"Consonantal" Quotes from Famous Books
... the t of the Phoenicians into th, or theta; z and s into signs for double consonants; they turned the Phoenician y (yod) into i (iota). The Greeks converted the Phoenician alphabet, which was partly consonantal, into one purely phonetic—"a perfect instrument for the expression of spoken language." The w was also added to the Phoenician alphabet. The Romans added the y. At first i and j were both indicated by the same sound; a sign for j was afterward added. We have also, in common with other European ...![](http://www.free-translator.com/rquot.gif) — The Antediluvian World • Ignatius Donnelly |