserted th at
C hina had been settled a colony o f Egypt. Chase had been struck by the
etym ological coincidences among form s o f Chinese and English, even
extending to the s im ila rity o f le tte r form s. He firm ly believed th a t by
studying the Chinese radicals an o rig in a l alphabet m ight be discovered.
He noted the s im ila rity between the letters ‘O ’ and ‘U ’ and the shape o f
the m outh in pronouncing them w hich he in tu rn associated w ith the
Chinese form s w hich represented the m outh, eye, o r the idea o f ‘revolv­
ing .5 O n such slim evidence he b u ilt his case, finishing his w ork w ith a
com parison o f Phoenician ‘ancient letters 5 and th e ir Chinese archetypes.
There was n o t a scrap o f h isto rica l evidence to support Chase’s propo­
sitions, but he was not alone in asserting either the great a n tiq u ity o f
Chinese w ritin g o r in seeing connections w ith hieroglyphics based on a
perceived conceptual sim ilarity. Chinese characters have been dated in to
the second m illennium BC, m aking them more o r less contem porary w ith
certain cuneiform , hieroglyphic and early alphabetic form s, but evidence
fo r much older w ritin g is as scarce as evidence fo r early contact w ith the
Egyptians o r the use o f hieroglyphics as a source fo r Chinese w ritin g . The
c u lt o f C hinoiserie and the projection o f exoticism and m ystery onto the
Chinese culture no doubt had a p a rt in fu eling Chase’s im agination, and
by bestowing a remote and ancient h istory on Chinese w ritin g he fore­
stalled objections w ith a cloud o f obscurity.
In another scheme w hich linked Chinese characters, hieroglyphics and
the letters o f the alphabet, M oreau de D am m artin had proposed a shared
astrological basis fo r a ll o f these w ritin g form s. Stating th a t he wished to
dem onstrate a ‘comm on source in astronom y fo r a ll form s o f w ritin g ,’
D am m artin set o ut an elegant i f farfetched scheme in his 1839 p u b lica tion ,
O rigine de la form e des Caracteres Alpkabetiques de toutes les N a tio n s...
S tarting from the calculation th a t there were th irty -s ix constellations in
a dd itio n to the zodiac, and th a t tw enty-tw o o f these were in the northern
hemisphere - where w ritin g had originated - D am m artin linked the fu n ­
dam ental tw enty-tw o letters o f the alphabet w ith an equal num ber o f
basic characters and hieroglyphics. Aleph was the firs t le tte r because
Taurus, the b u ll, had been the zodiacal sign in ascendency d urin g the p e ri­
od in w hich w ritin g was invented, about 4,400 years earlier (around 2500
BC), thus casting a strong influence on the entire system. Letter by letter
D am m artin explored the sim ilarities between constellations w hich had
been the basis o f the alphabetic fo rm and the Chinese characters.
U ltim a te ly he linked these tw enty-tw o figures to the elements in the
Kabbalah, including the sym bolism o f T aro t, the greater Arcana and
num erical values as w ell.
The idea o f the constellations as the basis o f le tte r form s found at least
one other advocate in the 19th century, Lethierry-B arrois. H is proposal
was modest by contrast to th a t o f D am m artin, lim ite d to the observation
th a t there were lin ks established by the Hebrews themselves between the
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

276

Moreau de Dammartin's
cosmological derivation of all
writing from astrological sources
(Origine de la Forme des
Caracteres, Paris, 1839) (By cour­
tesy of the New York Public
Library)
 The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

signs o f the zodiac and the letters o f the H ebrew alphabet. W hile m ost o f
the support fo r such associations points to the kabbalistic tra d itio n s which
are much later in date than the invention o f w ritin g , Leth ierry-B a rro is’s
cosm ological relations and equivalences served more as the basis o f a sp ir­
itu a l te xt than as an explanation o f alphabet origins.
However, the so rt o f co nflation o f T arot, astrology, num erology and
kabbalistic sym bolism w hich was evident in both his w ork and th at o f
D am m artin led to the increasingly widespread pop ularizatio n o f occult
practices. The activities o f Eliaphas Levi (Adolphe C onstant), Adolphe
Desbarolles, and Gerard Encausse and others were only the h ig h ly visible
sign o f a rather large movement w hich was spreading fascination w ith
concepts of. magnetism, hypnotism , s p irit w ritin g , and occult diversions
through the lecture c irc u it, sm all societies, and private parlors. The occult
esotericism o f secret societies had become the basis o f entertainm ent, dis­
tra c tio n , sp iritu a l quests and charlatanism among a ll classes, reaching a
w ider audience than ever before. M ystery and m ysticism continued to
haunt texts on the alphabet w ith im m odest and unprovable propositions
about the cosm ological and universal nature o f its sym bolic form s. The
w ork o f Em ile Soldi, published in 1900, was o f this nature. La Langue
Sacree, p a rt o f an extended series o f w orks on the s p iritu a l origins o f
hum an thought and cu lt practices, employed a curious blend o f archaeo­
logical m aterial and single-m inded occult sensibility.
S oldi’s language was steeped in evolutionary m etaphors and the techni­
cal jargon o f expeditions, excavations and anthropological relativism . He
stated th a t w ritin g went through three stages o f evolution, fro m divine
signs o r cosm oglyphie, to phonetic w ritin g in w hich cosmic ideograms
became syllabic signs (no doubt paralleling the emergence o f am phibians
from the p rim a l sea and th e ir adaptation to life on d ry land), and thence
perfected its e lf in the fo rm o f the alphabet. U nid ire ction al, m onogenetic,
and reductive, S oldi’s theory was bolstered in his te xt by a plethora o f
examples in w hich he could trace the universal use o f signs fro m one cu l­
ture to another. T his com m onality established the cosm ological sig n ifi­
cance o f the form : it was a self-evident fa ct o f the universe w hich had
become apparent to hum ankind and thus incorporated in sym bolism
w orldw ide. Soldi protested against reference to the term s ‘Japhetite,
Semite and C ham ite’ on the basis th a t they were anti-scie n tific, but he
happily subscribed to the concept o f a single prim eval language, nam ely
Egypto-Sum erian, from w hich a ll language and w ritin g had sprung. To
prove his p o in t, Soldi traced the origins o f the le tte r ‘S’ through images o f
a ‘dorsal spine,’ a stele, a tree, a tom b, a support and colum n, a sceptre
and so fo rth in a series o f m utations w hich moved between E gyptian,
Babylonian and b ib lica l sources. T his discussion o f the ‘S’ wove together
an elaborate system o f lin g u istic values lin k in g an ancient Sumerian ro o t,
Sam, w ith another ro o t, Tat, so th a t iconographic and graphic elements
became loaded w ith lexical value fin a lly residing in the Hebrew Samek.
The p rim o rd ia l u n ity o f a ll hum an tongues was once again the conceptual
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

fram ew ork w ith w hich a ll the various strains o f thought and evidence
m ust be made to conform . S oldi’s w ork dem onstrated the chameleon qual­
ity o f m ystical w rite rs as w ell as th a t o f scholars, since he found it useful
to adopt the term inology o f his auth orita tive contem poraries in the elabo­
ra tio n o f his own idiosyncratic scheme to recover the o rig in a l
‘Cosm oglyphs .’ 17
The alphabet fostered im aginative speculation in the realm o f occult or
cosm ological w rite rs long afte r its h isto rica l origins were being traced to
scratched surfaces in the Sinai peninsula. But there were also w rite rs who
found the practicality, efficiency and fu n ctio n a l character o f the alphabet
equally w orth y o f high praise - and equally m ysterious. L uther M arsh, a
w rite r whose sole c o n trib u tio n to the historiography o f alphabet sym bol­
ism seems to be a short ta lk presented fo r the N ew York H is to ric a l Society
in November, 1885, praised both the dem ocratic character o f the alphabet
- ‘it was given to a ll’ - and its inexhaustible power. ‘H ow triv ia l these
sym bols lo o k and the sim plest things we show to childhood. But a sleep­
ing force lies w ith in them w hich revolutionizes the w o rld .’ The power o f
the alphabet resided in its capacity to p u ll thoughts ‘flo a tin g in ether,
intangible s p iritu a l substances’ in to a fo rm w hich could be kept forever.
Was it a divine invention? M arsh refused to concede th a t hum an invention
was incapable o f so supreme an achievement, but he hedged his response,
stating th a t ‘if some o ld Cadmus o f a trilo b ite , or a toadstool, a radiate, a
beetle o r a m ollusk, had invented the alphabet aeons before the
Phoenicians arose’ , then at least a hum an being m ight know to w hich o f
the w ild creatures it w ould be appropriate to ‘lif t a hat, w ith filia l
respect...’ when w alking through the fields. M arsh’s hum or was tempered
w ith profound theological convictions. The highest task o f w ritin g was fo r
him to ‘g lo ry in the Sacred W ord.’ B ut the m ost m iraculous feature o f the
letters in his eyes was the fa ct th a t these few sym bols, w ith th e ir in fin ite
com binations, w ould never be exhausted, th a t knowledge o f a ll aspects o f
hum an endeavor could ‘find th e ir home, th e ir record, th e ir perpetuation in
and only in these few sym bols o f the ALPH AB ET.’ B ut even if the actual
monuments in w hich the alphabet was used disappeared, i f the documents
o f people anxious to ‘flo a t down the stream o f tim e some relic o f th e ir
doings,’ crum bled in to dust, s till th e ir existence and h isto ry w ould rem ain
‘in the grasp o f the A lphabet.’ N icely a rtic u la tin g the crucial stim ulus to
fascination w ith the h isto ry o f the alphabet, M arsh stressed th a t the
alphabet its e lf was the repository o f history, n o t only its instrum ent or
means.
20TH CENTURY: ECLECTICISM, TECHNOLOGY AN D
THE IDIOSYNCRATIC IM AG IN ATIO N

Archaeological and lin g u istic discoveries w hich provided m ajor tu rn in g

points in conceptualizing the h isto ry and developm ent of the
alphabet occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the w ork o f
M a rk Lidzabarksi, Flinders Petrie, G odfrey D river, and m any other
researchers.1 There are m any points s till open to debate concerning the
dates and sites o f the o rig in o f the alphabet in the geographical region
stretching along the M editerranean coast fro m the Sinai peninsula to the
southern edge o f Asia M in o r and its transm ission in to Crete, areas o f
Greece, and the Ita lia n peninsula .2 But the general outlines o f th a t h isto ry
are accepted w ith in the com m unity o f scholars whose w ork focuses on this
research. The alphabet is assumed to have form ed in the synthesis o f
contacts between Egyptian w ritin g systems and cuneiform syllabaries
around the m iddle o f the second m illennium BC; it became stabilized
w ith in a few hundred years and diffused throughout the M editerranean
region, especially westward and northw ard, in to the regions o f present day
Greece and Italy, certainly by the 8th century BC; Am ong Greek speaking
peoples, the alphabet became m odified, acquiring a more com plete system
o f vowel n ota tion . B ut the visual form s o f the contem porary alphabet used
on these pages were derived from gradual transform ations by
stonemasons, scribes, and typographers in the subsequent tw o thousand
years.
W hile this early h isto ry o f the alphabet has become system atically cod­
ified - and even its areas o f controversy given fa m ilia r outlines - w ith in the
disciplines o f archaeology, Sem itic and Classical studies, the discussions o f
the sym bolic value o f the alphabet w hich are less firm ly grounded in the
conventions o f this scholarly tra d itio n have continued to p ro life rate . The
20 th century therefore has had its fu ll share o f independently conceived
theories on the value and m eaning o f the alphabet, some ca rrying on tra ­
ditio ns o f m ysticism , religio n o r ideological beliefs w hich have frequently
granted significance to the letters as a system o f fundam ental elements o r
keys to knowledge, history, o r revelation. Some o f these positions refused
to acknowledge archaeological o r lin g u istic evidence, w hile others made
free use o f such in fo rm a tio n as the basis o f speculative analysis. The w rit­
ers whose w ork appeared m ost idiosyncratic were often those w ith the
fewest lin ks to any p a rticu la r established tra d itio n o r com m unity and
whose im agination, rather than research, provided the larger p o rtio n o f
m otiva tion fo r th e ir w ork. W hat is in co ntro vertibly true, however, is th at
the fascination w hich the letters provide fo r speculation was undim inished
in the 2 0 th century, dem onstrating the powers o f the hum an m ind to
The Alphabet in the 19th Century: Advertising, Visible Speech and Narratives o f History

fram ew ork w ith w hich a ll the various strains o f thought and evidence
m ust be made to conform . S oldi’s w ork dem onstrated the chameleon qual­
ity o f m ystical w rite rs as w ell as th a t o f scholars, since he found it useful
to adopt the term inology o f his a uthoritative contem poraries in the elabo­
ra tio n o f his own idiosyncratic scheme to recover the o rig in a l
‘Cosm oglyphs.’ 17
The alphabet fostered im aginative speculation in the realm o f occult or
cosm ological w rite rs long a fter its h isto rica l origins were being traced to
scratched surfaces in the Sinai peninsula. But there were also w rite rs who
found the practicality, efficiency and fu n ctio n a l character o f the alphabet
equally w orth y o f high praise - and equally m ysterious. L uther M arsh, a
w rite r whose sole co n trib u tio n to the historiography o f alphabet sym bol­
ism seems to be a short ta lk presented fo r the N ew York H is to ric a l Society
in November, 1885, praised both the dem ocratic character o f the alphabet
- ‘it was given to a ll’ — and its inexhaustible power. ‘H ow triv ia l these
symbols lo o k and the sim plest things we show to childhood. But a sleep­
ing force lies w ith in them w hich revolutionizes the w o rld .’ The power o f
the alphabet resided in its capacity to p u ll thoughts ‘flo a tin g in ether,
intangible sp iritu a l substances’ in to a form w hich could be kept forever.
Was it a divine invention? M arsh refused to concede th a t hum an invention
was incapable o f so supreme an achievement, but he hedged his response,
stating th a t ‘if some o ld Cadmus o f a trilo b ite , or a toadstool, a radiate, a
beetle o r a m ollusk, had invented the alphabet aeons before the
Phoenicians arose’, then at least a hum an being m ig ht know to w hich o f
the w ild creatures it w ould be appropriate to ‘lif t a hat, w ith filia l
respect...’ when w alking through the fields. M arsh’s hum or was tempered
w ith profound theological convictions. The highest task o f w ritin g was fo r
him to ‘g lo ry in the Sacred W ord.’ But the m ost m iraculous feature o f the
letters in his eyes was the fa ct th a t these few sym bols, w ith th e ir in fin ite
com binations, w ould never be exhausted, th a t knowledge o f a ll aspects o f
hum an endeavor could ‘fin d th e ir home, th e ir record, th e ir perpetuation in
and only in these few sym bols o f the ALPH AB ET.’ B ut even if the actual
monuments in w hich the alphabet was used disappeared, i f the documents
o f people anxious to ‘flo a t down the stream o f tim e some relic o f th e ir
doings,’ crum bled in to dust, s till th e ir existence and h isto ry w ould rem ain
‘in the grasp o f the A lphabet.’ N icely a rticu la tin g the crucial stim ulus to
fascination w ith the h isto ry o f the alphabet, M arsh stressed th a t the
alphabet its e lf was the repository o f history, n ot only its instrum ent or
means.
20TH CENTURY: ECLECTICISM, TECHNOLOGY AN D
THE IDIOSYNCRATIC IM AG IN ATIO N

