The Classical Latin Alphabet:

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You may view the SVG vector code for the Latin portico image at my Codepen account

Here is a Microsoft Word version of this blogpost:

the_latin_alphabet_my

Here is a pdf version of this blogpost:

the_latin_alphabet_my

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Figure 1: The Latin Alphabet. The word ‘abecedarium,’ in English, can mean ‘an alphabet inscribed into stone.’ Hence, this portico, with the Latin alphabet inscribed onto its frieze, is a diagram of an ‘abecedarium,’ in the English sense of the word, as well.

Introduction:

In beginning our study of the Classical Latin language, we shall begin with its alphabet. We shall learn the Latin name of its letters, and how these letters ought to be pronounced.

The Latin word for ‘alphabet’ is ‘abecedārium.’^[i]

Body:

Classical Latin possesses an alphabet that contains twenty-three letters. These letters are as follows:

Table 1: The Classical Latin Alphabet. The diligent student will pronounce the letters of this alphabet, aloud, over and over again; and shall write them out, over and over again; until he/she will have committed this alphabet, and the names of its letters, to memory.

The Classical Latin Alphabet:
Latin Lowercase Letter:	Latin Uppercase Letter:	Letter Name in Latin:	How to Pronounce the Letter’s Name in Phonemic Transcription:
a	A	ā	/aː/
b	B	bē	/beː/
c	C	cē	/keː/
d	D	dē	/deː/
f	F	ef	/ɛf/
g	G	gē	/geː/
h	H	hā	/haː/
i[ii]	I	ī	/iː/
k	K	kā	/kaː/
l	L	el	/ɛl/
m	M	em	/ɛm/
n	N	en	/ɛn/
o	O	ō	/oː/
p	P	pē	/peː/
q	Q	qū	/kuː/
r	R	er	/ɛr/
s	S	es	/ɛs/
t	T	tē	/teː/
u[iii]	V	ū	/uː/
x	X	ix	/ɪx/ /ix/
y[iiii]	Y	ī Graeca	/iː ˈgra͡ɪ.ka/, /iː ˈgra͡ɪ.kɑ/
z	Z	zēta	/ˈsdeː.ta/, /ˈzdeː.ta/, /ˈsdeː.tɑ/, /ˈzdeː.tɑ/

Conclusion:

In this chapter have examined the alphabet of the classical Latin language. We have committed the knowledge:

• that the Latin word for ‘alphabet’ is ‘abecedārium;’
• that the Latin Alphabet comprises twenty-three letters;
• which letters comprise the Latin Alphabet;
• the names of the Latin letters;
• how the names of the Latin Letters are pronounced in Latin.

to memory. Our now having acquired the above-listed knowledge, we can now move forth to following chapters that will treat of the pronunciation of Latin in greater detail.

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[1] ‘The Classical Latin Alphabet’ can also be referred to as ‘the Classical Roman Alphabet.’

Endnotes for the Chapter, ‘The Classical Latin Alphabet:’

^[i] The Latin, ‘abecedārium,’ genitive singular: ‘abecedāriī,’ is a 2^nd-declension neuter noun. The first four letters of the Latin alphabet are:

‘ā,’ ‘bē,’ ‘cē,’ ‘dē

.

Hence from the first four letters of the Latin alphabet we derive the word:

‘“ā,”-“bē,”-“cē,”-“d’”-“-ārium.”’

The 2^nd-declension neuter nominal suffix: ‘-ārium,’ genitive singular: ‘-āriī,’ denotes ‘a place where things are kept.’ Where do we keep our letters? We keep our letters in an ‘alphabet,’ or, in Latin, in an ‘abecedārium.’

Hence, etymologically, in Latin, an ‘abecedārium,’ can be defined as: ‘a place where we keep the Latin letters, “ā,” “bē,” “cē,” “dē,” etc.’

^[ii]Properly speaking, there is no ‘j’ or ‘J’ in Latin. However, one will often see this character’s being employed—usually in Church texts and other works composed later than the Classical epoch—to denote a consonantal ‘i,’ or ‘I.’ In Latin, ‘i,’ as a vowel, is pronounced, when short, as /ɪ/ or /i/; and when long as /iː/.

In Latin, consonantal ‘i’ can be represented by the IPA symbol, /j/. The consonantal ‘i,’—or ‘j,’ as one sometimes sees (in Church texts)—represents this very /j/ sound. The consonantal ‘i’ in the Latin word, ‘iugum,’ or ‘jugum,’ /ˈjʊ.ɡʊm/ that means ‘yoke,’ is pronounced as the ‘y’ in the English word, ‘yurt,’ i.e. as: /jεːt/.

