The Alphabet

An Archive of Alphabetical Possibilities - Lecture by John Vernon Lord
 
 
The Alphabet ;
 
A brief outline history of the alphabet

 


Letters are the conventional marks or visible signs of the elemental sounds of spoken language. A row of letters can be arranged in different combinations to describe everything that exists and every product of the imagination. The alphabet is one of the greatest triumphs of the human mind. It was not invented by a committee or a conference! In the beginning writing was pictorial. It began with ideograms, which developed into phonograms The first attempts to convey ideas in written form were made by the Sumerians about 3000 BC. Small pictures were drawn on wet clay which was then baked. These pictures eventually became conventionalised wedge-shaped symbols, known as cuneiform. Cuneiform had reached Egypt by 2100 BC and here it developed into a complex system which consisted of hundreds of hieroglyphic symbols inscribed on clay, papyrus, granite and limestone. The Phoenicians adapted this `alphabet' and took it to Greece, where the Greeks reduced it to a more manageable set of characters. In Northern Italy the Etruscans adopted the Greek alphabet. As far as more recent history is concerned the Roman alphabet came from Greece by way of the Etruscans. In the Latin alphabet the letter `G' was designed to replace the Greek letter `Z' (which had little value to the Romans).The letter `R' evolved as a variation of `P'. The Latin alphabet contained 21 letters:


 
ABCDEFGHI KLMNOPQRST V X
(missing ones = (J) (U) (W) (Y)( Z)


J, U, W, Y and Z had yet to be incorporated into the `modern' Western alphabet. The Greek letters `Y' and `Z' were added at the end of the Latin alphabet during the first century BC, following the Roman conquest of Greece (in order to accommodate the `borrowed' Greek word sounds. `J', `U' and `W' were added during the Middle Ages to complete our present day alphabet of 26 letters. `J' was an `outgrowth' of `I' and used to give a sound of greater consonant force, particularly as the first letter of some words. `U' and `W' are variants of `V' which was being used for two different sounds in medieval England. `V' was introduced to give a soft vowel sound as opposed to the harder consonant sound of `V'. `W' began as a ligature. Two `V' letterforms were joined into `VV' to represent `double U' in 12th-century England. • The Letters of the Alphabet

 


A
The first letter of the alphabet. This letter was modified from the Hebrew (aleph = ox), which was meant to indicate the outline of an ox's head. Among the Egyptians `A' is denoted by the hieroglyphic which represents the ibis. `A' is one of the five vowels. Consider pronunciations of `A' as in: aardvark, Canaan, Aesop, aboard, father, rare, make, encyclopaedia, water, village, Thames, company, China, pass. Think of the divergence in the pronunciation of such words as castle, grass, and after etc.
 


B
The second letter of the alphabet. This letter is the outline of a house. It is called in Hebrew beth (a house). In Egyptian hierology this letter is a sheep. Consider pronunciations of `B' as in: ball, bounce, dumb, club, amble, babble, subtle.


C
The third letter of the alphabet. This letter is the outline of the hollow of the hand, and is called in Hebrew caph (the hollow of the hand). Consider pronunciations of `C' as in: cat, cigar, cello, indict, cycle, chicken, machine, fuchsia, accede, flaccid, accord, saccharine, judicial, music.


D
The fourth letter of the alphabet. This letter is the outline of a rude archway or door, and is called in Hebrew daleth (a door).In Egyptian hierology this letter is a person's hand. Consider pronunciations of `D' as in: dad, baked, middle, dreadful, sadder.


E
The fifth letter of the alphabet. This letter represents a window, and is called in Hebrew he (a window). `E' is one of the five vowels. It is the most frequently used of English letters. Consider pronunciations of `E' as in: me, men, prey, newt, ear, learn, ever, heart, queue, either, between, where, open, fête, evening, foreign, eight, Derbyshire, ballet, erroneous, England, rendezvous. As a final letter e is usually silent as in `exposure' but not when borrowed from the French `fiancé'.


F
The sixth letter of the alphabet. Consider pronunciations of `F' as in: fable, baffle staff.


G
The seventh letter of the alphabet. This letter is the outline of a camel's head and neck, and is called in Hebrew gimel (a camel). Consider pronunciations of `G' as in: George,nagging, edge, bandage, beige, hiccough, cough, phlegm, gnat, high, sign, Glossop, diaphragm, gaggle, sing.


H
The eighth letter of the alphabet. This letter represents a style or hedge. [I wonder if `stile' is intended here as being more connected with boundaries etc]. It is called in Hebrew heth or cheth (a hedge). Consider pronunciations of `H' as in: Hardie, diarrhoea, ghetto, Chris, John. hour, honour, enough, where, who, teach, hurrah.