Archaeological and lin g u istic discoveries w hich provided m ajor tu rn in g

points in conceptualizing the h istory and developm ent of the
alphabet occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the w ork o f
M a rk Lidzabarksi, Flinders Petrie, G odfrey D river, and m any other
researchers.1 There are many points s till open to debate concerning the
dates and sites o f the o rig in o f the alphabet in the geographical region
stretching along the M editerranean coast from the Sinai peninsula to the
southern edge o f Asia M in o r and its transm ission in to Crete, areas o f
Greece, and the Ita lia n peninsula .2 But the general outlines o f th a t h istory
are accepted w ith in the com m unity o f scholars whose w ork focuses on this
research. The alphabet is assumed to have form ed in the synthesis o f
contacts between Egyptian w ritin g systems and cuneiform syllabaries
around the m iddle o f the second m illennium BC; it became stabilized
w ith in a few hundred years and diffused throughout the M editerranean
region, especially westward and northw ard, in to the regions o f present day
Greece and Italy, certainly by the 8th century BCv Am ong Greek speaking
peoples, the alphabet became m odified, acquiring a more com plete system
o f vowel n ota tion . But the visual form s o f the contem porary alphabet used
on these pages were derived fro m gradual transform ations by
stonemasons, scribes, and typographers in the subsequent tw o thousand
years.
W hile this early h isto ry o f the alphabet has become system atically cod­
ified - and even its areas o f controversy given fa m ilia r outlines - w ith in the
disciplines o f archaeology, Sem itic and Classical studies, the discussions o f
the sym bolic value o f the alphabet w hich are less firm ly grounded in the
conventions o f this scholarly tra d itio n have continued to p ro life rate . The
20th century therefore has had its fu ll share o f independently conceived
theories on the value and m eaning o f the alphabet, some carrying on tra ­
ditio ns o f m ysticism , religio n o r ideological beliefs .which have frequently
granted significance to the letters as a system o f fundam ental elements or
keys to knowledge, history, or revelation. Some o f these positions refused
to acknowledge archaeological o r lin g u istic evidence, w hile others made
free use o f such in fo rm a tio n as the basis o f speculative analysis. The w rit­
ers whose w ork appeared m ost idiosyncratic were often those w ith the
fewest lin ks to any p a rtic u la r established tra d itio n o r com m unity and
whose im agination, rather than research, provided the larger p o rtio n o f
m otivation fo r th e ir w ork. W hat is in co ntro vertibly true, however, is th at
the fascination w hich the letters provide fo r speculation was undim inished
in the 20th century, dem onstrating the powers o f the hum an m ind to
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

project an u n lim ite d num ber o f varied interpretations onto the schematic
form s o f the alphabet.
Finally, it was in the 20th century th a t Franz D o rn se iff published his
densely unique co n trib u tio n to alphabet historiography, Das A lphabet in
M y s tik und M agie. F irst drafted as a m aster’s thesis in 1916, D o rn s e iff’s
te xt was published in its fu ll fo rm in Leipzig in 1922. H is was the firs t
attem pt to chart the several tra d itio n s w ith in w hich the alphabet had been
interpreted as a sym bolic, rather than merely lin g u istic, form . U n til the
present p ub lica tion , it was alm ost the only te x t w hich had examined the
place o f the alphabet w ith in G nosticism , Pythagoreanism, the Kabbalah
and so fo rth in order to trace a h isto ry o f ideas across the field o f disci­
plines in w hich the alphabet has been granted sym bolic value .3

Electronic media and typographic form

W hile there were many stylistic innovations in typography and design

throughout the early 20th century, none o f these involved a radical recon­
ceptualization o f le tte r form s in either theoretical or p ra ctical term s u n til
the developm ent o f photographic and, even more particula rly, electronic
methods o f p roduction entered in to play. U n til the m iddle o f the 20th cen­
tury, com m ercial printers continued to rely p rim a rily on conventional
m ethods o f com posing type, either through linotype and m onotype high­
speed casting o f m etal, or, fo r specialized p ro duction, engraved plates,
rotogravure, o r lithographed reproductions. Photography had become an
integral instrum ent o f the p rin tin g trade, but it was n ot used extensively in
the actual com position o f type u n til after m id-century.
Prototypes fo r photographic type com position machines had been
developed experim entally as early as the late 19th century. The firs t p hoto­
typesetter used fo r production was th a t o f A.E. Bawtree, based on a m odel
patented in England in 1856.4 In 1919 and 1922 respectively, PhotoLine and
P hotoLinotype machines were introduced by the D u lto n and Robertson
Companies consisting o f cameras w ith film o r glass m atrices. But the firs t
phototypesetting machine w hich was actually m arketed was shown in
a 1950 p rin tin g exposition in Chicago. T his Intertype Fotosetter made use
o f negative images o f the letters on film w hich generate type through
successive exposures o f one le tte r after another on a photosensitive paper
o r film . By the end o f the 1950s such machines began to fin d th e ir place
w ith in the p rin tin g industry, though widespread use awaited improvements
lin k in g electronic innovations in w ord processing to phototypesetting
production.
W hile p u ttin g photographic methods at the service o f the typesetting
in d u stry brought both new problem s (d isto rtio n , unevenness o f co lo r
ow ing to chem ical baths, clum sy procedures fo r m aking corrections) and
new solutions (in fin ite supply, speed o f com position, and ready access) to
the p rin te r, the new technology d id n ot cause a radical reconceptualization
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

We know not when, and we cannot c o f letters. The variety in type form s made possible through photography
there dawned upon some mind the £
which people uttered are expressed I included useful ranges in size, scale, and even slanting o r d is to rtin g o f
Hence, what better plan than to sel
from the big and confused mass ol letters. B ut these were frequently based on a single negative image and the
and all their kin, a certain number <
to denote, unvaryingly, certain soui variations were produced through o ptica l means. The lim its o f such trans­
That was the birth of the alphabet, one o
and most momentous triumphs of the hu form ations were those imposed by the m echanical m anipulation o f the
We know not when, ana we canno
there dawned upon some mind thi negative w ith photographic techniques, such as the use o f an anam orphic
which people uttered are expresse
Hence,what better plan than to se lens. The letters were s till very much visual form s. M uch w ork went in to
from the big and confused mass o
and all their kin, a certain number of si( the designs o f such innovative typographers as A d ria n F rutiger and
to denote, unvaryingly, certain sounds?
That was the birth of the alphabet, one i H erm an Z a p f in adapting conventional letters to the peculiarities o f the
and most momentous triumphs of the hu
We know not when, and we cannc photographic process, but the problem s they faced were the same problems
there dawned upon some mind th<
which people uttered are expre o f adapting designs to sm all and large p o in t sizes, harm ony between ita lic
Hence, what better plan than tc
from the big and confused mas and rom an letters in a single face, and aesthetic solutions to problem s o f
and all their kin, a certain numl
le g ib ility w hich had been the concern o f type designers since the 15th
Univers, optical font designed by century - and calligraphers fo r centuries before th at.
Adrian Frutiger

itc Galliard c c y *

ABC D EFG H IJKLM N O P

QRSTUVWXYZ&CABCDEFGH
IJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXTZ
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS
TUVWXY&Z
abcdefghijklmnopqr^b’
uvwxyzj
abcdefghijklmnopqrstj
a m w x y z ^

Galliard, optical font designed. (7j*

by Matthew Carter
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

A substantial conceptual change occurred w ith the in tro d u ctio n o f

d ig ita l designs treating letters as in fo rm a tio n rather than as visual images.
The nature o f the alphabetic form s came under investigation in the
com bined e fforts o f m athem aticians and designers. One such team
consisted o f D onald K nuth and typographers Charles Bigelow and K ris
Holm es (though K nuth had in p u t from a num ber o f other designers, such
as Z a p f and M atthew C arter and R ichard S outhall in the course o f
producing his T E X and M E T A F O N T designs). The questions raised went
to the very heart o f philosophical speculation on the id e n tity o f letters -
was the alphabet a set o f discrete elements, each w ith an essential id e n tity
w hich could be coded in to a m athem atical equation? O r was it a set o f
m arks w hich gained th e ir id e n tity through d iffe re n tia tio n fro m each other,
composed o f a num ber o f elem ental parts (strokes, bow ls, cross-bars) in
com binations w hich m ust rem ain visua lly d istin ct fro m each other but had
no essential form ? The answers to these questions had im p lica tio ns fo r the
storage o f letters, program s fo r design, and methods o f constructing
devices fo r o ptica l character recognition.

Computer fonts: Donald Knuth's

diagrams. Computer Modern
Typefaces, Menlo Park, CA, 1981

U ltim a te ly the fle x ib ility o f the electronic m edium is such th a t letters

have been designed using a ll o f these various param eters: they can be
considered sim ply stroke patterns in w hich case the only variable is the
thickness o f the lines m aking up th e ir stick-figure form s, as patterns o f
pixels (which have no id e n tity beyond the values assigned to each p o in t in
the image, as in the analogy o f yarn m aking up a tapestry), o r as polygons
whose outlines are configured by a set o f points w hich define the curves and
 20th Century: Edecticism( Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

lines w hich make up the com plex positive and negative shapes o f le tte r
form s (such points can be m anipulated the way nails used to stretch an
elastic thread may be moved to reconfigure a form ed p attern). The contrast
between the attitudes o f teachers o f penmanship w ith th e ir emphasis on
the strokes form ed by m uscular movements and th a t o f designers m aking
patterned surfaces out o f m odular elements has been extended in the 20th -
century electronic vocabulary to include designs w hich im ita te pen move­
ments (called ductal letters) and designs w hich m utate le tte r form s through
the illu s o ry dim ensions o f electronic space in accord only w ith the logic o f
electronic data processing.

Stroke font, pixel font, polygon

parametric font diagrams

The first B uses straight lines; the

second combines straight lines
and arcs

The m ost recent design innovations in electronic type design involve

the p roduction o f what are term ed m ultiple-m aster fonts. In these fonts a
range o f letter form s may be generated w hich cover the fu ll spectrum
between se rif and sans-serif versions o f a single design. The letters are gen­
erated from a num ber o f inter-related parameters which m od ify the design
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

in each o f its versions, rather than w orking from a single base design. The
end result is a le tter fo rm w hich is more adaptable to the electronic envi­
ronm ent than those adopted fro m o ptica l or photographic models. The
possibilities fo r producing innovative and o rig in a l form s o f letters has
never been greater, o r accessible to m ore ind ivid ua ls, since the com puter
combines the freedom o f calligraphic draw ing w ith the reproductive
capabilities o f photography and the generative power o f electronic data
processing.

Adobe's multiple master font,

1992
OO O O 0 0 0 0

OO O O 0 0 0 0

O O O O 0 0 0 0

O O O O 0 0 0 0

O O O O 0 0 0 0

O O o O O 0 0 0 0

O O o 0 0 0 0 0 0
O O o 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0
284

O O 0 0 0 0
O O 0 0 0 0 0 0
AA 4 > - ^ O O 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
< \
0 0 0 0 0 \ f\

0 0 0 0 0 0
Manipulated letter form to show n
electronic capabilities O O V / 0 0 0 0 0 0

Avant-Garde typography
T H '4,re m - M IHSSL
Poster by Ilia Zdanovich, Soiree
du Coeur d Barbe, Paris) 1923
miff «H<utk i tm tn let gmkHont dt ritih l
a lodcur de ctndit frolde vanllle suctir menagerie
•n lap liu lu pwci net in CKl«l f4»fr*phlqaH
I’ttendard cravatte
5 4 JS3 14:4 formule la reflexion
' .lapoap/t iv u It tetemttm' O.«.««•*
crime 4 Hiorizon 2 accidents chanson pour vioton
(e viol sous rean
Tristan Tzara 'Bulletin' Dada
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination
Experim ents in the use, design, and m anipulation o f letterform s p ro lif­
erated among artists active in the many avant-garde groups o f the early
20th century. In paintings, posters, handbills, sm all magazines and inde­
pendently produced books, artists broke w ith the standard form s o f typ o ­
graphic design and liberated le tte r form s as visual elements through ra d i­
cal design strategies.
Am ong C ubist artists, the invention o f collage techniques w hich appro­
priated m aterial from p op ular media are dated to Pablo Picasso’s 1912
S till L ife w ith C hair C aning, a w ork w hich integrated mass produced
paper and hand painted le tte rin g im ita tin g the title o f a d a ily jo u rn a l in to
the painted canvas. In the years im m ediately fo llo w in g , Picasso and his
studio m ate, Georges Braques, produced dozens o f collage w orks m aking
use o f p rinted m aterials, some o f w hich retained th e ir verbal le g ib ility and
many o f w hich sim ply became the basis o f more abstract designs.5 A t the
same tim e F u tu rist artists in Russia and Italy, as w ell as others experim ent­
ing in Germ any and the U nited States, picked up on these techniques and
made use o f them fo r th e ir own stylistic innovations. The result was the
p roduction o f w orks o f visual a rt whose inco rp o ra tion o f verbal elements
- whether hand painted o r collaged - helped to call a ttention to the tw o-
dim ensional surface o f the picture plane, co n trib u tin g to the destruction
o f the illu s o ry q u a lity o f p ic to ria l space w hich had been a feature o f
W estern p a in tin g since the Renaissance.6
Am ong w rite rs, the ca ll fo r experim entation was in p a rt a continua­
tio n o f the w ork o f late 19th century Sym bolist poets, especially Stephane
M allarm e , whose own typographically radical w ork, A T hrow o f the D ice,
firs t appeared in p rin t according to its o rig in a l designs in 1914. B ut a more
im m ediate im petus came from the Ita lia n F u tu rist poet, F ilip p o M a rin e tti,
whose m anifesto o f 1909 called fo r inventions in every a rtfo rm . M a rin e tti
wanted to make a d istin ct break w ith the nostalgic w orks linked to the
past and invent m odern w orks fo r the future. In typographic term s, this
called fo r jettison in g the hig hly decorative pages o f V icto ria n design, w ith
th e ir predom inantly flo ra l and organic m otifs, in favor o f a m athem atical­
ly precise and stream lined mode. M a rin e tti’s own publications such as the
1914 Zang Tum b Tuuum and 1919 Words in L ib e rty made use o f m u ltip le
fonts, sizes, and scattered the words on the page in a visual im ita tio n o f
onom atopoeic devices. M a rin e tti had a w ide influence, n o t o nly among
Ita lia n a rtists, but throughout Western Europe and Russia.
Am ong the Russian poets, V e lim ir Khlebnikov, Aleksander Kruchenyk,
****«,:
and V la d im ir M ayakovsky were some o f the firs t to be seriously involved
in experim enting w ith the visual presentation o f te xt on the page.
K hlebnikov and Kruchenyk, in th e ir 1912 essays, T h e Letter as Such’ and
T h e W ord as Such’ la id o u t an extensive theoretical agenda fo r ta king the
visual, m aterial fo rm o f language in to account in poetic practice. T h e ir
w ork verged on the m ystical, w ith K hlebnikov in p a rtic u la r claim ing
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

