Cynic Direct Action Blog

Welcome Me Home….Grendel

The letter K started as a picture sign of the palm of the hand, as in Egyptian hieroglyphic writing (1) and in a very early Semitic writing used in about 1500 BC on the Sinai Peninsula (2). In about 1000 BC, in Byblos and other Phoenician and Canaanite centers, the sign was given a linear form (3), the source of all later forms. In the Semitic languages the sign was called kaph, meaning “palm.” The Greeks changed the Semitic name to kappa. They also turned the letter around to suit the left-to-right direction of their writing (4). The Romans took the sign over into Latin, but they used it sparingly. From Latin the capital letter K came into English unchanged. The English small handwritten k is simply a capital K with small, straight strokes, which were gradually rounded. The printed k is similar to the handwritten form. SESAME SEESAW The letter Q is of unspoken origin. There is a sign in Egyptian hieroglyphic writing which denotes a looped rope (1). Another sign in the shape of a doubled loop is found in a very early Semitic writing used in about 1500 BC on the Sinai Peninsula (2). Both of these early signs have been compared by some scholars to the Q sign which was developed in about 1000 BC in Byblos and other Phoenician and Canaanite centers (3). It is from the latter sign, called qoph, meaning “monkey” in the Semitic languages, that all later forms are derived. The Greeks renamed the sign koppa (4). It stood for exactly the same sound as their k, or kappa, so they dropped koppa as useless. The Romans, however, had acquired the early Greek habit of using koppa for a k sound before u and gave the sign a round form with a curved tail (5). In this form the letter Q came from Latin into English. The English small handwritten q has the tail developed into a long vertical line (6). BY YA CUM QUONSET Bing, Being, Boeing, Beijing, Bang ______________________________________________________ The SculPTor (1776-1867) WWW.WORDSCULPTOR.NET aka WWW.KEALEY.NET Web Site of Glen Kealey, National President Canadian Institute for Political Integrity (CIPI) http://kealeyne.ipower.com http://www.wordsculptor.net/web/previous/kealeynet/content/index4.html UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE THIS WORDSCULPTOR POST IS BEING BLOCKED (censored) BY HOST Ipower (Phoenix /via India) — their server FIDO continuously drops the connection) June 21, 2009