The Ancient Pictographic Hebrew Language

(This is an ongoing work and will be added to as time permits, more pictures and charts are in process)! Thank you for your patience!

Modern Hebrew Letters

This is where we get our word ‘Alphabet‘ from – the Hebrew ‘Alef Bet‘.

It is the only language in the world that was both ‘pictographic’ and ‘alefbetic’ in nature.

Pictograph a pictorial sign or symbol. pic·to·graph:

1. A picture representing a word, phrase, or idea, especially one used in early writing systems.

2: one of the symbols belonging to a pictorial graphic system

What this means is, that as the first pictograph is

an “ox head”

and corresponds to the Hebrew letter ‘alef’  it also corresponds  to our letter ‘A’.

It means a ‘strong one or leader’.

 

We do have ample evidence that the ancient pictographic characters are the precursor to all later Hebrew alef bets. However since words change meaning over time, an examination of the ancient script can reveal the true intent of any particular Hebraic word when it was originally written.

(Important note: some of these interpretations are purely subjective and should never be used to prove or disprove sound doctrine and used only as study aids.)

The ancient Hebrew language was a language based on the 5 senses, what they could see, feel, taste, smell or hear.

This was also due to their lifestyle which was based in farming and followed the seasons of planting, sowing and harvest, they thought primarily in agricultural terms.

All words made from any particular ancient two letter root, have a similar meaning.

Hebrew thought is ‘solid and concrete’.

Whereas:

 Greek thought is ‘abstract’.

In other words:

Hebrew thought is circular and for them everything occurs in recurring, continuing cycles; as are the annual Appointed Times/Feasts of the Lord.

Whereas:

Greek abstract thought is the expression of things that cannot be accessed or felt with the 5 senses and is Linear in nature, only progressing in a forward direction.

The western mindset YAHD דיה is based on abstract ideas.

(A Yad is the Hebrew word for hand. The long pointer used when reading the Torah to keep track of the place is called a Yad.)

The Western Mindset

is also known as a

Greek mindset

which is:

Attention is given to form shape descriptive.

You must Understand in order to Do/act

Everything is seen as either/or there is only one choice one way of viewing things either this way or that way.

Greek thinking puts everything in a box: there is only one right interpretation of Scripture; It says:

my method of systematic theology is the right one and everyone else is wrong.

Salvation

in the 

Greek mindset

vs.

Hebrew mindset.

To the Greek mind salvation is the eternal status of one’s soul. It is tied up to “right thinking” and is “creedal” in nature.

Salvation to the Greek mind is the goal of salvation is to escape this world and go to Gods’ dwelling place in heaven.

The kingdom of God exists in Heaven not upon the earth. Jesus is coming in order to take us away from this world. The gospel message to the Greek mind is get your ticket now or you might miss the flight!

 

Salvation to the Hebrew mind is to prepare a place fit for God to dwell here among His people (now it makes more sense why there is a concerted effort ongoing now to build the 3^rd Temple in Jerusalem!) The kingdom of God is God’s reign among people here on earth. Messsiah/Jesus is coming in order to reign over and through us in this world.

The message of salvation in the Hebrew mind is the Kingdom of God is coming. Get ready to serve the king and manifest the kingdom.

So which of these 2 mindsets do we have? Or maybe it’s a combination of both.

The truth is we need to have neither but the mind of Christ!

 

The Eastern Qaddam is based on Concrete Ideas where attention is given to function, meaning, that you must DO in order to UNDERSTAND and there are multiple ways of seeing things.

Time in Greek and Hebrew:

To the Hebrew mind, reality is the handiwork of a single all-knowing, all-powerful, and Supreme Creator who has personally revealed Himself to key individuals in human history. Reality is intensely, overwhelmingly personal. Truth therefore is a matter of trust — not abstract knowledge.

Function verses Appearance:

Hebrew thought describes objects in the relation to its’ functions, using verbs and nouns (Dynamic). 

Greek thought describes objects in the relation to its appearance, using adjectives (Static). 

Another example would be a pencil. 

Hebrew thought would say “I write words with it.” 

Greek thought would say “it is yellow and about 8 inches long”

These 2 definitions may help us in identifying our own mindsets and give us indications of how we can mature to resemble His Way for us.

An e.g. would be the definition of Grace Hebrew word Channah (see mmm post).

To recap if you have not seen it .

Where all dictionaries and concordances define Grace as favor and kindness, which are abstract terms, intangible; and which display no kind of object and simply takes you back to where you began not really understanding what grace is.

Our Heavenly fathers’ pictograph letters for this word, CHEN/channah, paint a picture of pitching a tent with Him, God/Adonai. Just like He pitched a tent/the Mishkan Tabernacle in the wilderness with His children of Israel.

Chet =To protect and surround

Nun = His children his seed offspring

Hey = teaching them through revelation

So when we read in the scriptures, or say to one another, May The GRACE of the Lord be with you… We are in reality saying:

May the place where God provides protection and provision for life, be to and for you, a camp, a precious place of healing, strength, salvation and rescue; for His fence of protection will not cease or fail, but it will continue to surround you and your offspring/family as He pitches His tent/abides with us and teaches us through revelation.

WoW!

Why even bother with an old language???

Because the Word tells us to…

Let this mind be in you…what mind?

The one which was also in Mashiach Yeshua. Pilipiyim (Philippians) 2:5

We are to Have the mind of Christ/the anointed One.

What does it mean?

To have the mind of Mashiach, means to think as Jesus/Yeshua thought … and to think as He thought, we must understand the Eastern mindset that He had… and this requires an adjustment to our Western way of thinking.

Even the Hebrew language, in todays modernized version,

has been westernized to a great degree.

LaShone haQodesh Qaddam.

The language of dedication from the beginning.

The Bible was written in the Hebrew language and we can clearly see its’ cyclical nature, as the end is declared from the beginning, and we are all part of that continuing cycle of life.

By learning to study key words in Scripture, we will start seeing the Word and its’ message as it was intended to be seen. We will begin to change our ways of thinking and eventually, we will begin to see not only that the whole of God’s Word is a picture of Yeshua; but that the picture itself is built on the most basic elements:

A house, a family, and a garden!

The Father’s Word and His aleph bet are comprised of the most basic and simple things for us to understand!

It’s all about the sun (rising in the east, bursting light into the darkness or setting in the west and diminishing into darkness),

water (being washed by His Word),

blood (being purchased by the shedding of His blood),

seeds (the Good Seed and the Bad Seed), thorns, roots, trees and vines, branches and shoots, and fruit

… it’s all about eyes (what we see),

ears (what we hear),

hearts (what we understand),

arms and hands (what we do),

feet (which path we walk on),

heads (what we think and who our headship is),

mouths (what we say and who we praise) …

and it’s all about:

the house of Elohim – the family,

The Door, Jesus/Yeshua,

a tent peg which secures our house,

a plowing tool used to dig into His Word and to plant seeds with,

a fence that surrounds and protects,

a basket that catches fish and stores bounty,

and a staff that steers and teaches the flock.

Following the chart below is a list of the letters – OTIOT – in the ancient Hebrew ‘alef bet’,

A letter, in the Aramaic/Hebrew, is an ot (pronounced “oat”)

and means “a sign” … the plural is otiot (pronounced “oatee-oat”)

 

As each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is a picture with meaning, when the letters are put together, they not only form a word, but also a story within the word!

 Proverbs 25:2 tells us,

“The honor of God is to hide a thing, And the honor of kings to search out a matter.” (Young’s Literal Translation)  

This is exactly what God has done with His language!

These are the original love-letters!

The modern word for alphabet actually comes from the Hebrew letters alef-bet, the first two Hebrew alphabet letters corresponding to the “a and b” in the English alphabet.

Below are the characters for each letter and their possible meanings:

The 22 letters/OTIOT of the ancient Hebrew alef bet were originally pictures of animals, tools or parts of the body. Consequently the letters show very little resemblance to the modern Hebrew aleph bet, however the modern letter shapes did evolve out of the pictographs.

The Early Semitic pictograph was simplified to and in the Middle Hebrew script.  It continued to evolve into  the Late Hebrew script.

The Modern Hebrew letter א developed out of the Late Semitic.

The Middle Semitic was adopted by the Greeks to be the letter “A” (alpha) and carried over into the Roman “A.”

Hebrew letters are all Consonants. There are no vowels (aeiou).

Later, the pictograms evolved into a Hebrew script (sometimes called Paleo-Hebrew) these symbols/letters, strongly resembled the ancient Phoenician alphabet. This was the Hebrew (ketav Ivri) used by the Jewish nation up to the Babylonian Exile (or, according to Orthodox Jews, until the Exodus from Egypt).

