The Letter U

Images courtesy of gubgib / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This feature is all about U. Not ewe, and not you. ;-)

If unable to answer a question, you are encouraged to click the link of the article and search for answers there.

U

1) What Phoenician letter gave birth to our letter U?

2) Between which set of a hundred years did the Greek adopt the same Phoenician letter?

3) The Greeks used the same Phoenician letter for the vowel U sound and for the F sound.  What are these 2 Greek letters?

4) What were the 2 sounds to the capital V were used by the Romans?

5) What are the 2 forms of the U in the Medieval period? 


6) In relation to #5, what one sound do they both make?


Clueless? Perhaps this link will help.


U-knighted we stand, d-vided we fall ;-)


:-( -> :-| -> :-)

DL
------------------------------------------------
"X-cellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."
--Tom Peters 

The Letter T

Images courtesy of gubgib / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This feature is all about T. It's a T-cher thing. ;-)

If unable to answer a question, you are encouraged to click the link of the article and search for answers there.

T

1) What mark was used for signing letters and formal documents by people who cannot sign their own names?

2) Since the Phoenician "taw" represents the 't' sound, what other purpose did it have?

3) Which of our English alphabet letter was mistaken to be based from the taw?

4) The Greeks adopted this taw. What did they call their version?



Clueless? Perhaps this link will help.


T-ching me the cha-ching way ;-)


:-( -> :-| -> :-)

DL
------------------------------------------------
"X-cellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."
--Tom Peters 

The Letter S

Images courtesy of gubgib / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This feature is all about S. S-pecially for you ;-)

If unable to answer a question, you are encouraged to click the link of the article and search for answers there.

S

1) Why is the letter S a complicated letter?

2) What is the early Egyptian hieroglyph of the "s" sound symbolize?

3) The Phoenicians adapted this Egyptian hieroglyph and called it "sameth". What change did the Phoenicians make of it?

4) The Phoenicians used a character (that looks like our letter W) to produce the "sh" sound.  What did they call it?

5) The Greeks "s" sound is represented by a character that looks like our capital M lying on its side.  What did they call it?

6) The Romans used this Greek letter (that is mentioned in question 5). What does the Roman version look like?

7) What do 17th century English manuscripts (that is used to represent the long "s" sound) look like?  

8) The Germans used a letter to represent the double lowercase "s". What does it look like?


Clueless? Perhaps this link will help


S-tablished since 2010 ;-)


:-( -> :-| -> :-)

DL
------------------------------------------------
"X-cellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."
--Tom Peters 

The Letter R

Images courtesy of gubgib / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This feature is all about R. Wow, R-tistic! ;-)

If unable to answer a question, you are encouraged to click the link of the article and search for answers there.

R

1) What is the Egyptian hieroglyph for the sound of consonant "R" called? 

2) How is this hieroglyph drawn?

3) What was the Phoenician sign for their "R" sound called?

4) What does the Phoenician word (the same in #3's answer) mean in English?

5) True or False: In terms of the "R" sound, The Phoenician sign bore the resemblance of the Egyptian hieroglyph.

6) Which culture did the Greeks copy their "R" sound letter from?

7) What did the Greeks call their "R" sound letter?

8) What 2 cultures did the Romans borrow their "R" sound letter?

9) What stroke did the Romans add to this letter?



Clueless? Perhaps this link will help


R-ticulate R ;-)


:-( -> :-| -> :-)

DL
------------------------------------------------
"X-cellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."
--Tom Peters 

The Letter Q

Images courtesy of gubgib / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This feature is all about Q. I saw pelicans Q for their food! ;-)

If unable to answer a question, you are encouraged to click the link of the article and search for answers there.

Q

1) The Phoenician called their letter Q "ooph".  What does ooph also mean in Phoenician?

2) Why did the Greeks change the name of the letter ooph into "koppa"?

3) Before the Etruscans adopted the koppa, how many k-sound letters did they have?

4) Which culture adopted all the k-sound letters of the Etruscans?

5) Is the tail of the first Roman letter Q vertical or a graceful curve?


Clueless? Perhaps this link will help


Mind your P's and Q's. ;-)


:-( -> :-| -> :-)

DL
------------------------------------------------
"X-cellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."
--Tom Peters 

The Letter P

Images courtesy of gubgib / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This feature is all about P.   P-culiar, isn't it? ;-)

If unable to answer a question, you are encouraged to click the link of the article and search for answers there.

P

1) The Phoenician letter P is called "pe". What does "pe" symbolize?

2) What are the two forms of the Phoenician "pe"?

3) The Greeks had a character that looked like our letter P.  What sound did they use it for?

4) What is the Greek character use for the P sound?

5) Which civilization inherited the more rounded P?


Clueless? Perhaps this link will help


P's on Earth! ;-)


:-( -> :-| -> :-)

DL
------------------------------------------------
"X-cellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."
--Tom Peters 

The Letter O

Images courtesy of gubgib / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This feature is all about O.  O-pen sesame! ;-)

If unable to answer a question, you are encouraged to click the link of the article and search for answers there.

