About the origin of =alphabetic hieroglyphs= opinions differ. They probably arose in this way. The sounds of the first letters of the names of certain objects were given to the pictures of such objects, and henceforward the pictures, or hieroglyphs, bore those phonetic values, and so became the letters of an alphabet. Each name chosen for this purpose appears to have consisted of a syllable containing an initial consonant, and one or more vowels. The vowel, or vowels, was dropped, and the name of the object, or the syllable, passed into a purely alphabetic value. Thus 𓃀 is an alphabetic hieroglyph with the phonetic value of B, and it may well represent the consonant of some word like _Bu_ “a place,” or _Bȧa_ “iron.” Similarly 𓂋, which has the phonetic value of R, probably represents the consonant of some word like _Ru_ “mouth,” in Coptic _Rô_; and 𓆑 with the phonetic value of F probably represents the consonant of some word like _fa_ “to carry.” Thus we have a series of alphabetic characters or letters. Signs having alphabetic values are used to form words without any reference to their pictorial or ideographic meanings. One of the words for “knife” is _sfnṭ_, which is thus spelt 𓋴𓆑𓐰𓈖𓐰𓂧. Now 𓋴 _s_ is a picture of a chair-back; 𓆑 _f_ is a picture of a snail(?); 𓈖 _n_ is a picture of the wavy surface of water; and 𓂧 _ṭ_ is a picture of a human hand stretched out flat; in the word _sfnṭ_ the picture meanings of the characters play no part, and the signs are used to express alphabetic sounds only. As long as the Egyptians used picture writing pure and simple its meaning was easily understood, but, when they began to spell their words with alphabetic signs and syllabic values of picture signs which had no reference whatever to the original meaning of the signs, it was found necessary to indicate in some way the meaning and even the sounds of many of the words so written. This they did by adding to them signs which are called =determinatives=. Thus the word _āḥa_ 𓊢𓂝 means both “to stand” and “boat,” but when the writer wished the reader to give it the former meaning he added to the word a pair of legs 𓂻, thus 𓊢𓂝𓐰𓂻, and when the latter he added the picture of a boat 𓊛, thus 𓊢𓂝𓐰𓊛. Similarly _men_ 𓏠𓐰𓈖 means “to abide, be stable,” and also “to be ill,” and the meanings are distinguished by the use of the determinatives 𓏛 and 𓅪, the former signifying “an abstract idea,” and the latter “discomfort,” or “evil.” The following words show the use of the determinatives; 𓀭 a god, 𓀁 actions performed with the mouth, 𓁐 a woman, 𓈉 a country, 𓄛 the skin of an animal, 𓈗 water, 𓌪 actions performed with a knife, and 𓏊 a pot of unguent or liquid.