Derivation from the Cypriote forms has been suggested by some; but here again eight letters are very different, if six or seven are similar.

Recently, derivation from the Hittite hieroglyphs has been advocated,[0138] but the alleged instances of resemblance touch nine characters only out of the twenty-two.

And real resemblance is confined to three or four.

Secondly, no theory of derivation accounts for the Phoenician names of their letters, which designate objects quite different from those represented by the Egyptian hieroglyphs, and equally different from those represented by the Hittite letters.

For instance, the Egyptian _a_ is the ill-drawn figure of an eagle, the Phoenician _alef_ has the signification of "ox;" the _b_ of the Egyptians is a hastily drawn figure of a crane, the Phoenician _beth_ means "a house." On the whole, it seems most probable that the Phoenicians began with their own hieroglyphical system, selecting an object to represent the initial sound of its name, and at first drawing that object, but that they very soon followed the Egyptian idea of representing the original drawing in a conventional way, by a few lines, straight or curved.
Their hieroglyphic alphabet which is extant is an alphabet in the second stage, corresponding to the Egyptian hieratic, but not derived from it.
Having originally represented their _alef_ by an ox's head, they found a way of sufficiently indicating the head by three lines {...}, which marked the horns, the ears, and the face.