I've just now decided to base the next 26 articles i write (excluding link, video, and image posts) on letters of the alphabet. The first article will be on a topic starting with the letter "A" and the last, "Z." As cool as it would be to actually write about each individual letter, I think it might get a little boring after "B." So without further delay, I give you Part A of my Alphabet Series.
The alphabet has a fascinating history which bears a short discussion. The alphabet we use today is known as the Latin Alphabet as is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world. It is a direct descendent of the Greek alphabet developed by the Romans to write latin. In its infancy, the Latin alphabet consisted of 21 letters - ABCDEFZHIKLMNOPQRSTVX. The letter C was used for both a G and K sound. Later, the Z was dropped and replaced with a new letter, G. After the roman conquest of Greece the letters Y and Z were added to the alphabet. During the middle ages the letter W was introduced to aid in the pronunciation of germanic words. It was also during the middle ages that I and U were distinguished as vowels while J and V were consonants. Prior to this the letters were interchangeable. Writing style changed frequently during the middle ages until the invention of the printing press. It was then that the written latin alphabet began to become standardized.
As the latin alphabet spread additions were made to adapt to new languages. I consider this to be just one more reason the Romans held such an immense empire for so long. Their ability to seamlessly integrate themselves into every culture they conquered was genius. In England, the latin alphabet was expanded to include several runes - wynn, thorn, and the irish letter eth. Eventully wynn became w and thorn and eth were replaced with "th" thus eliminating the need for two extra letters in the alphabet. Yogh was another letter added at one point but it too was eliminated in favor of "gh." AE (æ) and OE (œ) are ligatures that were derived from Anglo saxon runes as well but were never truly replaced in the alphabet. They are occasionally used when writing latin words or in dictionaries for pronunciations but by and large these ligatures are ancient history.
Creating an alphabet to represent a language was no easy task and I applaud the efforts of the Romans for creating such a masterpiece in only 26 letters. In contrast, the alphabet in Cambodia has 74 letters and there are roughly 6,000 - 7,000 characters in written Chinese (40,000 if you count obscure characters). This number is deceiving because chinese characters are not individual letters that make up words but words themselves or even complete thoughts. Regardless, I do not think I would be able to create a series of unique symbols that correspond to individual sounds. Well done Romans, well done.
My favorite letter has to be "S." It is my favorite letter to write because you can write it so many ways. We've all made the cool old english S with the six vertical lines connected by diagonal lines and the letter itself reminds me of so many wonderful things. Summer, snowboarding, Sarah, smiling, sunshine, soul, etc. Anyone else have a favorite letter?
Cheers!
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