“ Returning again to the Semitic, beth, the name given to the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, is really Aramæan. Like the corresponding word in Hebrew, baith, it signifies a house, to which it has some faint resemblance.
B is a flat mute, the voice not being so entirely shut off in pronouncing it as it is when one of the sharp mutes, p or f, is uttered. The b sound is produced by compressing the lips, a vowel being added to render it audible. ”