^[iii]In Classical Latin, properly, ‘u,’ and ‘v’ are the same letter. Properly, a ‘V’ is nothing more than the capital form of the lowercase ‘u.’ Therefore, strictly speaking, the presence of a lowercase ‘v,’ in a classical Latin text, is an aberration. Oxford University Press wishes, eventually, to strike this aberration from all of its Latin publications, and I wish them well with this endeavour. Hence, the word ‘verbum,’ that one may observe in present O.U.P. Latin texts will eventually become ‘uerbum.’ However, this practice, today, is far from standard. I prefer this practice, and this is the practice that is employed by Peter V. Jones and Keith C. Sidwell’s Reading Latin: Text Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986. However, these texts—although I deem them more correct—are still in the minority. At present, in most Latin texts, a ‘u,’ or a ‘U,’ is employed to represent the letter ‘u,’ as a vowel; and a ‘v’ or a ‘V’ is employed to represent the letter ‘u,’ as a consonant. Hence, the letter ‘u,’ or ‘U,’ when short, can be said to represent the phonemes: /ʊ/ or /u/ and, when long it can be said to represent the phoneme /uː/. The letter ‘v’ or ‘V’ can be said to represent the phoneme /w/. This will be the practice employed in this present work. Although not our focus, in Church texts, the letter ‘v,’ or ‘V’ can be said to represent the phoneme /v/.

The technical name for the phoneme, /v/, is ‘voiced labiodental fricative.’

The Phonetics term, ‘voiced,’ informs us that vibrating air from the vocal chords is involved in the pronunciation of /v/.

The Phonetics term, ‘labiodental,’ informs us that both the lips and the teeth are involved in the pronunciation of /v/.

The English adjective, ‘labiodental’ is derived from the New Latin 3^rd-declension adjective, ‘labiōdentālis, labiōdentāle,’ genitive singular: ‘labiōdentālis,’ genitive plural: ‘labiōdentālium,’ base: ‘labiōdentāl-.’ This New Latin word is derived from the Classical Latin 2^nd-declension neuter noun, ‘labium,’ genitive singular: ‘labiī,’ which means ‘lip;’ and from the Classical Latin 3^rd-declension masculine noun, ‘dēns,’ genitive singular: ‘dentis,’ genitive plural: ‘dentium,’ which means ‘tooth;’ and from the 3^rd-declension adjectival suffix, ‘-ālis, -āle.’

Hence, etymologically, in this instance, the English adjective, ‘labiodental’ denotes ‘the use of the lips and the teeth in the articulation of a phoneme.’

The Phonetics term, ‘fricative,’ informs us that turbulence, caused by the air escaping from a narrow channel—in this instance, the mouth and lips—is involved in the pronunciation of /v/.

^[iiii]As with ‘i,’ the Latin letter, ‘y,’ can function as a vowel or as a consonant. Its name in Latin is ‘ī Graeca’ which means ‘Greek “i.”’ When the character, ‘y,’ functions as a consonant, it is said to represent the phoneme, /j/, and on the occasions that ‘y’ functions as a vowel, when short it can be said to represent the phonemes: /ɪ/ or /i/ and when long—i.e. when a macron should appear above it, as: ‘ȳ’—it can be said to represent the phoneme: /iː/.

The Elements of Euclid in Greek and Latin

I was trying to parse my way through an edition of The Elements in Greek and Latin:

https://archive.org/details/euclidisoperaomn01eucluoft/page/x

The name of The Elements in Ancient Greek is:

Στοιχει̃a

or, when transliterated:

Stoicheĩa

.

The Ancient-Greek word, τὰ στοιχει̃α or, when transliterated ‘tà stoicheĩa,’ is a plural form of the 2nd-declension neuter verb, τὸ στοιχει̃ον genitive: του̃ στοιχείου or, when transliterated: ‘tò stoicheĩon,’ genitive: ‘toũ stoicheíou.’

The Ancient-Greek word, ‘tò stoicheĩon,’ can mean ‘an element in a set.’

Figure 1: The elements of this set are alpha, beta, gamma and delta.

The Ancient-Greek word, ‘tò stoicheĩon,’ is formed from the Ancient-Greek masculine noun, ὁ στοι̃χος genitive: του̃ στοίχου or, when transliterated, ‘ho stoĩchos,’ genitive: ‘toũ stoíchou,’ which means ‘steps,’ or ‘a flight of stairs;’ and the Ancient-Greek 2nd-declension neuter nominal suffix, ‘-eĩon,’ genitive: ‘-eíou’ which denotes ‘a means (of),’ ‘an instrument of;’ etc.

