" 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 languages,
added a double U, that is, VV, or W, to represent the w sound.
The letters, then, which we owe to the Phoenicians, are A, B, C, D, E,
H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, Z. If we are to trace out
resemblances with the alphabet of any other country, it must be with
these signs.
Is there any other country to which we can turn which possessed a
phonetic alphabet in any respect kindred to this Phoenician alphabet? It
cannot be the Chinese alphabet, which has more signs than words; it
cannot be the cuneiform alphabet of Assyria, with its seven hundred
arrow-shaped characters, none of which bear the slightest affinity to
the Phoenician letters.
It is a surprising fact that we find in Central America a phonetic
alphabet. This is in the alphabet of the Mayas, the ancient people of
the peninsula of Yucatan, who claim that their civilization came to them
across the sea in ships from the east, that is, from the direction of
Atlantis.
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