Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Henry Churchyard" <churchh AT usa.net>]

I didn't give much more than a passing scrutiny to the web-site, but I
already noticed some fairly severe difficulties.  Such as:  If the
"trans-world culture alphabet" is associated with the Queen of Sheba,
then 3,800 years ago is a thousand years too early.  Also, if the
alphabet is 3,800 years old, and/or connected with the Queen of Sheba,
then it shouldn't have a mere 22 letters -- since the old South
Arabian alphabet had 29 letters, while many scholars (such as
Albright, Dolgopolsky, etc.) have concluded from the nature of the
Ugaritic cuneiform alphabet (with _th_ instead of _sh_ as the 25th
letter, and the last three of the thirty letters obviously tacked on
to transcribe foreign words) that the fragmentarily-attested second
millennium B.C.E non-cuneiform Canaanite alphabet had more than 22
letters (probably generally 27).  (For brief discussion and further
references on the evidence for a 27-letter 2nd. millennium B.C.E.
Canaanite alphabet, see my 1993 _Arabic siin-shiin_ paper.)  If the
Egyptian discovery reported in last year's NY Times pans out, then
that will throw some light on the history of an alphabet which
actually is roughly 3,800 years old -- but it won't have anything in
particular to do with "trans-world culture".

--
Henry Churchyard   churchh AT usa.net   http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/