Once the letters are understood in their original Hebrew context, we will look at a few Hebrew words which are formed by combining letters together. The meaning of these letters will then help to supply the definition to the Hebrew word. Each pictographic letter has numerous meanings and often appearing to have different shapes which can be confusing.

There are variations to some of the shapes of the various pictographs..

and some similarities in the phoenician alphabet.

Aleph  A a 

Ox, Strength, Leader

The Aleph, our letter A, is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

The alef is a silent letter and simply carries the sound of the vowel.  The word picture for alef in the original pictographic Hebrew is a bull or ox’s head with the horns. 

As the Ox was the strongest of animals, the picture tells us it means Strength, Power, Apostolic, Chief, Leader, Pillar, Oak Tree, Ram.

Pictograph: Alef is a picture of the head of an ox, the strongest and most versatile animals among the livestock owned by the Hebrews. The ox was used to pull carts or a plow, it provided meat and leather and it was one of the animals used in sacrifices. This animal was the “all” powerful and “all” versatile animal of the Hebrews.

This pictograph also represents a chief or other leader. When two oxen are yoked together for pulling a wagon or plow, one is the older and more experienced one who leads the other. Within the clan, tribe or family the chief or father is seen as the elder who is yoked to the others as the leader and teacher.

This letter has an “a” sound, but also an “e” sound as in elk and elephant, both of which are also powerful animals. The modern name of this letter is “aleph,” which may be the origin of “elephant.” 



The Modern name for this letter is aleph and corresponds to the Greek name alpha and the Arabic name aleph. The various meanings of this root are oxen, yoke and learn.

Each of these meanings is related to the meanings of the pictograph. The root (אלף) is an adopted root from the Parent root אל (el), written as in the original script, meaning, strength, power and chief and is the probable original name of the pictograph .

Example of Alef used in a word.

The is a shepherd staff and represents authority as well as a yoke (see the letter lamed). When combined these two pictographs mean “strong authority.” The chief or father is the “strong authority.” The can also be understood as the “ox in the yoke.”

Many Near Eastern cultures worshipped the god El and was depicted as a bull in carvings and statues. It’s possible Israel chose the form of a calf (young bull) as an image of God at Mount Sinai showing their association between the word and the ox or bull and is also commonly used in the Hebrew Bible for “God” or “god.”

The concept of the ox and the shepherd staff in the word has been carried over into modern times as the scepter (as a staff) and crown (as horns) of a monarch, the leader of a nation. These modern items are representative of the shepherd staff, an ancient sign of authority, and the horns of the ox, an ancient sign of strength.

In Modern Hebrew this letter is silent.

 

Bet/Beth/Beyt/Beit – B b  

BEYT “beit, bet, beth” corresponds to our letter B

Pictograph: Floorplan of a Tent

The word picture for the letter bet is: house, in or inside, something enclosed, inner chamber.  

In Hebrew, the letter “bet” has a “b” sound and is used as a letter in forming words.

Family, house, in, tent floor plan

 

The Hebrew word for “house” is beeyt. 

The Hebrew letters bet, yood and tav spell the word house. 

The letter yood is the sound of “ya” and the picture is a hand, or strong work. 

The letter tav is the sound of “T” and the word picture is a cross meaning a sign or covenant. 

The word picture for house shows a place of strong covenant, a house of the covenant or sign within.

The Hebrews lived in goat hair tents, which were divided into two halves, male and female sections, and divided by a wall. The picture of this letter is a representation of the floor plan to the tent. The tent was the place where the family laid their “bed”. 



Picture: Tent 


Associations: Bed 


Sound: b, bh (v) 


Ancient Name: Beyt 


Modern Name: Beyt 
 bet beit

Modern Form: ב 

Meaning: Family, House, In

The letter bet, which is the word picture of a household, in, into or family. When alef and bet are together, they become the Hebrew word av (or ab) meaning father.  The alef and bet in word picture form show that the father is the strong leader of the house.

 

The meaning of the letter “bet” is “house, home, abode or family.” Similarly, the Alef (our A) which is depicted as an ox head in the ancient characters, means “head, first or mighty one”. The Hebrew word for father is written Ab. It’s ancient meaning was “the head of the household or family”.

Another bet word is son, and sometimes in Hebrew spelled bet followed by a noon, which is the sound of “N” and the word picture of action/life. 

Another word for son is bar, a bet followed by a resh which is the sound of “R” with the word picture of a head or person.  These two words for “son” have similar yet slightly different meanings. 

The bet and noon pronounced a ben has a word picture of a son that is the life of the house.  In other words, his seed carries the life from generation to generation. 

The bet-resh, pronounced bar, is the word picture showing  the son is the man from within the house.

Another bet word is bet-el, or House of God.  Again the Hebrew word for house is byeet, a bet followed by a yood followed by a tav. 

One of the words for God is el, an alef followed by a lamed. The alef is silent carrying the sound of the vowel with a word picture of an ox or strong leader.  The lamed is the sound of “L” with the word picture of a shepherd or leader. Together the word byeet el has a word picture of a house containing a strong hand of covenant, and the house has a strong leader from within.  Bet el is House of God commonly pronounced Bethel. 

Another bet word is daughter, spelled in Hebrew bet-tav and pronounced bat.  The tav is the picture of a cross meaning covenant. The bet and tav together are a word picture that is of a daughter that carries the covenant of the house, she joins two houses together, or two families together.

 

 

Gimmel  C c

Foot, walk, gather, carry, camel, cause movement 

The name of the third letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is Gimel is Gimel corresponds to our letter G. With one or two m’s. The earliest known pictograph for this letter is and is a picture of a foot.

Pictograph: The picture is the foot of a man. The Hebrews were always on their feet for traveling, working as well as playing “games”. The old Latin word for a leg is “gam.”

Picture: Foot -
 later a camel.

Associations: Game, Gam 


Sound: g 


Ancient Name: Gam 


Modern Name: Gimel 


Modern Form: ג 

Meaning: Gather, Walk

It is from an adopted root. The original name to this letter is most likely gam, the parent root of gimel. This letter is the origin of the Arabic letter Geem and the Greek gamma supporting the theory that the original name for the letter did not include the “L.” 

The word gam means to gather together as a group of animals gathering at the water hole to drink.

The pictographic script for the word gam is the foot, representing “walk” and the m is “water” (See the letter mem). When combined these letters mean “walk to the water.” 

The letter has the meanings of walk, carry or gather. The sound associated with this letter is a “g” as in “go.” 



The Early Semitic became   in the Middle Semitic script. This letter further developed to in the Late Semitic script.

The Late Semitic script further developed into the Modern Hebrew ג). 



The Middle Semitic script became the Greek Γ (a reversal of the letter due to direction of writing) as well as the Roman C and G.

The Late Semitic became the number 3.

The word picture for gimel evolved into: a camel, to be lifted up, to arise. 

The sound of the gimel is the sound of “G”.  The Hebrew word for garden is gan, a gimel followed by a noon. 

The word picture for noon is life/action.  The word picture of a gimel and noon together is a lifting up of life.  The Garden of Eden was an eternal lifting up of life. 

Another gimel word is geay meaning pride.  In Hebrew it is spelled gimel followed by an alef, followed by a hey which has a soft “H” sound and is pictured as: what comes from. 

Gimel pictures a lifting up, alef pictures strength and hey pictures what comes from. 

The word picture is what comes from lifting up strength of the person above God, in other words pride.

Another gimel word is ga-al meaning a lifting up of God. 

The gimel is a picture of lifting up and the sound of “G”, followed by an alef, a picture of strong/strength or head, a silent letter only carrying the sound of the vowel, followed by a lamed, the sound of “L” pictured as a shepherd’s staff or goad. 

The alef, followed by an lamed is the word el which is God. 

The lamed and the alef, along with the gimel is a picture of: God is lifted up. 

Ga-al also has the meaning of salvation or redemption, the root of which is gimel followed by alef followed by lamed.  Again it pictures a lifting up of God.

Another gimel word is gal-gal.  The Hebrew spelling is gimel followed by a lamed.  Again the word picture is something repeated over and over as a wheel going around and around.  The gimel is pictured as a lifting up or arising and the lamed pictures a staff or a goad used to push animals forward or moving forward.  The word picture shows something rising over and over and being pushed forward as a wheel would be.

Another gimel word is gever.  The Hebrew spelling is gimel, pictured as a lifting up or arising,  followed by a bet the sound of “ soft V ” pictured as a house, in within, or enclosed, followed by a resh, the sound of “R” pictured as a head, person or man.  The word picture for gever is a man from within a house rises or is lifted up like a man’s man, or a manly man. 

