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This book review of The Alphabet and the Ancient Calendar Signs1 by Dr. Hugh
Anderson Moran is from the perspective of someone who has closely investigated the
ancient alphabet and had personal instruction in the methods described in the book. Some
of my insights about this book were formed during meetings with the author, Dr. Hugh
Anderson Moran. I will be using the Second Edition of the book, which has improved
graphics and minor textual corrections in addition to an entire section written later by Dr.
David Kelly that explores the American parallels as well as other calendar systems used
around the world, but his review will focus on the material presented in the First Edition
An objective of this review is to help other researchers to understand the pros and
cons of Moran’s hypothesis in a format that facilitates further research into this
fascinating subject. The core of the material presented is focused on the specific
correspondences that Dr. Moran postulated between the Semitic alphabet and the Chinese
lunar calendar.
The subject of the First Edition of The Alphabet and the Ancient Calendar Signs
regards the origins of the earliest Western alphabets and their relationship to the Chinese
lunar calendar and horary signs. Dr. Moran focused his attention on the striking
correspondences between the word meanings attributed to the letters of the Hebrew
Dr. Moran’s hypothesis was that attributes of the Western alphabet was somehow
derived from the Chinese lunar calendar. His thesis was that the meanings of each of the
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twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet had a one-to-one correspondence to the
meanings of twenty-two Chinese lunar mansions, while omitting six lunar mansions in
his correspondence. The Chinese lunar mansions were actually constellations in a band in
the sky that the Moon traversed, which is the same band that the Sun travels, but is called
the zodiac in the solar context. Moran compared the meanings and etymology of these
two sets and found many similarities that he documented in his book.
The artifacts associated with early Chinese astronomers are quite sophisticated for
that era and the alphabet was a revolutionary development in the history of Western
civilization, so please look at this subject as if you were an archeologist analyzing the
remains of long vanished cultures. International interest in The Alphabet and the Ancient
Calendar Signs in Europe and Asia has remained steady through the years although the
book is out of print. Chinese scholars are keenly interested in the origin of their calendar
There have been numerous discoveries of examples of ancient writing styles and
Chinese writing since the publication of the First and a Second edition of The Alphabet
and the Ancient Calendar Signs, but the hypothesis presented by Dr. Moran continues to
early milestone in the exposition of the correspondence between the calligraphy of the
early Chinese calendar and the original Semitic alphabet, although not much has been
presented to prove or disprove the basic premise that the Semitic alphabet was based
upon or somehow closely related to the early Chinese calendar. The Chinese lunar
the symbols themselves, their order and their descriptions, or through analogies to related
lunar calendar was the source of the written alphabet as used by early Semitic peoples.
Dr. Moran’s venerable master, Yeh Hsien Seng (Before Well Born), introduced him to
the resemblances in number and use between the Western alphabet and the twenty-two
horary characters of the Chinese Ten Stems and Twelve Branches, and Dr. Moran
continued his study of those correspondences. In 1913, Moran shared his ideas with
Professor John Fryer of the Department of Chinese Studies at the University of California
and in 1923 Moran read a paper about this subject at the American Oriental Society at
Dr. Moran’s aid and offered valuable suggestions in regard to this line of research. Dr.
Diringer’s book on the alphabet were also very useful to me in my studies of ancient
writing systems.2
Moran states that: “There are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet and there
are also twenty-two horary characters in the Chinese, which includes the twelve signs of
the solar zodiac.”3 Moran goes on to describe the early Chinese astronomical charts that
use dots to represent stars in the sky connected by lines in a linear form and show the
twenty-eight lunar constellations. The Chinese ideographs of these star groups that are
still used today were derived from these constellational drawings or from their associated
meanings or characteristics. Dr. Moran was intrigued by Chinese writing and during his
Moran’s thesis that the letters of the alphabet were derived from the lunar
constellations is entirely his original idea and unique, but it requires the reader to become
methods to achieve the results he did, which requires knowing some of the basics of
epigraphic decipherment. The methods are not too difficult and they can greatly
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contribute to the reader’s understanding and appreciation of the conclusions of the thesis.
many tools used by epigraphers, but if it is useful to the decipherment of the alphabet
then it may find its use in the decipherment of other scripts as well.
