A Syriac Chrestomathy

R1 · nestle-1889-en/r1/p004-1reference-tableuncertain

lexeme alphabet

category alphabet table

kind reference-table

table_note

Nestle's own table, "2. ALPHABET" (p.4), columns: Name (his transliteration) · Form, not joined · Form joined (to letter preceding / to preceding and following / to letter following) · Value (phonetic, numerical). Each "Form" cell prints TWO glyphs side by side — read as two different Syriac hands shown for comparison, per Nestle's own enumeration one page later (p.5, "3. VOWEL-SCHEME": "1) the oldest Majuscle, known as Estrangelo... 2) A smaller character, Semiminuscle, adopted by the Jacobites" = Serto). Column order therefore read as LEFT = Estrangelo, RIGHT = Serto, matching that enumeration — flagged uncertain below since the plate carries no printed caption naming which column is which; the lesson content built from this record uses standard Unicode Estrangela shaping rather than replicating Nestle's 1889 letterforms pixel-for-pixel, so this ambiguity does not propagate into the lesson.

uncertain yes

uncertain_note Which printed column is Estrangelo vs Serto is inferred from p.5's prose order, not from a caption on the table itself.

non_joining_letters

alaph
dalath
he
waw
zain
sadhe
rish
taw

cells

gram_tags	lexeme_syr	name	phonetic	numerical_value	joins_to_following	confusable_with	note	noldeke
['letter', '1']	ܐ	Ålaf	' (spiritus lenis — a light catch in the throat, like the gap in English "uh-oh")	1	False
['letter', '2']	ܒ	Bēth	b, β (a soft v/bh when not doubled or after a consonant)	2	True
['letter', '3']	ܓ	Gåmal	g, γ (a soft gh between vowels)	3	True
['letter', '4']	ܕ	Dålath	d, δ (a soft th-in-"the" between vowels)	4	False	rish — same base hook shape, dot BELOW for dalath, dot ABOVE for rish
['letter', '5']	ܗ	He	h	5	False
['letter', '6']	ܘ	Vav	v, w	6	False
['letter', '7']	ܙ	Zain	z, as in "zero"	7	False
['letter', '8']	ܚ	Cheth	ḥ, a hard breathy h from the back of the throat (no English equivalent; close to Scottish "loch")	8	True
['letter', '9']	ܛ	Teth	ṭ, an emphatic/heavier t	9	True
['letter', '10']	ܝ	Yud	y	10	True
['letter', '20']	ܟ	Kåf	k, χ (a soft kh between vowels)	20	True
['letter', '30']	ܠ	Låmadh	l	30	True
['letter', '40']	ܡ	Mīm	m	40	True
['letter', '50']	ܢ	Nūn	n	50	True
['letter', '60']	ܣ	Semkath	s	60	True		Has a rare distinct FINAL form (Unicode U+0724) — MAP.md's hand-trainer note records it appearing exactly once in that bank; not drilled in Lesson 0.
['letter', '70']	ܥ	'E	ʿ, a guttural sound made by constricting the throat (no English equivalent — like Hebrew ayin/Arabic ʿayn)	70	True
['letter', '80']	ܦ	Pē	p, f	80	True
['letter', '90']	ܨ	Såde	ṣ, an emphatic/heavier s	90	False
['letter', '100']	ܩ	Qūf	q, a k made further back in the throat	100	True
['letter', '200']	ܪ	Rīsh	r	200	False	dalath — see above
['letter', '300']	ܫ	Shīn	sh, š	300	True
['letter', '400']	ܬ	Tau	t, θ (a soft th-in-"thin" between vowels)	400	False			['§1', '§2']

source

primer nestle-1889-en

page 4

leaf n21

printed_heading 2. ALPHABET.

note

Companion prose on the three Syriac hands (Estrangelo/Serto/Malkite) is p.5, '3. VOWEL-SCHEME', leaf n22, not separately recorded — it is background, not a table cell.