________________
230
THE ALPHABET
(4) Sethe, Nielsen, Grimme, and other followers of the Sinaitic theory (see p. 199f.) consider the early Sinaitic script as the proto-Semitic alphabet. However, the connecting links between the early Sinaitic script and the North Semitic alphabet have not yet been established (see p. 200f.). The graphic connection between the early Sinaitic script and the South Semitic alphabets seems more likely (Fig. 103), see also under (2).
This theory was revived by the followers of the Sinaitic theory (see p. 199f.); indeed, according to Professor Albright, for instance, the early North Arabic script does not go back to the contemporary South Arabic script, but both go back to a common older source of South Arabian type. I am in full agreement with this opinion, although I am not certain that Prof. Albright is also right in saying "In several cases the North-Arabic characters are considerably closer to the presumptive Proto-Sinaitic prototypes than is true of the Minaeo-Sabæan forms."
According to Prof. Albright, "In view of what we know about the course of evolution followed by the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet in Canaan back to before 1500 B.C... ., it is impossible to suppose that the ProtoArabic script diverged from the Canaanite branch after that date. We thus have a full millennium of still-unknown monumental history to recover before the emergence of the Arabian branch cir. 700 B.C." I agree with him except for the first half of the first sentence.
This does not mean, however, that I hold the opinion that the South Semitic alphabets are a direct offshoot of the early Sinaitic script. According to my view, there is no doubt that the South Semitic alphabets originated some centuries later than the North Semitic script, of which the highly civilized southern Semitic travellers had certainly some knowledge. They were thus impelled to produce a script, and the choice between the alphabetic script and the complicated scripts of Egypt and Mesopotamia was obvious. Having decided to invent an alphabet based probably on the North Semitic writing, they may have borrowed some signs from other sources such as those connected with the early Sinaitic attempt or the so-called "wasms" (wusum), the ancient cattlemarks employed by Bedouins (see p. 29). However that may be, the original South Semitic alphabet probably originated as a deliberately formed type.
ETHIOPIC SCRIPT
Origin
The origin of the Ethiopic alphabet has also been disputed. The Greek alphabet (Tychsen, Wahl, Paulus, Gesenius, Klaproth, and others), the Indian scripts (William Jones and R. Lepsius), the Syriac (Kopp) or Coptic (De Sacy, and partly also Tychsen) or the Samaritan alphabet (Job Ludolf and Silvestre), or even the runes, have been proposed as