In Hebrew some letters have a hard and a soft sound.  In the word gever the bet is the sound of a soft bet pronounced as a “V”.

Dalet  D d

  

Tent door, pathway, move, hang, entry

 

The dalet is the fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet corresponds to our letter D


The entrance of the Hebrew’s tent was covered by a curtain suspended from a horizontal pole. The word picture of this letter represents the “door” of the tent. and sometimes the leaf of a gate or a page) it is something that opens. 

Picture: Door 


Associations: Door 


Sound: d 


Ancient Name: Dal 


Modern Name: Dalet 


Modern Form: ד 

Meaning: Move, Hang, Entrance

There are two possibilities for the original Early Semitic pictograph for this letter, the picture of a fish – and a picture of a door – . The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is dalet and means “door.” The word dalet is a derivative of the parent root dal also meaning “door.” The Arabic name for this letter is dal giving support to the parent root as the original name. As the Hebrew word for a “fish” is dag, it is unlikely that the is the pictograph for this letter but, rather the . 

The basic meaning of the letter is “door,” but has several other meanings associated with it. It can mean “a back and forth movement” as one goes back and forth through the tent through the door. It can mean “dangle” as the tent door dangled down from a roof pole of the tent. It can also mean weak or poor as one who dangles the head down. 

The sound for this letter is a “d” as in “door” as it is with the Greek and Arabic equivalents. 

The Early Semitic pictograph evolved into the Middle Semitic letter . The Middle Semitic then evolved into the Late Semitic letter , the early form of the Modern Hebrew ד. The Middle Semitic letter is the origin of the Greek letter Δ, The Roman D and the number 4.

 

A familiar dalet word is the word dan, the Hebrew word for judge.  The word picture for dan is a dalet, for door the sound of “D” and noon, the sound of “N” the word picture of a fish indicating life or action.

The dalet followed by the noon is a word picture of a door to life; something that could have influence or power over life, as a judge might.

In Hebrew customarily there are no “nick” names.  The word Danny in Hebrew is a form of the word Dan with the possessive pronoun ending sound of “ee” indicating “my” or “belonging to.”  Here the word picture is “judge me,” or “my judge.”  When the “el” is added to the end of the word “Dan,” the picture changes again. The Hebrew letter alef a silent letter carrying the sound of a vowel, and is a word picture indicating strong, leader or first, followed by a lamed, the sound of “L” and a word picture of a staff or shepherd is  the Hebrew “el.”  The alef followed by the lamed is the word picture of a strong leader used to picture God.  The Hebrew letter dalet and noon followed by “el” is the Hebrew name Daniel.   When these Hebrew letters are together they form the word picture showing a strong influence of my life by God’s hand.  In other words, “God is my Judge.”  

Another dalet word is the word dam, the Hebrew word for blood.  The dalet is the sound of “D” with a word picture of a door, a leaf on a gate or a page.  The second letter is mem with the sound “M” and a word picture of water and sometimes chaos.  The word for blood in Hebrew has a very deep meaning, unlike the meaning in English.  The two letters, dalet and mem are the root letters to some very interesting connections in Hebrew, and that is, the relationship between blood, earth, man and even the color red.  In English there is no apparent connection but because Hebrew is a precise language, unlike English, everything has a specific meaning.  The character of God shows in its design.

First the word “dam” dalet- mem, is Hebrew for blood.  Second, adama, alef-dalet-mem-hey, is Hebrew for earth or soil.  Third, adam comes from within the word adama, (adam is one word for man.)  This shows man came from within the soil.  Fourth, what sustains life?  Blood or “dam,” once again, all these Hebrew words are within the root of adama.  And lastly, the color of blood is adon, (Hebrew for red).

Altogether these individual words share a common root and tell the story that man came from the soil or earth, that man’s life is in the soil and that the blood is red.

Another dalet word is dama which means weep.  Dama in Hebrew is spelled dalet, the sound of “D” pictured as a door, mem, the sound of “M” and a word picture of water, and the ayin, a silent letter carrying the sound of the vowel with the word picture of an eye.  Here we have a complete word picture that shows the door of the eye and water; in other words weeping or tears.

Hey  H hhh e  

 

Look, Behold, The, Reveal, breath, man

The letter “hey” is the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And corresponds to our letter H


 The Hebrew word picture for the “hey” is of a man with his arms outstretched, raised arms showing praise pointing toward a wonderful view and saying “hey” look at that.

Picture: Pointing 


Associations: Hey 


Sound: h, ey 


Ancient Name: Hey 


Modern Name: Hey 


Modern Form: ה 

Meaning: Look, Reveal, Breath 


The Modern Hebrew, and original name for this letter, is hey, a Hebrew word meaning “behold,” as when looking at a great sight. This word can also mean “breath” or “sigh,” as one does when looking at a great sight.

The ancient meaning of the letter is behold, look, breath, sigh, reveal and revelation from the idea of revealing a great sight by pointing it out. 



This letter is a consonant, with an “h” sound, but also used as a vowel with the “eh” sound. When the Greeks adopted this letter it became the epsilon (E-psilon meaning “simple E”) with an “eh” sound. 

This letter is commonly used as a prefix to words to mean “the” as in ha’arets meaning “the land.” The use of this prefix is to reveal something of importance within the sentence. 

The Early Semitic evolved into the Middle Semitic by rotating the letter 90 degrees to the left. This letter then evolved into in the late Semitic script that developed into the Modern Hebrew ה.

The Middle Semitic was adopted by the Greeks and the Romans to become the E (reversed from its Semitic origin due to the direction of writing). This Middle Semitic letter also became the number 5.

The “hey” in Hebrew serves in several ways, one of which can be the definite article “the” when it is the first letter of the word.  Another way is when the “hey” is the last letter of a word it can indicate direction, i.e. toward or to something.  The “hey” at the end of a word following certain vowels can indicate the feminine gender of the word.  They hey, with a certain vowel structure under it, at the beginning of a word can also indicate the posing of a question.

The Hebrew word “hallelujah” is a word of praise literally meaning “We praise God.”  The root word here is “hallel” the “hey” (which is the sound of an H or the sound of breath as it is expelled) with a word picture of uplifted arms; and a lamed (with the sound of an L) and a word picture of a strong shepherd/leader.  These two letters together are a picture of praises to a strong shepherd leader.

Another “hey” word is Hevel, translated as Able spelled in Hebrew “lamed”, “vet” and “hey.” (Hey, the sound of H or a disappearing breath, Vet, the sound of V which is a soft B for bet, and Lamed the sound of L)

Here the word picture is a “hey” raised arms in praise, or, as what come from, or out of, a “vet” the sound of V which is the picture of a house, inside or enclosed, and a “lamed” with a word picture of control, staff or shepherd.  The complete word picture tells that Hevel is something expelled or coming out of an enclosed space that had control but as the breath of the “hey” disappears so does the control.  It is pictured as the mist of breath coming from the mouth; as in here now and gone later.

Vav  F f

  

Nail, tent peg, add, hook, to secure, connect, Messiah

The sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the “vav” with the sound of V. corresponds to our letter V.  The pictogram of the “vav” is a nail, or something connecting, or a straight line with a little hook on the top. 

In modern and ancient Hebrew the “vav” is used as the conjunction “and,” like a connector to put two things together such as the words boys and girls. The nail is indicative of the character of this letter of the alphabet. It is a connecting word.

Hebrew is God’s language and we will not understand everything about it.  In Biblical Hebrew some things just “are”!  As an example, in Biblical Hebrew the letter “vav” is not only a conjunction meaning “and” when attached to the word, but when used as the first letter of a verb it can reverse the tense of the verb from past tense to future tense or future tense to past tense and at the same time still connecting thoughts.  Why?  It’s a mystery of God.

The tent was supported by ropes attached to pegs driven into the ground. These pegs were made of a branched piece of hardwood. No English word is derived from this letter but the picture is similar to the hand of a man “waving”. 



Picture: Peg 


Associations: Wave

Sound: w, ow, uw 


Ancient Name: Waw


Modern Name: Vav 


Modern Form: ו 

Meaning: Add, Secure, Hook 


 

The original pictograph used in the Early Semitic script is a , a picture of a tent peg. The tent pegs were made of wood and may have been Y-shaped to prevent the rope from slipping off.

The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is vav, a word meaning “peg” or “hook.” This letter is used as a consonant with a “v” sound and as a vowel with a “ow” and “uw” sound. The consonantal and vowel pronunciations of each of the consonant/vowel letters of the Ancient Hebrew language, which include the aleph,, hey,, vav, and yud, were closely related. For instance, the letter hey is “h” and “eh” and the pronunciations of the letter yud is “y” and “iy.” Following this pattern, it is probable that the original pronunciation of the letter was “w” as the vowel sounds associated with this letter

are “ow” and “uw.” In addition, in the Modern Arabic language, this letter is pronounced with a “w.” Therefore, the original name of this letter would have been waw instead of vav, as it is in Modern Hebrew.

