The Letter E of the Alphabet

THE LETTER E OF THE ALPHABET. the fifth letter of the alphabet, answers to Semitic %, Greek F or ' , Latin E. Forms in use at Corinth were or B. The Lydian form was A and there was an alternative form I I in use in the Faliscan and Latin alphabets. The uncial form was from the 4th century A.D. rounded E and the cursive form was also round, C, . From these developed the Carolingian e from which the modern minuscule e is derived.

The sound represented by the letter was a low front vowel corresponding, though inexactly, to the sound of English a in take. The latter is a diphthong, whereas e represented an unmixed vowel sound, such as that heard in French tete or ete. In Greek E stood for a short, close vowel as opposed to rj whose sound was long and open, although in all local alphabets, especially in early times, this distinction was not exactly observed. In Attic Greek the long, close sound was expressed by a . In the Latin alphabet the letter E did duty for all shades of the sound, long or short, close or open.

In English an extensive change has taken place in the sound of the long vowel during and since the later Middle English period (probably between the i 5th and i 7th centuries). Just as the sound represented by a moved forward till it now covers the ground of that formerly represented by e, so the latter moved upward, encroaching upon and occupying the territory of the sound of i, which became a diphthong. The sound of English long e is now a close high palatal vowel, as in be, that of short e a more open and less high front vowel, as in bed, that has not to any great extent shifted from what may be called its original position (cf. the sounds of French ete and English bed). When followed by r the sound is modified and is less high, as in here. In the word there the vowel has the same sound as that of a in hare. In many English words a mute final e is employed as a de vice to mark the fact that the preceding vowel is long, e.g., take, wine, stone. This occurs only when the final e is separated from the long vowel by a single consonant. Again, in words such as added, rotten, the letter represents little more than a voice glide.

In music, E is the fifth note of the musical alphabet and the third degree of the "natural scale" of C. Its syllabic name, em ployed in France and Italy, is mi.

EA

(written by means of two signs signifying "house" and "water"), in the Babylonian religion, was the god of wisdom and patron deity of Eridu, situated in ancient times at the head of the Persian Gulf but now at some distance from the gulf. Eridu, "the good city," was one of the oldest settlements in the Euphrates valley, and is now represented by the mounds known as Abu Shahrein. Whether Ea (or A-e) represents the real pronunciation of his name we do not know. The name is rendered by 'Ms in the theogonies of Damascius, and by 'Wwvrns in the fragments of Berossus. All attempts to connect Ea with Yah and Yahweh are idle conjectures without any substantial basis. The original Sumerian name of this god is En-Ki, "Lord of the earth," refer ring to his abode in the Apsu, or nether sea, from which springs and rivers were supposed to flow. He is never connected with the salt water seas. Ea is not found earlier than the 22nd cen tury. He is figured as a man covered with the body of a fish, and this representation, as likewise the name of his temple E-apsu, "house of the watery deep," points decidedly to his char acter as a god of the waters (see OANNES). Of his cult at Eridu, which reverts to the oldest period of Babylonian history, nothing definite is known. Incantations, involving ceremonial rites, in which water as a sacred element played a prominent part, formed a feature of his worship. Eridu never played an impor tant political role. The prominence of the Ea cult led to the survival of Eridu as a sacred city, long after it had ceased to have any significance as a political centre, c. 2200 B.C. Myths in which Ea figures prominently indicate that Ea was regarded as the protector and teacher of mankind. He is essentially a god of civilization, the creator of man and of the world in general. Traces of this view appear in the Marduk epic celebrating the achievements of this god, and the Ea cult at Eridu is connected with that of Marduk, since Marduk is generally termed the son of Ea who derives his powers from the voluntary abdication of the father in favour of his son.

Ea acquires his permanent place in the pantheon as the third figure in the triad, the two other members of which were Anti (q.v.) and Enlil (Bel). To him was assigned the control of the watery element, and in this capacity he becomes the spar apsi, i.e., king of the Apsu or "the deep," an ocean beneath the earth. Since the gathering place of the dead, known as Aralu, was situated near the confines of the Apsu, he was also designated as En-Ki, i.e., "lord of that which is below," in contrast to Anu, who was the lord of the "above" or the heavens. The cult of Ea extended throughout Babylonia and Assyria. Temples and shrines were erected in his honour, e.g., at Nippur, Girsu, Ur, Babylon, Sippar and Nineveh, and the numerous epithets given to him, as well as the various forms under which the god appears, alike bear witness to the popularity which he enjoyed from the earliest to the latest period of Babylonian-Assyrian history. The consort of Ea, known as Damkina, "lady of that which is below," or Nin-Ki, having the same meaning, or Damgal-nunna, "great lady of the prince," plays a part merely in association with her lord.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Tentative excavations were made at Eridu in Bibliography.-Tentative excavations were made at Eridu in 1919 by H. R. Hall, see "Ur and Eridu," Journal of Egyptian Archae ology, IX. (1923) , and in 1918 by R. Campbell Thompson, The British Museum Excavations at Abu Shahrein, Archaeologia LXX. (192o).