Figure 2: a ‘stoĩchos’ or ‘series of steps.’

The term, ‘stoĩchos,’ according to Wiktionary, may be traced back to the indo-european word:

*steigʰ

, which means:

‘climb.’

Hence, etymologically, the Ancient-Greek term, ‘stoicheĩa,’ can be said to mean: ‘the means of climbing up;’ ‘the means of stepping up;’ ‘the means of ascent;’ etc.

This is highly instructive, as, in truth, Elements is a book that is a Jacob’s ladder, of sorts, by which one can ascend, element by element, into the heavens of mathematical knowledge.

Figure 3: With The Elements of Euclid, we advance in our mathematical knowledge element by element. Each element is, conceptually, like a rung, heaving us upwards to Mathematical prowess; to an implicit knowledge of Euclidean Geometry.

Operator Precedence in Arithmetic

The Microsoft Word version of this blogpost. (.docx)

The PDF version of this blogpost. (.pdf)

Introduction:

Conventional Arithmetic possesses rules for the order of operations. Which operations ought we to evaluate first? In what order ought we to evaluate operations? This is the topic that this chapter wishes to address. ‘Precedence,’ is also sometimes referred to as ‘the order of operations.’

Body:

The Etymological Definition of ‘Precedence:’

Our English noun, ‘precedence,’ is derived from the Latin substantive participle, ‘praecēdentia.’^[3] ‘Praecēdentia,’ in Latin, means ‘the abstract concept of which things go before [other things].’

Figure 2: The English arithmetical term, ‘precendence,’ is derived from a compund of the Latin verb ‘cēdēre,’ which means ‘to go.’ Go, or Golang, as a language, is—syntactically—very like the C Programming Language.

Within the context of Arithmetic, ‘precedence,’ etymologically, means ‘the science of determining which operations go before [other operations];’ ‘the science of determining which operations should be evaluated before [other operations].

The Acronym, ‘P.E.M.D.A.S:’

The acronym, ‘P.E.M.D.A.S.,’ stands for:

1. Parenthesis;
2. Exponentiation;
3. Multiplication and Division;
4. Addition and Subtraction.

The Acronym, ‘P.E.M.D.A.S.,’ can be easily remembered with the Mnemonic phrase:

‘Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.’^[4]

Levels of Precedence:

As we can observe from the above ordered list, some operations share the same level of precedence. For example, the operation, multiplication, and the operation, division, have the same level of precedence. Multiplication and Division share the third level of precedence, in the above list. When we are confronted with an expression or an equation that contains operations at the same level of precedence, seeing that in Anglophone countries, we read from left to right, then we evaluate operations that possess the same level of precedence from left to right. Hence, when two or more operations—within an equation or an expression—share the same level of precedence, then we evaluate them from left to right. Concerning operations at the same level of precedence, we evaluate from beginning at the leftmost operation, and work our way rightwards.

An Example of Precedence:

In the expression:

2 ÷ 1 + 3 × 4² – 5 + ( 3 – 2 )

, we first evaluate the operation in parenthesis, i.e.:

( 3 – 2 )

. When we evaluate:

( 3 – 2 )

, then we obtain the difference:

1

.

This renders the original expression as:

2 ÷ 1 + 3 × 4² – 5 + ( 1 )

or as:

2 ÷ 1 + 3 × 4² – 5 + 1

.

Second, we evaluate the exponentiation operation i.e.:

4²

. When we evaluate:

4²

, then this obtains for us the power:

16

. This renders our original expression as:

2 ÷ 1 + 3 × 16 – 5 + 1

.

The operations, Multiplication and Division, share the same level of precedence. However, given that the division operation is further to the left, on the page, than the multiplication operation, then we evaluate the division operation before we evaluate the multiplication operation.

Given that the division operation:

2 ÷ 1

is further to the left, on our page than the multiplication operation:

3 × 16

, then we evaluate:

2 ÷ 1

before we evaluate:

3 × 16

.

When we evaluate:

<!–

2\div1

–>

2 ÷ 1

, then we obtain the quotient:

2

. This renders our original expression as:

2 + 3 × 16 – 5 + 1

. Then we proceed to evaluate:

3 × 16

, and this obtains for us the product:

48

. This renders our original expression as:

2 + 48 – 5 + 1

.