insight in to the significant value o f the le tter form s. But other Russian
w rite rs, p a rtic u la rly those involved in creating w hat they called a ‘trans-
m ental* language, zaum , were m otivated by an investigation o f lin g u istic
structure. Ilia Zdanevich, fo r instance, made use o f typographic m anipula­
tions to isolate units o f both visual and sound value in a suggestive pun­
ning play o f verbal presentation. Zdanevich’s m ost accom plished piece in
this realm , a w ork title d Ledentu as Beacon, appeared in 1923, the same
year as the better know n and equally visually s trik in g For the Voice. T his
la tte r w ork was designed by the Russian C onstructivist typographer, Lazar
El Lissitzky, from a te xt by Mayakovsky, and dem onstrated many o f the
characteristics w hich became typ ica l o f Soviet design: use o f diagonals,
s trik in g black and red contrasts, changes o f scale, and a hard, geom etric
basis fo r the layout o f the pages.
The Dada artists whose activities were firs t in itia te d in Z u rich in the
m idst o f the F irst W orld W ar also made use o f typographic innovations to
give the 19th-century advertising (m ixed faces, sizes, and the use o f sm all
graphic elements such as p o in tin g hands, arrows and so fo rth ), they estab­
lished a visible p ro file through p ub lica tion o f many ephemeral w orks.
H an db ills and posters were p a rtic u la rly useful as a means o f p rom oting
th e ir activities, and the graphic techniques used in the s trik in g designs o f
these pieces became incorporated in to the pages o f D ada, one o f the m ajor
publications o f the loosely associated group. Dada style was borrow ed,
m odified, and diffused among many avant-garde artists in Europe
throughout the late 1910s and in to the 1920s. Several o f the im p o rta n t
a rtists associated w ith these practices later became involved in teaching at
the Bauhaus, o r in other in s titu tio n s where th e ir w ork la id the foundation
fo r the m ainstream tra d itio n s o f 20th-century graphic design. One effect
o f the avant-garde artists was to incorporate elements o f self-conscious
experim ent, form erly more lim ite d to advertising w ork, in to the design o f
the e d ito ria l pages o f lite ra ry and jo u rn a listic publications. M ore funda­
m entally, th e ir w ork called atte ntio n to the visual representation o f lan ­
guage as an element in the p roduction o f verbal m eaning .7

New Narratives o f History

As m entioned above, the m ainstream narrative o f the o rig in and devel­

opm ent o f the alphabet became standardized in the 20th-century in the
archaeological and lin g u istic disciplines w hich focused th e ir study on the
early civiliza tio n s o f the ancient M id d le and N ear East.8 One area o f ten­
sion in this narrative rem ained. T his was a refo rm u la tio n o f the o ld con­
flic t between those who believed in a single p o in t o f o rig in fo r the alphabet
(though few scholars continued to support a m onogenetic source fo r a ll
form s o f w ritin g ) and a more diffuse process o f creation. T his la tte r posi­
tio n was m ost strongly supported by the w ork o f Flinders Petrie in the
early decades o f the 20th century. H is discovery o f the widespread use o f
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

schematic signs from a shared signary around the edges o f the

M editerranean argued against any clear p ic to ria l precedent in hieroglyph­
ic prototypes and against a single geographic location fo r the developm ent
o f the alphabet. O ther scholars, such as G odfrey D river, Ignace Gelb and
D avid D iring e r, and later, Joseph Naveh continued to w ork o u t the details
o f a m odel w hich in essence b u ilt on the premises supplied by Emmanuel
de Rouge and Isaac Taylor. T his was essentially th a t the alphabet had been
developed in a more localized region in w hich Sem itic-speaking people
were exposed to both cuneiform syllabaries and hieroglyphic signs w hich
provided the conceptual and practical tools on w hich to develop an alpha­
betic system. Support fo r Petrie’s position d id n o t gain m om entum in the
course o f the century, though at the same, arguments fo r a single p a rticu ­
la r p o in t o f o rig in fo r the alphabet (namely the Sinai peninsula) w hich had
provided so satisfying a solution to scholars s till hoping to reconcile
archaeological knowledge and b ib lica l tra d itio n s were also q ualified. As
stated above, a region, the eastern coast o f the M editerranean, and a gen­
eral chronological period, the firs t h a lf o f the second m illen n iu m BC, are
now considered the tim e and place o f the developm ent o f the Sem itic
alphabet from w hich a ll other extant alphabetic systems derived.
O utside o f this m ainstream , alternative narratives o f alphabet h istory
continued to be p u t fo rth , often by scholars w ith partisan interests. Some
o f the m ost popular areas fo r such a ctivity were not in the h isto ry o f the
alphabet proper but in the study o f those offshoots o f the alphabet associ­
ated w ith esoteric tra d itio n s, such as Runic scripts. But alternative narra­
tives o f alphabet o rig in , developm ent, o r sym bolic value arose along as
w ide a spectrum o f thought in the 20th century as in any other.
The w ork o f L.A .W addell was produced in support o f the ideological
stance revealed in its title , The A ryan O rig in o f the A lphabet. Published in
1927, W addell’s te xt had a single m ajor agenda: to prove th a t the alphabet
had been invented by the Sumero-Phoenicians, and th a t they were in no
way connected w ith the Sem itic people in th a t region, to whom they were,
according to W addell, vastly superior. W addell’s te xt is a w ork o f facile
d is to rtio n , readily reorganizing h isto rica l facts to su it his p o litic a l stance,
and the in te rp re ta tio n o f the in d ivid u a l letters he brought fo rth to support
his argum ent was h ig hly idiosyncratic. A ccording to W addell, T ho th was
actually T hor, the firs t Sum ero-G othic king. T his p o in t was easily proved
in his opinio n by the s im ila rity o f names, a logical strategy w hich led him
to fu rth e r assert th a t K in g A r-T h u r was in fa ct also the same in d ivid u a l.
W ith this solid h isto rica l ground established, W addell stated th a t the firs t
form o f Sumerian w ritin g brought to the B ritish Isles around 400 BC had
been the Runes w hich retained many o f the features o f th e ir Sumerian
parentage. W addell believed th a t the greatest and m ost useful inventions
o f the hum an m ind had been Aryan. The tw o m ost im p o rta n t among
these, he asserted, paraphrasing the French philosopher M irabeau, were
w ritin g and money: ‘the comm on language o f intelligence and the other
the com m on language o f self-interest.’ To support his b la ta n tly anti-
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

Sem itic thesis, W addell assigned values to the letters w hich dem onstrated
his com plete disregard fo r lin g u is tic scholarship on the relations o f w rit­
ing, phonetics and speech. H is sym bolism was derived fro m a gratuitous
reading o f the signs as elements o f w hat he term ed the Sumerian language.

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The Sumerian scrip t was the oldest fo rm o f w ritin g in the
M esopotam ian region and its invention has been dated as early as 3100
BC .9 A form o f cuneiform , it had been one o f the scripts deciphered
through the efforts o f Georg G rotefend and H enry R aw linson, 19th-
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

a= wavelet, aquatic sign, associated w ith Asa, m eaning Lord, One

b= mass in division, to bisect

c= late, redundant le tte r

d= delta, from E gyptian hieroglyph fo r h ill

e- w ater canals, thus, to w ord fo r w ater in French eau; also, eye

f= serpents and fate

g= lever, balance and the w ord to give

h= from H am m urabi law code, associated w ith verb to cut

i = wooden bar

k= earth, a parent sign, diagram o f coat w ith collar, sleeves, s k irt

1= balance (Sumerian “ t” )

m = from pre-dynastic Egyptian sign fo r m ountain

n= cancelled out

o= sun, m oon, a w ell, a hole, opening or the verb to call out

p= early form o f shepherd’s crook, sta ff or scepter o f a leader

q= earliest form o f object called a “cue” in English

r = diagram o f the fo o t, Sumerian verb to run

s= fish or god o f the waters

t = to tear, an arrowhead or dart

w = pair o f ears, thus, to hear

X= a le tte r surrounded by m uch confusion

Waddell's Aryan values for the
y= Sem itic a ddition to the alphabet standing fo r Yehovah
letters of the alphabet (L. A.
Waddell, The Aryan Origin o f Z— battle axe, a jew el or a stone
the Alphabet, 19271

century Germ an and English scholars. M ainstream historians considered

the Sumerians ‘a people o f unknow n ethnic and lin g u istic a ffilia tio n ,’ and
by the end o f the th ird m illennium BC th e ir language had disappeared,
th e ir scrip t taken over by the lin g u istica lly Sem itic A kkadians .10 W addell,
however, invented his own h isto ry o f the script and the people to whom he
ascribed its developm ent. He blended Runes, A kkadian sym bols, and
Sumerian symbols in his cosm ology w ith o u t regard fo r the chronological
and c u ltu ra l discrepancies in his system. D escribing the relatio n between
the signs fo r T * and T h ’ he stated th a t in its R unic form the ‘D* sound was
transform ed through ‘the lengthening o f its stem where by the name o f the
firs t G othic K ing D a r o r D ur, became ‘T h o r.’ T his com pound le tter
survived in B rita in , W addell continued, and could be found on coins ‘o f the
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

Pre-Roman A ncient B rito n kin g Addedom aros, the Aedd-m aw r o f the

W elsh.’ He readily contradicted the w ork o f authorities like Isaac T aylor -
his discussion o f the ‘W ’ fo r instance begins by stating th a t T aylor m istak­
enly believed it to be a late sign, w hile in fa ct it was an Assyrian/Sum erian
sign fo r tw o ears, pronounced ‘Wa’ in which fo rm it had come to be the
basis o f the English w ord ‘hear.’

RU NES NAM ES V ALU ES ASSIG N ED BY G U ID O L IS T

k
fire - generation, fire-borer, property, livestock, to grow ,
fa, feh, feo wander, destroy; the p rim o rd ia l w ord; arising, being

h ur
eternity, prim a l fire prim al lig h t, p rim a l generation,
aurachs, resurrection

► thorr, thurs
thunder, thunderbolt, lig h tn in g flash, a threatening sign
but also thorn o f life (phallus)

A
m outh, arising, ash, ashes, the power o f speech, spiritual
os, as, ask, ast power w o rk in g through speech, bursting fetters

k
red, wheel, righ t, the solar-wheel, the p rim a l fire , God
r it, reith , rath itself, exalted introspective awareness o f the Aryans

w orld tree, Aryan trib a l tree, fem inine principle (kaun)

Y ka, kuan, ka the A ll in a purely sexual sense; blood, highest possession

X hagai
to enclose, the All-hedge, hail, to destroy; introspective
consciousness, to bear qualities o f God w ith in

* nuath, noth
need, compulsion o f fate, organic causality o f all phenom ­
ena; constraint o f clearly recognized way

1 is, ire , iro n

iron, doubtless consciousness o f personal power, a ll o f life
obedient to the com pelling w ill

nobles, the sun and lig h t to destroy spiritual and physical

A ar, sun, ar-yans darkness, doubt, uncertainty, p rim a l fire , God

sun, sal-vation, victory, colum n, school, the conquering

sol, sal, sul, si energy o f the creative spirit

t tyr, tar, tu rn
to tu rn , conceal, cap o f concealment, to generate, reborn
phoenix s p irit o f young sun-god

& bar, beor

b irth , the eternal life in which hum an life is one day, pre­
destination in the greatest sense

p rim al-law , defeat, life, dow nfall, in tu itive knowledge o f

la f, lagu, lo gr all organic essence,laws o f nature ,Aryan sacred teachings

r man, mon
moon, to m other, to increase, empty or dead, sanctified
sign o f propagation o f human race; “ ma” as m o thering

iris, bow, rain-bow, yew-wood bow, error, anger, in v e rt­

a yr, eur ed man rune; m uta b ility o f the moon (fem inine essence)

AT
law , horse, court, marriage, the concept o f lasting love on
eh the basis o f marriage, tw o bound by the prim al law o f life

Values assigned to the Runes by fyrfos or hooked cross or the gea, geo, earth, given o f life;
fyrfos o r ge the first a sign o f nuptually bound dieties, dyad o f
Guido List, The Secret o f the
spiritual/physical power; second a prim a l root fo r life
Runes, 1908
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