As the pictograph indicates, this letter represents a peg or hook, which is used for securing something. The meaning of this letter is to add or secure.

This letter is frequently used as a prefix to words to mean “and” in the sense of adding things together.

The Early Semitic evolved into the in the Middle Semitic script. This letter then became the in the Late Semitic script and evolved into the Modern Hebrew ו. 

The Middle Semitic letter was adopted by the Greeks and the Romans to be the letter F, but was dropped from the Greek alphabet and does not exist in the Modern Greek alphabet. The Late Semitic form of the letter became the number 9.

Hebrew is a language of action.  As God speaks His Word there is an immediate action (Heb. 4:12).  Isa. 55:11 teaches God’s Word does not return void it accomplishes God’s purposes for which it was sent.  A good example, when God spoke, creation happened!

Another “vav” word is ka-vah which means to bind together; it can also mean expect or wait. The Hebrew spelling is “koof”, the sound of K, which is a word picture of behind, after or the back of the head; followed by a “vav,” the letter sound of V, and again is a word picture of a nail or straight line with a hook on top; and followed by a “hey,” which is a word picture of raised hands, or a feminine ending, or “what comes from.”  Put these letters together and the word picture for ka-vah (“koof,” “vav” and “hey”) has a meaning of “binding to” or “what comes after the nail.”  In other words, after you use a nail, or something similar, it has bound together two items: and then what follows is bound together.

Zayin Z z

  

Plow, weapon, cut off, sickle, harvest, food, feed, crown.

The seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet is called “Zayin,” corresponds to our letter z

In ancient Hebrew the letter Zayin means “weapon or strife” with a picture that resembles a weapon.    

The picture is of a mattock, an agricultural tool for working the crop fields.

a hand tool used for digging, prying, and chopping. Similar to the pickaxe, it has a long handle and a stout head which combines either a vertical axe blade with a horizontal adze (cutter mattock) or a pick and an adze (pick mattock). Isaiah 7:25

There is no English word derived from this Hebrew letter but it is similar to the letter “Z”, which did evolve out of this letter. 



Picture: Mattock 


Associations: Z 


Sound: z 


Ancient Name: Zayin 


Modern Name: Zayin 


Modern Form: ז 

Meaning: Food, Cut, Nourish

The ancient pictograph for this letter, , is some type of agricultural implement similar to a mattock or plow. The meanings of this letter are “harvest,” “food” as from the harvest, “cut” from the function of the implement and “broad” from its shape. 

The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is zayin but was originally the parent root zan. When the Greeks adopted the letter its name was originally zan, but later became zeta, the modern name for this letter in the Greek alphabet. 

The phonetic sound for this letter is a “z” as it is in Greek and Arabic. 

The Early Semitic was simplified to in the Middle Semitic script, which then evolved into in the Late Semitic script. This form evolved into the Modern Hebrew letter ז.

The Greeks and Romans adopted this letter to become the letter “Z.” The Late Semitic became the number 7.

The Hebrew word zee’voog has to do with strife and connection.  Zee’voog spelled in Hebrew is zayin, the letter sound of “Z,” with a word picture of a weapon, followed by a double vav with the letter sound of “V,” with a word picture of a nail or something connedted together, followed by a gimel, the letter sound of “G” and a word picture of being lifted up or rising  The word picture of the word zee’voog is “weapon/strife, connected-connected and lifted up:  A weapon lifted against someone or connected to someone.

Another zayin word is zar, which means enemy or foreigner.  The Hebrew spelling for zar is the letter zayin, the letter sound of “Z,” with a word picture of a weapon or strife, followed by a resh with the letter sound of “R.” with the word picture of a head of a person or highest or top.   The word picture for zar is a head of a person who is an enemy or the highest enemy.

 

Chet/Hhet  h

 

Tent wall, fence, separation, outside, inside, half, divide

The Chet is the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet with a word picture of a fence, protection or surrounding there is no English to corresponds to this letter it has a guttural, harsh sound

The tent was divided into two sections, with a wall separating the tent in “half”. 
Picture: Wall 


Associations: Half 


Sound: h 


Ancient Name: Hhet 


Modern Name: Hhet 
or Chet

Modern Form: ח

Meaning: Wall, Outside, Divide, Half 


The ancient pictograph is a picture of a tent wall. The meanings of this letter are “outside,” as the function of the wall is to protect the occupants from the elements, half, as the wall in the middle of the tent divides the tent into the male and female sections, and secular, as something that is outside. 

The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is hhet meaning a string. A very similar Hebrew word is hhets, which means a wall and is most likely the original name for this letter.

The sound of the letter, in ancient and modern times, is a guttural “hh” (as in the “ch” in the name Bach). 

The early Semitic pictograph evolved into in the Middle Semitic script by being rotated 90 degrees. This letter continued to evolve into in the Late Semitic script. The Middle Semitic script is the origin of the Greek and Roman H. The late Semitic script became the Modern Hebrew ח.

The Middle Semitic form of this letter became the number 8. The Hebrew word for grace is chen, beginning with the chet, a harsh guttural sound, followed by a noon, with the letter sound of “N” with a word picture of life.  The chet followed by a noon is a word picture of something fencing in life or protecting life or surrounding life.

Another chet word is ach, which means “brother” and is spelled in Hebrew with an alef, which is a silent letter, with a word picture of an ox, strong leader or first, followed by the letter chet.  Together the aleph followed by a chet is a word picture of a strong leader that protects like a strong fence.

Another chet word is the Hebrew word cha-shah, which means “to keep silent,”  and is spelled chet, a guttural, harsh sound, followed by a shin, with the setter sound of “SH” and is the word picture of teeth, or tooth or destroy, followed by a hey, with the soft sound of the letter “H” (or the expulsion of breath), and is a word picture of “what comes from.”  Together the word picture of cha-sha is a chet, followed by a shin, followed by a hey. Together this is a word picture showing to fence the teeth from what comes from.  In other words, keep silent.

 

Tet  u

 

Basket, Snake, Surround, Store, Contain, clay, below, womb

The 9th letter “tet” is a word picture of a snake, serpent, surrounding something, coiling, a curving line.

The letter “tet” in modern Hebrew has a sound of the letter “T.”   However, in earlier times it may have had a “th” sound. 

The picture is a basket or “tote” used for storing foods or belongings. 



Picture: Basket 


Associations: Tote


Sound: t 


Ancient Name: Tet 


Modern Name: Tet 


Modern Form: ט

Meaning: Surround, Contain, Mud 


The original pictograph for this letter is , a container made of wicker or clay. Containers were a very important item among the nomadic Hebrews. They were used for storing grains, tools, foods, housewares and other items. Wicker baskets were used as nets for catching fish. The meanings of this letter are basket, contain, store and clay. 

The twenty-second letter of the Hebrew alphabet is a tav, with a “t” sound. It is unlikely that the original Hebrew had two letters with the same sound. When the Greeks adopted the Hebrew alphabet this letter became the Greek theta. It is likely that the original sound for this letter was a “th,” as adopted by the Greeks. 



The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is tet, but probably originally pronounced thet, which means “mud” or “clay,” materials used to make baskets.


The Early Semitic letter remained unchanged into

the Middle Semitic script, but became in the Late Semitic script. The Late Semitic letter became the Θ (Theta) in the Greek alphabet,

the Modern Hebrew ט and our number 6.

The Hebrew word picture letters for the word be-ten are:  “bet” with a sound of “B” and a word picture of a house or inside;  followed by a ”tet” with a sound of the letter “T” and a word picture of surrounding; followed by a noon with a sound of “N” and a word picture of life, something moving.  When combined, these Hebrew letters form the word be-ten with a word picture of an enclosure that surrounds life.

Another “tet” word is sa-tan, (Satan) with a Hebrew meaning of adversary.  The Hebrew spelling is “shin,”  “tet,” “noon” with the following word picture.  The Hebrew letter is “shin” with a letter sound of “S” or sometimes “SH” and a word picture of teeth or devour or destroy; followed by a “tet” with the letter sound of “T” and a word picture of a snake, serpent, surrounding something, coiling or a curving line; followed by a “noon” with the letter sound of “N” and a word picture of life\living.  When put together these Hebrew letters form a word picture of something or someone destructive wrapped around life: Sa-tan.