The operations; addition, and subtraction; share the same level of precedence. In the above ordered list, they are at the 4^th level of precedence. We evaluate these operations as we should find them, beginning at the leftmost, and working our way rightward. Hence, we evaluate:

2 + 48

first. This obtains for us the sum:

50

. This renders our original expression as:

50 – 5 + 1

. We then proceed to evaluate the operation:

50 – 5

, which obtains for us the difference:

45

. This renders our original expression as:

45 + 1

. We then proceed to evaluate the expression:

45 + 1

. This obtains for us the sum:

46

.
This renders our original expression as:

46

. We have thus simplified the expression:

2 ÷ 1 + 3 × 4² – 5 + ( 3 – 2 )

to:

46

. We have observed mathematical precedence οr the order of operations in our simplification of the expression:

<!–

2 \div 1 + 3 \times 4² – 5 + \left ( 3 – 2 )

–>

2 ÷ 1 + 3 × 4² – 5 + ( 3 – 2 )

to:

46

.

Conclusion:

In this chapter, we have endeavoured to gain for ourselves an implicit understanding of precedence as it pertains to basic or conventional arithmetic. Boolean arithmetic, an arithmetic of logic employed in Computer Science, also possesses precedence or an order of operations, which we shall examine in a subsequent chapter. In the next chapter, we shall examine precedence or the order of operations as it specifically applies to the C programming language.

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Footnotes:

^[1] The Etymology of the English mathematical term, ‘arithmetic,’ is as follows. The English adjective, ‘arithmetic,’ is derived from the Latin 1^st-and-2^nd-declension adjective, ‘arithmētica, arithmēticus, arithmēticum.’ Further, the Latin adjective, ‘arithmēticus,’ is derived from the Ancient-Greek phrase, ἀριθμητικὴ τέξνη or, when transliterated, ‘arithmētikḕ téchne,’ which means ‘the art of counting;’ ‘the skill of counting;’ ‘the science of counting.’ ὁ ἀριθμός genitive: τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ, or—when transliterated: ‘ho arithmós,’ genitive: ‘toũ arithmoũ,’—is a 2nd-declension Ancient-Greek noun that means ‘number,’ ‘numeral,’ Cf. ‘ἀριθμός#Ancient_Greek,’ Wiktionary (last modified: 7^th September 2018, at 17:57.), https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ἀριθμός#Ancient_Greek , accessed 29th April 2019.^[2] Cf. ‘arithmetic,’ Wiktionary (last modified: 25th April 2019, at 04:45.), https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/arithmetic, accessed 29th April 2019.

^[3] ‘praecedēntia’ is the nominative neuter plural of the participle, ‘praecedēns,’ which means ‘going before.’ The form, ‘praecedēntia,’ means ‘those things going before;’ ‘the concept of things going before.’ We shall metamorphose ‘praecedēntia’ into a 1st-declension feminine noun that means ‘precedence.’ ‘praecedēntia’ genitive singular: ‘praecēdentiae,’ is a 1st-declension feminine noun that means ‘precedence.’ ‘praecēdentiae,’ can be further broken down into the preposition, ‘prae,’ which means ‘before;’ and the 3rd-conjugation verb, ‘cēdō, cēdere, cessī, cessum,’ which means ‘to go,’ and the Latin 1st-declension feminine nominative nominal suffix, ‘-ia,’ genitive: ‘-iae,’ which, in this instance, denotes ‘a noun formed from a present-participle stem.’ Hence, the etymological definition of ‘precedence’ is ‘the concept of things going before [other things].’ Within the context of arithmetic, the etymological definition of ‘precedence is ‘the concept of operations being evaluated before other operations.’ Cf. ‘praecedentia,’ Wiktionary (last modified on 9^th September 2013, at 02:28.), accessed on 1^st May 2019. Cf. ‘praecedens,’ Wiktionary (last modified on 11^th November 2016, at 16:40.) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/praecedens#Latin, accessed on 1^st May 2019.

^[4] Stapel, Elizabeth, ‘The Order of Operations: PEMDAS,’ Purple Math (2019), http://www.purplemath.com/modules/orderops.htm, accessed on the 1^st May 2019.

The Shiyn

 

Figure 1: This is the ‘Shiyn’, the 21st letter of the Hebrew abjad. Its Aramaic name is שִׁין or ‘shīyn’ or ‘shîn’. It is spelt ‘shiyn,chiriq; yod; final nun;’ I drew this shiyn with gel pens. I then scanned it into Vector Magic, and then I tweaked it in Inkscape with the Typography extension.

This is the 21st letter of the Hebrew abjad. An ‘abjad’ in linguistics is an alphabet comprising only consonants and no vowels. The word ‘shiyn,’ is Aramaic for ‘teeth.’ In Proto-Sinaitic, or “Paeleo-Hebrew” this character looks like a pair of incisors.