W addell’s interpretations fa ll apart at the very firs t in te rro g a tio n by

genuine scholarship, but the w ork o f G uido von L is t (the aristo cra tic m id­
dle term was his own a d d itio n to his given name) w ith respect to the
m eaning o f Runic form s was less vulnerable on this p o in t. L is t’s w ork had
in comm on w ith W addell’s a desire to legitim ize the ethnic o rig in and
m ythos o f the German people through the sym bolism o f a scrip t form .
L is t died in 1919, and his m ajor p u b lica tion , The Secret o f the Runes, was
published in 1908 in the context o f Pan-Germ anic enthusiasm fo r fo lk lo ric
m ysticism and revelations about the roots o f Germ an culture. L is t’s w ork
differed from W addell’s in its lack o f e x p lic it anti-S em itic statements: his
search fo r the ‘p rim a l language o f the Aryo-G erm anic people and th e ir
m ystery,’ provided m aterial later used by members o f the N a tio n a l
Socialist p a rty and th e ir leaders, but in the absence o f evidence, it is d iffi­
cu lt to know the extent to w hich th e ir practices w ould have been sanc­
tioned by L ist. Runes, however, supplied a c u lt sym bolism fo r the N azi
party, and the associations forged in th a t period were in p a rt draw n direct­
ly from the texts o f G uido L is t .11
L is t believed th a t the Runes were ‘w ord sym bols o f a p rehistoric age’
and th a t in th e ir sym bolism m ight be traced the ‘occult aspects o f origins
o f social and racial order.’ The theme o f a ‘lo st knowledge’ recoverable in
the in te rp re ta tio n o f a scrip t was a fa m ilia r one in alphabet sym bolism
and a potent force m otivating m ystico-m agical revelation. L is t divided the
Runes in to tw o classes, those w hich represented letters and were ‘holy
signs* o r ‘m agical characters’ and the ‘hieroglyphs,’ w hich were n o t script
symbols. H is in te rp re ta tio n o f his la tte r term provides an exam ple o f the
pseudo-etym ology by w hich he ‘recovered’ the A ryan roots o f language.
He traced the w ork to its purported o rig in a l ‘h iro g lif’ w hich he divided
in to ro o t words: ‘ir,’ ‘og,’ and ‘lif ; ’ these in tu rn he associated w ith three
prim al-w ords ‘ar,’ ‘ag,’ and ‘la f.’ These roots had m u ltip le layers o f mean­
ing each associated w ith one o f three stages o f being: arising, being, and
passing away. So th a t ‘ir/o g /lif’ contained a cycle o f values: ‘beginning/to
see/concealed life ’ and then ‘in a circle/increase/to live’ and fin a lly ‘e rro r/to
separate/conclude.’ H is cosm ology had been influenced by Eastern philos­
ophy - he elaborated on the task o f the ego to become a non-ego, fo r
instance - and his in te rp re ta tio n o f the eighteen script-sym bols he counted
as the o rig in a l Runes often had the q u a lity o f epigram m atic s p iritu a l
in stru ctio n : ‘The fourteenth rune says: F irst learn to steer, then dare the
sea-journey.’ The sources available to L is t were texts on Germ an m ytho­
logy and more overtly fictio na lize d versions o f the German antiq uities, but
the s p irit o f his w ork betrayed a substantial dose o f influence fro m the tw o
figures who exerted so pow erful a force on Germ an culture in the late 19th
century: R ichard Wagner and Friedrich N ietzsche .12 Runes have continued
to a ttra ct speculative interpretations in to the present, no doubt because
th e ir actual h isto ry remained obscure w ell in to the late 20th century and
because o f th e ir association w ith pagan practices in Scandinavia and the
B ritish Isles.13
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

N o t a ll 20th-century investigations o f the p rim a l origins o f scripts were

associated w ith supporters o f an A ryan agenda. The w ork o f R obert
Graves, such as The W hite Goddess firs t published in 1948, contained an
investigation o f the origins o f the B eth-Luis-N ion ancient Iris h tree alpha­
bet. Graves was searching fo r the unified o rig in o f poetic themes, such as
th a t o f the ‘w hite goddess’ o f his title . He found one fo rm o f this m yth in
an ancient Welsh poem th a t used the im agery o f the trees and th e ir names
as invoked in the B eth-Luis-N ion scrip t and the sim ila r B oibel-Loth
Ogham script. The alphabets contained slight variations on the sym bol­
ism o f the tree-names fo r the in d iv id u a l letters, and Graves was interested
in the origins o f this sym bolism . He traced the species names in these
scripts to the only geographic region in w hich he could account fo r them
a ll: the southern coast o f the Black Sea. T his is in fa ct one region through
w hich the R unic form s may have passed in th e ir geographical and fo rm a l
transform ation from Etruscan o r other Ita lic scripts in to the use among
G erm anic tribes. T urning his atte ntio n to the C eltic tra d itio n s in w hich
the alphabets were more im m ediately embedded, he discussed the tra d i­
tio n a l im agery o f trees as w arrio rs in the ancient Welsh m yth o f ‘The
B attle o f the Trees.’ This was a m etaphor, he explained, fo r the power o f
letters, each bearing the name o f a tree native to the B ritish Isles, and
betrayed one o f the sources fo r w hat Graves term ed ‘the h isto rica l gram ­
m ar o f poetic m yth .’ Graves’s poetic investigations d id n o t display the
same racialist biases as those o f L is t and W addell, but shared the single-
m inded search fo r u n ifyin g m yths and tra d itio n s w hich could be guaran­
teed through sym bolic inte rp re ta tio n o f an alphabet script.
Graves drew extensively on the w ork o f R obert O ’Flaherty, whose book
Ogygia provided source m aterial on D ru idism , inclu ding the sym bolism o f
the alphabet. Graves perceived a magic calendrical system in the trees
associated w ith the th irte en consonant sounds o f the tree-alphabet: the
Birch, Rowan, Ash, A lder, W illo w and so fo rth each associated w ith one o f
the m onths o f the lun ar calendar. Birch, the tree linked to the firs t letter, B
o r Beth, thus gave its name to the firs t m onth o f the year, from 24
December to 20 January.14 In his extended in te rp re ta tio n o f the sym bolic
value o f each o f these trees, Graves made use o f Classical sources as w ell
as m yths from the B ritish Isles. B irch was a ‘self-propagating tree’ whose
branches had been used fo r ‘flogging delinquents - fo rm e rly lunatics -
w ith the object o f expelling evil s p irits .’ Birch switches were also used fo r
‘ d rivin g o u t the s p irit o f the o ld year’ w hile the lic to rs accom panying
Roman consuls carried birch rods d urin g the in s ta lla tio n ceremony. Graves
d id n o t synthesize these various meanings, sim ply listed them to a cum ula­
tive effect fo r each o f the letters in the Irish tree alphabet.
The Hebrew alphabet, w ith its own sym bolic tra d itio n s, was also the
object o f speculative interpretations o f the kin d w hich had attached to
Runes, Ogham and ancient Irish . Rene Palaysi’s w ork V A lp h a b e t: Code
m ystique du langage et de la philosophie des Ancetres, published in 1945,
was w ritte n w ith fu ll cognizance o f developments in archaeology as w ell
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology 4nd the Idiosyncratic Imagination

as the various debates among Sem iticists and Classicists but then devel­
oped its own independent arguments. He began his w ork by c itin g the dis­
coveries made by French archaeologist Paul M o n te t, specifically the
A hiram tom b in scrip tio n (around 1923), and its contribu tion s to the theo­
ry o f the invention o f the alphabet. But rather than conclude as M o n te t
had th a t it pointed to a Phoenician o rig in , Palaysi brought the force o f tra ­
d itio n and other h isto rica l evidence to support his argum ent fo r a Hebrew
invention. Palaysi’s interpretations o f the in d ivid u a l letters, however, were
created fro m w ith in a subjective m ystical tra d itio n , rather than an archae­
ological one. He began w ith the statement th a t it was generally m ain­
tained th a t the alphabet was an a rb itra ry series o f letters in an order fixed
by convention. A ccording to Palaysi, however, the letters were a m ore p ro ­
found cosm ological system whose sequence was significant and whose
meanings were governed by hidden laws o f sound associations.
Palaysi created a ‘gram m ar’ o f elem ental units w hich was n o t concep­
tu a lly differen t from th a t o f other sound sym bolists - w hether o f the
C eltic, A ryan o r Saxon variety. Like many o f those authors, Palaysi p ro ­
ceeded fro m the peculiarly shortsighted pro po sition th a t the sym bolic val­
ues based on the o rig in a l Hebrew alphabet could be found in the associa­
tions suggested by words in the French language. Thus he granted ‘A’ the
value o f an ox, because it was a dom estic anim al essential fo r existence,
but claim ed the le tter had the philosophical value associated w ith
‘abstraction,’ ‘ acte,’ and ‘a tte n tio n .’ S im ilarly ‘B’ was associated w ith
‘besoin’ (need) ‘b u t’ (goal) ‘bete’ (beast) ‘balm e’ (balm ) and ‘b& ti’ (b u ilt);
‘ C’ was linked to the French words fo r consequence and knowledge (along
w ith the letters ‘G ,’ ‘K ,’ and ‘Q ’); ‘D ’ w ith determ inism , d irectio n and dis­
tance; ‘E’ w ith space, hearing, evolutionism ; ‘F’ w ith figure, fin a lity, foun­
dation and fo rm ; ‘H ’ w ith harm onize, hum anity and h isto ry; T ’/ ‘J’ w ith
idea, image and judgm ent; ‘L’ w ith language, law and lig h t; ‘M ’ w ith
m odality, measure and movement; ‘N ’ w ith b irth , nervousness and num - 293
ber; ‘O ’ w ith observation, operation, order; ‘P’ w ith p a rticu la rity, percep- —
tio n , perfection; ‘R ’ w ith ra p p o rt, research, reflexion; ‘S’ w ith science,
sagacity and sensation; ‘T ’ w ith tenacity, transform ation and trava il;
‘U ’/ ‘V ’/ ‘W ’ w ith unity, value and tru th . ‘X ’ was n ot a letter, Palaysi said,
but a Phoenician invention, w hile ‘Y ’ was the com bination o f ‘V ’ and ‘I ’
and thus the sum o f ve rity and intelligence; and ‘Z ’ was the crow ning o f ‘I ’
w ith intelligence, though he d id n o t make clear w hat the reason fo r this
last assessment m ight be.
Palaysi spelled out an extensive etym ology using this le tte r sym bolism ,
w hich he fe lt could be used as a key to the meaning o f words. As is
frequently the case in such idiosyncratic interpretations, Palaysi moved
freely between L a tin words, Hebrew roots, French term s and the associa­
tions he had p u t onto his le tte r symbols. For instance, he interpreted the
w ord ‘dog’ according to its L a tin spelling C AN IS , but in accord w ith a
vocabulary o f French words as in ‘C = qui connait’ (who knows) ‘A = q u i est
a tte n tif’ (who is attentive) ‘N = q u i re p ro d u it’ (who reproduces), ‘I= q u i est
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

in te llig e n t’ (is in te llig e n t), and ‘S =qui est savant’ (is know ing). Palaysi’s
F
v
it-7 Creun.
&&&■ R *8 HiUtte.
4
Fig. 9 Proto-Elimiki system was exhaustive and self-contained: he had supplied both the asso­
ciations on w hich it was based and the interpretations to w hich these asso­
&
Fig. 10 K j^ y ^ ^ ^ n ^ breiih . Fig. II S iniiilc. ciations m ight lead. Palaysi’s w ork was n o t really a narrative o f the h isto ry
o f the alphabet, but a sym bolic inte rp re ta tio n grounded in certain h is to ri­
vvuv cal associations, but it served as the basis fo r the w ork o f A lfre d K a llir in
his version o f the developm ent o f the alphabet.
A lfre d K a llir’s m ethod had som ething in com m on w ith 19th-century
n
"*244
rt
Fig. 245
B
Fig.246
scholar Soldi de Beaulieu who borrow ed from every conceivable archaeo­
At AVI V
Hebrew Kjojre. OinaiU-PhocakUa logical source regardless o f chronological o r geographical obstacles, and
B N ^l 4 See 3 traced a single, synthetic narrative o f alphabet developm ent and sym bol­
ICreun. II SouthSemitic A. I ll Phoenician A. IVUguKA. V North Scroll* A.
ism across this corpus o f documents. Though his interpretive fram ew ork
was K a llir’s ow n, he made reference to the w ork o f Fabre d ’O livet, as w ell
man raising his hands.

^03 <=553 as th a t o f Palaysi, in creating his study, Sign and Design: the Psychogenetic
Sources o f the A lphabet.15 Published in 1961, K a llir’s book proceeded
f V . & from the basic premise th a t the alphabet was a system o f ‘p rim o rd ia l signs
from the collective unconscious’ in w hich the ‘creation o f in d ivid u a l man
V Y m
3c* V as w ell as o f the hum an species’ was encoded in a sequence w hich was a
Fig. 291 Cretan.

^ ^ f ‘m agic chain o f procreative sym bols destined to safeguard the survival o f

Fig. 292 Cyprus. Fig.293 Enter bland.
the race.’ Though K a llir used the term ‘race’ his discussion had none o f
Y ^
Fig. 294 Chinese.
1 ?
Fig. 295 Old Hebrew**
the racial biases o f W addell’s o r L is t’s w ork, and he seems to have meant
the hum an species by the term , rather than one p a rtic u la r branch.
K a llir’s system drew on visual a rtifa cts from diverse Sources and tim e
* X *
Fig. 6J Indus valley script.
periods: proto-E lam ite, Assyrian, S inaitic, Cretan and hieroglyphic in
w hich he found com m on iconography. He used tw o principles, fo r w hich
Fig. 64 Crete.
he coined neologisms: sym ballic: meaning the ‘persistent concurrence’ o f
acoustic and visual features o f a le tte r sign, and acrocratic: m eaning the
m .
schematic o r sometimes p a rtia l representation to w hich a le tte r had often
Fig. 65 North Ametkan Indian. Fig. 66Eskimo been reduced from an o rig in a l draw ing. K a llir firm ly believed in the p ic to ­
294 ** ria l o rig in o f alphabetic form s, however schematic, and in the iconography
Fig.67 Ewe (West Africa): I, me.
o f these images he perceived a procreative narrative w hich also gave value
Signs and designs behind the to the sequence o f the letters.
origins o f letters according to K a llir’s narrative was e x p lic itly psycho-sexual. H e began his discussion
Alfred Kallir (Sign and Design, w ith the ‘A ,’ interpretin g the image o f the ox as an image o f v irility ; the
the Psychogenetic Origins o f the ‘horns’ in this glyph were an image o f the male member, w ith a ll the pow ­
Alphabet, London, 1961) ers associated w ith p h a llic penetration, piercing, ploughing. He cited
Freud’s discussion o f the furrow ed fie ld and ra p id ly linked it to the hiero­
glyphic image o f the plough as a sign used to indicate ‘love.’ The lis t o f
Sem itic words beginning w ith aleph w hich he selected as p ro o f were a ll
associated w ith p a te rn ity and v irility : father, creator, progenitor, firm ,
lo rd , male, and so fo rth , w hile in A rabic the vocabulary he chose was even
m ore e x p lic itly sexual, w ith its images o f p rickin g and fecundation. A sign
K a llir indicated had been used as a determ inative in E gyptian hieroglyph­
ics to indicate ‘A’ he associated w ith the w ord ‘to beget’ as w ell as w ith the
male member. In the R unic system, he w ent on, the firs t three letters were
associated w ith horned anim als as were the Devenagri sym bols fo r the
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