Another “tet” word is ta-ah with a Hebrew meaning of “deceived” or “to seduce.”  The Hebrew spelling is “tet,” “ayin,” and “hey” with the following word picture. The first letter is “tet” with a sound “T” and a word picture of surround, snake, curved or twisted line; followed by an “ayin” which is a silent letter only carrying the sound of the vowel and a word picture of an “eye;” followed by a “hey” with a sound of the letter “H” and a word picture of “something that comes from, completing the word picture of a twisting of the eye, or seduction through the eye.

Yod/Yud/Yood  ‘

 

Arm, hand, work, thrust, deed, make, throw, worship

The “yood,” the tenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is the smallest letter with one of the biggest meanings.  Standing alone it can even mean the word “God.”  The word picture for the ‘yood’ is a closed hand or even a forearm and it has the letter sound of “Y.”  The visual picture of a “yood” is an apostrophe.  All English words beginning with the letter “J” are a “yood” in Hebrew with the letter sound of a “Y.”  As an example, in English the word “Jordan” as in Jordan River begins with the sound of “J” while in Hebrew it begins with a “yood” and is pronounced yar-den corresponds to our letter J which is pronounced Y

The pictograph is of the hand and arm of a man. The length of the arm, from fingertip to elbow is called a cubit. Our word “yard (also 3 feet in length”, or approx. 1 meter which is 3ft 3ins) as a measurement, is the length of the arm. 


Picture: Hand 


Associations: Yard 


Sound: y, ee 


Ancient Name: Yad 


Modern Name: Yud 


Modern Form: י 

Meaning: Hand, Work, Throw, Worship 


In Hebrew different words can become syllables and when put together form other words.  An example of a “yood” word that is two separate words put together to form another word is: ya-shar.  In Hebrew ya-shar means straight as in upright.  The Hebrew spelling is “yood” with the letter sound of “Y” and a word picture of a hand or forearm, followed by the letter “shin” with a letter sound of “SH” or sometimes “S” with a word picture of destroy or devour, followed by a “reysh” with a letter sound of “R” and a word picture of a person.  When put together the word picture for ya-shar is the hand of a person that is strong, as in a warrior.  When these two words are separated, the “yood” alone stands for “God” and the “shin” and “reysh” form the word “sar” which means warrior or commander.  When these two meanings are put together it can also have the meaning of “God the commander or warrior.

 

Another “yood” word “yad” which means hand.  The “yood” with the sound of a “Y” meaning hand, followed by a “dalet” with the letter sound of “D” forms “yad” with a word picture of something that goes through the hand, something the hand does.

The Early Semitic pictograph of this letter is , an arm and hand. The meaning of this letter is work, make and throw; the functions of the hand. The Modern Hebrew name yud is a derivative of the two letter word (yad), a Hebrew word meaning “hand,” the original name for the letter. 

The ancient and modern pronunciation of this letter is a “y.” In Ancient Hebrew this letter also doubled as a vowel with an “i” sound. The Greek language adopted this letter as the vowel iota, retaining the “i” sound. 

The ancient pictograph became the in the Middle Semitic script.

The letter continued to evolve into the simpler form in the Late Semitic script. The Middle Semitic form became the Greek and Roman I. The Late Semitic form became the Modern Hebrew י.

 

Kaf/Kaph  K k

  

Palm of the hand, to open, tame, subdue, bend, curve

Kaf the eleventh letter of the Hebrew Alphabet

corresponds to our letter sound of the “C” or a “K” in the English alphabet when it has a dot in the center. The “kaf” can have a soft guttural sound when it does not have a dot in the center of the letter.

The picture is the open palm of the hand. The palm facing up and bent forms a “cupped” shape. 

 or when holding up the open hand with palm open it appears to represent “wings” symbolizing to open, or to cover or to allow something. The letter “kaf” is one of the five Hebrew letters that has a final form which is an entirely different form when it is the last letter of the word. The letter “kaf” can be a prefix with several meanings such as:  like or as, according to; and it can also mean:  in, inside or into. 

Picture: Palm 


Associations: Cup 


Sound: k 


Ancient Name: Kaph 


Modern Name: Kaph 


Modern Form: ך כ 

Meaning: Bend, Open, Allow, Tame

Another “kaf” word is “kee-per” which means to forgive or to atone.  “Kee-per” is spelled “kaf” with a letter sound of “K” and a word picture meaning “to cover,” followed by a “pey” with a letter sound of “P” and a picture of “a mouth” followed by a the letter “reysh” with a letter sound of “R” and a picture of “a person’s head.”  When these letters are put together the word picture of “kaf, pey and reysh” is the picture of: to cover the mouth of a person.  Sometimes it is better to cover your mouth than to say something you may regret or if you have said something you regret.  As with the “kaf” the letter “pey” can also take a dot, which is called a dagesh, which hardens the sound to a “P” whereas the “pey” without the dagesh has a letter sound of the letter “F.”

The Ancient form of this letter is the open palm of a hand. The meanings of this letter are “bend” and “curve,” from the shape of the palm, as well as to “tame” or “subdue” as one who has been bent to another’s will.

The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is kaph, a Hebrew word meaning “palm” and is also the ancient name for this letter. This letter is pronounced as a “k,” as in the word kaph, when used as a stop or as a “kh” (pronounced hard like the “ch” in the German name Bach), as in the word yalakh (to walk) when used as a spirant. 



The Early Semitic evolved into in the Middle Semitic script.

This letter continued to evolve into in the Late Semitic script and becoming the Modern Hebrew כ and the ך (final kaph).

The Middle Semitic became the Greek and Roman K (written in the reverse direction from the Hebrew).

 

 

Lamed  l

  

Staff, Goal, Control, Toward, Protect, Authority, bind, yoke, lead

Lamed the twelfth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet

corresponds to our letter L with a pictograph of a cattle goad, a staff or a rod. 

The “lamed” is the tallest letter in the Hebrew Alphabet.  When the “lamed” is the first letter of the word it can be a prefix, indicating several different meanings: the infinitive “to,” or toward or belonging to.  The “lamed” can also have a word picture of “control, or urging forward,” as in a cattle goad or even pushing forward as in teaching or the tongue.  The “lamed” is one of the Hebrew letters that progressed through a series of shapes from the original shape in the proto-Canaanite to the modern-day “lamed” which looks quite different.

The Hebrews raised sheep for wool, food, leather and milk. The Hebrew shepherd always carried a staff, which could be used as a weapon to protect the flock from predators as well as to discipline the sheep. The staff also had a bent end that could be used to pull a “lamb”.

Picture: Staff 


Associations: Lamb 


Sound: l 


Ancient Name: Lam 


Modern Name: Lamed 


Modern Form: ל

Meaning: Teach, Yoke, Authority, Bind

The Hebrew word for “no” is “lo.”  This is a strong negative “no” or “do not.”  The Hebrew spelling is “lamed” with a letter sound of “L” and a word picture of a staff, followed by an “alef,” which is a silent letter carrying only the sound of a vowel, with a word picture of “strong or ox.”  The lamed followed by an “alef” is the word picture of a staff for control and strength.

Another “lamed” word is “la-mad,” meaning study, or be accustomed to.  The Hebrew spelling of “la-mad” is “lamed” with a letter sound of “L” and a word picture of “a staff or control,” followed by the letter “mem” with a letter sound of “M” and a word picture of “water, powerful or chaos,” followed by a “dalet” with a letter sound of “D” and a word picture of a “door, pathway or enter.”  When put together these Hebrew letters are a word picture of a shepherd or someone controlling chaos through a door or pathway.

Another “lamed” word is “lev” which is Hebrew for “heart.”  The Hebrew spelling for “lev” is “lamed” with a letter sound of “L” with a word picture of a “staff, control or strong/strength,” followed by a “bet” with the letter sound of “V” (sometimes a “B” when it has a dagesh or dot in the center) with a word picture of a “house or inside.” Together these two Hebrew letters, “lamed” followed by a “bet” spell “lev,” which is “heart.”  The Hebrew word picture is that the heart controls what is inside.

Another “lamed” word is “nee-hel” or “lead.”   The Hebrew spelling for “nee-hel” or “lead” is the letter “noon,’ with the letter sound of “N” and a word picture of “life or action,” followed by the letter “hey” with the letter sound of  “H” the breath leaving the mouth and the word picture of “what comes from or behold,” followed by a lamed with the letter sound of “L” and a word picture of “a staff, to direct or leader.”  Together the Hebrew word “nee-hel” has a word picture of “the action of the staff is to lead or direct.”

The Early Hebrew pictograph is , a shepherd’s staff. The shepherd staff was used to direct sheep by pushing or pulling them. It was also used as a weapon against predators to defend and protect the sheep. 