The lunar calendar was widely distributed in the second millennia BCE, but the
earliest alphabet is thought to have originated around the first half of the second millennia
BCE, although there may be newly discovered scripts uncovered through excavation that
could throw that date back even further. It is not the point of this review or of Dr.
Moran’s book to set an exact date for the origin of the alphabet, but to explain how the
The alphabet was believed to have originated with the Phoenicians, who somehow
borrowed the letters from the Egyptian hieroglyphs according to Plato, Plutarch, Tacitus,
and numerous other early authors. The Phoenicians, who occupied parts of modern-day
Lebanon, were some of the earliest users of the ancient alphabet. They were sea-faring
traders who may have traveled as far as the New World and even to China and the Orient,
but those conjectures will be left for archeologists to prove or disprove. The Phoenicians
and other peoples in that area were the first to use a primitive alphabet as far as the
Early forms of the alphabet were found in the Sinai Peninsula and adjoining areas,
while the North Semitic forms of the alphabet appear to have stabilized into a set of
letters that was engraved on tombs and stone tablets. The Greeks borrowed the alphabet
from the Phoenicians and modified it a bit and then the Romans took it and helped spread
it across the ancient world. The modern world uses various forms of the ancient alphabet.
Moran undertook a study of the Egyptian hieroglyphs and the alphabet but did not believe
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that it was based on the Egyptian hieroglyphs for numerous reasons, although there are
certainly correspondences.
Moran’s book investigates the early theories about the origin of the alphabet, but
he was not satisfied with the conclusions drawn by the published works about the
alphabet. Moran starts with an exposition to the early research into the alphabet, and uses
of a fair number of actual quotes to give the reader an idea of how research into the origin
of the alphabet progressed over the years and the insights various authors such as
Seyffarth, Ernest Renan, Dr. Peile, Isaac Taylor, Emanuel de Rouge, Flinders Petrie, Sir
Authur Evans, C.J. Ball, Dr. David Diringer and others who paved the way for his line of
research. These various authors explored the possible origins of the alphabet in order to
get a full picture of this marvelous invention, but Moran was not convinced by the
theories and evidence that those authors offered. Moran’s ability to read Egyptian
hieroglyphs gave him insight about why they could not be the origin of the alphabet and
he gives several examples of why the two systems of writing do not have a one-to-one
Moran dismisses the early investigators as being desperate to pin down the origin
on the Egyptians with little evidence and finally must totally reject the Egyptian
hieroglyphs as being the origin of the Semitic alphabet. He was determined to look
elsewhere for a more suitable starting point and decides that a scientific investigation
satisfying the requirements he set for his scientific investigation of the early alphabet.
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Religious ideas had great antiquity and were widespread, but he was looking for
something that would bring order out of the chaos of the multitude of symbols used
around the world. He found that the cosmological concepts used by ancient nature
worship used many symbols that were associated with the sky such as stars, triangles,
crosses and other shapes that also had correspondences to the seasons and feasts.
The sun, moon, planets and constellations played a major role in many ancient
religions and Moran surmised that cosmological symbols for these religions had common
roots and were part of a common culture. The twelve signs of the zodiac were used in
various religious rituals and became associated with kings, calendar signs and seasons,
feast dates and were integrated into stories and legends. He found that astrology, the
calendar and religious rituals were respected all across the ancient world. He noted that
the organizing principle behind the origins of the alphabet were Semitic and astrological,
but he could not find evidence that the alphabet originated in ancient Chaldea, Sumeria,
or Accadia.
