We find the precise Maya o a circle in a circle, or a dot within a circle, repeated in the Phoenician forms for o, thus, ### and ### , and by exactly the same forms in the Egyptian hieroglyphics; in the Runic we have the circle in the circle; in one form of the Greek o the dot was placed along-side of the circle instead of below it, as in the Maya.
Are these another set of coincidences?
Take another letter:
The letter n of the Maya alphabet is represented by this sign, itself probably a simplification of some more ornate form, ### . This is something like our letter S, but quite unlike our N. But let us examine into the pedigree of our n. We find in the archaic Ethiopian, a language as old as the Egyptian, and which represents the Cushite branch of the Atlantean stock, the sign for n (na) is ### ; in archaic Phoenician it comes still closer to the S shape, thus, ### , or in this form, ### ; we have but to curve these angles to approximate it very closely to the Maya n; in Troy this form was found, ### . The Samaritan makes it ### ; the old Hebrew ### ; the Moab stone inscription gives it ### ; the later Phoenicians simplified the archaic form still further, until it became ### ; then it passed into ### : the archaic Greek form is ### ; the later Greeks made ### , from which it passed into the present form, N.
All these forms seem to be representations of a serpent; we turn to the valley of the Nile, and we find that the Egyptian hieroglyphic for n was the serpent, ### ; the Pelasgian n was ### ; the Arcadian, ### ; the Etruscan, ### .
Can anything be more significant than to find the serpent the sign for n in Central America, and in all these Old World languages?
Now turn to the letter k. The Maya sign for k is ### . This does not look much like our letter K; but let us examine it. Following the precedent established for us by the Mayas in the case of the letter m, let us see what is the distinguishing feature here; it is clearly the figure of a serpent standing erect, with its tail doubled around its middle, forming a circle. It has already been remarked by Savolini that this erect serpent is very much like the Egyptian Uraeus, an erect serpent with an enlarged body—a sacred emblem found in the hair of their deities. We turn again to the valley of the Nile, and we find that the Egyptian hieroglyphic for k was a serpent with a convolution or protuberance in the middle, precisely as in the Maya, thus, ### ; this was transformed into the Egyptian letter ### ; the serpent and the protuberance reappear in one of the Phoenician forms of k, to wit, ### ; while in the Punic we have these forms, ### and ### . Now suppose a busy people trying to give this sign: instead of drawing the serpent in all its details they would abbreviate it into something like this, ### ; now we turn to the ancient Ethiopian sign for k (ka), and we have ### , or the Himyaritic Arabian ### ; while in the Phoenician it becomes ### ; in the archaic Greek, ### ; and in the later Greek, when they changed the writing from left to right, ### . So that the two lines projecting from the upright stroke of our English K are a reminiscence of the convolution of the serpent in the Maya original and the Egyptian copy.
Turn now to the Maya sign for t: it is ### , . What is the distinctive mark about this figure? It is the cross composed of two curved lines, thus, ### . It is probable that in the Maya sign the cross is united at the bottom, like a figure 8. Here again we turn to the valley of the Nile, and we find that the Egyptian hieroglyph for t is ### and ### ; and in the Syriac t it is ### . We even find the curved lines of the Maya t which give it something of the appearance of the numeral 8, repeated accurately in the Mediterranean alphabets; thus the Punic t repeats the Maya form almost exactly as ### and ### . Now suppose a busy people compelled to make this mark every day for a thousand years, and generally in a hurry, and the cross would soon be made without curving the lines; it would become X. But before it reached even that simplified form it had crossed the Atlantic, and appeared in the archaic Ethiopian sign for tsa, thus, ### . In the archaic Phoenician the sign for ### is ### and ### ; the oldest Greek form is ### or ### and the later Greeks gave it to the Romans ### , and modified this into ### ; the old Hebrew gave it as ### and ### ; the Moab stone as ### ; this became in time ###
and ### .
