I thought that Aramaic or Syraic was a vernacular that developed out of Hebrew during and after the 6th century B.C.E. Babylon captivity, and uses Hebrew characters. Although the area now called Syria (Asshur) was settled by Semites before present-day Israel was. The Hebrew alphabet was derived from the Phoenician, as was also the Greek, but I thought that the Phoenician alphabet was in turn derived from Egyptian hieratic characters. John W. kxcorinth wrote: > > Hi there, > > I have a question about this. I am aware of the tetragrammaton and > all that. I have a pretty good knowledge of Hebrew too. So I was > wondering if you mean to say that the Shin, Aleph and Mem actually > were *meant* to symbolize the qualities of the body you listed. Or > do you mean they symbolize those qualities for you? > > I ask because the Hebrew alphabet is not Hebrew at all. It is > Aramaic in origin. That in turn was based on the Phoenician > alphabet. The names of letters are not Hebrew, they are Hebrew > versions of Phoenician words (the two languages were cousins anyway > though) > > In case you are interested in the original Phoenician meanings: > Shin means "tooth" and is a picture of a row of teeth. > Aleph means "ox" and in the original phoenician version looks like > an ox's head. > Mem I don't know about. It might mean "water", I would have to look > it up. > This is all easy information to confirm. > > > On a more physiological level, each letter represents the area > within > > the human body. This is especially apparent when they are placed > one > > on top of the other to create a human form. Shin shows a head and > > arms upraised in praise. Aleph seems to represent the whole chest > > area, with the three strokes that make up Aleph to represent the > two > > lungs and the heart. Mem shows the abdominal area, with the > strokes > > of Mem also seeming to represent the large intestine, and seems to > > allude to the other internal organs of the abdomen. (cut)