The meaning of this letter is “toward” as moving something in a different direction. This letter also means “authority,” as it is a sign of the shepherd, the leader of the flock. It also means “yoke,” which is a staff on the shoulders, “tie” or “bind” from idea of the yoke that is bound to the animal. 

This letter is used as a prefix to nouns meaning “to” or “toward.” 



The Modern Hebrew name of this letter is lamed and is carried over into the Greek name lamda. The Arabic name however is lam, retaining an older two letter root name for the letter and the probable original name. The phonetic sound for this letter is “l.” 

The original pictograph for this letter is and has remained virtually unchanged through Middle Hebrew as well as the Greek and Roman scripts.

In Late Semitic this letter changed slightly to and became ל in the Modern Hebrew script. The Early Semitic is the origin of the Greek Λ (upside down from the Hebrew) and the Roman L.

 

 

Mem m

 

Water, Chaos, mighty, liquid, massive, sea, blemish

The 13th ancient Hebrew letter “mem” has the letter sound of and corresponds to our letter M There is no English word derived from this letter, but, our letter “M” was derived from this letter. 


The picture is of the waves of water on the sea.

something that produces life and growth. The ancient word picture of “mem” as written has the appearance of waves and symbolizes something massive, like the ocean, something in chaos, or indicating: to come from, as water in motion, i.e., a stream or small, flowing river. Scripture uses this word picture of “troubled waters, or water in chaos or movement” to set the scene in Isa. 57:20, 43:1-2, and Ez. 32:2

When the “mem” is the first letter of a word it can be a prefix and has more than one meaning, i.e., the preposition “from or than” or can indicate the participle form of certain verbs.

Picture: Water 


Associations: M 


Sound: m 


Ancient Name: Mem 


Modern Name: Mem 


Modern Form: ם מ 

Open and closed Mem one open מ for start of word the second closed ם for the end of the word

Meaning: Water, Chaos, Mighty, Blood 


The Hebrew word ma-rah means disobey or rebellion and is spelled mem reysh hey. In this word the “mem” pictures chaos, the “reysh” pictures the back of the head or head, top, or the first, and the “hey” pictures what comes from. When put together the word picture for the Hebrew word ma-rah (rebellion or disobedience) is chaos or rebellion comes from the head, the top or the first or the supreme, i.e., the leader or top person is causing or bringing chaos.

  

The Early Semitic pictograph for this letter is , a picture of waves of water. This pictograph has the meanings of liquid, water and sea, mighty and massive from the size of the sea and chaos from the storms of the sea.

The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is mem probably from the word mayim meaning “water.” The word mayim is the plural form of mah, probably the original name for this letter, meaning “what.” To the Hebrews the sea was a feared and unknown place, for this reason this letter is used as a question word, who, what, when, where, why and how, in the sense of searching for an unknown.

The Greek name for this letter is mu, which is a Hebrew word closely related in roots and meaning to the Hebrew word mah. The sound for this letter is “m,” as it is in all other languages. 



The Early Semitic evolved into in the Middle Semitic and continued to evolve into in the Late Semitic script. The Late Semitic script evolved into the מ and ם (final mem) in the Modern Hebrew script. The Early and Middle Semitic script is the origin to the Greek and Roman M.

 

 

Nun/Noon n

 

Offspring, seed, fish, heir, kingdom, continue, perpetuate

 

the letter“noon נן” is the fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

corresponds to our letter N

The picture is a seed with the root coming out of it. The seed is the beginning of “new” life. 



The ancient Hebrew letter “noon נן” has a letter sound of “N” and a word picture of a fish, something darting through water, movement as in life, a new sprout or vegetation with movement and growth.

Picture: Fish, Seed 


Associations: New 


Sound: n 


Ancient Name: Nun 


Modern Name: Nun 


Modern Form: ן נ 

Meaning: Seed, Continue, Heir, Son 


The Hebrew word for garden is “gan גן.” The two Hebrew letters are ג gimel with the letter sound of “G” and a Hebrew word picture of a camel representing rising up or lifting up and the Hebrew letter noon נ with the sound of an “N” representing life, together complete the word picture for garden גן, the lifting up of life. 

The Hebrew word for son is “ben בן.” The first letter is ב bet with a letter sound of “B” and a word picture of a house. The second letter is a noon נ with a word picture of life and a letter sound of “N”. These two letters together are a word picture of “life in the house.” In other words, the son continues the life of the family; through the son generations will come.

The ancient pictograph is a picture of a seed sprout representing the idea of continuing to a new generation. This pictograph has the meanings of “continue,” “perpetuation,” “offspring” and “heir.

The Modern Hebrew name is nun, a Hebrew word meaning to “continue,” “offspring” and “heir.” This two-letter word is the original name for the letter. The phonetic sound for this letter is “n,” as it is in all other languages. 

The Early Semitic evolved into in the Middle Semitic script and continued to evolve into in the Late Semitic script. The Late Semitic script became the Modern Hebrew נ and ן (final nun). The Middle Semitic script became the N (written in reverse direction from the Hebrew) in both the Greek and Roman alphabets

Samekh  x

   

Shield, pierce, sharp, support, prop, hate, hand on staff.

The letter “samech ם” “is the fifteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

corresponds to our letter S an and an ancient word pictograph of a prop or something supporting or assisting.

The desert of the Hebrews has many species of thorns and thistles. The picture is a thorn, which attaches itself to the flesh causing pain. Our word “sin” comes from this letter as it also causes pain in our flesh. 



Picture: Thorn 
or a prop or support like a trellis

Associations: Sin 


Sound: s 


Ancient Name: Sin 


Modern Name: Samehh 


Modern Form: ס 

Meaning: Grab, Hate, Protect 


A good example is, the Hebrew word for book is se-fer, םפר. The samech is the first letter with a sound of “S” and a word picture of a support or prop, followed by the letter Pey פ (without a dagesh) which is a soft “F” sound and a word picture of a mouth, opening, entrance or even a command. The third letter is a resh ר with the sound of an “R” and a word picture of a head or a person. When put together the ancient word picture for book “se-fer םפר” is a book supports the mouth of a person. In other words, reading books brings wisdom to speak to others.

The Hebrew word for grandfather is sav םפ. The word picture is samech with the sound of “S” and an ancient word picture of a prop or support followed by the second letter bet ב (without the dagesh) and a soft sound of a the letter “V.” When put together the samach and the bet have an ancient word picture of a support within the house, a support for the family, a grandfather. See alphabet letter bet ב for the word picture for father.  

There are several possibilities for the original Semitic pictograph including (a fish), (possibly a thorn), (a window?) and (a thorn). The pictograph is used almost exclusively throughout the early and middle history of this letter. This picture has the meanings of “pierce” and “sharp.” This letter also has the meaning of a shield, as thorn bushes were used by the shepherd to build a wall, or shield, to enclose his flock during the night to protect them from predators. Another meaning of this letter is to “grab hold” as a thorn clings to hair and clothing. 

Of all the letters in the Hebrew alphabet, this is the most difficult to reconstruct due to its limited archeological and textual support.

The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is samech, which is a word that means “support,” with no apparent connection to a two letter parent root or to the meaning of the original picture of this letter. The Arabic alphabet does not have this letter and the Greek letter derived from this letter is called the ksi. The 21st letter of the Hebrew alphabet ש has two names and sounds, Shin (sh) and Sin (s). All the words using the sin are related in meaning to the words using a samech in the same place as the sin. It is possible that the original name for the samech was sin, which is the Hebrew word for a thorn, and at some point divided into two letters, the samech and sin and then the sin became associated with the letter shin. 

The original sound for this letter must be an “s,” to which the samech and sin both agree. The Greek sound for the letter is “ks,” a sound that is similar to the “s.” 



The early Semitic evolved into the in the middle Semitic.

This letter continued to evolve into in the late Semitic.

This letter became the ס in the Modern Hebrew alphabet.

The Middle script became the Greek letter Ξ and the Greek letter became the Latin X.

Ayin  o 

Eye, to see, experience, watch, heed, know, cover, color

The sixteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet The ancient Hebrew letter ayin ע had a pictograph of an eye, look or appearance and is basically a silent letter. In ancient Hebrew, it was considered a guttural letter that had some sound, but it is not known exactly what it sounded like. In modern Hebrew, it is still considered a guttural, but silent.


The picture is the “eye”. 