dipthongs a i9 ao, au. W ords beginning w ith these dipthongs had procre­
ative associations w ith predom inantly masculine imagery. K a llir proceed­
ed to elaborate examples from Greek, Sem itic, and children’s firs t efforts
at language in the fu ll scope o f his argum ent lin k in g the alpha w ith the
phallus, and any lateral extension in graphem ic fo rm w ith the erect and
procreative male member.
He follow ed his exam ination o f the sym bolism o f the ‘a^lalephlalpha
in its m any lin g u istic variations w ith a sim ila rly detailed investigation o f
the sym bolism o f ‘B \ T his was the image o f the fem inine, the vessel o f
wom anhood, ready to receive the procreative force o f the aleph, in the
wom b sym bolized by the ‘C .’ The cross stoke in the ‘G ’ w hich follow ed
indicated the act o f penetration o f the fem inine cavity by the male mem­
ber, w hile the sw elling curve o f the ‘D ’ was the grow ing wom b. ‘E’ was the
image o f the b irth process, w ith the ‘F’ as its com pletion and the ‘H ’ as
the icon o f rejoicing, w ith arms raised to heaven. These firs t eight letters
form ed a m icrocosm ic circle, follow ed by tw o others, composed o f the le t­
ters T through ‘N ’ and then ‘O ’ through ‘Z ’, each w ith th e ir own elabo­
rate sym bolic value.
K a llir believed th at the psyche was ‘timeless and eternal,’ and th a t the
use o f the alphabet in daily, pedestrian business guaranteed the circu la tio n
o f the basic in fo rm a tio n about hum an procreative cycles through the psy­
che. H is beliefs gave hum an m etaphoric fo rm to cosm ological theories
about the alphabet w hich had generally been fram ed in m ore abstract sp ir­
itu a l term s. R obert H o ffste in ’s book The English A lphabet (1973) returned
to this level o f abstraction in its imagery, and was close in s p irit to the
w ork o f Fabre d ’O livet and other w rite rs fo r whom the alphabet was the
em bodim ent o f the story o f C reation. H offste in was not a kabbalist, nor
was he concerned only w ith Jewish o r Hebrew sym bolism . H is approach
to the alphabet was to see in it the sym bology o f the W ord and to interpret
the letters as the seed, the lig h t, the fo undation, and s p irit o f hum anity
suffused w ith divine in sp ira tio n .
One aspect o f m ainstream interpretations o f the developm ent o f the
alphabet w hich acquired a new dim ension in the 20th century was the
reading o f the supposedly p ic to ria l images fro m w hich the schematic
form s o f the alphabet had originated. The names o f the letters had been
established in a n tiq u ity as a m nem onic device, according to the acrophon-
ic p rin cip le whereby a w ord beginning w ith th a t le tte r was used as its
name. The p ic to ria l im agery suggested by these words often led to the
confused b elief th a t the form s o f the letters had originated in more replete
p ic to ria l form s - a supposition fo r w hich there is no archaeological evi­
dence. The classic version o f this confusion frequently arose from the
h ab it o f show ing the named image and the associated le tte r in publica­
tions - such as the versions produced by Sir John Evans (father o f the
expert on pictographic scripts from Crete, A rth u r Evans) and A .C .
M oorhouse, in his more storybook version. T h e ir attem pts to make th e ir
own schematic drawings m atch the early Sem itic le tter was revealing -
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

both in th e ir co ntortions and the differences between the tw o solutions

they presented.

296

Depiction of words associated

with the names of the letters
which suggests a pictorial origin
for the alphabet, by Sir John
Evans (Sir Arthur Evans, Scripts
Minoa, Oxford, 1909)

Several w rite rs who considered themselves historians (rather than sp ir­

itu a lists o r m etaphysicians) believed th a t the letters had had a p ic to ria l
derivation. Am ong these was Joseph Bouuaert, whose Petite H isto ire de
I 3A lphabet was published in 1949. Bouuaert, like many other alphabet his­
torians, had an idea o f the logic o f developm ent he fe lt the letters m ust
have taken in th e ir graphic evolution. U nlike many o f his contem poraries,
he was n ot convinced th a t the alphabet had been derived from Egyptian
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

prototypes, but instead, he saw in the letters an independent graphic cre­

ation w hich had gradually become sim plified. Bouuaert fe lt th a t the letters
had o rig in a lly been more p ic to ria l, but had come to be increasingly
schematic, so th a t an o rig in a l image could be ide ntifie d in the rem nants o f
tra d itio n a l form s. Thus the ‘A’ fo r Bouuaert was w ith o u t question the sim ­
p lifie d fo rm o f the ox, w ith only its horns and head o u tlin e s till rem aining,
an image w hich perm itted associations to be made w ith an iconographic
o rig in a l. ^

Hieroglyphic Hieratic Sinaitic Biblical O ld Semitic

Picture-value Old Hebrew Phoenician Square-script
(ISOO-B.C.) (1500-6 C.) 345 Letter-names

Cow’s head * A1' ’Aleph

l ¥
2. Beth
Houie
es n e t }O B
-i Gimel
Camel
i t 346 i
Door -c r <1 *T Daleth
Depiction of the letters
71 He
suggesting pictorial origin,
Jubilation
t % & A
Waw
(A. C. Moorhouse, Development Rosette o o o T t 7
o f the Semitic Alphabet, 1953) Weapon cC O ^ 350
X T r Zayin

Lotus*flower
X ft n n Heth

Coiled snake
r & isflw 2 & ID Jeth

God Seth ) -z T *1 Yodh

Plant (Coat of Kaph

Arm* of U. Egyp t) £ D
Horizon
C ZD
-W VV''
i c i?
Lamedh

W ater 'V W V
''W W ^ 5
AAA y y 6 Mem

Water*serpent Nun
V s ' s r J
Fish k S T z D Samekh
F
Eye
00 0 9 y Ay in

Mouth
'z y d ? J 7 S3 Pe

Face Sade
& r a
Chart showing 'original' Animal’s belly — O f f p ’
Koph

hieroglyphic forms of letters

(Samuel B. Mercer, The
Head
b 1 n *7
Resh

Wood w Shin
w ID
Development o f Our Alphabet) 346
Life
t I. “F M t n
Taw

Perhaps the more interesting versions o f such p ic to ria l interpretations,

however, are those w hich read the alphabet as a cu ltu ra l code, as a set o f
sym bols representing the m ost essential and im p o rta n t elements o f the life
o f Sem itic peoples as envisioned by 20th-century historians. One o f these
was the w ork o f H u b e rt Skinner, published in 1905. The S tory o f Letters
and Figures was a more sophisticated w ork than its title w ould suggest,
and it was n o t aimed entirely at schoolchildren, but at synthesizing an
in te rp re ta tio n o f the alphabet as a c u ltu ra l system. Skinner believed in the
universal character o f hum anity, in needs, desires, and ideas w hich tran-
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

scended the lim ita tio n s o f history. Thus he proposed interpretations o f the
letters w hich often wove together the elements o f w hat he im agined was
Phoenician life w ith the lives o f English-speaking people o f the early 20th
century.
Skinner began by stating th a t it was ‘natural* th a t the ‘A* should both
represent the ox and be the firs t letter, since the ox was ‘the earliest frie n d
o f man among brute creation.’ From ancient tim es, he asserted, the ox and
cow had been the com panion o f civilize d people, helping them to subdue
the wilderness, pro vid ing m ilk and sustenance, assistance in cu ltiva tio n ,
a ll facts which were as true in the present, he stressed, as they had been in
the days o f barbarism . Skinner’s rh e to ric was steeped in the beliefs th a t
agrarian life , cu ltiva tio n o f the earth, and c iv iliz a tio n were in tim a te ly con­
nected, and th a t the images o f the letters w ould necessarily reveal this
because the alphabet was also an instrum ent o f c iv iliz a tio n . In this regard,
he echoed the 18th-century w rite rs who considered fa rm ing the basis o f
hum an culture, the m ost natu ra l and c iv il o f social conditions. Skinner’s
te xt moved through each o f the letters in tu rn , id e n tify in g th e ir iconogra­
phy and in terpretin g its place in the social order as a w hole. ‘B’ was n o t
m erely a house, but carried the idea o f a home and Skinner commented
th at: ‘There is no race o f people in the w orld to whom the idea o f home is
dearer th a t it is to the English-speaking n a tio n s ...’ In its iconography the
H ebrew Beth conform ed to a fla t-ro ofe d dw elling, open to the air, whose
im agery he saw repeated in the w ord ‘b oo th.’ Skinner had more d iffic u lty
connecting the image o f the camel w ith 20th-century Chicago, in w hich he
was w ritin g , so he discussed the G im el w ith o u t m aking such a lin k , and
passed to the D aleth, the tria n g u la r opening to a tent, so readily perceived
in this role in the English w ord ‘D o o r.’
He went on: ‘As the alphabet m aker had now pictured a house and a
door, he turned his m ind n a tu ra lly to a w indow and a fence.’ These le t­
ters, and the sounds they made, were so close (‘E’ and ‘H ’) th a t Skinner
grouped them together, and moved on to discuss the ‘F* w hich was a dag­
ger hanging on a n a il between ‘the w indow and the fence’ o f the previous
tw o letters. N ext in sequence in the Hebrew alphabet (whose sequence
Skinner was in p rincip le fo llo w in g) was zayin, representing the handle o f a
dagger and p a rt o f its blade. It was just such a Phoenician kn ife w hich
Ju dith m ight have used in rescuing her people fro m H olofernes, Skinner
added, m aking use o f b ib lica l im agery to anchor his discussion in ancient
but fa m ilia r history. Skinner’s approach was distinguished by his insistence
on understanding the alphabet in relatio n to narrative - both th a t o f its
sequence le tter by letter, and o f its relatio n to this im agined Phoenician
past v iv id ly evoked through b ib lica l references and the means by w hich he
connected these to the lived experience o f his contem poraries. W hile such
an approach may be understood when it occurred in the w ork o f a person
n o t in te g ra lly involved w ith either archaeological investigation o r the
study o f ancient languages, it is less comprehensible in the w ork o f
M . D unand, a French scholar who was both.
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

BO U U AER T — 1949 SK IN N E R - 1905 DUNAND ~ 1945

aleph = ox, then, head w ith horns A = ox head, cow alef = ox

beth = door, supports o f ro o f B= the house, home b e th » house

1 gimel = neck o f camel C = camel, favorite animal g im e l- camel

A daleth = door, bottom stroke is ground D = delta, as in geography daleth - door

he » man on knees, arms raised in joy E = w indow or fence he ■ (tree branch, maybe)

Y vau - from nail to small flame F- nail and dagger waw - hooks

z zayin = sword in its sheath I- handle, part o f blade zayin - branch, balance

rr heth - flower, calix kheth = w all

© teth = hand, fingers extended te th - ro ll

2 yod = hand the hand yod - arm, hand

n koph = folded hand, thum b extended K - kaph - hand

u lamedh = cross, cane, then shepherd's crook L = w hip and fist lamed - needle, rod

y mem - water (but not Egyptian zig-zag) M = the sea mem » water

r nun = serpent N - fish nun - fish

? sameleh = fish in many forms X - the rock samek - support, hold up

0 ayin ■ eye evolved past recognition 0= eye ayin = eye

7 pe = mouth, open m outh P= mouth pe - m outh

r tsede » side o f man in profile Ts = scythe tsade = a nose, hook

9 qoph = stomach w ith esophagus attached Q." back o f head w ith neck qof * monkey

Tr res = head resh = head

W sin = tooth w= support, sickle, saw shin - tooth

t tau = cross, a m ark fo r a mark T= the mark tau = a sign

Values assigned to the alphabet
by Bouuaert, 1949, Skinner, 1905
and Dunand, 1945
D unand’s book, B yblia Gram m atay published in 1945, was w ritte n to
com m unicate developments in Phoenician studies. He began by stating
th a t scholars such as Francois Lenorm ant, W ilhelm Gesenius and Hans
Bauer had repeatedly pointed o u t th a t the le tte r names were n o t linked to
the origins o f the alphabet and th at the m nem onic device o f th e ir names
had often been m istakenly taken fo r a ‘h isto rica l cause o r source ro o t.’ 299
However, he continued, Lenorm ant had indicated th a t the Phoenicians “ “
themselves had been aware th a t they had lo st the o rig in a l sotfrces and tra ­
d itio n s o f the letters and thus resorted to a kin d o f ‘hieroglyphicization* in
order to transform the letters back in to form s closer to an o rig in a l image.
This convoluted logic len t Dunand the ju s tific a tio n he fe lt he needed to
in te rp re t the Phoenician letters systematically. A le f was the ox, Beth a
house w ith a double sloped roo f, a structure ‘well-docum ented in
Phoenicia in the early Bronze age.’ As D unand’s reading proceeded, he fe ll
in to the usual pattern, a llo w in g the letters whose m eaning was fixed in
th e ir name, such as the G im el = camel to stand, th e ir relatio n to ancient
N ear Eastern life self-evident, w hile other le tte r names received elaborate
explanation. W aw, fo r exam ple, he described as the supports by w hich the
beams o f the Tabernacle were suspended, an in te rp re ta tio n n o t w idely
repeated elsewhere, w hile there were other signs, such as H e, w hich could
n ot be read as images fo r the reason th a t he found n ot a single H ebrew o r
Phoenician w ord which began w ith this sound.
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

The prevailing feature o f the interpretations o f Skinner and D unand,

was th e ir clear m otivation to see m eaning in the letters rather than a llo w ­
ing th a t they were fu n ctio n a l form s ide ntifie d by name fo r the sake o f con­
venience and c la rity By casting the inte rp re ta tio n o f names in to either a
theory o f the p ic to ria l origins o f the letters o r a sym bolic reading o f th e ir
acrophonic names, the alphabet became more than a lin g u istic system, it
became a repository o f h isto rica l knowledge. T his was n o t so d ifferen t
from the desire to see the alphabet as a code o f s p iritu a l o r cosm ological
knowledge; it was sim ply given substance according to a d iffe re n t set o f
themes, more secular, and less abstract than those o f the m etaphysicians.
It is this continual desire to see m eaning th a t is perhaps the strongest fea­
ture o f hum an im agination in its relatio n to the alphabet. The continual
pro je ctio n o f images onto schematic form s is n o t sufficient, the images
produced m ust necessarily fit in to some system. T h a t the form s themselves
had some genuine h istory w ent unquestioned in nearly every case, but it
was the special c o n trib u tio n o f Hans Bauer, author o f D er Ursprung des
Alphabets (1937), to dem onstrate in an experim ent w ith schoolchildren
how readily such form s could be invented. Bauer very sim ply asked a
group o f children to invent a scrip t, one w hich had no relatio n to the
alphabet w ith w hich they were fa m ilia r. In about three m inutes they had
com pleted th e ir tasks - and o f the tw o dozen sym bols they each created,
seven were identifiable as elements o f the o ld Phoenician alphabet! The
realization th a t there was a lin k between the physiological capacity o f
hum an beings to produce m arks and the possibilities fo r creating sim ple
graphic symbols w hich w ould define w hat m arks w ould be made in any
hum an w ritin g system was som ething w hich was n o t unique to Bauer,
though his experim ent provided a dram atic dem onstration o f a situ atio n
explored by physical and social anthropologists, such as Andre Leroi-
G ourhan o r Claude Levi-Strauss. Such w ork is fascinating both fo r its
exploration o f the hum an p o te n tia l fo r m ark-m aking and fo r its insights
in to the cu ltu ra l fu n ctio n o f w ritin g , but it has little to do w ith the alpha­
bet per se.
Specific research in to the relations between the alphabet, cu ltu ra l
developm ent and physiology has however been done in the 20th century,
m ainly under the im petus o f w ork by the cu ltu ra l th eo rist D e rrick
Kerckhove. The A lphabet and the Brain (1988), contained the results o f a
conference staged to com bine the physiological analysis o f rig h t/le ft brain
functions w ith cu ltu ra l theories o f the ‘la teralizatio n o f the alphabet.’ E ric
H avelock’s assertion th a t the actual structure o f the Greek alphabet,
rather than literacy itse lf, had brought about changes in cognitive process­
es was used as a foundation fo r Kerckhove’s w ork. H avelock, it w ill be
recalled, stated th a t the s im p licity o f alphabetic w ritin g (by w hich he
m eant the Greek alphabetic system w ith its vocalic n otation) perm itted
the hum an m ind freedom from the d iffic u lt task o f decipherm ent, a llo w ­
ing developm ent o f speculative and abstract thought. Kerckhove had
begun his research by exam ining the developm ent o f Greek dram a in 5th-
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

