Probably a lot of us know that there is a tradition in many cultures of giving a meaning to the letters.
An example could be Qabalah and its tradition of studying the correspondences of the Hebrew letters, their shapes, their gematria, etc.
Another example could be the studies of the Greek Alphabet (i.e, Marcus the Gnostic, Zosimus, or even Plato).
... But the studies on the Latin Alphabet are very unusual.
i.e, the Ars Magna of Llull doesn't fit at all into this category, because his correspondences are arbitrary and similar to the correspondences of modern logic (At least it is my opinion that Llull didn't see that the Latin letters had a specific meaning and his system of logic was based on correspondences that he considered to be arbitrary).
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I do know a few studies on the Latin Alphabet.
I'm posting them:
Jakob Böhme analyzes the word "IEHOVA" in his Clavis (or "Keys")
His interpretation is as follows:
I
I is the effluence of the eternal, indivisible Unity, or the sweet
gracefulness [wholeness, holiness] of the ground of the divine power of
becoming somethingness.
E
E is a threefold I, where the Trinity shuts itself up in the Unity; for
the I goes into E, and joins IE, which is an outbreathing of the Unity in
itself.
H
H is the Word, or breathing of the Trinity of God.
O
O is the circumference, or the Son of God, through which the IE and
the H, or breathing, out-speaks; from the compressed light of the
power and virtue.
V
V is the joyful effluence from the breathing, that is, the proceeding spirit of God.
A
A is that which is proceeded from the power and virtue, viz. the
wisdom; a subject of the Trinity; wherein the Trinity works,and wherein
the Trinity is also manifest.
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Berend Coenders van Helpen in his Escalier des sages ou la philosophie des anciens ("The Staircase of the wise or the philosophy of the ancients") analyzes the 5 vowels this way:
O: the perfect circle and a symbol of the "first being"
I: the perfect line
V: (he is using the latin alphabet, thus the "V" instead of "U" as a vowel)... two lines that show two opposed qualities.
A: Three lines and the Holy Trinity.
E: Four lines and the 4 elements.
He also explains that the number of straight lines in the vowels is 10:
I = 1, V = 2, A = 3, E = 4... thus making some sort of Tetractys.
He also analyzes the words "DEVS", "IESVS" and "MARIA", giving complex geometrical correspondences for each letter and extracting a 24 from the straight lines contained in these letters (something that reminds me a lot of Marcus the Gnostic!).
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Several alchemical texts use some words as a Notariqon (the most obvious example would be the famous "Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem for "V.I.T.R.I.O.L."... but such thing doesn't involve a true study of the letters that is similar to the case of Qabalah or the System of Marcus).
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The tradition of Martinism has a short analysis of the letters S and I, giving them a meaning that is similar to the seal of Cagliostro:
But Martinism doesn't really have a deep analysis of the Latin Alphabet as a whole.
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The letters of the word "LVX" become a formula in the Golden Dawn tradition, giving them a numerical value (L = 50, V = 5, X = 10.... thus 65) and correspondences with Egyptian Gods and then positions in the Zodiac.
Same thing than Martinism... the only Latin letters that receive an analysis are L, V and X in this tradition... and there isn't any suggestion that the Latin letters as a whole have a specific meaning... so it's a very restricted analysis (same thing for Martinism).
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Of course, we have Rimbaud, though his famous poem was mostly about his subjective vision of the vowels.
Vowels
A black, E white, I red, U green, O blue: vowels,
I shall tell, one day, of your mysterious origins:
A, black velvety jacket of brilliant flies
which buzz around cruel smells,
Gulfs of shadow; E, whiteness of vapours and of tents,
lances of proud glaciers, white kings, shivers of cow-parsley;
I, purples, spat blood, smile of beautiful lips
in anger or in the raptures of penitence;
U, waves, divine shudderings of viridian seas,
the peace of pastures dotted with animals, the peace of the furrows
which alchemy prints on broad studious foreheads;
O, sublime Trumpet full of strange piercing sounds,
silences crossed by Worlds and by Angels:
–O, the Omega! the violet ray of His Eyes!
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Do you know of other texts that study the Latin letters in a way that is similar to Qabalah or the Greek System of Marcus?