Figure 2: This is what a ‘shiyn’ looks like in Phoenician or Proto-Sinaitic or Pale-Hebrew.

שֵׁן or ‘shē(i)n’ is ‘tooth’ in Hebrew.

Figure 3: I drew this tooth in Assembly, an app-store app. שֵׁן or ‘shē(i)n’ is ‘tooth’ in Hebrew. It is spelt ‘shiyn,tseire; final nun;’ It is a feminine noun.

Should the dot be placed over the left horn, then this character is pronounced like a clean ‘s’ would in English. The IPA symbol that represents this sound is /s/.

Figure 4: Should we place the dot over the left horn, then we pronounce this character as a clean ‘s’ or /s/.

Should the dot be placed over the right horn, then this character is pronounced like an ‘sh’ would in English. The IPA symbol that represents this sound is /ʃ/.

Figure 4: Should we place the dot over the right horn, then we pronounce this character as a “soft-‘s’” sound; as we would pronounce the digraph ‘sh’ in ‘shop.’ The IPA symbol that represents this phoneme is /ʃ/ or ‘esh’.

One word with which this character is associated is the Hebrew word for fire, which is אֵשׁ or, when transliterated: ‘ē(i)sh.’

Figure 5: It is as though a fire bites into whatever it is consuming. Hence the shiyn, as a pictograph, is said to represent fire, or passion etc.

Figure 5: What the Hebrew word, ‘ē(i)sh’ means when spelled with Proto-sinaitic or Paleo-Hebrew characters. The pictographic meaning of this word seems to be ‘the strength of consuming,’ or ‘strong consuming,’ or ‘leading to consuming,’ etc.

The word for ‘man’ in Hebrew is אִישׁ or, when transliterated, ‘īysh,’ or ‘îsh.’ Man has, as it were, the fire of life inside of him, the götterfunken, or ‘divine spark,’ as Schiller put it. His internal body temperature is 37 degrees celsius. Also, man – if not careful – can be utterly consumed by his appetites and passions.

Figure 6: Ecce homō! Behold the man! It is as though he is animated by some divine flame. However, he is also a collection of passions and appetites, and – if not careful – he can be destroyed by these.

The Famous Syllogism in Latin, Greek and English:

The Famous Syllogism in Greek, Latin and English.

Click here so as to download a Microsoft Word version of this article.

Click here so as to download a pdf version of this article.

The Famous Syllogism^[1] in Greek, Latin and English:

Figure 1: I drew this pencil portrait of George Boole (1815-1864) with Pencils and Photoshop. The Mathematical Analysis of Logic was published in 1847, and An Investigation into the Laws of Thought was published in 1854.

Introduction:

Quite early on, in his Mathematical Analysis of Logic, George Boole–whence in programming and computer science we derive the datatype name, ‘Boolean’– introduces this famous syllogism to us, his readers.

Body:

In Ancient Greek:

ὁ Σωκράτης ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος.

πάντης ἄνθρωποι ἐστι θνητοί.

οὖν ὁ Σωκράτης ἐστι θνητός.

When Transliterated:

ho Sōcrátēs estin ánthrōpos.

pántēs ánthrōpoi esti thnētoí.

oũn ho Sōkrátēs esti thnētos.

In Latin:

Sōcratēs est homō.

Omnēs hominēs sunt mortālēs.

Ergō, Sōcratēs est mortālis.

In English:

Socrates is a man.

All men are mortal.

Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

Conclusion:

The Ancient-Greek term, ὁ λόγος or, when transliterated, ‘ho lógos,’^[1] means–within the context of logic– ‘statement,’ or ‘argument.’

The Latin 1^st-and-2^nd-declension adjectival suffix, ‘-ica, -icus, -icum’ means ‘of,’ ‘about,’ ‘concerning,’ ‘pertaining to,’ etc.

Hence, etymologically, ‘logic’ is ‘the study of the truth or falsehood of statements and arguments.’

Conventional arithmetic or Conventional Algebra has quantity for its subject. George Boole developed an algebra, or an arithmetic that had logic as its subject.

Indeed, in his book, The Laws of Thought he terms this ‘arithmetic’ or ‘algebra’ of his ‘a calculus of logic’ by which he meant ‘a system whereby the truth or falsehood of statements/arguments could be analysed.’

Figure 1: I drew this pencil portrait of Socrates (469/470-399 BC) with Pencils. Vēre Sōcratēs est enim mortālis. Truly Socrates is mortal indeed.

