Note 178 — Chapter VI

Many of the oriental languages are distinguished by this peculiarity, that a small variation in a character causes a new syllabic variation, with a different pronunciation. This is the case, for example, with the Ethiopic alphabet, which has twenty-six characters, and each of these is varied by seven vowel marks. There are also twenty different marks for the diphthongs; so that the whole alphabet consists of 202 marks and characters. The Amharic language, generally spoken in Ethiopia, has thirty-three characters, which are also varied by seven vowel and twenty diphthong marks; so that the whole alphabet contains 251 marks and characters. In the Transactions of the Academy of Petersburgh, vol. iii. and iv. the learned Theophilus Siegfried Bayer has given engravings of a great many of these Brahmanic characters. They amount at least to 525 variations, if not more. F.