Picture: Eye


Associations: Eye 


Sound: i 


Ancient Name: Ayin 


Modern Name: Ayin 


Modern Form: ע 

Meaning: See, Watch, Know, Shade

The Hebrew word eden e-den עדן is Eden, as in Garden of Eden and means pleasant. The word picture for Eden is ayin ע which is a silent letter with a word picture of the eye, followed by the letter dalet ד which has a sound of the letter “D” and a word picture of a door, followed by a noon with the sound of “N” and a word picture of life. When completed together the עדן is a word picture of “see with the eye, or look through the door of life.”

The Hebrew word for weep is da-ma דמע. The word picture for da-ma is the Hebrew letter dalet ד with the sound of “D” and a word picture of a door, followed by a mem מ with the sound of “M” and a word picture of water or chaos, followed by an ayin ע with a word picture of the eye. When completed together the ancient word picture for da-ma דמע, to weep, is water from the door of the eye.

The Hebrew word for blood is dam דמ and has a word picture of blood of the eye.

The Ancient picture for this letter is and is a picture of an eye. 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 and may be the origin of the number 0. 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 evolved into the simpler in the middle Semitic and remained the same into the late Semitic period.

This letter evolved into the ע in the Modern Hebrew script.

The middle Semitic became the O in Greek and Latin.

 

Pey  p

Mouth, word, speak, edge, sword, scatter, blow, things with edges

the Seventeenth Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is the Pey “פ “The pey “פ” in ancient Hebrew has a letter sound of a “P” and a soft sound of “F.”

corresponds to our letter P. In order to determine which sound is appropriate in modern times, after the Hebrew was voweled, a small dot called a dagesh is placed in the letter to indicate the hardening or change of sound. A pey with a dagesh has the letter sound of “P,” without the dagesh the sound is softened to a “F” sound.  


The pictograph is the mouth and represents something that is open. There is no English word from this letter but can represent a “pit” as it is an open hole. 


The word picture for the pey is a mouth, or even a side view of a head with the mouth open, or opening, or to speak, or a river’s beginning, as in headwaters. There are five Hebrew letters that have a final or “sofit” form when they appear at the end of a word and are written differently. The other four are noon, tsaddik, mem and koof.

Picture: Mouth 


Associations: pit 


Sound: p 


Ancient Name: Pey 


Modern Name: Pey 


Modern Form: ף פ 

Meaning: Open, Blow, Scatter, Edge

The Hebrew word for beautiful is יפה ya-feh. A word picture for ya-feh can show something revealed in a spoken deed can be beautiful. The Hebrew word for miracle, something wonderful, is פלה pe-le with a dagesh in the pey has the letter sound of “P,” and a word picture of the mouth or speaking, and a lamed ל with a letter sound of “L” and a word picture of someone in front or teaching, and an alef which is a silent letter, and a word picture of strength or leading. When these are put together the Hebrew word pe-le has a word picture of someone teaching, or learning from the spoken word, or something spoken is important or wonderful, i.e., a miracle

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 . 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. This letter also means “edge” as the lips are at the edge of the mouth.

There are two sounds for this letter, the stop “P” and the spirant “Ph” (f). 



The early Semitic evolved to the letter in the middle Semitic scripts.

Tsade y

 

  

Man on his side, snare, correct trail, need, desire, hunt, wait

 

Tsadik “צ” is the Eighteenth Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet

The tsadik also is called tsade, both have a “ts” sound and in Hebrew means “fish hook.” This letter at the end of the word has a final or sofit form and is written differently. The word picture for this letter can refer to “catching.” The ancient picture can symbolize something inescapable, or pulling toward, or even a harvest as in being taken.

This picture is a picture of a trail leading to a destination such as a watering hole or another trail. 



Picture: Trail 


Associations: Trail 


Sound: ts 


Ancient Name: Tsade 


Modern Name: Tsade 


Modern Form: ץ צ 

Meaning: Trail, Journey, chase, hunt 


The Hebrew word for desire רצה ra-tsah is a reysh “ר” with a letter sound of “R” and a word picture of a head, followed by a tsadik “צ” with a letter sound of “TS” and a word picture of a hook or something pulling you, followed by a hey “ה” with the letter sound of breath releasing and a word picture of something proceeding from, or coming, or coming from. When the reysh, tsadik and hey are placed together spelling ra-tsah the Hebrew word picture meaning is the head draws or hooks, persuades, the thought coming from. In other words, the head tells us what we want.

The three Ancient pictograph possibilities for this letter are , and . The word tsad means “side,” but is also related to the idea of a stronghold, which is often built on the side of a mountain. The pictograph is a picture of a trail as leading up to a destination or stronghold. Most ancient Semitic alphabets used pictographs which closely resemble , indicating that this was most likely the original form of the letter.

The modern name for this letter is tsade, also meaning side, and is a child root from the word tsad . The phonetic sound of this letter is a “ts” in both ancient and modern Hebrew. 

The early pictograph evolved into in the Middle Semitic script and continued to evolve into in the Late Semitic Script. From the middle Semitic script came the Modern Hebrew צ and ץ. Modern Greek and Latin have no letter derived from this Semitic letter.

Qof  q

   

Divide, sun on horizon, behind, gather, condense, Go around, circle.

Koof קופ the Nineteenth Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet corresponds to our letter Qq.

This is a picture of the sun at the horizon where the light is concentrated at this point, while the rest of the sky is dark. This is a “coming” together of the light.

Picture: Sun 


Associations: Come

Sound: q 


Ancient Name: Quph 


Modern Name: Quph 


Modern Form: ק 

Meaning: Condense, Circle, Time 


Most of the pictographs used for this letter are , and . Ancient Semitic letters that were originally oriented in a horizontal plane were tilted to a vertical plane. More than likely this letter was originally written as . 

The name of this letter is quph, a parent root. When all of the words derived from this parent root are compared the common theme of a circle or revolution is found.

The pictograph of this letter is probably a picture of the sun at the horizon in the sense of a revolution of the sun. 

The various meanings of this letter are “sun,” “revolution,” “circle” and “horizon.” This letter can also mean condense as the light gathers at the sun when it is at the horizon. It can also mean time, as the revolution of the sun is used to calculate time. Hebrew, Greek and Arabic agree that the sound for this letter is “q.”

The Modern Hebrew and Arabic name for this letter is quph, a parent root. 

The early pictograph evolved into in the Middle Semitic script and continued to evolve into in the Late Semitic Script. From the middle Semitic script is derived the Modern Hebrew ק). The Middle Semitic script is the origin of the Latin letter Q.

Resh/Reysh  R – r

 

Head and person, man, beginning, top, rule, inheritance, possession

 

Reysh “ר” the twentieth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet corresponds to our letter R it has a letter sound of a guttural “R” and a pictograph of the head of a man which is raised up to look, and an ancient Hebrew meaning of “head.” When pronouncing the letter reysh it is not pronounced with the front of the mouth as in the word beginning with “R.” It is a guttural sound pronounced from the back of the throat. The word picture for the reysh is a person, (the profile of the head) the highest or top, and most important.

Picture: Head 


Associations: Raise 


Sound: r 


Ancient Name: Resh 


Modern Name: Resh 


Modern Form: ר 

Meaning: Head, First, Top, Beginning

The Hebrew word to deceive or to betray is רמה ree-mah. The resysh has a guttural sound of “R” and has a word picture of a person or profile of the head. The next letter is a mem מ with a word picture of chaos (as in water). The last letter is a ה hey with a quiet sound as of breath leaving the mouth, and a word picture of something that comes from, or out of. When put together the Hebrew word picture of ree-mah רמה is deception or betrayal comes from the man of chaos.

The Ancient picture for this letter is , the head of a man. This letter has the meanings of “head” and “man” as well as “chief,” “top,” “beginning” and “first,” each of which are the “head” of something.

The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is resh, a Hebrew word meaning “head.” Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek agree that the sound for this letter is an “r.” 



The early pictograph evolved into in the Middle Semitic script and became in the Late Semitic Script.

From the Late Semitic script is derived the Modern Hebrew ר. The Middle Semitic script is also the origin of the Greek letter Ρ and the Latin R.

 

 

Shin  s

  

Teeth, eat, consume, destroy, bite, two, change, divide, press, repeat

 

Sheen “ש” is the twenty-first letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. 

corresponds to our letter S When written with a small dot on the upper right side it is pronounced with an “SH” sound and when written with a small dot on the left side it becomes a seen with a letter sound of “S” the word picture is the same for a sheen or a seen, a tooth, destruction and sometimes fire or something that destroys. 

The picture is the two front teeth. The whiteness of the teeth “shine”. 



