The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the BibleThe early Semitic \ evolved into the \ in the middle Semitic. This letter continued to
evolve into \ in the late Semitic. This letter became the \ in the modern Hebrew
alphabet. The late Semitic is reversed in the Greek alphabet becoming the ξ and Ξ. The
Greek letter Ξ became the Latin X.
AYIN..........................................................................................................................
The Ancient picture for this letter is a picture of an eye S. This letter represents the
ideas of seeing and watching as well as knowledge as the eye is the window of
knowledge.
The name of the letter is ayin, a Semitic word meaning eye. This letter is silent in
modern Hebrew. There is no indication that the ancient Semitic had a sound for this
letter as well and appears to have been silent in the past. The Greek language assigned
the vowel sound "o" to the letter. As Hebrew did not have one letter for the "o" sound
the Greeks took this silent letter and converted it into a vowel.
The early Semitic S evolved into the simpler S in the middle Semitic and remained
the same into the late Semitic period. This letter evolved into the S in the modern
Hebrew script. The middle Semitic became the Greek Ο and the Latin O.
PEY............................................................................................................................
The Semitic word "pey" means a "mouth" and there are several ancient Semitic
pictographs believed to be this letter, none of which resemble a mouth. The only
exception is the South Arabian pictograph T. This pictograph closely resembles a
mouth and is similar to the later Semitic letters for the letter "pey".
This pictograph has the meanings of speak and blow from the functions of the mouth as
well the edge of something from the lips at the edge of the mouth.
The modern Hebrew name for this letter is "pey" and as previously identified it is the
Hebrew word for mouth. There are two sounds for this letter, the stop "P" and the
spirant "Ph" or "f".