A

The Latin letter symbol A represents an oxhead. The two horns are pointing down and the nose turned upwards. The meaning oxhead is preserved from the Canaanite, Phoenician and Greek letter symbols. The ox was a symbol of the creator god and in Ugarit statues of a bull was put up in the temple. The first letter symbol in the alphabet means "God", the creator. The meaning of the Ugaritic pictogram couldn?t be an oxhead. The Ugaritic letter symbols are made from a few wedges and this symbol just means ?the Invisible?. The early letter name in Ugaritic is alfu, probably originally meaning ?the Great One?, and later used as a name for the creator god and for a bull. The Hebrew letter name is `alef. The Greek letter name is alpha.

All the symbols for this letter represent a house. The original meaning in Ugarit was ?the house of God? or ?the Temple?. This is seen from the fact that the previous letter in the alphabet means ?God?. One of the Canaanite pictograms and the Phoenician pictogram could be a temple with courtyard. The Ugaritic letter name was betu. meaning ?the house?. From this name came the Hebrew letter name bet with the same meaning and the Greek letter name beta.

C,G

All the symbols for this letter represent a crescent. The Ugaritic pictogram is a straight vertical wedge, but it is acceptable as a picture of the crescent, since it is impossible to carve bent curves with a single wedge. The early letter name in Ugaritic is gamlu. From this name comes the Hebrew letter name gìmel and the Greek letter name gamma. In old Latin the letter C was used for the the phoneme k as well as g . The letter G was introduced later in classic Latin.

The letter symbol represent fuel. In the alphabet context the meaning was ?inflammable material for the altar?. The symbols shows a pile of material. The Ugaritic symbol shows an altar with flames. The Ugaritic letter name was dacltu meaning ?burning material?. The phoneme c is a guttural a sound. From this name came the Hebrew letter name `dalet and the Greek letter name delta.

The letter symbols with three horisontal strokes means ?the wind?. In the alphabet D followed by E means ?fuel for the wind?. In the religeous context of the first alphabet the meaning of the E would be ?the storm god?. One of the Canaanite pictograms shows the storm god with his arms lifted. In Ugarit his name was haddu, meaning ?the Howler?, and he was also called baal , meaning ?Lord?.The Ugaritic letter name was probably haddu . From this came the corresponding Greek letter name eta . The Hebrew letter name he is probably a construction for the expression of the phoneme h.

V,Y

The Latin letter symbols V and Y have their origin in the Canaanite and Phoenician pictograms corresponding to the phoneme w. The meaning of the pictograms are ?veneration?. The Canaanite pictogram can be interpreted as a person lifting his arms to worship the god. When we interpret the Ugaritic pictogram we can explain the two horizontal wedges above each other as a ?mouth? and the two horisontal wedges beside eachother as ?Gods name?. The meaning of the Ugaritic pictogram is then ?praising God?. The Ugaritic letter name could be waqeyu, meaning ?veneration?. The Hebrew letter name waw is made by doubling the consonant, and has no meaning. When the Greeks took in use the Phoenician Alphabet without wowels they added the letter ypsilon for the wowel y and put it at the end of their Alphabet. For this letter they chose a symbol Y similahe Phoenician symbol for w. The Romans changed this symbol into V and used it for both wowels u and y .

The original meaning of the letter symbol was ?ploughing?. In the latin symbol the horizontal stroke represents one plough-furrow, whereas the Canaanite and the Phoenician symbols have three. The Ugaritic pictogram is probably a cross. The vertical line could be a digging stick or a plough staff placed in the ground. The Ugaritic letter name was _.haratu meaning ?ploughing, cultivation?. The Hebrew letter name is _.het.

The letter symbol means ?hand?. In the religeous context of the first alphabet it means ?Gods hand?. In some cases ?the creative hand of God? is an eufemism for ?penis?. The Canaanite and Phoenician pictograms seems to picture the whole arm or may be a penis. The Ugaritic pictogram shows two hands. The early letter name is yadamu in Ugaritic with the meaning ?hands?. From this comes the Greek letter name iota and the Hebrew letter name yod very close to Hebrew word yad = ?hand?.