Take the letter a. In the Maya there are three forms given for this letter. The first is ### ; the third is ### . The first looks very much like the foot of a lion or tiger; the third is plainly a foot or boot.
If one were required to give hurriedly a rude outline of either of these, would he not represent it thus, ### ; and can we not conceive that this could have been in time modified into the Phoenician a, which was ### ? The hieratic Egyptian a was ### ; the ancient Hebrew, which was ### or ### ; the ancient Greek was the foot reversed, ### ; the later Greek became our A.
Turn next to the Maya sign for q (ku): it is ### . Now what is the peculiarity of this hieroglyph? The circle below is not significant, for there are many circular figures in the Maya alphabet. Clearly, if one was called upon to simplify this, he would retain the two small circles joined side by side at the top, and would indicate the lower circle with a line or dash. And when we turn to the Egyptian q we find it in this shape, ### ; we turn to the Ethiopian q (khua), and we find it ### , as qua, ### ; while the Phoenician comes still nearer the supposed Maya form in ### ; the Moab stone was ### ; the Himyaritic Arabian form became ### ; the Greek form was ### , which graduated into the Roman Q.
But a still more striking proof of the descent of the Phoenician alphabet from the Maya is found in the other form of the q, the Maya cu, which is ### . Now, if we apply the Maya rule to this, and discard the outside circle, we have this left, ### . In time the curved line would be made straight, and the figure would assume this form, ### ; the next step would be to make the cross on the straight line, thus, ### . One of the ancient Phoenician forms is ### . Can all this be accident?
The letter c or g (for the two probably gave the same sound as in the Phoenician) is given in the Maya alphabet as follows, ### . This would in time be simplified into a figure representing the two sides of a triangle with the apex upward, thus, ### . This is precisely the form found by Dr. Schliemann in the ruins of Troy, ### . What is the Phoenician form for g as found on the Moab stone? It is ### . The Carthaginian Phoenicians gave it more of a rounded form, thus, ### . The hieratic Egyptian figure for g was ### ; in the earlier Greek form the left limb of the figure was shortened, thus, ### ; the later Greeks reversed it, and wrote it ### ; the Romans, changed this into ### and it finally became C.
In the Maya we have one sign for p, and another for pp. The first contains a curious figure, precisely like our r laid on its back ### .
There is, apparently, no r in the Maya alphabet; and the Roman r grew out of the later Phoenician r formed thus, ### ; it would appear that the earliest Phoenician alphabet did not contain the letter r. But if we now turn to the Phoenician alphabet, we will find one of the curious forms of the p given thus, ### , a very fair representation of an r lying upon its face. Is it not another remarkable coincidence that the p, in both Maya and Phoenician, should contain this singular sign?
The form of pp in the Maya alphabet is this, ### . If we are asked, on the principle already indicated, to reduce this to its elements, we would use a figure like this, ### ; in time the tendency would be to shorten one of these perpendicular lines, thus, and this we find is very much like the Phoenician p, ### . The Greek ph is ### .
The letter l in the Maya is in two forms; one of these is ### , the other is ### . Now, if we again apply the rule which we observed to hold good with the letter m—that is, draw from the inside of the hieroglyph some symbol that will briefly indicate the whole letter—we will have one of two forms, either a right-angled figure formed thus, ### , or an acute angle formed by joining the two lines which are unconnected, thus, ### ; and either of these forms brings us quite close to the letter l of the Old World. We find l on the Moab stone thus formed, ### . The archaic Phoenician form of l was ### , or ### ; the archaic Hebrew was ### and ### ; the hieratic Egyptian was ### ; the Greek form was ###
—the Roman L.
&
nbsp; The Maya letter b is shaped thus, ### . Now, if we turn to the Phoenician, we find that b is represented by the same crescent-like figure which we find in the middle of this hieroglyph, but reversed in the direction of the writing, thus, ### ; while in the archaic Hebrew we have the same crescent figure as in the Maya, turned in the same direction, but accompanied by a line drawn downward, and to the left, thus, ### ; a similar form is also found in the Phoenician ### , and this in the earliest Greek changed into ### , and in the later Greek into B. One of the Etruscan signs for b was ### , while the Pelasgian b was represented thus, ### ; the Chaldaic b was ### ; the Syriac sign for b was ### ; the Illyrian b was ### .
