Hebrew Alphabet (Mystical Significance)
The mystical significance of the twenty-two Hebrew letters, their correspondence to the books of the Old Testament, the five doubled letters (Caph, Mem, Nun, Pe, Sade) with different medial and final forms, and the alphabetical acrostic structure underlying several psalms, Lamentations, and Proverbs.
Pope Clement VIII, Jerome's Prefaces, On Worship
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I. THE HELMETED PROLOGUE.
— Jerome details the twenty-two Hebrew letters attested by Syriac and Chaldean cognates, the five doubled letters with different medial and final forms, and the alphabetical acrostic structure of several psalms, Lamentations, and Proverbs.
"That there are twenty-two letters among the Hebrews is attested also by the language of the Syrians and Chaldeans, which is largely cognate with Hebrew; for they too have twenty-two elements with the same sound but different characters."
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I. THE HELMETED PROLOGUE.
— The five doubled Hebrew letters and their correspondence to five double books.
"Furthermore, five letters among the Hebrews are doubled: Caph, Mem, Nun, Pe, Sade; for the beginnings and middles of words are written differently through these letters than their endings. Whence also five books are considered by most to be double"