Buzz
The English alphabet, like other Western alphabets, has its roots in the Roman (Latin) alphabet, which itself evolved from the Etruscan alphabet, and further from the Greek alphabet. The Greek alphabet, in turn, was derived from the Phoenician alphabet. The Greeks adapted the Phoenician script by introducing vowels, making it the alphabet we are familiar with today. Given this complex history, it's no wonder that our modern English alphabet is filled with quirks and inconsistencies.
10. There Was Once a 27th Letter
The ampersand (&), seen today in logos like Barnes & Noble and Dolce & Gabbana, was originally the 27th letter of the English alphabet. It was created in the first century by Roman scribes, who, writing in cursive, combined the letters 'e' and 't' from the Latin word 'et,' meaning 'and.'
The ampersand symbol was incorporated into the English alphabet during the 19th century. While its pronunciation remained 'and,' its name evolved due to schoolchildren. As they recited their alphabet, they ended with the phrase 'XYZ and per se and,' where 'per se' means 'by itself.' Much like how 'et' merged to form the '&' symbol, the phrase 'and per se and' was blended into 'ampersand.'
Beyond simply standing in for 'and' and linking names, the ampersand also replaces 'et.' For example, 'et cetera' (or 'etc') can be written as '&c.'
9. The Mystery of Why 'U' Always Follows 'Q'
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The letter 'Q' is always followed by 'U' because we use 'Q' to represent the sound /kw/. This sound is a digraph, which means two letters come together to form a single phonetic sound.
Before the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, the letter 'Q' was absent from the English language. Words such as 'queen' and 'quick' were spelled 'cwin' and 'cwic,' respectively. It was the French-speaking Normans who introduced the 'qu' combination to represent the /kw/ sound. The Normans had adopted this usage from Latin, where 'qu' was used for the /k/ sound when it appeared before 'w'; otherwise, they used 'c.'
8. The Origin of the Name 'Double-U' for 'W'
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Originally, both 'U' and 'V' represented the same sound. 'U' was used in the middle of a word, while 'V' was placed at the beginning. For example, 'upon' was written as 'vpon,' and 'save' appeared as 'saue.' When Latin was introduced into Old English in the early seventh century, the need arose to create a distinct character for the 'W' sound.
The sound /uu/ was represented by two 'U's ('uu'), which came to be known as 'double-u.'
In the eighth century, the 'uu' digraph was removed from the alphabet and replaced by a character called the 'wynn' ('ƿ'). In the 11th century, after the Norman Conquest, the letter 'W' was reintroduced. The Normans combined the two 'U's and sharpened the bottom to create the 'W' we use today. The letter’s appearance changed, but its name remained the same.
Despite its reintroduction, 'W' was slow to become a common letter in the English alphabet. Early printers sometimes used two 'V's ('vv') instead.
7. Benjamin Franklin Attempted to Reform the Alphabet
Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers, is often mistakenly credited with advocating for the turkey as the national bird over the bald eagle. However, other accounts of his eccentric nationalist reforms are entirely accurate.
In 1768, Franklin created his own version of the alphabet to distinguish Americans from the British. Some schools even adopted it. His revised alphabet focused on sounds produced by breath without involving the tongue, teeth, or lips. He eliminated the letters 'C,' 'J,' 'Q,' 'W,' 'X,' and 'Y,' believing them unnecessary. The 'hard-C' sound was replaced by 'K,' while 'S' took over for the 'soft-C' sound.
Franklin also introduced six new letters: one for the /o/ sound in words like 'folly' and 'ball,' another for the /sh/ sound in 'ship' and 'function,' one to replace 'um' and 'un,' and a letter for the /ng/ sound. Additionally, he created two letters to replace the /th/ sound.
Franklin believed his new alphabet would simplify learning and improve spelling. However, it gained little support and quickly faded into obscurity.
6. The Mystery of Why Washington Has No J Street
In Washington, D.C., the streets are named alphabetically from 'A' to 'I,' and then the letter 'K' follows. Urban legend suggests that city planner Pierre L’Enfant deliberately excluded the letter 'J' out of resentment for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay. It is said that L’Enfant also left out a courthouse in his plan, which forced the Supreme Court to meet in the Capitol’s basement from 1801 to 1810.
However, this story is untrue. The reason there is no J Street in Washington is that, at the time, 'J' was considered just another variation of the letter 'I.' Initially, 'J' was simply a design of 'I' and was used to mark the end of Roman numerals, such as 'XIIJ' for 'XIII.' It wasn’t until 1524 that Italian scholar Gian Giorgio Trissino distinguished the sounds of /i/ and /j/, but they were still used interchangeably well into the 18th century.
5. The Reason ‘X’ Replaces ‘Christ’ in ‘Xmas’
Some Christians may find it offensive that the letter 'X' substitutes for 'Christ' in 'Christmas,' believing it to be an attempt to secularize the holiday by using 'X' as a placeholder for the unknown. However, this interpretation is mistaken.
