Page:The Aryan Origin of the Alphabet.djvu/64

52 on their coins, is spelt by some Sanskritists Kshatriya and by others Xatriya, whilst a dialectic form of it is spelt Cedi.

In Sumerian also, analogous confusion exists amongst Assyriologists in regard to the transliteration of the phonetic value of the X letter sound and sign. This sign which, we have seen under H, was the common parent of Kh, H and X, and which pictures a Jar on an X-shaped stand (see Plate II, col. 1) is rendered along with the other signs of like value Xa, Xe, Xi by one of the two leading Sumerian lexicographers, Prince. The other leading lexicographer, Barton, renders the same sign or signs as Kha, Kke, Khi; whilst the leading Assyriologist lexicographer, Muss-Arnolt, renders all these habitually in Assyrian as well as in Sumerian by X; and other German scholars by Ch. As a result, for instance, the Sumerian signs for the ruling clan-name of the "Hittites" are variously read as Khatti, Xatti and Chatti. The reason for this confusion between X, Kh and Ch now appears to be owing to the same Sumerian sign having yielded both the X and Kh letter-signs, and to the late letter C having been used to replace the hard K to form Ch. The Sumerian parent of the X sign, whilst yielding by its upper portion the barred element which formed the letter H (see under H), or properly Kh, by its lower part yielded the X sign (see Plate II, col. 1). So predominant became the X feature that it is the leading shape of the sign from the period of Manis-tusu (or Menes) down to Khammurabi; and in some cases the sign is written as X, with the jar as relatively inconspicuous (see Plate II, col. 1).

In the Runes the sign X is read by modern scholars as G, though this is as we have seen probably a mistake as the Runic < sign, the proper sign for G, is usually read C, a letter