Origin of the Letters: The Letters B and P
Have you ever ever questioned the place the letter B got here from? Most students will inform you that it got here from the Semitic letter referred to as beth. They may also inform you that the Semitic letter's identify derived from the Semitic phrase bayt, which means "home" and that the form of the unique letter was impressed by an Egyptian hieroglyph for a home. They'll then inform you that the letter was adopted by the Historic Greeks, who known as it beta, and that the Greeks, after restyling the letter to their liking, handed the letter on to the Romans who handed it on to the English, and that someplace alongside the best way the identify of the letter was conveniently shortened to easily bee.
I believe most would settle for the normal clarification as being pretty affordable and really feel that there is no good motive to query it. However I'd strongly disagree. That's as a result of I've been doing a variety of analysis associated to the Latin, Greek and Semitic alphabets over the previous few years, and what I've found is that the story of the letter B truly seems to be much more difficult, fascinating and compelling than what students have lengthy asserted.
What you might be about to be taught is one thing that may seemingly ruffle a variety of feathers on this planet of academia. Doubtless, there might be some who will reply to what I've to say with a knee-jerk response. However these with calmer inclinations, I hope, will ultimately come to see the reality in what I'm about to share with you. And, in discovering the reality, we are going to all be higher off for it.
So let's start...
The Greek identify Beta didn't derive from the Semitic phrase bayt; somewhat it seems that it was the opposite method round. The Greek identify for the letter is definitely a distinct pronunciation for one more Greek phrase, pedia. The Greek phrase pedia, or initially peda, means "little one". It's cognate with a variety of different phrases for "little one", "boy" or "woman" (e.g., Telugu bidda, Hindi beti/beta, Hebrew guess/ben, Irish paiste, Scottish Gaelic paisde, Arabic fataa and Aromanian feata).
Whereas the Aramaic phrase bayta clearly does imply "home", it didn't all the time essentially discuss with the bodily construction. The phrase was additionally used as a reference to the descendents of a standard patriarch, simply as "the home of David" in English is known to discuss with the descendents of David. Clearly, the phrase bayta ultimately got here to be a reference to the bodily construction, however that would seem to have been as a result of, over time, the phrase started to be understood to be a reference to 1's household property somewhat than one's household patriarch.
Now, as thought-provoking as that declare could also be, the story of the letter B doesn't finish there. Because it seems, its story is intimately linked to the story of one other letter: the letter P.
The Semitic identify for the letter P is pe, which means "mouth". These learning Egyptian mythology is perhaps to know that the Semitic phrase pe is said to an historical mummification ritual that was referred to as "the opening of the mouth", and which was related to a god referred to as Ptah, whose identify is basically the identical because the Hebrew phrase for "open", patakh (evaluate Arabic fatah). Observe that in the event you say the identify Ptah slowly sufficient, you might come to comprehend that you're basically saying "beta". In different phrases, not solely do the letters P and B look and sound like one another, additionally they share an historical Egyptian connection.
However what's going on right here? The Greek identify of the letter B is definitely the identify of an Egyptian god whose identify one way or the other got here to imply "offspring"?
As bizarre as all which may sound, this story truly will get even weirder. You see, ever since 4000 BCE or so, the residents of England have been doing one thing known as coppicing. Right this moment, I believe, only a few individuals have any concept what coppicing is. Even fewer have any inkling as to what coppicing has to do with the letter B or P. However, fortuitously for you, I'm right here to clarify all of it.
Admittedly coppicing appears like one thing you most likely don't wish to be caught doing in public. However I can guarantee you that it doesn't discuss with something unseemly. In fact, coppicing merely refers to a technique for harvesting wooden from a tree in order to not kill the tree.
After a tree trunk reaches a sure diameter, the tree trunk is reduce and the wooden of the tree is harvested to be used. If the remaining stump or stool is then coppiced correctly thereafter, the tree continues to dwell and new tree stems or shoots ultimately sprout from the stump or stumps of the unique tree. Carried out accurately, coppicing permits wooden to be harvested from the identical tree over and over, generally for tons of of years.
The time between harvests varies relying largely on the specie of the tree. Oak, for instance, might take half a century of progress earlier than it may be harvested to be used. In distinction, birch bushes will be harvested each three to four years.
