intro
O. Lagercrantz, in Hermes, xxxvi. (1901) pp. 411 if., interprets the E as meaning ἦ he said. To this, of course, Roscher objects and suggests that Lagercrantz might have thought also of ἦ verily. Thus all the various possibilities of interpretation have in turn been suggested, and rejected by others.
intro
W. N. Bates, in the American Journal of Archaeology, xxix. (1925) pp. 239-246, tries to show that the E had its origin in a Minoan character E associated with Ge (as is shown by the evidence of a Cretan gem in the Metropolitan Museum of New York) and later transferred to Delphi. Since the character was not understood, it, like other things at Delphi, came to be associated with Apollo. This character has been found on the old omphalos discovered in 1913 at Delphi in the temple of Apollo.It might also be recorded that J. E. Harrison, in Comptes Rendus du Congres International d’Archeologie (Athens, 1905), thinks that the E was originally three betyl stones or pillars placed on a basis and representing the three Charites! Moreover, C. Fries, in Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, lxxix. (1930) 343-344, offers as nodi explicatio the fact that in Sumerian inscriptions E means house or temple, and so may be connected with Babylonian ritual (note the Chaldean in chap. iv.)!
