Ancient Hebrew Alephbet

The ancient Hebrew language was written with 22 letters, each written with a picture such as an ox, tent, foot and a door. These pictures are combined to form words with the pictures providing the meaning of the word. Examples of the picture/definition relationship can found at "Ancient Hebrew Root Word Studies".
The best way to demonstrate the benefit of using the pictograph letters to aid with word definitions is by looking at some Hebrew prefixes (a letter added to the front of a word to give additional information). The words "in", "the", "and", "to", and "from" are written as prefixes to words in Hebrew. Let us look at how these pictographic prefixes work in aiding with definition.
The Beyt is a picture of a tent, but it more represents what is inside the tent - the family. When this letter is placed in front a word such as "owhell (tent)" we have "B'owhell" meaning "inside a tent".
The Vav is a picture of a peg or nail which is used to secure or add things together. When this letter is prefixed to a word it means "and", in the sense of adding things together such as in "V'owhell" meaning "and a tent".
The Hey is a picture of a mans arms raised or extended toward someone or something as if saying "behold, look at this. When this letter is prefixed to a word it means "the" as in identifying someone or something in particular such as in "Ha'owhell" meaning "the tent".
The Lamed is a picture of a shepherd's staff which was used to direct the sheep toward a particular direction, such as that of water or pasture. When this letter is prefixed to a word it means "to" or "toward" as in "L'owhell" meaning "toward a tent".
The Mem is a picture of water and can also mean the flowing water in man and animals (blood). Blood is seen as the passing down a line from one generation to another. When this letter is prefixed to a word it means "from" in the sense of coming out of someone or something else such as in "M'owhell" meaning "from a tent".
Ancient Hebrew Alephbet Chart
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