So what, you might ask, does coppicing must do with the letter B or the letter P? Truly, fairly a bit.
Within the Germanic lands of historical Europe, the letters carved by the scribes have been referred to as runes. And one of many runes, which appeared and sounded loads like our letter B, was referred to as Berkanan, the Germanic phrase for "birch". Most students consider that the Berkanan rune was impressed by the Greek or Roman letter B. However that conclusion or assumption might, because it seems, be considerably in error.
The names Berkanan and birch (cognate to Gothic bairka) are each associated to an English phrase that we're all fairly acquainted with: delivery. The phrase delivery is usually believed to derive from Previous Norse birðe. But when one appears to be like very rigorously, one may also acknowledge that the phrase delivery is, actually, associated to Slovene porod (the place the d was initially pronounced as th) and Latin parte (the place the t was additionally initially pronounced as a th).
In Athens, Greece there's a well-known temple devoted to the Greek goddess Athena that sits on prime of the hill referred to as the Acropolis. The temple known as the Parthenon. The identify of the temple is believed to derive from an epithet given to the goddess Athena: parthena, which in trendy Greek means "virgin". However the phrase parthena truly seems to have derived initially from parthe ne, the place parthe is identical as Latin parte, which means "delivery" and ne basically means "not out of". Whereas some may interpret "delivery, not out of" to imply "virgin", I believe that the unique which means was most likely "unborn" and that it referred to the perpetual existence of a drive of nature or different phenomena.
At this level I ought to take a second to say the Irish phrase for "birch". The Irish phrase for "birch" is beithe. And once more, if one says "beithe" proper, one ought to acknowledge that beithe is basically the identical as beta, the Greek identify for the letter B. One must also word that three years-the period of time it takes for coppiced birch bushes to be able to be harvested again-is about the identical time it takes for a lady to have a second little one.
If one opens one's eyes lengthy sufficient, one ought to hopefully additionally be capable to acknowledge that the uppercase letter B seems to be a pictograph of the torso of a pregnant girl. Might that be pure coincidence? Maybe; however I strongly doubt it.
So what then, you is perhaps questioning, does delivery and offspring must do with the traditional Egyptian "opening of the mouth" ceremony linked with the god referred to as Ptah? The reply is that Ptah's ceremony was particularly meant to launch the particular person's spirit from their useless physique in order that it may enter the afterlife.
Do you get the image now? If not, let me spell it out for you. For these residing in historical instances, delivery and demise have been seen as related occasions. In a single case, one was getting into this world; within the different case, one was getting into the subsequent. Existence, of their eyes, was a continuous cycle of births and rebirths, one thing that the coppicing of birch bushes additionally represented to them.
Now students right this moment will inform you that the letter B has no symbolic which means, that the letter merely represents a specific sound. However hopefully it needs to be apparent to you by now that the traditional individuals all through Europe, the Center East and Egypt all thought in another way. They universally noticed the letter B as representing the which means "delivery" and "offspring", whether or not the offspring was that of a human or that of a plant.
[Hebrew students have additionally lengthy famous that the Torah begins with a beth. They see the three-sided beth as symbolizing the truth that the remainder of the Torah represents an emanation from God. Clearly, "opening the mouth" is critical earlier than one can communicate, so I can not assist however understand a deep connection exists between the concept of speech and the letter B. So for me, the Torah students clearly seem to have been on to one thing.]
The letters B and P nonetheless did actually produce other meanings moreover "offspring" and "opening". For instance, additionally they had the meanings "extension", "stalk", "floor above" and "curved floor". Observe, although, that I didn't deduce any of the meanings they possessed from the exceptional historical past of the letters I simply hinted at. Somewhat, I initially deduced their meanings by rigorously learning English and overseas phrases that incorporate the letters B and P. I solely started to have the ability to higher perceive the origin of the letters by having first understood their symbolic meanings.
However whereas what I've simply introduced regarding the letters P and B could seem somewhat exceptional, probably the most exceptional factor that I've found is that, regardless of what students may inform you, all of the opposite letters of the alphabet replicate distinct meanings, too, similar to the letters P and B. And people meanings, in the event you look laborious sufficient, are mirrored in nearly each phrase you communicate.
In future articles I hope to have the ability to share with you a few of their tales as properly.
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