PE
PE (Heb. פ, ף ;פֵּא), the 17th letter of the Hebrew alphabet; its numerical value is 80. In the Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions this letter seems to be represented by the drawing of either a mouth (peh) or corner (pê'āh) , . In the 11th and 10th centuries B.C.E., its form was (which presumably was the prototype of Greek () → and Latin (P). The later West-Semitic variants are Hebrew (Samaritan ), Phoenician and Aramaic → in the medial and in final positions. The latter forms are the ancestors of the Jewish (modern Heb.) and From the Nabatean (final) → (medial) developed the Arabic (the single diacritic mark distinguishes it from which developed from the qaf). See *Alphabet, Hebrew.