and 6th-century BC Athens, believing there was a correlation between the

invention o f the alphabet and the organization o f dram atic form .
Kerckhove’s assembly o f neurophysiologists, biologists and historians
o f culture and literacy attem pted to chart the ways th a t d iffe re n t w ritin g
systems affected (and were affected by) cognitive processes. H e w ent so fa r
as to state th a t processes o f genetic transform ation were brought about
through the changes in cognition - themselves w rought by alterations in
w ritin g systems. Kerckhove linked both the d irection o f w ritin g and the
n o ta tio n a l structure o f w ritin g to brain processing. He distinguished in
p a rtic u la r between feature detection (essential fo r scripts w hich were more
com plex visually o r depended upon e xtra-notational in fo rm a tio n ) and
sequence detection w hich form ed the basis fo r reading an alphabet w ith
fu ll vowel n o ta tio n , where it happened th at the ‘preference’ was from le ft
to rig h t. Kerckhove posited the existence o f causal relations between cul­
tu ra l and bio log ica l phenomena, stating th a t the fo rm o f the alphabet in
classical Greece w ould have effected so s trik in g a cognitive change th a t it
w ould have had an im pact on the conditions o f gene selection in tu rn ,
affecting the physiological conditions o f cognition.
Though stating th a t he wished to avoid a Eurocentric bias, Kerckhove’s
w ork contained many o f the same problem s w hich had p u t H avelock in to
a controversial position . For instance: Kerckhove asserted th a t the Greek
alphabet, because it notated vowels, was a fu ll record o f speech, and thus
d id n o t require m em ory o f the speech context fo r its reading. W hile this
observation may have applied w ith accuracy to the b rie f period in w hich
there was a relatively accurate correlation between w ritte n and spoken
systems (it is assumed th a t the Greek alphabet d id serve its speakers w ith
great accuracy) a sim ila r observation w ould be fa r from sustainable in
analyses o f contem porary alphabetic systems used fo r m odern European
languages, especially English. Assertions supporting this cognitive devel­
opm ent, grounded in an assum ption about the effect o f a replete n ota tion
system on the fu nctio n o f the brain and a corresponding c u ltu ra l and
genetic change were very d iffic u lt to sustain. W hile it is true, as Kerckhove
and his team pointed o u t, th a t ninety-five per cent o f alphabets w ith vocal­
ic n ota tion use a script w ritte n le ft to rig h t and w hile the alphabets w ith ­
out such n o ta tio n (Hebrew and A rabic, fo r instance) are w ritte n rig h t to
le ft, it seems very d iffic u lt to locate a cause fo r this w hich does n o t sim ply
describe the h isto rica l developm ent o f conventions - unless one proposes a
p rofoundly biased set o f assumptions about cu ltu ra l difference. Kerckhove
also presented the findings o f researchers exam ining the relations between
cognition and the character based scripts such as Japanese and Chinese,
but the results were embedded in the same d iffic u lt quandary o f try in g to
separate h isto rica l conventions from presum edly essential properties o f a
language and establishing lin ks o f any kin d w ith physiological operations
o f in fo rm a tio n processing in the brain. Perhaps the m ost d isturbin g fea­
ture o f Kerckhove’s w ork, especially given its recent date, is its continua­
tio n o f the b elief th a t Greek culture produced a degree o f abstract, sophis-
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

ticated thought w hich was supposedly never achieved w ith in com m unities
o f A rabic, Hebrew, Chinese or other language users who d id n o t make the
Greek alphabet the basis o f th e ir w ritin g .

Unique Interpretations o f the Alphabet

W hile m ost 20th-century interpretations o f the alphabet fa ll in to one

o f the many tra d itio n s established in the long h isto ry o f sym bolic analysis
o f its form s, there are a num ber o f authors whose w ork proposed a theory
o f the o rig in o r significance o f the alphabet w hich was w ith o u t extensive
precedent. One such propo sition was p u t fo rth by J. D elo ly in U Eau et Les
Secrets du Langage, published in 1962. D eloly believed th a t a ll language
had arisen fro m onom atopoeic in sp ira tio n , in p a rticu la r, the im ita tio n o f
w ater signs. So universal was the sym bolism o f w ater sounds, and so per­
vasive in the hum an psyche, th a t D eloly charted correspondences between
the signs w hich represented p a rtic u la r sounds in languages as diverse as
Chinese, French and ancient Hebrew. The single le tte r in w hich this
im agery was m ost apparent was M em , the hydronym ic letter, as D eloly
called it. Letters d id n o t exist at the beginning o f language, but they were
linked to sense o f words through th e ir qualities as graphic signs. The sense
o f a ll words came fro m the liv in g w ater in w hich the origins o f a ll linear
form s, patterns, shapes - ve rtica l, h o rizo n ta l, sinuous and so fo rth - could
be detected. The very firs t w ritin g , D eloly suggested, had been the engrav­
ing o f river waters on the face o f the earth, by w hich processes a river
made a character w hich blended the sound o f its movement w ith the image
inscribed in its path. The only p o in t o f h isto rica l o r lin g u istic scholarship
evident in D e lo ly’s w ork was the association o f the hieroglyphic sign fo r
the sound mem w ith the hieroglyphic sign resem bling waves, a double
zig-zag line. The rest o f his discussion was an independent invention
grounded on this one sign extended to an in te rpretatio n o f the entire
alphabet.
H ow ard Peacey’s The M eaning o f the A lphabet (1949), was a more
conventional reading o f sound sym bolism . Peacey repeated much o f the
s p irit, i f n o t the precise details, o f the kin d o f analysis proposed by w rite rs
as diverse as Plato and Charles de Brosses by asserting th a t the m anner in
w hich the letters make use o f the breath is the source o f th e ir sym bolic
value. Peacey proposed th a t there were ‘ra tio n a l meanings o r values natu­
ra lly inherent in the spoken letters o f the alphabet and th e ir corresponding
signs.’ These he stated were produced by the structure o f speech, w hich he
compared to the structure o f a piano as the inherent means o f producing
d ifferen t m usical values as sound. N o t letters, but le tte r sounds were
therefore ‘natural signs’ on this account. Peacey analyzed these firs t by
d ivid in g the consonants (as signs o f m otion) from the vowels (actions o f
the essential form s). The m ost elem ental signs were those easiest to p ro ­
nounce, such as M a , w hich he proposed was alm ost universally the firs t

Map of Atlantis, source of
original language and writing
(Ignatius Donelly, Atlantis, the
Antediluvian World, 1882)
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination
spoken sound. The alphabet, ‘read in its proper order is a n atu ra l sym bol
o f C reation.’ T his C reation was described abstractly, in categories id e n ti­
fied as the Beginning o f Form , D eterm ination, Specification, D e ta il and so
fo rth . U ltim ately, however, Peacey denied th a t these could be detected in
o r even linked to the visual form s o f the letters, w hich he believed had
been created in the m anner suggested by Flinders Petrie, as a shared sig­
nary lo ca lly condensed in to an alphabetic system.
The w ork o f D. D u v ille , U A e thio pia O rientale ou A tla n tie (1936) was
one o f the many 20th-century texts which seriously to o k up the idea o f the
lo st continent o f A tla n tis and linked it to the invention o f the alphabet.
Theories o f A tla n tis can be traced to the w ritin g s o f Plato, who is general­
ly given credit fo r the firs t fu ll account o f the m ythic lo st continent. But
the m odern version o f the A tla n tis m yth received its strongest advocate in
Ignatius D onnelly, whose A tla n tis : The A n te diluvia n W orld was firs t pub­
lished in 1882. The m yth m et w ith p a rtic u la r favor among Germ an w rit­
ers, and a w hole generation o f A tla n tis stories grew up in the early
decades o f the 20th century w hich to o k D on ne lly’s te xt as th e ir p o in t o f
departure. This was not surprising, since D onnelly had carefully combed
the h isto ry o f lite ra tu re fo r references to and discussions o f the lo st co n ti­
nent, its h isto ry and culture. The A tla n tis m yth served as a new version o f
the idea o f an o rig in a l people, single language, and single source o f alpha­
betic w ritin g , and had the advantage over earlier b ib lic a l accounts th a t its
verity depended on evidence w hich could n ot be easily recovered.
D onnelly had suggested th a t the alphabet had been invented on
A tla n tis , since by his account the continent had been the o rig in a l site o f a ll
hum an culture. Through detailed discussion, D onnelly argued th a t the
alphabet o f the Phoenicians, Egyptians and even the M aya m ust have had
a com m on source. T his was the antediluvian alphabet, and m em ory o f
this scrip t was preserved in Hebrew scriptures, where it was referred to as
the w ritin g o f ‘the A d-am i, the people o f A d, o r A d la n tis.’ T his o rig in a l 303
Eden had been the antediluvian w orld, and from it a ll hum an beings had
descended, bearing w ith them the ancient m em ory o f th e ir p&st in the le t­
ters o f the alphabet.
D onnelly d id n ot elaborate the details o f the alphabet as a sym bolic
form , but D u ville did. H is A tla n tis, however, was the ancient A ethiopia in
w hich a m other tongue com m on to a ll had been spoken on the now sub­
merged continent. The Atlanteans had had a hig hly developed, superior
culture w ith extensive colonies, and according to D u ville , these antedilu­
vians had been the ‘red race,* identified by the term phoinos, w hich he
interpreted to mean red. In Genesis, he w ent on, only the three p o st-d ilu ­
vian ‘races’ were described: the ‘black’ H am ites, the ‘w hite ’ Japhites, and
the ‘yellow ’ Shemites. Cadmus, the pfeomician, had been one o f the o rig i­
nal Atlanteans, and the Cadmean alphabet was obviously the o rig in a l
antediluvian script. T his scrip t was described in term s o f tw enty-tw o
hieroglyphic form s, however, rather than alphabetic ones. In the fin a l pas­
sages o f his w o rk, D u ville suggested th a t there was an analogy between
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

the dynam ic organs o f the la ry n x and those o f the g enitalia, and th a t vocal
language had a sexual p arallel through these correspondences, though he
d id n o t develop th is discussion in deta il.
A nother in te rpretatio n o f the o rig in a l language w hich borrowed from
the A tla n tis m yth was p u t fo rth by G.F. Ennis in a 1923 p u b lica tio n , The
Fabric o f T hought. Ennis’s theory was relatively sim ple, but also, relatively
peculiar. He suggested th a t in the nonsense syllables o f a single nursery
rhym e were preserved the sounds and symbols o f an o rig in a l hum an lan­
guage. T his rhym e, fu ll o f racist bias, he gave as: ‘Ena Dena D ina
D o/C atch a N igger by the T o e /If he hollers le t him go/ Ina M ena M in a
M o .’ Through elaborate charts arranging the letters in rows, squares, and
colum ns, Ennis dem onstrated th a t the nonsense syllables spelled out a p ri­
m al code, each le tter o f w hich was the name o f a god o r king and fille d
w ith profound significance. As the English version o f the rhym e was so
close to the o rig in a l language it proved th a t England was very close - geo­
graphically and s p iritu a lly - to the o ld A tla n tis. Language, Ennis conclud­
ed, had o rig in a lly been European, n o t Asian o r M id d le Eastern. Like
D onnelly, Ennis provided a chart diagram m ing the structure o f the o rig i­
nal A tla n tis , one w hich had its geographical details encoded in to the
num erical value and structure o f the alphabet. C hildren and rustics, he
concluded, were the true guardians o f culture, and thus the continual repe­
titio n o f this rhym e in the m ouths o f schoolchildren perpetuated the ‘w on­
der o f the code and the g lo ry o f life and death.’

Map of Atlantis showing

parallels between elements of a
nonsense rhyme and structure of
original continent (G. F. Ennis,
The Fabric o f Thought, London,
1923)
 20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

U nique, to o, is the w ork o f Francis H aab, La D iv in a tio n de I*A lphabet

L a tin y published in 1948. Haab believed th a t the letters o f the alphabet
were ideogram s w hich sym bolized the fundam ental d ivin itie s o f Greek
m ythology, but, oddly enough, the gods and goddesses invoked in his te xt
had both L a tin and Greek names. Greek m ythology was a fundam ental
tru th , based on ra tio n a lity, poetry, religious in tu itio n and ethics, and a ll its
tales were one elaborate system o f revelations. The L a tin alphabet, how ­
ever, n o t the Greek, was the m ost pure o f ancient alphabets. H aab’s pre­
sentation to o k tw o form s, a schematic representation o f the lineage and
relations among m ythological d ivin itie s, and a le tte r by le tte r investigation
o f the values o f the alphabet. The one figure w hich appeared repeatedly in
the schematic diagram was th a t T representing Jupiter, who was both ‘the
firs t hero,’ ‘the o n e / and ‘m an.’ Above Jupiter was G od, who gave rise
both to hum ankind and to the S p irit. Each o f the gods and goddesses to ok
th e ir place in th is pantheon according to H aab’s in te rpretatio n o f th e ir
genealogical o rig in .