Moran then turned his investigation to the Chinese culture, which had been
dismissed as a possible progenitor to the alphabet in 1853 in the 8th edition of the
culture for millennia and that their written history was unbroken since antiquity. Dozens
of ancient Chinese texts deal with astrology and it is woven into the fabric of Chinese
wisdom and lore. The problem was that Chinese ideographic writing uses the symbols for
the representation of concepts or ideas and not as phonetic sounds which the alphabet is
best known for. Moran surmised that astrology was the major organizing factor in the
Moran saw the outline pictures of simple objects as significant when compared to
their heavenly counterparts in such objects as an ox, dipper or a spoon. The method of
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outlining an object in a stellar pattern is still used today when outlining the “Big Dipper”
in the stars of Ursa Major or the “Little Dipper” in the stars of Ursa Minor. Mythical
heroes are outlined in many star maps as the figures of Hercules, Perseus and
Andromeda. The outlined constellations took their names from the objects they portrayed
and had symbolic meanings associated with them such as the moon took on the meaning
of ‘lofty’, ‘glorious’, and ‘brilliant’ in the Chinese framework. The meanings that the
outlines symbolized were ancient in origin and had archaic meanings and names that had
The ancient constellational symbols could also be used to express the concepts of
early symbols. A calendrical system was a natural use of those astronomical symbols
because of their close connection to the motions of the planets and the celestial sphere in
relation to the earth, which the ancients observed in their ancient observatories. Moran
estimates that some of the Chinese astronomical symbols must have existed as early as
Moran notes that Dr. C. J. Ball found an interrelationship between the early
Chinese and Sumerian writing systems. Ball surmised that early the Chinese writing and
calendar symbols came from central Asia at about the fourth millennium B.C.E., but that
idea is not widely accepted by modern scholars. Ball explains that the symbols used
exhibited evidence of their ‘pictorial or pictographic origin’4 and Moran notes that each
of the primitive symbols used by Ball had an astrological significance to the Chinese.
Moran lamented that astrology has been neglected as a field of study to modern
Chinese and Western scholars because astrology has been held in such contempt that its
study was not deemed worthy of investigation and was left to those curious about the
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occult and was not seriously contemplated by modern scholars partly because of the
Moran found the Chinese P’u Pan divining board as the key to unlocking the
secrets of the ancient astrological system, which held clues to the origins of the earliest
Chinese symbols. The P’u Pan was usually a varnished wooden disk about ten and a half
inches in diameter and about an inch thick and can still be obtained at Chinese shops in
various configurations. Modern versions have a crude compass in the center that is used
for divination and not as a mariner’s compass for the magnetic needle points to different
sectors of the board that have specific meanings depending on what specific questions are
asked. Lucky and unlucky days can be divined using the P’u Pan board and places to dig
significance and are intended to convey what Westerners paraphrase as “As above, so
below”. The ‘pa kua’ or eight hexagrams invented by Emperor Fou surround the center
and the rest of the board is surrounded by circles that contain combinations of the
Chinese five elements, ten stems and twelve branches. The ten stems and twelve branches
are combined to form the twenty-two horary characters. The outer ring contains the
arrangement. The complexities of the P’u Pan board is explained by Moran, who delves
into the use of the board as a device that was used for numerology or fortune-telling by
Moran explores the meanings and symbology of the five elements and numbers in
the ancient Chinese system. He then explains that the ten stems are the ten circumpolar
constellations and that the twelve constellations are the twelve zodiac signs. The twenty-
two symbols of the ten stems and twelve branches are arranged arbitrarily on the P’u Pan
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board for different divinatory uses. The outer circle of the P’u Pan board has the twenty-
eight lunar signs, houses, mansions or divisions. Each of these twenty-eight signs has a
constellation, animal and ideograph associated with it. Moran notes that there is some
confusion associating the exact stars with the twenty-eight Chinese lunar constellations,
which could have been the result of having those symbols being drawn in reverse for
purposes of divination. He also notes that the precession of the equinoxes may have also
Moran describes the scholarship of Alenander von Humboldt and his research into
the ancient Chinese calendar as well as the calendars of Aztecs, Toltecs, Hindus and other
Oriental peoples. Moran also states that the system of writing used in early America has
close correspondences to his theory about the astrological basis of the alphabet, although
the relationship between the ancient systems is shrouded in mystery and the different
The argument about who originated ancient astronomy often pits the Egyptians
against the Babylonians, while the Chinese are thought to be a fairly young civilization.