I
The ninth letter of the alphabet.This letter represents a finger, and is called in Hebrew yod or jod (a finger). `I' is one of the five vowels. Consider pronunciations of `I' as in: finish, fine, machine, station, business, bird, meringue, souvenir, debris, civil, alibi, friend, view, Rabbi, Hindi.


J
The tenth letter of the alphabet. This letter represents a window, and is called in Hebrew he (a window). `J' is associated historically with the letter `I'. Consider pronunciations of `J' as in: junk, hallelujah, judge, Raj (similarities to g).


K
The eleventh letter of the alphabet. Consider pronunciations of `K' as in: kinky, knee, cake, lock (similarities to c - think of car key and khaki).


L
The twelfth letter of the alphabet. This letter represents an ox-goad, and is called in Hebrew lamed (an ox-goad). Consider pronunciations of `L' as in: Lord, could, calf,Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllandyssiliogogogoch, long, fall, little.


M
The thirteenth letter of the alphabet. This letter represents the wavy appearance of water, and is called in Hebrew mem (water). Consider pronunciations of `M' as in: Mullen, murmuring, numb, hammer, ram.


N
The fourteenth letter of the alphabet. This letter represents a wriggling eel, and is called in Hebrew nun (a fish). Consider pronunciations of `N' as in: no, branch, singing, bank, penny, dean (mon or vin in French).


O
The fifteenth letter of the alphabet. This letter represents an eye, and is called in Hebrew ain (an eye). `O' is one of the five vowels. Consider pronunciations of `O' as in: lone, log, soul, love, son, move, moon, poor, blood, brooch, book, touch, coat, coin, bound, couple, court, woman, Worcester, method, choir, reservoir, do, stocco, foe, shoe, diarrhoea, boy and more sounds.


P
The sixteenth letter of the alphabet. This letter is a rude outline of a person's mouth, the upright being the neck, and is called in Hebrew pe (the mouth). Consider pronunciations of `P' as in: preposterous, pepper, empty, psalm, photograph, pneumatic, ptarmigan, hop.

Q
The seventeenth letter of the alphabet. Consider pronunciations of `Q' as in: queen, batique.


R
The eighteenth letter of the alphabet. Consider pronunciations of `R' as in: rural, car, centre, aggravate, rumble, cattarrh ear, bar.


S
The nineteenth letter of the alphabet. Consider pronunciations of `S' as in: salt, rose, these, sausage, sure, pleasure, island, viscount, gas, debris, mission, hiss, dogs.


T
The twentieth letter of the alphabet. Its Semitic name was taw (meaning mark or sign). Consider pronunciations of `T' as in: tone, nature, mature, natter, listen, partial, nation, question, fast; and pronunciations of `Th' as in: thin, mother, thyme,


U
The twenty-first letter of the alphabet. In the Etruscan and Latin alphabets (descendants from the Greek) the vowel `u' was written `v'. The letter has a close historical connection with `v' and `w'. `U' is one of the five vowels. Consider pronunciations of `U' as in: full, truth, duke, busy, bury, cut, guilt, language, question, liquor, biscuit, censure, cure, burn, blackguard, blurr, suite, buoy, buy, vacuum, you, flu.


V
The twenty-second letter of the alphabet. This letter represents a hook, and is called in Hebrew vav (a hook). The history of the letter is strictly connected with that of the letter `u', from which it did not differ in writing until the Middle Ages. Consider the pronunciation of `V' (which is one of the few English letters of which the sound is invariable): hive, vast, tavern. It is never a final letter of an English word, except for diminutives, such as Slav and lav.


W
The twenty-third letter of the alphabet, which only appeared in the 11th century. The sign `v' - which at the time had also the value of `u' - was doubled into the sign vv (called `double vay' in Norman French and `double u' in English. Consider pronunciations of `W' as in: two, sword, wreck and write; who, whole and whom (where it is silent); what and which; war, water, west, slow.


X
The twenty-fourth letter of the alphabet. Ambrose Bierce considered `X' to be a needless letter in the alphabet. Consider pronunciations of `X' as in: exit, examine, six, noxious, anxious, luxurious, xerography.


Y

The twenty-fifth letter of the alphabet. `Y' sometimes takes on the role of a vowel (as in `my', `Myrtle', `Cyril', `Beryl', `Yggdrasil' [the legendary triple-rooted ash tree] and `xylem' [a woody tissue], for instance). Also consider pronunciations of `Y' as in: you, yes, try, fly, symbol, mystic, colony, stupefy, ye, rye, canyon.


Z

The twenty-sixth and last letter of the alphabet. Consider pronunciations of `Z' as in: zealous, pizza, puzzle, buzz, rendezvous.
 