Picture: Teeth 


Associations: Shine 


Sound: sh 


Ancient Name: Shin 


Modern Name: Shin 


Modern Form: ש

Meaning: Sharp, Press, Eat, Two

The Hebrew word “שר” sar means a prince, warrior or leader and is spelled with a seen ”ש” and a letter sound of a “S” and a word picture of destruction/destroy, or devourer, followed by a reysh “ר” with a letter sound of a guttural R and a word picture of a head, leader or person. When put together “ “שר sar has a word picture of a leader, a prince that destroys …whatever, such as the enemy.

The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, it is spelled “שלומ” with a sheen “ש” and a letter sound of “SH” and a word picture of destruction/destroy, followed by a lamed “ל” with a word picture of strong authority or a cattle goad, something that causes something to move, followed by a vav “ו” with a holem or dot above it. It becomes the vowel sound of a long “O” and a word picture of a nail or a hook to secure something, followed by a mem “מ” and a letter sound of “M” and a word picture of chaos. When these Hebrew letters are put together שלומ has a word picture of destroying the authority that binds or holds chaos together.

The Ancient picture for this letter is , a picture of the two front teeth. This letter has the meanings of “teeth,” “sharp” and “press” (from the function of the teeth when chewing). It also has the meaning of “two,” “again” and “both.” 



The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is shin, a Hebrew word meaning tooth. Hebrew and Arabic agree that the sound for this letter is “sh.” 



The early pictograph evolved into in the Middle Semitic script and continued to evolve into in the Late Semitic Script.

From the middle Semitic script is derived the Modern Hebrew ש.

The Middle Semitic script is also the origin of the Greek letter Σ and the Latin S

 

Tav  t

  

Mark, sign, covenant, signature, ID of people, places or things

The letter Tav תו is the twenty-second letter the final letter of the Hebrew alphabet. corresponds to our letter T and to T in Sephardic and a “TH” or an “S” in Ashkenazi pronunciation.

There are some Hebrew letters that are pronounced differently in Ashkenazi Hebrew and some are pronounced differently in Sephardic Hebrew. The Ashkenazi Hebrew derives from the West/ Europe and the Sephardic Hebrew derives from the East/ Spain and areas to the east including Persia/Iran. For the purposes of the pictorial letters the sound of the tav is a “T” sound. The word picture of the tav is a mark or sign resembling an “X” or a cross “+” tilted to the side, also of a covenant, the mark of the covenant.  So it is the picture of two crossed sticks is a mark such as a “target” one aims at when shooting. 


Picture: Mark 


Associations: Target 


Sound: t 


Ancient Name: Taw 


Modern Name: Tav 


Modern Form: ת 

Meaning: Mark, Sign, Signal, Monument

The Hebrew word for “daughter” is bat “בת” with the letter bet “ב” with a dagesh in the center creating a hard “B” and a word picture of a house or family, followed by a tav “ת” with a letter sound of “T” and a word picture of the covenant. The word picture for daughter, bat, בת shows the daughter of the house will join in covenant to another house, in other words, her marriage into another family joins the family in a covenant.

 

The Ancient picture is a type of “mark,” probably of two sticks crossed to mark a place, similar to the Egyptian hieroglyph , a picture of two crossed sticks. This letter has the meanings of “mark,” “sign” and “signature.”

The Modern Hebrew, Arabic and Greek names for this letter is tav (or taw), a Hebrew word meaning, “mark.” Hebrew, Greek and Arabic agree that the sound for this letter is “t.” 

The early pictograph evolved into in the Middle Semitic script and continued to evolve into in the Late Semitic Script. From the middle Semitic script is derived the Modern Hebrew ת) .

The Early Semitic script is the origin of the Greek and the Latin T.

Tav, the final letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Tav is the sign or seal of a covenant. It was often used as a mark in the same sense as our signature is today, especially of those who could not read or write. Conceptually, tav is a wounding, as the sealing of a covenant required the wounding of the sacrifice, whose blood sealed the covenant. It resembles a doorpost, as the blood was applied on in Mitzraim (Egypt), thus sealing that household and sparing them from the tragedy of the firstborn.

 

Ghayin corresponds to our letter i or y

The picture is a twisted rope. This letter is often associated with things that are bad or wrong 



Picture: Rope 


Associations: Wrong 


Sound: gh (ng) 


Ancient Name: Ghayin 


Modern Name: None 


Modern Form: ע

Meaning: Twist, Dark, Wicked

While this letter existed in ancient Semitic languages and some modern Semitic languages, it no longer exists in the modern Hebrew. Instead it has been absorbed into the letter ע (ayin). While the evidence exists showing that this is in fact a separate letter, there is very little evidence for reconstructing its original pictograph. The Ugarit and Arabic languages wrote this letter the same as the ayin but with an additional line or dot. The closest candidate for this letter is the , a twisted rope, which is found in some ancient Semitic inscriptions. 

In the Arabic language this letter is called the ghayin and is probably related to the Hebrew word ghah meaning “twisted.” 

Because the Greek language transliterates this letter with a gamma (“g” sound) we know that this letter originally had a type of “g” sound, possibly a “ng” as in the word “ring.”

Keeping in mind that Jesus was a Jew and spoke Hebrew (and Aramaic) it seems reasonable that His declaration to John would not have been in Greek, but would have been in Hebrew.  Acts 26:14 (ESV) teaches that when Paul met Jesus at Paul’s conversion, Paul heard Jesus speak to him in the language of Hebrew not Greek.

When Jesus the Jew met John the Jew in Revelation 1:8, would Jesus have used the Greek reference of “Alpha and Omega” or would he have used the Hebrew reference of “alef and tav?”  I think Jesus would have used the Hebrew reference of alef and tav. 

The Hebrew language was originally a picture language, evolving over thousands of years.  The early proto Canaanite pictorial language was about 1,000 BC, the time of King David.  In this period the alef was represented as the head of an ox or bull denoting a strong leader or strength.  The tav, the last letter of the alphabet, was  pictured as a cross meaning the sign or covenant.  Even though the pictures progressed somewhat, the meanings did not change. He would in fact have been saying to Paul what the hebrew language meant

The word picture here is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the alef, the strong leader, and the tav, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, meaning the cross or covenant.  These two pictures put together say that Jesus is the strong leader, the sign of the covenant:  the strong leader of the covenant.

 

 

Some paleo word examples below – pictures are coming!

The ancient pictographic Hebrew shows the word here Mhr translated womb as that which protects the person (baby) from chaos (harm).

The Hebrew word for pray is palal Llp.

(Read from right to left and no vowels)

The root word is pal written in the pictographic Hebrew as lp.

The pe means mouth and the lamed or shepherds staff means authority.

Hallelujah is a Hebrew loan word, it was incorporated into the English language from Hebrew. But what does this word mean in Hebrew? But what does this word mean in Hebrew? The word “Hallelujah” ( הללויה ) is actually two Hebrew words put together: “Hallelu” ( הללו ) and “Yah” ( יה ).

Hallel is Hebrew for Praise Jah(Yah) is a Hebrew derivative of the Egyptian word iah, or moon. So, it simply means, “Praise the Moon”. It means praise Jehovah. Jah is short for Jehovah.

Generally, the Hebrew meaning of the word “Torah” is instruction or teaching. But there is a deeper meaning that is brought out only in the ancient pictographic characters. Hebrew is the only language in the world where the letters and the characters represent letters and meanings at the same time.

So, looking at the word Torah in the ancient pictographic Alef-bet,

the word Torah is spelled Tav vav resh hey.

The first letter is Tav which corresponds to our letter ‘T’.

It’s ancient meaning was Covenant or sign of the covenant.

The next letter is a vav. It’s symbol is a tent peg or nail.

It is pronounced here like our letter O.

Next, we have the letter resh which is depicted as the head of a man, It meant person, first, head or beginning.  

And finally, we have the letter hey. It is shown as a man with his arms raised and means Behold, look, see.

(This is probably where our English expression,

Hey! comes from.)

Put these meanings all together and we have

Behold! A man nailed to a cross.

The cross is the sign of our covenant with God/YHWH.

Yeshua/Jesus was given for a covenant for the people?
Now we see Torah is equated with truth in Psa 119.

Yeshua said HE was the way, the TRUTH and the life – Yeshua is the living Torah.

Isa 42:6  I YHWH have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isa 42:7  To open the blind eyes, to being out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

YHVH in Paleo

And also:

Isa 49:8 Thus saith YHWH, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped there: and I will preserve these, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

 To Whom is this referring? It is Jesus/Yeshua, our Messiah. He is the living Torah as the following verse of scripture points out:

Psa 119:142  Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy Torah is the truth. 

Most translations still unfortunately translate “Torah” as “law”. It gives a false understanding of the word “law” in the New Testament where it should have been translated “Torah”.

We are all familiar with this verse:

John 14:6  Yeshua saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

The WAY

More to be added soon so please come back…

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Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.