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PICTURE-WRITING AND WORD-WRITING.
105
number of strokes, which would be difficult to count at a glance.[1]
However this may be, the pictorial origin of I II III is beyond doubt. And in technical writing, such terms as T-square and S-hook, and phrases such as "☉ before clock 4 min.," and "☽ rises at 8h. 35m.," survive to show that even in the midst of the highest European civilization, the spirit of the earliest and rudest form of writing is not yet quite extinct.
- ↑ A dactylic origin of V, as being a rude figure of the open hand, with thumb stretched out, and fingers close together, succeeding the I II III IIII, made with the upright fingers, has been propounded by Grotefend, and has occurred to others. It is plausible, but wants actual evidence.
