Page:Persian manual pocket companion 1877.djvu/19



1. The Persian Alphabet consists of thirty- two letters. Of these twenty are common to the Persians and Arabs, eight are peculiar to the Arabs, and four to the Persians.

These thirty-two letters are to be considered as consonants, and are written from right to left ; con- sequently their books and manuscripts begin at what we call the end.

The letters often assume a different form according to their position in the formation of a word. Thus there will be in many cases three distinct forms ; namely, the initial, the medial, the final.

In the following Table we have in column 1, the names of the letters in the Persian character; in column 2, the names of the letters in the Roman character; in column 3, the detached forms of the letters ; and, in column 4, the corresponding English letters.