Vol. I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

Introduction. Ixi
In 1894 Dr. Erman proposed some modifications of this The Egyptian
system of transliterating the Egyptian Alphabet, and printed the Alphabet in
following (Egyptian Grammar, London, 1894, p. 6) :
J
w
ra
f
m
h
h
}'
1
P-T
s
k
k
ffi g
t
t
d
d
y \\
In 1911 he made the following changes and addition (Aegyp- The Egyptian
tische Grammatik, Berlin, IQII, p. 20) :
ft lory. - o'=y. r=-^andS- Hlh = n- |^"C
\\ = y (little yodh).
d = t2-
= fcj.
~"
")=-d.
A k = p.
From these we see that Dr. Erman introduces the sign * as
a letter of the Egyptian Alphabet, and distinguishes between the
two sibilants > and
value to (j,
I,
I and '
R; that he gives y as an alternative
and regards \\ as a "little yodh," and that he retains
as the transliterations of ~^, (j
and o respectively.
It is also to be noted that his system includes the letters b, h, s, t,
and d, making with I and I seven new characters which must
be specially cut for the compositor's use. There are many objections
that might be urged against this system of transliteration, but
the innovations in it are not worth discussion. It is sufficient to
say that when the actual mistakes in the older system
that was used
by Birch, Lepsius, Brugsch and others are eliminated it remains,
in my opinion, the best that has yet been proposed. The modi-
fications which I have made in it for the purposes of this book
are not in any way intended to be improvements
or even cor-
rections ; they were made solely with the view of simplifying Th
Alphabet m
1911.
the transliteration for the use of the .beginner, and of reducing simplified
the labour of the compositor. I have tried to get rid of as many transllter-
J ation used
letters with diacritical marks as possible, because they often in this book.