O

1) If the letter O didn't originate from an egg, a stone, nor a mouth, what did it originate from?

2) What do you call the symbol used to refer to the O sound that appeared in Phoenician and other Semitic languages around 1000 BC?

3) What did the Greeks call their short vowel sound of O? How about their long vowel sound O?

4) How did the Phoenicians and the Greeks draw their letter O?

5) How did the Romans draw their letter O?


Clueless? Perhaps this link will help


O-some O!


:-( -> :-| -> :-)

DL
------------------------------------------------
"X-cellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."
--Tom Peters 

The Letter N

Images courtesy of gubgib / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This feature is all about N.  N-dear me to you... ;-)

If unable to answer a question, you are encouraged to click the link of the article and search for answers there.

N

1) The Egyptian character for the N sound is a wavy line. What does this image represent?

2) The Phoenician character for the N sound is called "nun" (rhymes with noon). What does the Phoenician word nun mean in English?

3) The Greek adopted the Phonician nun. What did the Greeks call it?

4) The Greeks and Romans incised their letters directly in ___ or inscribed them in ___  ___.

5) During the evolutionary change, what did the Romans do to the N's outside strokes, and what was added to it?


Clueless? Perhaps this link will help


N-chanting N!

:-( -> :-| -> :-)

DL
------------------------------------------------
"X-cellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."
--Tom Peters 

The Letter M

Images courtesy of gubgib / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This feature is all about M.  M-motionally made me mewl... ;-)

If unable to answer a question, you are encouraged to click the link of the article and search for answers there.

M

1) Our current letter M started out as an Egyptian hieroglyph. What does this hieroglyph resemble?

2) What did the great grandparent of our M look like?

3) The Phoenicians called their letter "mem". What does it look like?

4) The Greek mu evolved from the Phoenician mem. What does the mu look like?

5) What 2 civilizations adopted the Greek mu?

6) When did the rounded lowercase m start to appear?

7) 7 Roman letters were also used as Roman numerals. What was their numerical value for the letter M? 


Clueless? Perhaps this link will help


M-minent M!

:-( -> :-| -> :-)

DL
------------------------------------------------
"X-cellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."
--Tom Peters 

The Letter L

Images courtesy of gubgib / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This feature is all about L.  Kindly L-aborate... ;-)

If unable to answer a question, you are encouraged to click the link of the article and search for answers there.

L

1) What image represented the Egyptian equivalent of our L?

2) How many letters do the Greek have that represents the L sound?

3) The Phoenicians called their letter "lamedh". What does it mean?

4) Using the imagination, what does the lamedh's shape look like?

5) What 2 modifications did the Greek make to this Phoenician letter?

6) What did the first Roman L look like?

7) Over time, what did this Roman letter evolve into? 


Clueless? Perhaps this link will help


L-egant L!

:-( -> :-| -> :-)

DL
------------------------------------------------
"X-cellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."
--Tom Peters 

The Letter K

Images courtesy of gubgib / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This feature is all about K.  Ever knew an English word beginning with "kā" (like kā for Kate)? 
Exclude "c"; 
challenge me. 

--Oh, I found one!  Kale :-)

kale |keɪl| (also kail) 
noun [ mass noun ] 1 a hardy cabbage of a variety which produces erect stems with large leaves and no compact head.(Source: Oxford Dictionary of English) 
If unable to answer a question, you are encouraged to click the link of the article and search for answers there.


K

1) How many years has the letter K remained unchanged?

2) The Semetic "kaph" is the forerunner of our K. What did kaph visually represent?

3) The Phoenicians created 3 versions of the kaph. What did the first one look like? 

4) What did the second one look like?

5) And what did the third one look like?

6) What did the early Greeks call their simplified kaph?

7) In the Greek alphabet, what two letters represent the K sound?

8) What three letters did the Etruscans use to represent the K sound?

9) When did the early Romans use the letter K? 


Clueless? Perhaps this link will help


K-pable K!

:-( -> :-| -> :-)

DL
------------------------------------------------
"X-cellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."
--Tom Peters 

The Letter I and J

Images courtesy of gubgib / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This feature is all about "I" and "J". Ever j-walked and got struck by a clever i-dea? ;-)  

If unable to answer a question, you are encouraged to click the link of the article and search for answers there.

I and J

1) True or false: "I" and "J" started out from the same character.

2) The Phoenician sign "yodh" was the ancestor of our letter 
"I". What does yodh literally mean?

3) What is the shape of this Phoenician symbol?

4) When the Greeks used the yodh, what shape did it become?

5) What did the Greeks call this transformed letter?

6) Is this Greek letter the biggest or the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet?

7) What sound does the Phoenician yodh represent?

8) What sound does the Greek version of "I" represent?

9) What sounds does the Latin "I" represent?

10) In what century did a lettering artist added a hook to the "I" to form a letter "J"?



Clueless? Perhaps this link will help.


I-dealistic I, and J-dish J

:-( -> :-| -> :-)

DL
------------------------------------------------
"eXcellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."

--Tom Peters