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^[1] This syllogism—and those like it—are sometimes termed ‘barbara.’ The term, ‘barbara’ is a mnemonic device which informs us that this type of syllogism comprises 3 affirmations. The 1^st premise affirms that Socrates is a man; the 2^nd premise affirms that all men are mortal; and the conclusion affirms that Socrates is mortal.

^[2] The 2^nd-declension masculine noun ὁ λόγος Genitive:τοῦ λόγου or, when transliterated: ‘ho lógos’ Genitive: ‘toũ lógou.’

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Glossary:

calculus (ˈkælkjʊləs) noun plural -luses
a branch of mathematics, developed independently by Newton and Leibniz. Both differential calculus and integral calculus are concerned with the effect on a function of an infinitesimal change in the independent variable as it tends to zero.
any mathematical system of calculation involving the use of symbols
logic an uninterputed formal system. Compare formal language (sense 2)
(plural -li (ˈkælkjʊˌlaɪ) ) pathology a stonelike concretion of minerals and salts found in ducts or hollow organs of the body[C17 from Latin: pebble, stone used in reckoning, from calx small stone, counter]
• calcular (ˈkælkjʊlə) adjective relating to calculus
• calculous (ˈkælkjʊləs) or calculary (ˈkælkjʊlərɪ) of or suffering from a calculus. Obsolete form: calculose
• calculus of variations a branch of calculus concerned with maxima and minima of definite integrals.^[1]

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^[1] Collins English Dictionary: Complete and Unabridged, 12th edn., Glasgow, U.K., Harper Collins Publishers, 2014, Loc. 66,078.

The Hebrew Word for Father:

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In the below link, you may download a Microsoft Word version of this article:

the_hebrew_word_for_father

In the below link, you may download a pdf version of this article:

the_hebrew_word_for_father

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Figure 1: I drew this Israeli flag in Inkscape and SVG.

In this chapter, we are going to examine the Hebrew word, אָב or ‘āv.’

Figure 2: I drew this Hebrew word ‘āv’ in Inkscape. Sometimes a custom font can really set a piece of graphic design off.

Body:

The Hebrew word for ‘father’ is:

אָב

Which is pronounced:

/ʔaːv/ , /ʔa:v/

, and which can be transliterated as:

‘āv’

.

In Phoenecian, or “Paleo-Hebrew” it is spelt:

Figure 3: The Phoenician, or Paleo-Hebrew word for ‘father.’ Pictographically, it is said to mean ‘the strength of the house;’ ‘the leader of the house.’

According to this intriguing website on Ancient Hebrew this word, pictographically, means ‘the strength of the house;’ ‘The leader (aluph)^[1] of the house (beith).’ The site master says that in Classical Hebrew thought, each person was said to be blessed with three fathers:

1. a biological father: ‘the strength of a household;’ ‘the leader of a household;’
2. a priest: the ‘leader of the house of God’
3. God:  ‘the leader of the Universe.’

In Biblical Hebrew, ‘the patriarchs;’ or ‘the fathers;’ or ‘Abraham, Isaac and Jacob;’ are called the:

אָבוֹת

or:

‘āvōth’

.^[2]

We are introduced to father Abraham as:

אַבְרָם

or:

‘av(e)rām’^[3]

, which name means ‘exalted father.’^[4]

Conclusion:

In classical Hebrew, a little goes a long way. By our learning of the word, אָב or ‘āv,’ we have gained a more or less implicit understanding of Ancient-Hebrew and Phoenician culture, as regards how they view concepts such as God, patriarchy and fatherhood.

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^[1]According to Wiktionary in Hebrew, the word, אַלּוּף, which is pronounced: /ʔal.ˈlʊf/ /ʔɑl.ˈlʊf/ means:

1. ‘A major general (military rank);’
2. ‘A champion (someone who has been winner in a contest);’
3. ‘Biblical Hebrew: A close friend.’

According to Wiktionary in Hebrew, the word, בַּיִת or ‘báyith‘ means:

1. ‘house;’
2. ‘stanza (part of a poem or a song).’

The Aramaic word בֵּית or ‘beith’ or ‘beyth’ is the second letter of the Aramaic Abjad that Hebrew uses. The Phoenician pictograph represents a ‘house,’ or a ‘tent.’ Figuratively, it can represent ‘body,’ which is the ‘house of the soul;’ ‘a temple,’ which is ‘the house of God,’ or even ‘the Universe.’

