Footnote 1 – Reviews

This ostracon has added significance because it indicates the alphabet was learned in two halves—from aleph to qof and lamed to tav. Perhaps what we regard as the second half was sometimes considered the first half, as suggested by a possible, otherwise unaccountable etymology of the word elementum (l-m-n) in classical sources. See John Strugnell and Hanan Eshel, “It’s Elementary: Psalms 9 and 10 and the Order of the Alphabet,” BR 17:03.