The twenty-eight lunar signs were named “lunar stations” by Ideler, the German
chronologist in 1839, whereas the French scholar J.B. Biot stated that the “lunar stations”
were divisions of the equator. The Hindu lunar nakshastra are clearly derived from the
earlier Chinese calendar system. Even Saussure mixes things up with his support of
Biot’s theory, but goes on to claim that the twenty-eight signs were for a primitive
calendar that was used for finding the best times for planting, harvesting and determining
Moran disputes the use of the lunar signs as a calendar because of the difficulty of
knowing when the moon was in a particular lunar station during the daytime because of
the brightness of the sun and the difficulty of determining the position of the moon by
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primitive peoples using their early means of stellar observations. Moran postulates that
using Saussure’s system would necessitate setting the lunar stations according to existing
holy days or seasonal feasts. Moran saw flaws in the theories of the scholars who
A similar astronomical and astrological system was spread across the ancient
world, but who first created it? Egypt is often cited as the oldest of early civilizations, but
Babylon is often credited with creating the first astrological system. The Sumerians are
credited with inventing the earliest form of writing, but not the alphabet. The civilization
of Egypt used a form of hieroglyphic writing, but alphabetic symbols have recently been
discovered in Egypt as well. Moran quotes Professor Hermann Ranke, who states that
Egypt had commonalities with Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean, but
that there were definite Semitic influences upon the language of the early Egyptians.5
Moran investigated the signs of the lunar and solar zodiacs and their
correspondences to the early alphabet. The Chinese lunar zodiac which is represented by
the “lunar stations” or signs is postulated to have originated before the solar zodiac.
Moran postulates that the lunar signs might have been selected for phonetic use and that
the twenty-eight lunar signs somehow matched up with the twenty-two horary signs on
an early Chinese calendar stone or P’u Pan divining board. Moran provides diagrams of
how some lunar characters were derived directly from the constellation that they
represented, using the example of the Chinese character ching, which means ‘a well’.
Ideas or concepts such as ‘empty’ and ‘peril’ are also associated with the Chinese
constellational signs, providing evidence that the constellations were not always referred
to as nouns or objects.
Moran found evidence that some lunar characters and solar characters had an
exact correspondence, suggesting that they were related somehow. Moran delves into the
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dualistic nature of the constellational symbols, which later scholars tended to ignore,
connotations were often ignored or rejected as being obscure or incongruous when they
didn’t fit into the accepted belief structure of the researcher who sometimes saw morality
and gender in symbols from a Western point of view and not from the original Chinese
tradition.
Moran investigated the many ‘dipper’ characters found in the Chinese symbols or
characters and how those astrological primitives were combined to form complex
meanings that became the basis of the great Chinese system of writing. Primitive
astrological symbols were combined to create a vast array of characters that often had
multiple meanings depending on their combination with other characters. The Chinese
Moran found many strange and wonderful correspondences between the primitive
Chinese symbols and the celestial phenomena that it represented. Moran is able to explain
how a bear with six paws is simply a portrayal of an unusual constellational configuration
and not an actual animal, which was the hsiung, a small black Chinese bear. Absurdities
are explained in ordinary terms when seen from the perspective of an early astronomer
Some of the primitive Chinese symbols appear quite often on the P’u Pan board,
such as the five elements, the ten stems and the twelve branches, all of which go into the
formation of the 44,000 Chinese characters. The twenty-eight lunar stations are also
called asterisms or constellations, although they are quite different than the Western
constellations used in modern times. Moran noted that the Chinese horary characters
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known as the ten stems and twelve branches equal the number twenty-two, which is the
exact number of alphabetic characters used in the ancient alphabet. Moran also noted that
the Chinese horary characters were used phonetically to indicate the pronunciation of the
Moran goes on to wonder why there were twenty-two symbols in the Hebrew and
Semitic alphabets and postulates that there could have been religious reasons such as the