The history of 'X' is both strange and complex, which is why it symbolizes the unknown in both language and mathematics. Originally, 'X' was the Phoenician letter 'samekh,' which represented 'fish.' The Phoenicians used it for the hard /s/ sound. The Greeks then adapted it into 'chi,' representing the /ks/ sound. Later, the Romans borrowed 'X' from the Greek alphabet and paired it with the /x/ sound from the Chalcidian alphabet.
The 'X' in 'Xmas' comes from the Greek letter 'chi,' which is the first letter of the Greek word 'Χριστoς,' meaning 'Christ.' Therefore, 'Xmas' has been used by religious people since the 16th century and has been widely accepted since the 19th century.
4. Uppercase and Lowercase Letters
Our alphabet is among the few that distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters. The roots of this distinction can be traced back to the Greek and Latin alphabets, from which the English alphabet evolved.
Initially, both the Greek and Latin alphabets only had capital letters. It was only when scribes, tasked with transcribing texts repeatedly, began adding upward or downward strokes to the letters for quicker writing that lowercase letters emerged. The shift from rough stone surfaces to smoother materials like parchment or vellum also influenced the scribes' preference for writing in smaller letters, as it allowed for more efficient single-stroke writing.
By the 9th century, lowercase letters became well-established, with capital letters being used for emphasis. Some pairs of uppercase and lowercase letters—such as Cc, Ff, Ll, Hh, Xx, and Oo—look similar, making their origins easy to deduce. However, others, like Aa, Ee, Gg, and Rr, look quite different.
Take r, for instance. The Greeks invented a small r that resembles our present one. Medieval scribes later formed a small r that looked like the capital R. They called it “r rotunda.” The “r rotunda” was later dumped for the Greek small version, which was easier to write and more easily distinguished from the uppercase counterpart.
3. The Elimination Of ‘Z’
In 2010, the Internet was awash with rumors that the English Language Central Commission (ELCC) had agreed to remove z from the alphabet starting in June. The commission said that it had decided to remove the letter so that pronunciation would be simplified and British and American spelling would be similar. All words that began with z would have x in its place, and those with z elsewhere would gain a new s. So, we would have “xoo,” “xodiac,” and “xero” and “materialise,” “analise,” and “visualise.”
The English Language Central Commission had really suggested nothing of the kind. The whole thing was just an April Fools’ Day prank. But there actually was a time when z was removed from the alphabet.
Around 300 B.C., Roman censor Appius Claudius Caecus eliminated z due to its infrequent use and archaic status. Its pronunciation /z/ evolved into /r/, a transformation known as rhotacism.
The letter z was later reintroduced into the Roman alphabet, but it was mainly used for words borrowed from Greek. Since it was not often used, it was placed at the end of the alphabet, where it remained even as the English alphabet was developed.
2. The Origins of Writing From Left to Right
Unlike Egyptian and Indian hieroglyphics, which depicted objects through shapes, the cuneiform writing system used characters to represent sounds. Cuneiform began to emerge around 3500 B.C. and eventually contributed to the creation of the Phonemic alphabet, forming the foundation for modern alphabets. Cuneiform was written from left to right.
Although it remains unverified, it is believed that cuneiform scribes wrote from left to right because they were right-handed and would risk smudging their work if they wrote from right to left.
Initially, Greek was written from right to left. Eventually, it switched to boustrophedon, meaning “ox-turning.” In this system, the direction of writing alternated with each new line. If the first line began from the left, the second would start from the right, the third from the left, and so on. Boustrophedon proved confusing because the letters also changed direction as the lines alternated. Words would appear normal in one line, but flipped in the adjacent line, resembling a mirrored reflection.
Fortunately, boustrophedon was eventually phased out. Writing from left to right became the convention with the Greek and Latin alphabets, and this practice was passed down to the English alphabet.
1. Why Keyboards Use ‘QWERTY’
It is often claimed that Christopher Sholes, the creator of the typewriter, chose the QWERTY layout because letters that were frequently used would cause the machine to jam when placed too close together. However, there is no evidence to support this assertion.
The earliest typewriters resembled pianos, with the keys arranged alphabetically. A study by Kyoto University revealed that the QWERTY layout was introduced after telegraph operators, who were among the first to use typewriters, found the alphabetical arrangement cumbersome for translating Morse code. Interestingly, Sholes nearly replaced the 'r' key with the Morse dot, resulting in what would have been a 'qwe.ty' keyboard.
Sholes and his colleagues struck a deal with the gun manufacturer Remington to mass-produce the QWERTY typewriter. Remington also provided training to typists, and any company that wished to hire them had to purchase Remington's QWERTY typewriters.
The five largest typewriter manufacturers—Remington, Caligraph, Yost, Densmore, and Smith-Premier—joined forces to form the United Typewriter Company. This move ensured that the QWERTY layout became so widespread and successful that even Sholes was unable to change it when he wanted to. When computers emerged, they simply adopted the already widely used QWERTY layout.
In addition to QWERTY, there are other keyboard layouts for typewriters and computers. Dvorak, created by August Dvorak and William Dealey, requires less finger movement than QWERTY, facilitating faster typing. Other alternatives include 'Colemak' and 'Capewell'. A study by Mashable found that QWERTY was the least efficient layout of all.