APOLLO
BACCHVS
CERES
DIAN A
VESTA
FORTVNA
CE ( Gaia m Kh/a)
HERA-IVNO
IVPPITER (D iet! Manifest/ on “ F ill" )

HERA-KLES
LATONA
MERCVRIVS
NEPTVNVS
PLVTO
PALLAS
QVPIDO
MARS
SATVRNVS
Chart of names of gods and
THEMIS
goddesses, and diagram show­ U (la fem me)
ing relations among them as sig­ VENVS
nified in the alphabet (Francis VVLCANVS
Haab, Divination d e !'Alphabet X (Dieu Absoltt ou “ Phe ” )
Latin, 1948) HYM EN
Z (la Foudre ou** E sp rit” )

There were instances in w hich the name o f a god o r goddess d id n ot

contain the le tte r by w hich it was sym bolized, and Haab proposed th a t in
these cases the letters served as a hieroglyph em bodying the character o f
the deity in graphic fo rm . Haab believed th a t the L a tin alphabet had been
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

invented directly from the Greek w ith m odifications to compensate fo r the

fa ct th a t th a t system had been inadequate fo r the needs o f the H ellen ic
religio n. The L a tin alphabet, on the other hand, presented a perfected
graphic vision, serving as e xterior signs by w hich the s p irit m ight be in tro ­
duced to divine revelations. The letters m ust o f necessity be as pure as pos­
sible, and n o t instances o f type badly corrupted by decorative excesses. As
a consequence, Haab chose a sans se rif face, one composed only o f a m in L
mum bare lines w hich more closely resembled the early m onum ental
Greek letters than any other alphabet invented before the sans se rif faces
designed in the firs t h a lf o f the 20th century. O nly by re tu rning to these
ideal letters could the live voices o f the tru th be heard in th e ir roots, st
tru th w hich revealed the genius o f the Greeks and th e ir great character.
The table o f relations dem onstrated both the relations o f the gods to each
other and to hum ankind, and then back to the inexpressible absolute, the
flo w in g C re ativity w hich was the constant m anifestation o f the three p ri­
m ary principles o f the A bsolute, the C reator and the S p irit. Haab empha­
sized th a t d a ily use o f the alphabetic letters perm itted continual contact
and conversation w ith the gods.
U niversalizing principles continued to be a m ajor source o f in sp ira tio n
fo r idiosyncratic historians o f w ritin g . The w ork o f H ugh M oran , The
A lphabet and the A ncient C alendar, 1953, asserted th a t astrology had
been the central organizing p rin cip le fo r the invention o f the alphabet. He
rejected the theory o f E gyptian origins, and stated th a t the astrological
symbols o f the lunar zodiac w hich had firs t originated w ith the
Babylonians form ed the basis o f a ll w ritin g systems - Chinese characters
and A kkadian cuneiform as w ell as various alphabets. M o ra n ’s w ork
repeated much o f the thesis o f M oreau de D am m artin, and like th a t 19th-
century w rite r, he charted the graphic relatio n o f signs in various systems
to prove his p o in t. The idiosyncracy o f w ork like th a t o f M oran o r Haab
resides n o t so much in the specifics o f th e ir inventions, but in th e ir absence
o f relatio n to any tra d itio n o f scholarship in the area o f linguistics, archae­
ology o r ancient history. It should be apparent by now, however, th a t even
an acquaintance w ith those tra d itio n s is n ot in its e lf guarantee o f v a lid ity
and the determ ination o f the o rig in a l graphic form s o f the alphabet
remains su fficiently unclear th a t it may be they were created w ith the same
leap o f hum an im agination w hich has characterized the theories m otiva t­
ing these in d ivid u a l interpretations - o r the innovative spontaneity o f the
schoolchildren in Bauer’s experim ent.

The Alphabet in the Age o f Electronic Media

M arsha ll M cLuhan, the philosopher o f media, suggested in The

Gutenberg G alaxy, th a t the rise o f audio-visual media (to w hich m ig h t
now be added v irtu a l m edia), w ould b ring about the e lim in a tio n o f p rin t.
M cLuhan saw positive possibilities in this change - the p ote ntia l fo r an
 2 0 th C entury: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

‘open s o c ie ty ’ in w h ic h a n etw o rk o f connections w ould bypass the cen­

tra lize d c o n tro l w h ic h he fe lt was a feature o f p rin t technology M cLuhan’s
1960s o p tim is m has y e t to be borne out by positive social change through
the use o f e le c tro n ic m edia to create a m ore dem ocratic society - issues of
access and in fo rm a tio n c o n tro l have as much p ote ntia l fo r abuse by cen-
tra liz e d p o w e r s tru c tu re s as d id p rin t media. But M cLuhan’s fascination
w ith te c h n o lo g y has becom e a com m on preoccupation in late 20th-centu­
ry a ttitu d e s to w a rd s w ritin g , alphabets and media. It is apparent that the
e lim in a tio n o f p r in t w ill n o t necessarily lead to the e lim in a tio n o f the
alphabet o r w ritte n language, but rather a change in its form s, its means
o f tra n sm issio n a nd m a te ria l supports. C erta in ly the lo o k o f alphabetic
w ritin g has a lre a d y been s ig n ific a n tly affected by electronic m edia, though
it rem ains to be seen h o w the s ty lis tic treatm ent o f alphabetic signs w ill
evolve over tim e u n d e r th e influence o f new technology.
Jerom e P e ig n o t in D e U E c ritu re a la Typographic (1967), stated that
there were o n ly h a p h a za rd signs at the base o f the alphabet, and that the
a rt o f w ritin g h a d evolved fro m n oth ing in order to m odel a void, thus
becom ing associated in th e m inds o f hum ankind w ith the concept o f the
passage o f G o d o n to th e E a rth . B ut once they existed, he w ent on, citing
the w o rk o f ty p o g ra p h e r E ric G ill, letters became things in themselves, not
in any sense th e m ere p ic tu re o f things, even had they had o rig in a lly been
so. It is th is e xiste n ce , o f the letters as things, w hich has been the subject
o f th is stu d y — since i t is as fu lly developed but a rb itra ry signs that the
alphabet fu n c tio n s so e ffic ie n tly , in spite o f its problem s, lim ita tio n s, and
defects, as th e basis fo r com m unicating ideas and in fo rm a tio n across the
fu ll spectrum o f h u m a n a ctivity.
P eignot re fle c te d o n M c L u h a n ’s suggestion th a t the advent o f electron­
ic m edia c o n ta in e d th e th re a t o f an analphabetic chaos, but he countered
th is w ith th e c o n v ic tio n th a t w ritin g , alphabetic o r other, had a seductive
power. W ritin g w as a m eans o f concretizing thought in to physical form so
th a t it c o u ld liv e in d e p e n d e n tly o f the instan t o f its creation. He felt that
hum an gestures w ere essential to the life o f type and the> alphabet - and
vice versa — a n d th a t th e experience o f books was one w hich w ould endure
beyond e le c tro n ic in v e n tio n because o f the pleasure - visual, tactile, intel­
lectual and e m o tio n a l —w h ich books provided.
W h ile it d a ily becom es m ore problem atic to believe th a t books as we
have k n o w n th e m w ill endure, o r th a t fu tu re generations w ill take more
pleasure fro m th e p h y s ic a lity o f w ritin g than from the im m aterial elec­
tro n ic tra ce , i t is a lso e v id e n t th a t electronic media o ffe r tremendous pos­
s ib ilitie s fo r p re s e rv a tio n o f o ld e r form s. M any o f the sources referred to
in th is b o o k w ere lite r a lly c ru m b lin g as they were read, and may not exist
fo r fu tu re g e n e ra tio n s o f scholars unless they are recorded electronically,
p referably in som e s o p h is tic a te d surrogate capable o f recreating the visual
excitem ent o f th e fo rm s o f the o rigin als. The im m a te ria lity o f the elec­
tro n ic m e d iu m a lso p u ts in to new perspective the status o f documents sus­
ceptible to change, erasure, d u p lic a tio n w ith o u t a trace - a ll so radically
20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination

d ifferen t from texts produced on parchm ent, paper and stone whose histo ­
ry resides in th e ir m aterial as w ell as in the substance o f th e ir lin g u istic
expression.
E lectronic media also o ffe r possibilities fo r design experim entation
w hich do not have to conform to the line ar constraints w hich were devel­
oped from the h ab it o f typographic p rin tin g . The next decades may w it­
ness the reinvention o f ca lligra ph ic im agination in electronic form and
correspondingly innovative methods o f reading and processing language
visually. In spite o f outcries to the contrary, there is no evidence th a t lite ra ­
cy w ill disappear w ith the p ro life ra tio n o f electronic media. W hat seems
certain is th a t modes o f literacy w ill be transform ed in the next century. It
is im possible to predict the effect a ll this w ill have on the w ritin g system
w hich has fo r m illennia served as the object and instrum ent o f so much
h isto rica l knowledge, s p iritu a l investigation and im aginative speculation -
the alphabet.
NOTES
I The Alphabet in context
1 Annemarie Schimmel, Calligraphy and
Islamic C ulture (New Y ork: N ew Y o rk
University Press, 1984) is a good starting
p oin t fo r study o f this tradition.
II Origins and Historians
1 Herodotus, trans. A .D . Godley, Loeb
Classical L ibrary (Cambridge, Mass.:
H arvard University Press, 1957), vol. 3,
p. 63.
2 Full discussion o f this poin t is in Chapter
III.
3 Robert K. Logan, The Alphabet Effect
(New Y ork: W illia m M o rro w & Co.)
pp. 85-87.
4 Maurice Pope, The Story o f
Decipherment (London: Thames and
Hudson, 1973).
5 E rik Iversen, The M yth o f Egypt and its
H ieroglyphics. (Copenhagen, 1961)
6 Pope, Decipherment.
7 Isaac Ta ylor, The Alphabet (London:
Edward A rn old , 1899)
8 P. Kyle M cC arter, The A n tiq u ity o f the
Greek Alphabet (Missoula, M O :
Scholars Press fo r H arvard Semitic
Monographs, 1975).
9 John Healey, T he Early Alphabet
(London: British Museum Publications,
1990) and D avid D iringer, The Alphabet
(New Y ork: Funk and Wagnalls, 1948) -
provide the sources fo r this brief sum­
mary.
10 Wayne Senner, ed., The O rigins o f
W ritin g (Lincoln and London:
University o f Nebraska Press, 1989).
11 Inform ation in the fo llo w in g sections
synthesizes research recorded in
Diringer, Alphabet, Senner, The O rigins ,
and Healey, Early Alphabet; other
sources as noted or in the bibliography
o f m ajor sources.
12 M a rtin Bernal, The Cadmean Letters
(Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1990).
13 For instance, Ron Stroud in Senner, ed.,
The O rigins ‘W ritin g in Ancient Greece.*
Ill Classical History, Philosophy and
Divination
1 Powell, Barry, H om er and the O rigin o f
the Greek Alphabet (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1991).
2 In fact this letter is called ‘ o* or *ou* in 26 Strubbe, J .H .M ., ‘Cursed be he that
the early stages o f adaptation; the name moves my bones,’ in Faraone/Obbink,
‘omicron* is attached later. See Powell, eds., p. 33-59.
H om er, p. 43. 27 Strubbe, p. 34.
3 The reader is referred to Powell, M a rtin 28 Kotansky, in Faraone/Obbink, eds.,
Bernal, The Cadmean Letters (Winona p.108.
Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1990), David 29 Faraone, C., ‘The Agonistic C ontext o f
D iringer, The Alphabet (New Y o rk: Early Greek Binding Spells,’ in
Funk and Wagnalls, 1948), and Ignace Faraone/Obbink eds., p. 3-32.
Gelb, A Study o f W ritin g (Chicago: 30 Faraone, p. 13.
Chicago University Press 1944) fo r fulle r 31 Betz, p. 94.
discussion. 32 W in kle r, John J., ‘The Constraints o f
4 Bernal, M ., The Cadmean Letters and Eros,’ in Faraone/Obbink, eds., p. 225.
Black Athena (New Brunswick: Rutgers (p. 214-243).
University Press, 1987). 33 Kotansky, p. 109.
5 D uville, D ., U A ethiopia Orientale ou 34 Kotansky, p. 114-5.
Atlantie (Paris: 1936). p. 212. 35 Betz, Hans Dieter, The Greek M agical
6 Sophocles, E.A., The H istory o f the Papyri (Chicago: 1986). See p. 3.
Greek Alphabet (Cambridge: 1848). 36 H alliday, W. R., Greek D ivination
7 H a ll, M anly Palmer, A n Encyclopedic (Chicago: 1967).
Outline o f Masonic, Hermetic, 37 Luck, George, Arcana M u n d i
Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical (Baltimore: 1985), p. 19,
Philosophy (San Francisco: 1928). 38 F lin t, V ., The Rise o f M agic in Early
8 Budge, E.A. W allis, Egyptian M agic M edieval Europe (Princeton: 1991), p.
(London: 1901). 218.
9 Pennick, N igel, Secret Lore o f Runes and
other Ancient Alphabets (London: 1991).
10 Powell, H om er, p. 233-6. IV Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-
11 Powell, H om er, p. 199. Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism:
12 Pennick, Runes, p. 43 The Alphabet in the Hellenistic and
13 Sophocles, E.A., Greek Alphabet, p. 11. Early Christian Eras
14 Kotansky, Roy, ‘Incantations and
Prayers fo r Salvation on Inscribed Greek 1 Stanley M orison, The Politics o f Script
Amulets,* in Christopher Faraone and (O xford: Clarendon Press, 1972).
D irk O bbink, eds., M agika Hiera. 2 M orison, p. 19.
(O xford and N ew Y o rk : 1991), p. 107- 3 M orison, p. 58.
137. 4 Jacques D errida, O f Grammatology
15 A ll citations in this section are from (Baltimore, M D : Johns Hopkins
Plato, C ratylus ,in The Dialogues o f University Press, 1976).
Plato (B. Jowett, trans.) (O xford: 1953). 5 Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion
16 Obviously, the original words are Greek, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1958).
and the translator (Jowett) found 6 A. Dupont-Sommer, La D octrine
English equivalents o r substitutions to Gnostique de la Lettre *Waw* d ’Apres
suggest sim ilar concepts. une lamelle AramSenne (Paris: Paul
17 Plato, Thaetetus (B. Jowett, trans.) Geuthner, 1946).
(O xford: 1958). 7 Jonas op. cit.
18 Dionysius o f Halicarnassus, On Literary 8 Maryse Waegeman, Am ulet and
C om position (Rhys Roberts trans.) Alphabet (Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben,
(London: 1910). Publishers, 1987).
19 Philip, J.A., Pythagoras and Early 9 Jean Canteins, Phonemes and
Pythagoreanism (Toronto: 1966). Archetypes (Paris: G.P.Maisonneuve et
20 Seligmann, K u rt, M agic, Supernatural Larose, 1972).
and Religion (New Y o rk: 1948). 10 Canteins op. cit.
21 Pennick, Runes, p.60-63. 11 E. A . W allis Budge, Egyptian M agic
22 Pennick, Runes, p.63-64. (London: Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner
23 Plutarch, Essay on the Letter 'E ’at & Co., 1901).
D elphi, in M o ralia (Frank C. Babbitt, 12 Plotinus lived between approxim ately
trans.), (London: 1969). 204 A D and 270 A D .
24 These characterizations are directly from 13 Canteins, p. 54, citing Nicomachus,
Plutarch. M anual o f H arm ony and Fragments.
25 Parke, H .W ., Greek Oracles (London: 14 Ibid.
1967). 15 Dupont-Sommer op. cit.
Notes
16 St Jerome, Lettres, T .II (Paris: Soci6t6
d’Edition ‘Les Belles Lettres,’ 1951). M y
translations.
17 Adolphe Hebbelynck, Les Mystkres des
Lettres Greques d ’Apres un M anuscrit
Copte-Arabe, (Paris: Ernest Leroux,
1902).
18 Hebbelynck, p. 14.
19 See M aurice Pope, The Story o f
Decipherment (London: Thames and
Hudson).
V Calligraphy, Alchemy and A rs
in the Medieval Period
C o m b in a t o r ia
1 Donald M . Anderson, C alligraphy (New
Y o rk: H o lt, R inehart and W inston,
1969).
2 M a rc D rogin, Medieval Calligraphy
(M ontclair, NJ: Allanheld, Osmun and
Co., 1980) p. 8.
3 Anderson op. cit.
4 Anderson, p. 73.
5 Nicolete Gray, A H istory o f Lettering
(Boston: David R. Godine, 1986) p. 43.
6 Gray, p. 52.
7 Gray p. 67.
8 D rogin, p. 12.
9 D rogin, p. 17-20.
10 The dating o f this manuscript is gener
ally considered to be no earlier than the
4th century, but has been dated as late
as the 7th.
11 Jonathan Alexander, The Decorated
Letter (New Y o rk: George Braziller,
1978).
12 Anderson, p. 61.
13 Alexander is the m ajor source here and
throughout this section.
14 Alison H arding, Ornamental Alphabets
and In itials (London: Thames and
Hudson 1983), p. 19.
14 This is also the era in which the publica­
tion o f folios o f examples o f w ritin g
were fostered by collaborations o f p rin t­
ers and historians - such as in the fabu­
lous Balthazar Silvestre fo lio produced
by the D id o t Fr£res brothers in Paris, or
the laborious w o rk o f Henry Shaw or
W illia m R. Tymms in England.
15 The scholarship on this poin t is sharply
divided into those who claim Runes
never had any magical associations and
those who assert that they did.
16 Rene Derolez, Runica manuscripta
(Brugge, 1954); also see Chapter V II.
17 Ralph W . E llio tt, Runes, An
Introduction (New Y ork: The
Philosophical Library, 1959), p. 45-61.
18 Theologiae Patriae
19 T a ylor, F. Sherwood, The Alchemists,
Founders o f M odern Chemistry (New
Y ork: Henry Schuman, 1949) p. 53-55.
20 N ew bold, Bacon, p. 25
21 Joseph M a rtin Feely, Roger Bacon’s
Cypher (Rochester, N Y : 1943).
22 The Hegira, date at which Mohammed
fled Mecca, is 622 A D , taken as year 1 o f
the Moslem calendar.
23 Michael H ow ard, The Runes and other
M agical Alphabets (Wellingborough and
Northamptonshire: Thorsons Publishers
Ltd., 1978).
24 Joseph Hammer Purgstall, Ancient
Alphabets and H ieroglyphic
Characters Explained w ith an
account o f the Egyptian Priests, their
classes, in itia tio n and sacrifices (London:
W . Bulmer, 1806). (The colophon states
that the text was based on a copy made
in 1166 o f the H ejira (approximately
1788) from an earlier copy 413 (1035) o f
the original.
25 M a rtin Gardner, Logic Machines and
Diagrams (Chicago: University o f
Chicago Press, 1982), p. 4.
26 Paolo Rossi, cited by Anthony Bonner,
Selected W orks o f R< y m ond H u ll
(Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1985), p.70.
27 L lu ll had composed earlier w orks on the
Principles o f Law, Justice and Theology
as well.
28 Bonner, p. 310
VI Kabbalah
1 Jewish scholars avoid the use o f A D , and
use the form CE, fo r Common Era,
when not using the Jewish calendar.
2 Gershem Scholem, The Kabbalah (New
Y ork: Quadrangle, The New Y o rk
Times Book Co., 1974) is the m ajor
source used fo r this history.
3 These divisions are from Aryeh Kaplan,
Sefer Yetzirah (Y ork Beach, M aine:
Samuel Weiser, 1991).
4 Scholem, Kabbalah, p.316, citing Jacob
b. Jacob ha-Kohen, a medieval Spanish
kabbalist.
5 H arold Bloom, Kabbalah and Criticism
(Seabury, N Y : Seabury Press, 1975).
6 Joseph Leon Blau, Christian
Interpretation o f the Cabala in the
Renaissance (New Y ork: Columbia
University Press, 1944) is the most
authoritative source, in spite o f the date
o f publication, fo r inform ation on this
aspect o f the Kabbalah.
7 Perle Epstein, Kabbalah, The Way o f the
Jewish M ystic (Garden C ity, N Y :
Doubleday 8c Co., Inc., 1978).
8 The longest version is barely twice that,
o r about 2600 words.
9 Sources fo r this section include Aryeh
Kaplan, Perle Epstein, Johann Reuchlin
and Carlo Suares.
10 Carlo Suares, p. 3.7
11 Johann Reuchlin, De arte cabbalistica
(New Y ork: Abaris Books, 1983) trans­
lated by M a rtin and Sarah Goodman; p.
315.
12 Perle Epstein, p. 87.
13 The number is arrived at by pairing
each letter w ith the other, w itho u t
repetition, double letters, or
combinations o f the same pair: Aleph
Beth was considered equivalent to Beth
Aleph.
14 Cited in Nigel Pennick, The Secret Lore
o f Runes and O ther Ancient Alphabets
(London: Rider, 1991), p. 24.
15 Cited in Pennick, p,22.
16 From Reuchlin, p. 299.
17 Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, The A lef-
Bait (N orthvale, N ew Jersey: Jason
Aronson Ltd ., 1991) p. 3.^
18 Ben Shahn, The Alphabet o f
Creation, An A ncient Legend fro m the
Z ohar (New Y ork: Pantheon Books,
1954).
19 Moshe Idel, “ The Golem in Jewish
M agic and M ysticism ,” in G O LE M !, ed.
by Em ily Bilski.
20 Chayim Bloch, The Golem (1925)
VII Rationalizing the Alphabet:
Construction, Real Character and
Philosophical Languages in the
Renaissance
1 M arc D rogin, M edieval Calligraphy
(M ontclair, NJ: Allanheld 8c Schram,
1980).
2 Geoffrey T o ry , Champfleury, 1529.
3 Donald Anderson, C alligraphy: The A rt
o f W ritten Forms (New Y ork: H o lt,
R inehart and W inston, 1969).
4 Nicolete Grey, A H istory o f Lettering
(Boston: David R. Godine, 1986) p. 139.
5 Lois Potter, Secret Rites and Secret
W ritin g (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1989) provides a lim it­
ed case study on English Royalist litera­
ture in the m id-17th century.
6 . Wayne Schumaker, Renaissance Curiosa
(Binghampton, N Y : Center fo r Medieval
and Early Renaissance Studies, 1982) p.
112.
7 Schumaker, p. 112.
8 Potter, Secret Rites and Secret W ritin g .
9 John Locke’s An Essay on Hum an
Understanding was first published in
1689.
10 Barbara Shapiro, John W ilkins, An
Intellectual Biography (Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University o f C alifornia Press,
1969).
11 Schumaker, p. 146.
12 Janus/Nachus must be N oah,
since he is designated the father o f
Japhet.