The Maya e is ### ; this became in time ### ; then ### (we see this form on the Maya monuments); the dots in time were indicated by strokes, and we reach the hieratic Egyptian form, ### : we even find in some of the ancient Phoenician inscriptions the original Maya circles preserved in making the letter e, thus, ### ; then we find the old Greek form, ### ; the old Hebrew, ### ; and the later Phoenician, ### : when the direction of the writing was changed this became ### . Dr. Schliemann found a form like this on inscriptions deep in the ruins of Troy, ### . This is exactly the form found on the American monuments.
The Maya i is ### ; this became in time ### ; this developed into a still simpler form, ### ; and this passed into the Phoenician form, ###
. The Samaritan i was formed thus, ### ; the Egyptian letter i is ### : gradually in all these the left-hand line was dropped, and we come to the figure used on the stone of Moab, ### and ### ; this in time became the old Hebrew ### , or ### ; and this developed into the Greek ### .
We have seen the complicated symbol for m reduced by the Mayas themselves into this figure, ### : if we attempt to write this rapidly, we find it very difficult to always keep the base lines horizontal; naturally we form something like this, ### : the distinctive figure within the sign for m in the Maya is ### or ### . We see this repeated in the Egyptian hieroglyphics for m, ### , and ### , and ### ; and in the Chaldaic m, ### ; and in the Ethiopic ### . We find one form of the Phoenician where the m is made thus, ### ; and in the Punic it appears thus, ### ; and this is not unlike the m on the stone of Moab, ### , or the ancient Phoenician forms ### , ### , and the old Greek ### , or the ancient Hebrew ### , ### .
The ### , x, of the Maya alphabet is a hand pointing downward ### , this, reduced to its elements, would be expressed some thing like this, ### or ### ; and this is very much like the x of the archaic Phoenician, ### ; or the Moab stone, ### ; or the later Phoenician ### or the Hebrew ### , ### , or the old Greek, ### : the later Greek form was ### .
The Maya alphabet contains no sign for the letter s; there is, however, a symbol called ca immediately above the letter k; it is probable that the sign ca stands for the soft sound of c, as, in our words citron, circle, civil, circus, etc. As it is written in the Maya alphabet ca, and not k, it evidently represents a different sound. The sign ca is this, ### . A somewhat similar sign is found in the body of the symbol for k, thus, ### , this would appear to be a simplification of ca, but turned downward. If now we turn to the Egyptian letters we find the sign k represented by this figure ### , simplified again into ### ; while the sign for k in the Phoenician inscription on the stone of Moab is ### .
If now we turn to the s sound, indicated by the Maya sign ca, ### , we find the resemblance still more striking to kindred European letters.
The Phoenician s is ### ; in the Greek this becomes ### ### ; the Hebrew is ### ### ; the Samaritan, ### . The Egyptian hieroglyph for s is ### ; the Egyptian letter s is ### ; the Ethiopic, ### ; the Chaldaic, ### ; and the Illyrian s c is ### .
We have thus traced back the forms of eighteen of the ancient letters to the Maya alphabet. In some cases the pedigree, is so plain as to be indisputable.
For instance, take the h:
Maya, ### ; old Greek, ### ; old Hebrew, ### ; Phoenician, ### .
Or take the letter o:
Maya, ### ; old Greek, ### ; old Hebrew, ### ; Phoenician, ### .
Or take the letter t:
Maya, ### ; old Greek, ### ; old Phoenician, ### and ### .
Or take the letter q:
Maya, ### ; old Phoenician, ### and ### ; Greek, ### .
Or take the letter k:
Maya, ### ; Egyptian, ### ; Ethiopian, ### ; Phoenician, ### .
