Questions tagged [alphabet]
For questions regarding evolution, pronunciation, and forms of the Latin alphabet and its letters
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Have these Greek letters been related to these Latin/English letters?
Was each following Latin/English letter originated from, cognate with, or related to the Greek letter given after the Latin/English letter?
Latin f and Greek phi
Latin h or e, and Greek eta
Latin j ...
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How shall I remember the order between the letters in Greek alphabet?
In Greek alphabet, letters are ordered from alpha to omega.
Why is it the order? How was it originated?
Does the order matter? I saw that the order is used in Greek numerals for naming numbers. What ...
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Using "u" to transliterate Greek "υ" (upsilon) into English
The typical advice that you receive, when transliterating Greek words into Roman letters, is that Greek υ (upsilon) can either be Roman "y" or "u." (See, for instance, the ...
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Capital and non-capital letters in the Greek alphabet
Is there a reason why only some of the capital and non-capital letters of the Greek alphabet are different?
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Hypothesis for Umbrian letter ers pronunciation
Umbrian epichoric alphabet (that is, locally adapted from Etruscan alphabet) has a consonant 𐌛, called ers in Unicode Old Italic scripts references. You can see an example of usage of such letter in ...
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Why is this Etruscan letter sometimes transliterated as "ch"?
I've noticed that the Etruscan letter 𐌙 is sometimes transliterated as "ch", as you can see in the following image of an information panel in the Hypogeum of the Volumnus family:
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When and why did "Σ" make a comeback?
Math uses "Σ", as does modern Greek. But according to Wikipedia, "Σ" disappeared during late antiquity and the Middle Ages:
In handwritten Greek during the Hellenistic period (4th–...
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Can uppercase j be used to replace uppercase i letter on a monument inscription?
I have seen it repeatedly on two grave inscriptions. Both were called Ida but there was Jda on the grave inscription. They lived in the 19th and 20th centuries in the Central Europe.
Is this a ...
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Were ῾ (δασεία) and ᾿ (ψιλή) formed from ├, ┤ (H) respectively?
Στο λατινικό αλφάβητο, όπως και στην αττική διάλεκτο, αποδόθηκε γραπτά με το γράμμα Η, από το οποίο άλλωστε προέρχεται και η δασεία. Συγκεκριμένα, το σύμβολο της δασείας αποτελεί απλοποίηση του ├ (το ...
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How has the pronunciation of the letter "c" developed?
I'd like to know how the pronunciation of the letter 'C' has developed in Latin. All I know so far is that it has changed through the centuries, but I'm interested in specifically what those changes ...
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Was the letter phi used in Latin?
Is there any evidence of the Greek letter phi being borrowed to write Latin words of Greek origin as φilosoφia for example?
The question is not restricted to Classical Latin.
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When were /k/ and /q/ first distinguished in the Greek or Latin alphabet?
Nowadays, in languages which make a distinction between velar and uvular stops, it's common to use K for the first and Q for the second. This is best-known nowadays from transcriptions of Arabic names,...
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Can Greek letter names be declined?
There seems to be solid evidence that Latin letter names were indeclinable.
But in Greek, several letters' names do fit into standard declension patterns: sigma, for instance, might actually be a -ma ...
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Why aren't there more letters representing consonant digraphs in Greek?
In classical Greek, the only consonant digraphs that have corresponding letters in the alphabet are ks(Ξ), ps(Ψ), and zd(Ζ, though this one's debated) -- why aren't other consonant digraphs (e.g. ts, ...
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How many vowel qualities did Oscan have?
Oscan was an Italic language related to Latin, which died out somewhere in the early centuries CE. It's notable for being used in the Fabulae Atellanae and for being the source of various loans into ...
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