Pliny, in his _Natural History_ (v. 12, 13), gives the credit of the invention of the alphabet to the Phœnicians, and other ancient authors repeat what must have been an old tradition. The honesty of these writers is unimpeachable, however much their competency may be questioned; and no slight confirmation of their testimony appears, in the judgment of many modern scholars, to be furnished by the correspondence in number, name (the sibilants _s_ and _z_ excepted), and order, although not in form, between the letters of the Greek and the Semitic alphabets. "In default of further evidence, the very word ALPHABET," Canon Taylor remarks, "might suffice to disclose the secret of its origin. It is obviously derived from the names of the two letters _alpha_ and _beta_, which stand at the head of the Greek alphabet, and which are plainly identical with the names _aleph_ and _beth_ borne by the corresponding Semitic characters. These names, which are meaningless in Greek, are significant Semitic words, _aleph_ denoting an 'ox,' and _beth_ a 'house.'" The following table shows the names and order of the Greek and Semitic letters, the Hebrew being selected as the type of a Semitic alphabet, because it is more familiar than any other (_cf._ Taylor's _History of the Alphabet_, vol. i. p. 75). +-----------------------+-----------------------------------+ | HEBREW. | GREEK. | +------------+----------+-----------------------------------+ | Name. | Meaning. | Name. | +------------+----------+-----------------------------------+ | א Aleph | ox | A α Alpha | | ב Beth | house | B β ϐ Beta | | ג Gimel | camel | Γ γ Gamma | | ד Daleth | door | Δ δ Delta | | ה He | window | E ε Epsilon | | ו Vau | hook | (Vau--obsolete) | | ז Zayin | weapons | Z ζ Zeta | | ח Cheth | fence | H η Eta | | ט Teth | serpent? | Θ ϑ θ Theta | | י Yod | hand | I ι Iota | | ך Kaph | palm of | K κ Kappa | | | hand | | | ל Lamed | ox-goad | Λ λ Lambda | | ם Mem | waters | M μ Mu | | נ Nun | fish | N ν Nu | | ס Samekh | post | Ξ ξ Xi | | ע 'Ayin | eye | O ο Omicron | | פ Pe | mouth | Π π Pi | | צ Tsade | javelin? | (San--lost) | | ק Qoph | knot? | (Koppa--obsolete) | | ר Resh | head | Ρ ρ Rho |