Page:The Aryan Origin of the Alphabet.djvu/54



tailed, are found on Egyptian pottery as owner's marks from the Pre-dynastic period onwards, and alphabetically in the Cadmean and "Semitic" Phoenician, and its simply- tailed form in the Greek, Roman and modern periods (see Plate II).

The Sumerian parent of this letter appears to be the Cue or Cord sign, Qa or Qu, "a Cue" and disclosed as the Sumerian source of that English word (see Plate II, col. 1 and Dict.¹), and it was presumably the Sumerian source of the neo-archaic Egyptian hieroglyph  Kha, "a Cord or Hank of thread," as Kh is exchangeable with Q. Another possible Sumerian source is Qi, "Earth" (see Table II), which is shown in my Dictionary to be the source of the Egyptian hieroglyph Qa, "Earth." Still another possible source is the Sumerian Qar, "a Jar," and shown in my Dictionary to be the parent of the Egyptian Qarr, "a cup."³ It thus seems probable that all these three Q syllabic Sumerian signs which present many features in common were fused together to obtain the simple circle form with a median line and tail, or the circle with a simple tail Q or q.

In the Runes this letter, which interchanges with hard G and K is written by a bisected lozenge or diamond with the central line projecting at both ends (see Plate III, col. 18). In the Indian Asokan alphabet this letter with tail above forms the letter now transliterated by Sanskritists as C. The late Greek letter for Ph is this same sign with the median line projecting at both ends, as in the Runic Q. The "Semitic" Phoenician sometimes has a form which suggests a handled cup, possibly related to the Sumerian Cup or Jar sign, Qar sign above cited, which also occurs in

¹ WSAD. Qa, Qu, "a Cue." ² WSAD. Pl. Ill, under Ki, Qi. ³ WSAD. Pl. III.