number of pillars around the temple court or that the number was part of a sacred series
of numbers that was revered in the ancient world. Moran suggests that the first twenty-
two signs were considered favorable and were pressed into use for the alphabet. He goes
who compares Assyrian words to Hebrew root words and Latin meanings, and finds that
The lucky and unlucky days of the ancient calendars might also provide clues as
to why only twenty-two symbols were used instead of the full twenty-eight of the
correspondences to days in the calendar month sheds light on why the ancients possibly
chose twenty-two symbols, but it is difficult to comprehend the complexity of the subject
without training in those ancient languages, their writing systems, religious observances,
and numerological beliefs. That there are some possible parallels between the Chinese
P’u Pan board and the old Babylonian calendar is as much as a neophyte in this
The ten stems are the Chinese horary stems that represent the ten circumpolar
constellations, or in other words, the ten Chinese constellations that surround the pole
star. These ten stems are shown in example drawings that picture them in their current
form drawn by brush, their more primitive forms, their Mandarin phonetic value, and the
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meanings ascribed to them. The constellations that the ten stems are drawn over are not
specified or shown in drawings, but Figure 9 and Figure 11 have the constellation
outlines drawn over the polar stars using the Chinese astronomical-astrological system.
This omission makes it difficult to pursue a more through investigation of the Chinese ten
stems and their relationship to the alphabet. The twelve branches of the Chinese zodiac
are seen in Figure 5, but the symbols are not shown drawn over the constellations of the
zodiac. This omission makes it difficult to pursue a more through investigation of the
Chinese solar zodiac or twelve braches and its relationship to the alphabet.
Moran describes the ancient Chinese zodiac characters found in Figure 5 and
explains that only a few of the Chinese zodiac animals correspond to the Western zodiac
animals, but that the zodiacs from India and Burma have more correspondences in form
and symbolic meaning. The constellations of the zodiac are approximately the same in
both the Chinese and Western systems. The twelve zodiac signs or twelve branches are
used as horary signs and have correspondences to the months of the year, the sixty-year
astrological-historical cycle and the hours of day and night. Horary signs refer to the
hours of the day and are an archaic reference to the horary circle of hours such as found
on a round clock. Moran notes some similarities between the Chinese, Western, Burmese,
Hindu and Mexican zodiacs, but that investigation is more fully explored by David Kelly
Moran attempted to find some correspondence between the primitive forms and
symbolic meanings of the alphabet to the Chinese ten stems and twelve branches, but
could not find a correlation that satisfied him. It would have taken breaking the order of
the alphabet or Chinese stems and branches to get an alignment. Moran speculates that
the precession of the equinox may have had an effect on the order of the alphabet in
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relation to the Chinese characters, but can only find several instances that offered any
meaningful correspondence.
The correspondences between the alphabet and the Chinese ten stems and
branches may have been obscured by the antiquity of the symbols and their meanings, but
Moran did see a correspondence between the constellation Sagittarius and the alphabetic
letter tsade, which both have a connection to an arrow. Moran was not able to capitalize
on the tip given him by his venerable master Yeh Hsien Seng regarding correspondences
between the twenty-two Chinese horary signs and the early alphabet, but did make
When Moran compared the alphabet to the Chinese lunar calendar he found a
correspondence that matched. When he consulted the Chinese astrological book called
Yung Tai Ta Ch’eng he noticed that the twenty-eight lunar characters were matched with
stars that were drawn as circles and connected by lines. Figure 6 shows a Map of the
River of Heaven from the Yung Tai Ta Ch’eng and depicts the lunar asterisms with the
Milky Way as the River of Heaven stretched across the northern sky. He immediately
noticed that the Chinese character nui meaning ‘the ox’ and decided that it corresponded
to the Hebrew letter aleph, which means ‘the bull’. He went around the circle of the
Chinese lunar signs and found startling correspondences that could not have arisen from
chance. He then investigated the correspondences and noted the similarities in meanings
between the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the Chinese lunar signs.
