THE ALPHABET OF THE STARS

Prof. Giuseppe Sermonti

University of Perugia

Letters are (Zodiacal) constellations

The descent of the Alphabets from the star constellations, particularly those of the Zodiac, is an ancient belief, reassessed in the Renaissance. In De Occulta Philosophia (1533), E.C. Agrippa from Nettesheim states that the letters were not assigned by chance or by the man’s fancy, but by “the divine intervention, which makes them agree and convene with the celestial bodies”. He quotes from the Talmud: “The loss or the addition of a single letter could involve the destruction of the whole world.”

The correspondence of the first letters of the semitic alphabets with the first signs of the Zodiac is plausible. It extends to the Greek letters.

A (semitic “alep”) resembles the horns of Taurus.

B (semitic “beth”, casa) resembles the rectangular Gemini.

G (semitic “gimel”, camel?) resembles the angle (humple) of Cancer.

Letters as lunar mansions

Further constellations, as Leo and Virgo, are too complex to be sketched in a letter. The correspondence can however be found if “lunar mansions” are considered instead of full constellations. A lunar mansion is the trait of Zodiac covered by the moon in one day (there are 28 of them). Some small zodiacal signs (e.g. Cancer or Libra) include but one mansion, some larger ones (e.g. Leo or Virgo) three or four of them.

D resembles mansion 11 in Leo.

E resembles mansion 13 in Virgo.

Z resembles mansion 16, corresponding to Libra.

Te search for letters in a key mansion for each constellation was very profitable and gratifying. Twelve correspondences have been found, some of which just convincing, some astonishing, when related to semitic alphabets. The conclusion that the epigraphic letters of ancient alphabets descend from zodiacal constellations (or a lunar mansion in each of them) was warranted. Some enigmas still have to be solved. 1. Three letters, the Greek K, L and M, are missing. 2. The alphabeth stops at Y (Aries) and eight more letters are wanted to reach 23. 3. The minuscule letters does not resemble constellations whatsoever.

K, L, M

The band of Zodiac comprised between Aquarius (I) and the western Fish (N) is devoid of luminous stars. In absence of reference stars, the ancients used to refer the daily position of the moon to brilliant northern constellations on the same meridian. On the meridians of the mentioned dark region three boreal constellations are evident: Kepheus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia. They clearly resemble the missing letters, which from their pattern were undoubtedly shaped.

K from Kepheus, the so called K of the sky.

L from Andromeda, drawing an angle with her open legs.

M from Cassiopeia, the M or the W of the sky, according to her rotation.

The three characters tell a myth. Andromeda, white daughter of the Ethiopian king Kepheus and his wife Cassiopea, is left nude on a rock at the jaws of a marine monster (Cetus, just south of her in the sky). Perseus (just north of her in the sky) , coming from his performance with Medusa, rescues the princess. The alphabetic series is completed: I ...K L M ...N.

The concluding spiral of the Alphabet

Eight letter are missing, common to the semitic and Greek alphabets, ending with T, the cross of the sky. They are:

X, O, P, Q, R, S, T.

Constellations resembling these letters are to be found in the boreal region north of the ecliptic (with the exception of X, south). They are orderly arranged in a large spiral doubling the north pole. Their resemblance to semitic and Greek letters is astonishing, more faithful than that between zodiacal constellations (or lunar mansions) and the corresponding letters. The choice of the over-zodiacal constellation for the alphabet was not forced by topological and calendarial constraints as it had been the case with zodiacal signs. Let’s list the additional seven constellations, after the Greek corresponding capital letters:

X, Cetus (South of Ecliptic)

O, Pleiades

P, Perseus

Q, Auriga

R, Ursa Major

S, Draco

T, Cygnus

The constellations form a large spiral north of the ecliptic and lay on meridians crossed by the moon in a second sidereal revolution after the zodiacal one. The prolongation of the spiral beyond Cygnus (the T) reaches the ecliptic in Aries (the Y), the beginning sign of the Zodiac.

Small Greek letters are not constellations, just symbols

The small Greek (zodiacal) letters have little resemblance with the corresponding capital letters and the

less with constellations. They are their symbols and resemble the zodiacal signs.

a, a horned circle, symbolizes Taurus

b, a double sign, recalls Gemini

g, reminds a change of direction (of the sun) as in Cancer

d, a hook, recalls the head and thorax (the sickle) of Lion

e, a small spiral, recalls the symbol of Virgo

z, latin z, reminds the parallel arms of Libra

h, an elongated spiral, recalls Scorpio with its sting

f, (digamma) reminds the arrow of Sagittarius

J, recalls a horse with a fish tail, the Capricorn

i, perhaps representing the “nilometer”, often in the hand of Aquarius

n, two joined Fishes

Y, the front view of Aries

While the twelve “zodiacal” small letters are not astral, the non-zodiacal (boreal) ones are just reduced versions of the corresponding capital letters, and resemble therefore the reference constellations.

In conclusion, the shape of the epigraphic (capital) letters of the semitic and of the Greek alphabets imitates that of 12 zodiacal constellations (or sectors of them, the lunar mansions) and of 10 “boreal” constellations. The 12 “zodiacal” small Greek letters are not astral: they derive from the 12 zodiacal symbols. The remaining 10 are miniature of “boreal” constellations and of their respective capital letters.

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