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    which does not now concern us . In this instance recourse was had to a Latin word ; in * O # ober , as no Greek or Latin word resembles it , the English over is supposed to he derived from it ; but Parkhurst also considers ever as a derivative , which not only differs in sense , but represents y by a different vowel ; and it must also be recollected with respect to over , that

    Dr . Johnson derives it more probably from a Saxon origin . These derivations are as favourable to the argument that $ had the sound of o , as any I have seen , and t- ^ ese , I think I may assert , prove nothing . The sounds annexed to the Hebrew words , are not those suggested by the vowel points , but those given by Dr . Wilson ; and supposing them to be correct , ( which I deny , ) they would not account for o in the words supposed to be derived ; and therefore , on the other hand , we cannot infer from o in the derivative ,

    that y had that sound . My correspondent adds , that " the mode of pointing y , taking the point as generally a direction to the sound , not an extra sound , confirms this * idea , " and concludes with expressing his opinion , that " it is quite as clear a vowel as N or > . " I am not aware of any peculiar mode of pointing j / , but I would observe that N , 1 and > are often pointed in a peculiar way , occurring with another letter , so that a single point answers for the two ; thus fctf ? where N is pointed and b not : or ibN ^? where b is pointed and K

    not . I do not think this ever occurs with n or y ; therefore I cannot think these letters equally entitled to be considered as vowels . Indeed , this peculiarity in the use of the three former , joined to the circumstance of their being vowels in the Rabbinical dialect , ( see Reland ' s Analecta Rabbinica , ) and the use of the corresponding three letters in Arabic , as far as I can judge from a very slight knowledge of that language , induced me to think that these only had been origins ! vowels , if any were ; and my doubt respecting n arose from its connexion with * the other three , being often interchanged

    with both K and * ; from its being used in Hebrew where K is used in Chaldee ; and from its being considered as one of the Ehevi or quiescent letters . Should these arguments not appear satisfactory to my correspondent , I shall be glad to see his reasons more fully stated in your valuable work . I annex an extract from Dr . Murray ' s Outlines of Oriental Philology , quoted in the Preface of Mr . Noble ' s Arabic Vocabulary , in which , tnough the writer goes farther than I have done , in considering all the letters as consonants , his statement is quite consistent with the main object of my paper ,

    that the vowel points are not coeval with the letters , but a late human invention , and therefore without claim to infallibility ; but that they were contrived to represent the language as it then was spoken and understood ; and , therefore , as giving us the best notion we can have of it , are of considerable importance , and ought not to be neglected . " The omission of vowels , " says Dr . Murray , " could not have been permitted in any other language . But the dialects related to the Hebrew possessed a structure very favourable

    to this abbreviation . In the beginning of the fourth century , the Syrians broke the immemorial practice of eastern orthography , and introduced the Greek vowels , a , e , rj , t , o , v or s , written in a small hand , and placed laterally above or below the letters . These vowels were soon corrupted into mere points . The Jews of Tiberias seized this convenient scheme with all their national enthusiasm . It was adopted by the Arabs soon after the publication of the Koran , and is now universally established in all the schools belonging to that great and ancient people . "

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    420 On the Hebrew Vowels .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1827, page 420, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1797/page/28/