he third letter. The Hebrews call it ghimel or gimel, q. d. "camel;" by reason it resembles the neck of that animal; and the same appellation it bears in the Samaritan, Phoenician, and the Chaldee: in the Syriac it is called gamel, in Arabic gim, and in Greek gamma.

The gamma (Γ) of the Greeks is manifestly the gimel (ג) of the Hebrews or Samaritans. All the difference between the gamma and gimel consists in this, that the one is turned to the right, and the other to the left, according to the different manners of writing and reading which obtained among those different nations; so that all the pains Salmatus has taken on Solinus, to prove that the G was derived from the Greek kappa, is lost.

From the Greeks the Latins borrowed their form of this letter; the Latin G being certainly a corruption of the Greek gamma Γ, as might easily be shewn had our printers all the characters and forms of this letter which we meet with in the Greek and Latin MSS. through which the letter passed from Γ to G.

Diomed, lib. ii. cap. De Litera, calls G a new letter. His reason is, that the Romans had not introduced it before the first Punic war; as appears from the rostral column erected by C. Duilius, on which we everywhere find a C in lieu of G. It was Sp. Carvilius who first distinguished between those two letters, and invented the figure of the G; as we are assured by Terentius Scaurus. The C served very well for G; it being the third letter of the Latin alphabet, as the Γ or γ was of the Greek.

The G is found instead of C on several medals: Vaillant, Num. Imperat. tom. i. p. 39.

M. Beger produces a medal of the Familia Ogulnia, where GAR is read instead of CAR, which is on those of M. Patin. But the C is more frequently seen on medals in lieu of G; as, AUGUSTALIS CALLAECIA CARTACINENSIS, &c. for AUGUSTALIS, &c. Not that the pronunciation of those words was altered, but only that the G was unartfully or negligently cut by the workmen: as is the case in divers inscriptions of the eastern empire; where AVG, AUCG, AUGCC, are frequently found for AUG, &c.

The northern people frequently change the G into V or W; as in Gallus, Wallus; Gallia, Wallia, Vallia, &c. For in this instance, it must not be said that the French have changed the W into G; because they wrote Gallus long before Wallus or Wallia was known, as appears from all the ancient Roman and Greek writers. And yet it is equally true, that the French change the W of the northern nations, and V consonant, into G; as, Willielmus, "William," into Guillaume; Wulphilas into Gulphilas; Vafcon into Gafcon, &c.

The letter G is of the mute kind, and cannot be any way founded without the help of a vowel. It is formed by the reflection of the air against the palate, made by the tongue as the air passes out of the throat; which Martianus Capella expresses thus, G spiritus cum palato; so that G is a palatal letter.

The modern G takes its form from that of the Latins. In English it has two sounds, one from the Greek Γ and the Latin, which is called that of the hard G, because it is formed by a pressure somewhat hard on the fore part of the tongue against the upper gum; which found it retains before a, o, u, i, r; as gate, go, gull. At the end of a word it is always hard, as ring, sing, &c. The other sound, called that of the soft G, resembles that of j; and is commonly, though not always, found before e and i, as in gesture, giant, &c. To this rule, however, there are many exceptions; G is often hard before i, as give, &c. and sometimes before e, as get, &c. It is also hard in derivatives from words ending in g, as singing, stronger, &c. and generally before er, at the ends of words, as finger. G is mute before n, as gnaph, sign. Gh has the sound of the hard G in the beginning of a word, as ghoul; in the middle, and sometimes at the end, it is quite silent, as right, though. At the end of a word Gh has often the sound of f, as laugh, rough, tough.

As a numeral, G was anciently used to denote 400; and with a dash over it thus G, 40,000.

As an abbreviation, G. stands for Gaius, Gellius, gens, gens, genius, &c. G. G. for gemina, gessit, gesserunt, &c. G. C. for genio ciuitatis or Caesari. G. L. for Gaius libertus, or genio loci. G. V. S. for genio urbis sacrum. G. B. for genio bono. And G. T. for genio tutelari.

In music, G is the character or mark of the treble clef; and from its being placed at the head, or marking the first found in Guido's scale, the whole scale took the name of gamut.in Mythology, a deity worshipped at Heliopolis under the figure of a lion, with a radiant head; and it is thus represented on many medals of Caracalla.