Miscellany
The languages with most speakers are - Mandarin Chinese 788 million, English 420 million, Hindi (300 million), Spanish 296 million, and Russian 285 million.
The proportionate use of letters
The proportionate use of letters in the English language, according to Brewer (page 746), is as follows:


e = 1,000..........m = 272
t = 770........... f = 236
a = 728...........w = 190
i = 704...........y = 184
s = 680...........p = 168
o = 672..........g = 168
n = 670...........b = 158
h = 540..........v = 120
r = 528..........k = 88
d = 392...........j = 55
l = 360...........q = 50
u = 296...........x = 46
c = 280..........z = 22


Consonants 5,977. Vowels 3,400 The proportion of initial letters
is very different and is as follows:


S = 1,194........ R = 291
C = 937 .......... W = 272
P = 804........... G = 266
A = 574 ...........U = 228
T = 571........... O = 206
D = 505 ...........V = 172
B = 463 ..........N = 153
M = 439 ..........J = 69
F = 388 ..........Q = 58
I = 377 ..........K = 47
E = 340 ..........Y = 23
H = 308 ..........Z = 18
L = 298 ..........X = 4


E is the most common letter (except in initials)
and r, s, t, d are the most common final letters.
 
A note on the shape of letters and numerals letters ............. capital letters............. lower case letters
straight lines.............AEFHIKLMNTVWXYZ iklvwxyz
curved lines............. BCDGJOPQRSU abcdefghjmnopqrstu
numbers straight lines .............147 curved lines............. 0235689
 
Pangrams


The following four sentences contain all the letters of the English language:
A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog (33 letters),
Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs (32),
Quick wafting zephyrs vex bold Jim (29),
Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud (28).


Ezra vii, 21 contains all the letters, except for J, of the English language. `And I even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily,' ... There are countless permutations of juxtaposed relationships between letters which affect both their physical shape and the influence on the sound.
Long words


When I was at school the longest word we were told about was antidisestablishmentarianism (28 letters). It means, `opposition to the idea that the Church should cease to be formally recognised by the state'. The longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary is: floccinaucinihilipilification (29 letters). It means, `the action or habit of estimating something as worthless'. Here is another long word in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost (v. 1): `Thou art not so long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus' (27 letters) . It is interesting that the word alternates vowels and consonants. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllandyssiliogogogoch (59 letters) is the name of a Welsh village in Anglesea. It means `The church of St Mary in a hollow of white hazel, near to the rapid whirlpool, and to St Tisilio's church, near to a red cave". Wales also boasts of having a city-district called Llwchwr, which has no consonants.


Here is the sound of the thunderclap fall in the third paragraph of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1939): bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk ! (100 letters)


Consonants and vowels


`Knightsbridge', a district in London, is remarkable for having six consecutive consonants (ghtsbr). `Eschscholtzia' (a Californian poppy) also has six consecutive consonants (schsch). `Sequoia' (a Californian conifer) has all the vowels; so does `unquestionably', which has the `y' letter - considered by some to be also a type of vowel. Oiseau (bird) is a French example of a word with all the vowels contained within it. Strengths is a nine-letter word containing only one vowel. Aiaiai is the Latin name of the roseate spoonbill. The word `typewriter' is typed by using only the top row of letters on the keyboard. One here for Helen, in case she hasn't got it! `The skunk thought the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk'.


Some anagrams


punishment = nine thumps; conversation = voices rant on; therapeutics = apt is the cure; anagrams = ars magna (Latin for `great art'); the eyes = they see; the Leaning Tower of Pisa = what a foreign stone pile! a decimal point = I'm a dot in place; a sentence of death = faces on at the end; Spring, summer, autumn, winter = "Time's running past," we murmur; countryside = no city dust here; delicatessen = ensliced eats; committees = cost me time; Florence Nightingale = Flit on, cheering angel; the Encyclopaedia Britannica = a dictionary can be elephantic;
Some palindromes
radar; level; step on no pets; pull up if i pull up; was it a rat I saw? - God! a dog! - Draw, O coward! - Are we not drawn onwards, we Jews, drawn onward to new era?


Word squares
Here's a fine example 7 x 7 square:


P R E P A R E
R E M O D E L
E M U L A T E
P O L E M I C
A D A M A N T
R E T I N U E
E L E C T E D


John V. Lord


BOOKLIST


A Bibliography of books about the Alphabet


Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D., Cassell and Co, London, 1897.


Sign and Design; The Psychogenetic Source of the Alphabet by Alfred Kallir, Vernum, Richmond, Surrey, 1961.


The Alphabet by David Diringer, London, 1948.


The Alphabet by Isaac Taylor (2 volumes), 1883..