The meaning of the letter symbol K is ?hollow?. This is clear from the letter name kaf found in all semitic languages with the same meaning ?hand, hollow, palm, cavity, pan of scale etc?. The root of the word survives in the English word ?cave?. The Ugaritic letter name was kafu. The Greek letter name kappa came from the same tradition. The symbol personifies the female principle. The Ugaritic, Canaanite and Phoenician pictograms all illustrates the pubic triangle. The Latin letter symbols have developed from the Etruscian symbols who came from the Phoenician symbols. In the case of K the original meaning is not obvious. In the religeous context of the alphabet the two letters J and K means ?Gods hands give life and prosperity to us in our open hands?. This is symbolized by the male and female sex organs.

The meaning of the letter symbol is ?flame?. All the L-symbols depict a flame. Only the Ugaritic has three flames. The Ugaritic letter name was laavi meaning ?flame?. The Hebrew letter name làmed is changed from the original and it has no meaning, but the Ethiopic letter name lawe is quite similar to the original. The Greek letter name lambda is similar to the Greek word lampas= ?torch, light? and survives in the English word ?lamp?.

The Latin symbol M represents wawes and the meaning is ?water?. The Canaanite and Phoenician pictograms also shows wawes. The Ugaritic pictogram is probably showing some water poured from a horisontal container. The Ugaritic letter name was mayu meaning ?water?. The Hebrew letter name mem and the Greek letter name my are merely constructions with the phoneme m, and have no meaning.

All the N-symbols represent a snake and the meaning is ?serpent?. The Ugaritic letter name was na_.ha^*su meaning ?snake?. The Ethiopic letter name na_.ha^*s has allmost preserved the original name. The Hebrew letter name nun and the Greek letter name ny are just phonetic constructions without meaning.

All the O-symbols represent an eye and the meaning is ?eye?, ?source? or ?spring?. The Hebrew letter name ^cyin means ?eye?, ?source? or ?spring?. The phoneme c is a guttural a sound. This word is very old and we have the same word in the Indo-European ?eye?. The Ugaritic letter name was ^cnatu meaning ?the female source?, and this was the name of the Goddess Anat, an importent Goddess for birth and death in the Middle East in the 2. millenium B.C. Even Athena in Athens has been identified with Anat.

The classic Latin letter symbol P has develloped from an old Latin symbol, which was similar to the Phoenician symbol. The Phoenician as well as the Canaanite and Ugaritic symbols all represent an open mouth. The Hebrew letter name is pe meaning ?mouth?. The original Ugaritic letter name probably was pacaru meaning ?opening the mouth wide? or ?proclaiming?.

The letter symbols have the meaning ?grave? or ?burying?. The circle represents the cover of the grave and the line represents the passage of the spirit of the deceised. The so called ?spirit holes? are known from many stone-age and bronze-age cultures. The Ugaritic pictogram seems to illustrate something moving down into the earth. The Ugaritic letter name was qavaru meaning ?burying?. Notice the root is the same in the English word ?cover?.

The Latin letter symbol R represents a human head. The symbol is inherited from the Canaanite and the Phoenician symbols, which have the same meaning. The Ugaritic symbol allso have the meaning head, however in the sense the head of a group. In Semitic languages the word for ?head? allso has the meaning ?leader?, ?first? or ?beginning?. The Ugaritic letter name ree^*su has the meaning ?head?. The two letters QR in the religeous context of the original Alphabet have the meaning ?burial of the first?. The ?first? could be the king or the head of a family and the burial of such a person was an important religeous ceremy.

The Latin letter symbol S is inherited from the Phoenician. The Phoenician and the Canaanite symbols represent a female breast. One of the Ugaritic symbols represents a teat and the other represents a female breast seen in profile. The Ugaritic letter name was tadu. This word have the meaning ?breast?or ?mountain?, but in the Alphabet the meaning is ?breast?. The phoneme t is found in English ?thin? and in Arabic, but not in Hebrew and Phoenician. In Hebrew ?breast? is called ^*sad .The phoneme is ^*s , but the Hebrew letter symbol is taken from the original symbol for t . The English word ?teat? has the same root, as the original letter name, and allso has the same meaning as the original letter name.

The Hebrew letter name taw means ?mark, sign?. All the symbols for this letter represent a mark. The Ugaritic symbol is a single wedge representing the Moon. The Ugaritic letter name tawru means ?turn?. The root is the same in Semitic and Indoeuropean languages. In many languages this word has the meaning ?rotate? as well ?opportunity?. In the original context of the first Alphabet the meaning of the ?turn? was the end of the month, when the old moon died and a new moon was born. The letter is placed near the end of the Ugaritic Alphabet, corresponding to the end of the month.