My Dove, my simple one.

4) Then there is the factor of Alef being a 'silent' letter and the general connection made in several cultures and languages between silence - nothingness and the Fool [being empty headed, also as speech signifies complexity and intelligence so silence its opposite]. For example in English the word 'dumb' means both mute and ignorant, foolish and this general drift is common in other languages too. For example a Mutus Liber, a book of pictures or 'silent book' was also called a ‘Liber Idiotarium' a fools book. In Hebrew also we have AYLM meaning ‘dumb’ as in mute with the same root as ALM meaning ‘dumb’ as in foolish, ignorant In English too there is an old word 'nowt' still used in Northern dialect which derives from old Norse, it means 'nought', 'Fool' and 'ox'.

As speech is considered a sign of intelligence so being 'speechless' was considered a sign of a lack of intelligence [as in 'dumb' - foolish]. A Mutus Liber is a book in pictures, without words, and on Italian web sites you will often see the Tarot described as 'Mutus Liber Tarocchi'. The goddess 'Mutus' was struck dumb by Jupiter for spilling the beans on one of his liaisons, one of her other names is MANIA. It is connected to the concepts of Fool, Madman and Silence. We have also the concept of a 'mute' [silent] letter.

Some notes from Etymological dictionary:

MUTA id+ | CHANGE | sug> MUTATION
^u opp is IMMUTABLE
lat MUTIS for SILENCE
MUTUS MUTE
maxim> NON MOTTUM FACERE
KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT
fr MOT WORD
myth> ROMAN HASHEMDESS FOR SILENCE
DAUGHTER OF THE RIVER HASHEM ALMO
DEPRIVED OF HER TONGUE BY JUPITER TO
BE VOICELESS BECAUSE SHE BETRAYED HIS LOVE
FOR THE NYMPH JUTURNA
MERCURY FELL IN LOVE WITH MUTA AND SAVED HER
MUTA WAS ALSO KNOWN AS MANIA or MANES or
HASHEMDESS OF THE DEAD
MUTA THE DUMB or see> FOOL IGNORANCE
MUTA in TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY WAS RELATED TO
DARK FATE THE INCESTUOUS PRODUCT OF
CHAOS and NOXA or NIX or NIGHT
~ MUTE SPEECHLESS note drift toward DUMB
IDIOTIC MORONIC
med> SPEECH IS A MAJOR SIGN OF
MENTAL COMPETENCE
MOTOR COORDINATION needed to
ARTICULATE SPEECH which is VERY COMPLEX
as noted in MUTATED PRONUNCIATION

--Eng. MAD, "angry, insane" : OE. GEMAED (pre-1000), which changes to
ME. MEDDE / MADDE (circa 1300). Akin to OS. GIMED, "foolish" and
Goth. GAMAITHS, "crippled". OED mentions theoretical root *GAMAIDO-
and pre-Teutonic *MOITO- :Indogermanic root *MEI-, "to change". OED
also mentions the related AMAD (1200) : OE., GEMAEDAN, "to madden",
akin to the idea of "bruised, crazed, to maim".
: the further one goes back in time from about 1200-1300, the less
that words resemble Eng. MAD in spelling or meaning. After about 1200-
1300, definitions occur which further resemble Skt. MAD, "rejoice,
exhilarate, intoxicate", which has such verb forms as AMA'DISHUH and AMATTA. It is akin to Skt. MATTA, "excited, intoxicated, angry, mad, insane" (Cf. Hindi-Urdu MATT, mad; MATTA, intoxicated woman; It. MATTA, crazy woman; akin to MATTO, "insane").