^[2] Pronounced רָם/ʔɔ:.’voːθ/ /ʔa:.voːθ/ /ʔɔ.’voːθ/ /ʔa.voːθ/

^[3] Pronounced /ʔɑv.ə.’ra:m/

^[4]According to Wiktionary The adjective רָם or ‘rām,’ pronounced /ra:m/, means:

1. ‘high,’ ‘important;’
2. ‘loud.’

 

It Won’t Always be Christmas:

Figure 1: I drew this Holly Sprig in SVG. You can see the code for this image at my Codepen account.

I saw the following quote on Wiktionary:

‘Nōn semper Sāturnālia erunt.’

What this essentially means is:

‘It will not always be Christmas.’

I remember as a young child feeling very sad when the last day of Christmas would come on January 6^th. The 6^th of January is ‘the Epiphany.’ The term, ‘epiphany,’ etymologically means ‘a shining out;’ ‘an enlightenment.’^[1] Hence, the three wise men, Saints Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar were enlightened; it was discovered unto them – by a star in the east – that Jesus Christ:

‘…is born King of the Jews…’^[2]

The Pagans called their Christmas ‘Sāturnālia.’ Saturn was the god of Time, the god of Agriculture, the grim reaper who mows everybody down with his scythe, the god of crucifixion, who crucifies all men with age, sickness and geriatric infirmity, the god of decay… and winter is a time of death and decay. However, Saturn only causes death and decay such that new life can come in the spring time. It is said that when Saturn reigned as King of Rome with another god, Janus, that men lived to be about 1,000, there was an abundant harvest every year, and that death was painless.

The Christians called their winter festival “Nātīvitās Dominī” or “the Birth of [Our] Lord.” They were/are both winter festivals though.

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^[1] The English word ‘epiphany’ comes from the Latin feminine 1^st-declension noun, ‘epiphanīa’ genitive: ‘epiphanīae.’ We can further derive the Latin noun, ‘epiphanīa,’ From the Ancient-Greek preposition ἐπί or ‘epí,’ which means a number of things depending upon the context, and the Ancient Greek verb, ‘φαίνειν’ or ‘phaínein,’ which means ‘to shine;’ and from the Ancient-Greek nominal suffix, -ια or’-ia.’ An ‘epiphany,’ therefore, is an ‘enlightenment,’ ‘a revalation shone into some one.’

^[2] KJV Matthew 2:2. Although not an atheist, I tend to concur with the late Christopher Hitchens that the infancy narratives are “true in none of their details” not least because Matthew and Luke contradict each other so wildly, and also because of the historical absurdities that they allege, such as Saint Joseph’s being ordered by the Romans to complete a census in Bethlehem, because that is where his ancestor, David, was from. The Romans did not care for such things. The Romans would not have cared in the slightest that Saint Joseph was descended from King David. Can you imagine the Empire-wide turmoil that would have resulted if every man had to go back to the city of his ancestors who lived a millenium prior! Charming tale, though.

^[3] Saturn’s astrological symbol is the cross united with the scythe. Saturn is also the god of satire, because satire can cause the death of bad ideas. Today, some call his Norse equivalent, Loki, “the god of trolling.”

 

The Israeli Supreme Court:

​The Israeli Supreme Court is called the:

בֵּית הַמִּשְׁפָּט הַעֶלְיוֹן

, or the ‘beith ham-mish(e)pāth hang-ngelyôn;’ or the ‘beith ham-mish(e)pāth ha’elyôn.’
This, translated most literally is “The Highest House of Law.”
It can be also translated as ‘The Supreme House of Law,’ or ‘The Supreme Court.’
The word:

בַּיִת

or ‘bayith’ is in the construct state, i.e. which indicates that the words that follow are in the Genitive Case. The Definite prefixes ‘ha-‘ prefixed to ‘mish(e)path’ and ‘ngelyôn’ or ”elyôn’ is further indication that these two words are in the Genitive.
The word ‘Ngelyôn’ or ”elyôn’ which means ‘highest’ or ‘supreme’ is used as an a determiner and an epithet for the deity of the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. The Original Canophoenecian religion whence Old Testament Judaism sprung was Polytheistic. El, had a wife:

אֲשֵׁרָה

or ‘Ăshe(i)râh,’ and ruled over a council of gods, much like Zeus on Mount Olympus. El’s Mount Olympus, though, was Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb.