Moran then went on to investigate the meanings of the letters and lunar signs from
the point of view of a dualistic philosophy that tied the two systems together using word
meanings and their possible correspondences to the Chinese lunar signs, while also taking
minor asterisms. He notes that the letters of the Hebrew and Greek alphabets have both a
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numerical and phonetic value and suggests that the use of the alphabet for numerical
purposes may have predated its use as a phonetic tool. He also states that the letters of the
alphabet could have been directly derived from constellations. He simply saw the
Moran theorized that writing was first used to record astronomical information
that corresponded to harvests, equinoxes and solstices, lunar phases, lucky and unlucky
days and events such as eclipses. The writing system that evolved into the alphabet could
have been based upon the existing symbols used to record celestial symbols such as the
sun, moon and constellations. Moran notes that the phonetic symbols by the Chinese,
Sumerians and Egyptians could have had an astrological basis. He suggests that the
alphabet was a form of shorthand that was inevitable as the written form became
simplified and presents a theory about a clever priest or leader that experimented with
written characters and developed a form of shorthand using the astrological symbols
available in the area, but only used twenty-two symbols because that was all that was
The area that used the Semitic languages and similar constellations extended from
Egypt through the Middle East into Lebanon and beyond. Moran suggests that the use of
these symbols could have been in use about the third millennium B.C.E. due to the
alphabet beginning with the symbol for the bull, which was worshipped around that time.
Moran suggests that this early alphabet spread across the ancient world by
those speaking Semitic languages, but was not used by the Egyptians who already had a
system of hieroglyphs and literature. The Sumerians also had already developed a system
of writing so a new alphabet would not be useful to them. The Hebrews, Phoenicians and
later the Greeks were able to adapt their spoken language to the written characters in the
early alphabet even though vowels were not used until the Greeks modified the alphabet
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to their liking. The traveling astrologers most likely carried this new system of
alphabetical writing to the nations and peoples in the area, who made use of its simplicity
Moran also suggests that the extra letters necessary for some languages could
have borrowed from the unused lunar signs that would have been from twenty-three to
twenty-eight and provides some possible evidence for that. The Latin alphabet could have
also taken letters from the Chinese lunar signs that were not used to form the alphabet,
but does not provide drawings or correspondences that can be examined. He does go on
disreputable, yet provided Western civilization with the alphabet which is regarded as
one of the greatest tools ever invented. Moran goes on to state that he has met the
specific stars or star groups. He returns to the letter aleph, which is the first letter of the
alphabet, and relates it to the Chinese lunar sign niu, both of which mean ‘ox’. He
continues to compare the alphabet letters with lunar signs but concedes that there are
problems that cannot be solved without adequate mastery of many ancient languages,
astronomy, astrology, archaeology and paleography to begin with. There are many
approaches to the riddle of the alphabet and he wonders which way is best to unravel the
mysteries of its construction. How should the celestial poles be seen in relation to the
lunar signs and the alphabetic letters if indeed there is a relationship between the letters
Moran wonders when the alphabet was first created because it undoubtedly had an
effect on how the sky looked although the planisphere of stars would not change much
even taking into account the precession of the equinoxes. How would calendar reformers
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and astrologers change the order of the alphabetic letters, possibly at the whim of their
employers such as the priests or kings as was the case of the constellational symbols in
the Chow dynasty? He wonders how the alphabet could have retained its consistency
during the centuries of use. It came down to simply experimenting with the order of the
alphabetical letters with the Chinese astrological characters in order to find possible
correspondences. He continued to use the ten stems and twelve branches to find an
answer to the enigma of the origin of the alphabet, but even when he reversed those
letters and characters in relation to each other he could not find a satisfactory
correspondence. He noted that the ancient solar zodiacs were probably set in stone about
the twenty-fourth century B.C.E. when Taurus was in ascendancy and was worshipped
around the world by many early peoples. He also noted that the order of the solar and
lunar symbols may have been in reverse order due to demands of the rulers of the day
Additional problems were seen in the practice of assigning the same meaning to
multiple star groups, such as having a bear or ox being seen in multiple places in the sky
like we have the large bear Ursa Major and the small bear Ursa Minor. Compounding this
problem is determining what star group was important to what group of people at a
certain point in history, such as having their new year begin at the winter solstice or
spring equinox and use different star groups to determine the start of those years.
