XPost: rec.arts.sf.written
On 6/26/23 8:20 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
xkcd: Alphabet Notes
https://xkcd.com/2794/
"Design Notes On The Alphabet". It is obvious that Randall thinks
sideways as I never think about i and j being the only letters with
dots. And he wants to throw away everything after T.
Explained at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2794:_Alphabet_Notes
Lynn
It’s easier if you have the history of the alphabet well internalized. I
and J are the same letter. As late as the early 20th century, you might
see Roman numerals i, ij, iij..., and Italian words ending in -ii were
often spelt -ij.
On another point, Semitic ו became Greek Ϝ (/w/) and also Υ (/u/), which then became Latin F (/f/) and also V (/w/ or /u/). Later, the
pronunciation of Greek Υ (/u/) shifted to /y/, and so the Romans
introduced Y for spelling Greek words.
Around the same time, the pronunciationn of Latin C changed from /g/ to
/k/; however, some words didn’t change, so G was invented to indicate
those words, and it was stuck into the alphabet in place of Z, which
Latin didn’t need. However Z was stuck onto the end so it could still be
used for spelling Greek.
Finally, say, “key, cob, coo”, and watch your tongue. Notice how your tongue is placed in three different places. Well, the ancient Semites
had a sound even further toward the back, and invented the letter ק
to represent that. (That’s why Arabic words have spellings like
“Qatar”.) That became Greek Ϙ, which became Latin Q, which the Romans
used with a U to spell /kw/.
Later on, in the Middle ages, /u/, /ʊ/, /y/, /w/, /v/, and /f/ got all
mixed up in the various European languages, and V was split into U, V,
and W (and sometimes UU) to help cover things better.
The basic A B G order that the Semitic languages started with is of
unknown origin. Like Ambassador Kosh, it has always been here.
--
John W. Kennedy
Algernon Burbage, Lord Roderick, Father Martin, Bishop Baldwin,
King Pellinore, Captain Bailey, Merlin -- A Kingdom for a Stage!
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