The Origin Of The Names Of The Masonic Fraternity. *

of the Coptic verb MAI , to love ( denoted in the hieroglyphic alphabet by a sign that is called a plough and represents the sound M ) , prefixed to the noun substantive 20 N , brother , represented also in the hieroglyphic alphabet by what is

supposed to be a disguised Avorking tool AA'hich seems to me to represent a chisel or perhaps a seal . This Coptic combination JIAISON is exactly alike , in sound , to our AA'ord MASON , and its literal meaning is loving brother ( otherwise < pi \ a . o-eh < l > 6 s )

member of a brotherhood . These signs are the initials of the respective syllables ( just as Ave Avrite MS . for manuscipt ) aud illustrate a mode of writing which stands , indeed , almost as a general rule in ancient monuments , the Avriting of the

words in full being the exception . The Egyptian Avriter had various signs at his command to denote the same sound . It is

therefore obvious that he might have used for Avriting the phrase alluded to any other letters that represented the identical sounds m , y , s ; but , says Gliddon , the choice of the letters that should be used Avas not altogether left at the discretion or

caprice of every individual writer . There were certain rules that determined the use of the letters , so that the meaning was expressed symbolically in accordance Avith the subject AA'hich the Avriter happened to treat . The characters quoted above

as occurring in the inscription are merely phoneticsigns and have no symbolical meaning . It seems to me that to them maybe traced the origin of two of our symbols Avhich are used in our ritual in accordance Avith this origin . This hieroglyph of the plough , the initial of the first syllable has a resemblance to the P . M . ' s jeAvol ; and the

emblem of the sun , the hieroglyphic symbol of h ' o-hfc and revelation , is altogether similar to it . Even in minor details a coincidence may be found as transmuting the curved outline of the symbol into a rectilinear form , the angle at the vertex Avill be

one' of 60 ° . The hieroglyphic initial of the second syllable is the chisel , a symbol peculiar to the Mark Master ' s degree , and this is also the figure of some instrument for stamping ( one of the homophons of the S is undoubtedly a seal ) ,

the symbolical meaning of Avhich accounts for its use in the same degree . The seal , denoted in Egyptian by the letter S , expressed symbolicall y the idea of shitting , guarding . I have stated that there lvere in that language various signs to represent the same sound . If , in the phrase alluded to , the letter M had been denoted hy that

The Origin Of The Names Of The Masonic Fraternity. *

hieroglyph AA'hich represents a sickle or cimeter ( and this might have been done Avithout any violence to the idiom ) , the aggregate Avord Avould have expressed the character of the person to Avhom it applies ' and had a peculiar symbolical

meaning imparted to it . That sign denoted the idea of seeing , contemplating , meditating , and will readily suggest the origin of the speculativecharacter of the Order . These tAvo symbols combined , which occur rather frequently in

hieroglyphic sculpture , represent a figure Avhich bears some resemblance to other emblems of ours , the hour-glass and the scythe . From this Egyptian word , then , which is still to be found in the monumental constructions of the

Nile and the meaning and the use of Avhichis fully determined , * I feel inclined to derive the word Mason , and notice that up to the present day it has preserved the same meaning , viz ., Brother , member

of one and ^ the same society or organisation , and corresponds to the term Avhich is in general use in the Order . ( To "be continued ) .

Masonic Emblems.

MASONIC EMBLEMS .

THE CUBIC STONE . This is one of the principal emblems wroughtupon the tapestry , Avith which the ori ginal lodges of the Order of St . John ( or Freemasons ) was decorated .

As the rough stone represented man in his uneducated state , so likewise , the regular form ,, the level surfaces , and solid firmness of the cubic stone typified the accomplished , ennobled man , so rendered through the elevating principles of

Masonry . It stands AA'ritceu in the archives of the Masonic lodge of Leghorn ( printed in Leipsic , 1803 , p . 272 ) , that the cubic stone upon Avhich the workmen sharpened their tools should remind

them that , as their tools , blunted through use , must be resharpened , so also , that a man who strives toward perfection , will , from time to time , find it necessary to sharpen his faculties , through reflection , and rouse his slumbering energies to