Or take the letter n:
Maya, ### ; Egyptian, ### ; Pelasgian ### , Arcadian, ### ; Phoenician, ### .
Surely all this cannot be accident!
But we find another singular proof of the truth of this theory: It will be seen that the Maya alphabet lacks the letter d and the letter r. The Mexican alphabet possessed a d. The sounds d and t were probably indicated in the Maya tongue by the same sign, called t in the Landa alphabet. The Finns and Lapps do not distinguish between these two sounds. In the oldest known form of the Phoenician alphabet, that found on the Moab stone, we find in the same way but one sign to express the d and t. D does not occur on the Etruscan monuments, t being used in its place. It would, therefore, appear that after the Maya alphabet passed to the Phoenicians they added two new signs for the letters d and r; and it is a singular fact that their poverty of invention seems to have been such that they used to express both d and r, the same sign, with very little modification, which they had already obtained from the Maya alphabet as the symbol for b. To illustrate this we place the signs side by side:
###
It thus appears that the very signs d and r, in the Phoenician, early Greek, and ancient Hebrew, which are lacking in the Maya, were supplied by imitating the Maya sign for b; and it is a curious fact that while the Phoenician legends claim that Taaut invented the art of writing, yet they tell us that Taaut made records, and “delivered them to his successors and to foreigners, of whom one was Isiris (Osiris, the Egyptian god), the inventor of the three letters.” Did these three letters include the d and r, which they did not receive from the Atlantean alphabet, as represented to us by the Maya alphabet?
In the alphabetical table which we herewith append we have represented the sign V, or vau, or f, by the Maya sign for U. “In the present so-called Hebrew, as in the Syriac, Sabaeic, Palmyrenic, and some other kindred writings, the vau takes the place of F, and indicates the sounds of v and u. F occurs in the same place also on the Idalian tablet of Cyprus, in Lycian, also in Tuarik (Berber), and some other writings.”
(“American Cyclopaedia,” art. F.)
Since writing the above, I find in the “Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society” for December, 1880, p. 154, an interesting article pointing out other resemblances between the Maya alphabet and the Egyptian. I quote:
It is astonishing to notice that while Landa’s first B is, according to Valentini, represented by a footprint, and that path and footprint are pronounced Be in the Maya dictionary, the Egyptian sign for B was the human leg.
“Still more surprising is it that the H of Landa’s alphabet is a tie of cord, while the Egyptian H is a twisted cord. . . . But the most striking coincidence of all occurs in the coiled or curled line representing Landa’s U; for it is absolutely identical with the Egyptian curled U. The Mayan word for to wind or bend is Uuc; but why should Egyptians, confined as they were to the valley of the Nile, and abhorring as they did the sea and sailors, write their U precisely like Landa’s alphabet U in Central America? There is one other remarkable coincidence between Landa’s and the Egyptian alphabets; and, by-the-way, the English and other Teutonic dialects have a curious share in it.
Landa’s D (T) is a disk with lines inside the four quarters, the allowed Mexican symbol for a day or sun. So far as sound is concerned, the English day represents it; so far as the form is concerned, the Egyptian ‘cake,’ ideograph for (1) country and (2) the sun’s orbit is essentially the same.”
It would appear as if both the Phoenicians and Egyptians drew their alphabet from a common source, of which the Maya is a survival, but did not borrow from one another. They follow
ed out different characteristics in the same original hieroglyph, as, for instance, in the letter b. And yet I have shown that the closest resemblances exist between the Maya alphabet and the Egyptian signs—in the c, h, t, i, k, m, n, o, q, and s—eleven letters in all; in some cases, as in the n and k, the signs are identical; the k, in both alphabets, is not only a serpent, but a serpent with a protuberance or convolution in the middle! If we add to the above the b and u, referred to in the “Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,” we have thirteen letters out of sixteen in the Maya and Egyptian related to each other. Can any theory of accidental coincidences account for all this? And it must be remembered that these resemblances are found between the only two phonetic systems of alphabet in the world.
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