Meaning of the Hebrew alphabet

[Logomachist]

Does anyone here know enough about the Kabbalah to explain what the letters of Hebrew alphabet are supposed to represent? Are there easy, short glosses as with the Germanic futhark?

[greentwiga]

The Hebrew alphabet has a lot of meaning assigned to it, primarily by Kabbalistics and those who have studied the more hidden aspects of the Torah. There are a number of interested articles here, although they have not yet gotten to all of the letters: http://www.hebrewtoday.com/content/arti ... w-teachers

Hope it helps/piques your interest!

That is a good site ... when it sticks to history. Moses didn't know of the Medieval Kabbalistic meanings, so they are not relevant to understanding the Bible. Examine the history of writing. The Egyptians used hieroglyphics with each symbol meant a word. M (waves) meant water. The Egyptians had one word, and the Hyksos who spoke a semitic language had a copletely different word sound but the same symbol. During their control of Egypt, they developed a method of associating the first part of the semitic sound with the symbol. They then wrote a combo of letters to make new words. This was about 1700-1600 BC. Around 1450 BC, protosinaitic was the only such alphabet used. Moses had to have written in protosinaitic. Early versions such as Arabic, Ethiopic, and Hebrew quickly arose by 1000 bc. Others scripts such as Greek were brought to them from sea traders from Byblos. By then, the symbol had names (sounds) that had no meaning. This is unlike Hebrew where the original still retains the original meaning. In fact, the shape still reflects the meaning. M still looks looks waves. B still looks like a two room house, and A still looks like an ox, especially if you turn it on its side, the original orientation. Then the tip of the A looks lie a nose and the bottom looks like horns that stick out behind.

[HebrewEnthusiast]

Hi Green,

Glad you found the site I sent interesting. Your additional info was good, as well. Thanks!