Moran comes to the conclusion that astrology originated in Western Asia and was
taken intact to China, but that the alphabet and its correspondence to the Chinese lunar
signs was keyed by aligning the constellation Taurus the Bull with letter A or aleph with
the Chinese lunar sign niu ‘the ox’. Figure 10 presents Moran’s comparison of the
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Western alphabet with the Chinese astrological signs and is the Fifth Edition of the chart
that was first presented to the American Oriental Society at Princeton in March, 1923.
Moran then compares the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the Roman alphabet, the
Western astronomical solar zodiac constellation where applicable, the Chinese lunar
zodiac sign, and the Chinese solar zodiac sign where applicable. He goes into great detail
about the meanings of each letter and includes the letter meanings from the Phoenician,
Assyrian, Greek and Egyptian where available. The Hebrew letters are fully explained
and compared to the Chinese lunar signs and the symbolism is described in great detail.
Additional astrological and astronomical information is used to help explain the more
Moran uses references from many sources and even presents derivative names
associated with the Hebrew letters and also provides insight into the inscrutable thinking
of the ancient Chinese astrologers. The startling correspondences he finds between the
meanings of the Hebrew alphabet letters and the Chinese lunar sign meanings may be
taken as irrefutable evidence of a close correspondence between the two systems. This
letter-by-letter comparison to the Chinese lunar signs has intrigued both Western and
Moran postulates that there must have been a list of twenty-eight or twenty-nine
symbols available to the creators of the first alphabet, but that only twenty-two were
chosen. Perhaps another alphabet script might be unearthed that used a full twenty-eight
letters that corresponds to the Chinese lunar signs. Moran goes further and spreads the
twenty-two symbols of the alphabet around the calendar in a symbolic manner that he
compares to the method used by the Chinese on their P’u Pan board. Moran again states
that all attempts to correlate the Chinese horary signs with the Semitic alphabet have met
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with failure and have not been proven as practical, but he reiterates that the meanings of
the Hebrew alphabet closely correspond to the Chinese lunar sign meanings.
Moran concludes his section of The Alphabet and the Ancient Calendar Signs by
introducing the concepts of Dr. David Kelly who presents a chapter full of text, tables,
charts and maps that illustrate the diffusion of the ancient calendar to many parts of the
world. In his last chapter of the book, Dr. Moran adds more details and descriptions that
provide more insight into the beginnings of writing and provides greater detail about the
alphabet and the conclusions he arrived at after finishing the main text. Additional details
that go beyond the intent of the previous chapters are presented in this chapter and offer
more of his personal opinions and conjectures that deserve further investigation. The last
chapter in the second edition by Dr. David Kelly is not covered in this book report, which
is focused on the material contained in the first edition which was solely by Dr. Moran.
This is an interesting book for those interested in the alphabet, but it is not for
everyone. The subjects discussed are too technical for the casual reader and the
references are in many cases outdated. The thesis of the work is valid in my opinion, but
the information is in a format that is not understandable by those without a keen interest
in the origin of the alphabet. The work is complete as it is and in the context and time that
it was written.
I would not recommend this book to anyone unless they are willing to accept its
thesis that is not supported by primary sources or literary works that conclusively prove
its contentions. In general, this book does add to the historical knowledge in its field,
although many of the references used are too out of date to be obtainable or of use to the
modern user. This book will no doubt remain a subject of conjecture and debate between
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scholars of etymology and cultural historians, but it will require the finding of an actual
primary source evidence to support its conclusions. - Lance Carter, November 23, 2010.
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