 

Figure 1: This is “Asheirah” or El’s wife in Phoenician, the language that the Canophoenicians would have spoken. You are meant to read the symbols from right to left, and try to divine some sort of meaning. “Nōmen ōmen.” as the Romans used to say. “A Person’s Name is Ominous.” So we have an Ox head; a pair of incisors, or cutting teeth; a head; and a man praising, or saying “look over here!” From this I get “The strength of passionate [erotic/romantic love] and the first to be praised.” What any man would say of his wife, god or not.
Old Testament Judaism, springing from Canophoenecianism, was originally “Henotheistic.” ‘Henotheism’ is ‘the worship of One Supreme Deity as the deity particular to the religion, but without denying the existence of the deities of other religions.’
Etymologically ‘henotheism’ is derived from εἵς or ‘eís’ which means ‘one;’ and ὁ θεός or ‘ho theós,’ which means ‘god.’

אֵל עֶליוֹן

or ‘E(i)l Elyôn’ or ‘God of the Highest’ or ‘Supreme God,’ is a title of the deity of the Hebrew Bible.
The English adjective ‘supreme’ comes from a superlative of the Latin ‘super’ which means ‘above.’ A ‘Supreme Court’ is ‘the above-est court,’ ‘a court that is above all others in the land.’
‘Beith ham-mish(e)path hang-ngelyôn’ seems to be a ‘calque’ or an ‘etymological translation’ or ‘etymological tracing’ of the English term, ‘Supreme Court.’
The grammatical term, ‘calque,’ is etymologically related to ‘chalk.’ We use chalk to trace things. As Coolio put it in Gangsta’s Paradise you better not disrespect him or ‘you and your homies gonna be lined in chalk’!

 

Figure 2: “…or you and your homies gonna be lined in chalk.” Gangsta’s Paradise (1995). Coolio. I drew this graphic in Inkscape.

I am a Wise Architect

Figure 1: I drew this compass in Inkscape.

Ἐγώ εἰμί σοφὸς ἀρχιτέκτων

Egṓ eimí sophòs architéktōn

Well, not quite! However, I am getting there!

I never had any interest in Mathematics, or Architecture, or Technical drawing at school… however, I believe that Latin and Greek confers an architectural frame of mind upon one. This mindset is sometimes termed ‘Rōmānitās,’ or ‘Roman-mess.’

As Plato is said, by legend, to have inscribed upon the Portico of the Academy:^[1]

ἀγεωμέτρητος μηδεὶς εἰσίτω

‘ageōmétrētos mēseàs eisístō’

which means ‘let nobody ignorant of geometry enter.’

To the Greeks, therefore, Mathematics and Geometry was seen as a prerequisite to philosophy.

I began to read an English translation of ‘the Euclid,’ I think in 2014, and was amazed that I could understand it. I was in a private chapel, ironically, when this occurred. My interest in Ecclesiastical Latin led me to become interested in Geometry.

Figure 2:In the first Book of Corinthians chapter 3, verse 10 saint Paul calls himself a “wise masterbuilder” or “sophòs architéktōn”

In the King James Bible, Saint Paul calls himself a “wise masterbuilder”:

‘According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. …’

^[2]

In the Textus Receptus, the Erasmian Koine Greek New Testament from Which the Authorised Version was translated, the Greek phrase employed for “wise masterbuilder” is is … σοφὸς ἀρχιτέκτων … or, when transliterated ‘sophòs architéktōn.’

I will write a bit more concerning Technical drawing, as there is a company in Monaghan called Entekra who 3d prints timberframe houses, and one day I would like to be good enough at technical drawing so as to work for them.

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^[1] ἡ Ἀκαδημίᾱ Genitive: τῆς Ἀκαδημίᾱς ‘hē akadēmía,’ Genitive: ‘tē̃ s akadēmías;’ 1^st-declension feminine noun. ‘the Academy, an Athenian Gymnasium where Plato taught.’ wiktionary

^[2]Authorised Version. 1 Corinthians 3:10.

An Etymological Definition of Blasphemy:

​Blasphemy is quite topical these days. Although blasphemy was unenforcible in Ireland, theocratic regimes in which blasphemy laws were enforcible would point to Ireland as justification. Thankfully they can no longer do this. βλάπτω or ‘bláptō’ is an Ancient Greek verb ‘to harm,’ ‘to injure,’ ‘to cause a mischief;’ φημί or ‘phēmí’ is an Ancient Greek verb, ‘to speak,’ ‘to say;’ and  -ια or ‘-ia’ is a nominal suffix. Hence, etymologically, ‘blasphemy’ is ‘harmful or injurious or mischievous talk [directed at a religion, or a deity, or a doctrine/tenet of a religion].’

Figure 1: I drew this crozier in Inkscape. The hook represents the guiding office of a bishop: his pulling the sheep out of a ditch gently by the kneck. The long staff part represents the disciplinary office of a bishop: his beating of naughty sheep!