John Peile

“ We find by tracing the process of phonetic change in different languages, that when one vowel passes into another, it is the pure a-sound which thus assumes other forms, whereas other vowels do not pass into the a-sound, though sometimes the new sound may have this symbol. ”

“ The English vowel-sound in man, perhaps the most common of all the substitutes, dating from the 17th century. (2.) It appears in want; for this sound o is also employed, as in on. (3.) A more open sound is heard in all (also denoted by au in auk, and aw in awl) . (4.) Very commonly it represents the continental e, as in ale (here also we have the symbol ai in ail) . (5.) It is found in dare and many similar words, where the sound is really the e of den, prolonged in the utterance ”

“ A, THE first symbol of every Indo-European alphabet, denotes also the primary vowel sound. This coincidence is probably only accidental. The alphabets of Europe, and perhaps of India also, were of Semitic origin, and in all the Semitic alphabets except one, this same symbol (in modified forms) holds the first place; but it represents a peculiar breathing, not the vowel a, the vowels in the Semitic languages occupying a subordinate place, and having originally no special symbols. ”