13 The Apocrypha is an addendum to the
O ld Testament, it consists o f 14 books,
not accepted as scripture by the Jews,
who only take the 39 books o f the o rig i­
nal O ld Testament as sacred; Catholics,
however, accepted the Apocrypha and
the New Testament, as well as the O ld;
Protestants also rejected the Apocrypha
as scripture. (Rabbi Weiss)
14 M ichael H ow ard, The Runes and O ther
M agical Alphabets (W ellingborough and
N orthamptonshire: Thorsons Publishers
Ltd., 1978) p. 10.
VIM The Social Contract, Primitivism
and Nationalism: The Alphabet in
the 18th Century
1 Daniel B. Updike, Printing Types
(Cambridge: H arvard University Press,
1937).
2 Nicolete G ray, A H istory o f Letterings
(Boston: D avid R. Godine, 1986).
3 Andre Jammes, La Reforme de la
Typographic Roy ale (Paris: Librairie
Paul J ammes, 1961).
4 Updike, Printing Types (Cambridge:
H arvard University Press, 1937).
Granjean died in 1714.
5 Alison H arding, Ornamental Alphabets
and In itials (London: Thames and
Hudson, 1983).
6 Robert M . Ryley, W illia m W arburton , 14
(Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984).
7 One o f Massey’s sources was the scholar
Joseph Scaliger.
8 Thomas Astle, The O rigin and Progress
o f W ritin g (London: 1784) p. 1.
9 Claude-Gilbert Dubois, Celtes et
Gaulois au X V Ie Siecle (Paris: Librairie
Philosophique J.V rin , 1972).
10 See the section in the Medieval chapter.
11 Paul C hristian, H istoire de la Magie
(Paris: 1892) is the source o f this story.
IX The Nineteenth Century:
Advertising, Visible Speech and
Narratives of History
1 J. Ben Lieberman, Types o f Typefaces
(New Y ork: Sterling Publishing Co.,
1967) p. 52.
2 Thomas Dreier, The Power o f P rint - any o f the Arabic, C y rillic , Devenagari
and M en (Brooklyn, N Y : M erganthaler
Linotype Company, 1936).
3 From Xylographs to Lead M olds
(C incinnati: The Rapid Electrotype Co.,
1921).
4 Gerard Genette, M im ologiques (Paris:
Aux Editions du Seuil, 1976).
5 Genette, p.336.
6 St6phane M allarm e, ‘Les M ots Anglais,’
Oeuvres Completes (Paris: Gallim ard,
1956).
7 W arren P. Spencer, O rig in and H istory
o f the A rt o f W ritin g (New Y ork: Ivison,
Phinney, Blakeman and Co., 1869), p.
36.
8 W illia m P. Upham, A B rie f H istory o f
the A rt o f Stenography (Salem, Mass.:
Essex Institute, 1871).
9 Alfred Baker, The Life o f Sir Isaac
Pitman (London: Sir Isaac Pitman and
Sons, L td., 1908).
10 Andrew Carmichael, A n Essay on the
Invention o f Alphabetic W ritin g
(D ublin: 1815).
11 See sections in Chapter II and Chapter
III treating these debates.
12 Alfred K a llir was one 20th-century
author influenced by this w o rk ; see
Chapter X .
13 See Chapter II.
Charles W a ll, The Orthography o f the
Jews (London: W hittaker and Co.,
1835).
15 See Chapter II.
16 See Chapter V III.
17 Emile Soldi-Colbert de Beaulieu, La
Langue Sacrie, (Paris: Ernest Leroux,
1900).
X Twentieth Century: Eclecticism,
Technology and the Idiosyncratic
Imagination
1 See Chapter II fo r complete discussion.
2 It should be clear by now that my discus­
sions throughout this book have been
focused on the branch o f the alphabet
which developed in the West, and have
Notes
not attended to the developments, histo­
ry, culture o r symbolic interpretations o f
or many other alphabets in use in the
M idd le East, Asia and A frica.
3 Gerard Genette and Andr6 Massin’s
w orks made their own more recent con­
tributions in this area, though Genette’s
focus is on sound symbolism and poetics
and Massin’s w ork was largely pictorial
reproduction not historical discussion.
O ther contributions to this field o f study
exist, but generally w ith a narrow focus,
such as Madeleine D avid’s w o rk on the
16th to 18th centuries o r Jonathan
Goldberg’s w ork on Renaissance hand­
w ritin g .
4 James H utchinson, Letters (New Y ork:
Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1983).
5 Patricia Leighton, Re-Ordering the
Universe (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1989).
6 W illia m Seitz, The A rt o f Assemblage
(New Y ork: Museum o f M odern A rt,
1961), M a rjo rie Perloff, The Futurist
M om ent (Chicago: University o f
Chicago Press, 1986).
7 H erbert Spencer, Pioneers o f M odern
Typography (London: Lund Humphries,
1969) and The Liberated Page ( London:
Lund Humphries, 1987) and my own,
The Visible W ord (Chicago: University
o f Chicago Press, 1994).
8 See Chapter II fo r the discussion o f this
archaeological and linguistic historio
graphy.
9 Ignace Gelb, A Study o f W ritin g
(Chicago: University o f Chicago Press,
1952), p. 60-61.
10 Gelb, W riting.
11 G uido List, The Secret o f the Runes ed.
by Stephen Flowers (Rochester,
Verm ont: Destiny Books, 1988).
12 Flowers* commentary in List, p. 26-31.
13 See N igel Pennick, The Secret Lore o f
Runes and O ther Ancient Alphabets
(London: Rider, 1991) fo r a recent expo­
sition on the topic by a believer.
14 Robert Graves, The W hite Goddess
(London and New Y o rk 1948).
15 See Chapter IX fo r discussion o f Fabre
d’ O livet and Soldi.
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D upreil, Eugene, La Legende Socratique et
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D uvill6, D ., V A e th iop ia Orientale ou
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Faraone, Christopher and D irk O bbink, eds.,
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Gaudin, Claude, Platon et Palphabet (Paris:
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Genette, Gerard, M im iologiques (Paris:
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H a ll, M a nly Palmer, A n Encyclopedic
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IV Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Neo-
Platonism and Neo-
Pythagoreanism: The Alphabet in
the Hellenistic and Early Christian
Eras
Canteins, Jean, Phonemes et Archetypes
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Dupont-Sommer, A ., La D octrine Gnostique
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Fowden, Garth, The Egyptian Hermes
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Jonas, Hans, The Gnostic Religion (Boston:
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M orison, Stanley, The Politics o f Script
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Thorndike, Lynn, The H istory o f M agic and
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Waegeman, Maryse, Am ulet and Alphabet
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W allis, R .T., Neo-Platonism (London:
D uckw orth & Co., 1972)
V Calligraphy, Alchemy and A r s
C o m b in a t o r ia In the Medieval
Period
Alexander, Jonathan, The Decorated Letter
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Anderson, D onald, Calligraphy (New Y ork: -
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Bonner, Anthony, The Selected Works o f
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Debes, D ietmar, Das Figurenalphabet
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D rogin, M arc, M edieval Calligraphy
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E llio tt, Ralph, Runes, A n Introduction (New
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Hammer (Purgstall), Joseph, Ancient
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H arding, Alison, Ornamental Alphabets and
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H ow ard, Michael, The Runes and O ther
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Tymms, W illia m R., The A r t o f Illum inating
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VI Kabbalah
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Bartolozzi, Julius, Bibliotheca magna
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*Boehme, Jakob, L ib ri A poligetici (1730)
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Epstein, Perle, Kabbalah (New Y ork:
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Ginsburgh, Rabbi Yitzchak, The Alef-Bait
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VII Rationalizing the Alphabet:
Construction, Real Character and
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VIII The Social Contract, Primitivism
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the 18th Century
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IX The Nineteenth Century:
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. Alphabetic Characters o f Lost Powers
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X Twentieth Century: Eclecticism,
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