OTHER: alphabet soup

[Brad Dahl]

Language fans,

My good friend and language expert Cami offers this explanation of the V and
U thing:

U, as in the Greek upsilon (which looks like a Y in upper case) came first,
and was a vowel, with the consonantal
property of a W when part of a dipthong juxtaposed between syllables.

Around the eighth century b.c., the Greek city-states did so much
colonizing across the Mediterranean that southern Italy would be known as
Magna Graecia right up until the Vandals came calling and pulled the plug
on the western Empire.  The Etruscans, who dominated the peninsula in those
days, traded extensively with the Hellene merchant marines and picked up
the alphabet in the process.

Rome was an illiterate collection of huts on some of the later-famous seven
hills while this was going on, but over the next three hundred years, she
learned architecture, set out to take over the world, and decided that
reading was fun.  The Quirites learned their letters before they threw out
Servilius and his ilk forever (it was all downhill for the Etruscans after
that) but, being Romans, they modified a bit and came up with the
orthography we use ourselves.

U was still a U, pronounced "oo" (when long) or "uh" (when short)
midsyllable, but its doubling as a W developed beyond that of its
precursor; it became a consonant in its own right, disavowing association
with other vowels and giving Caesar (and Missile Dick) "ueni, uidi, uici."

V as we pronounce it did not exist in Classical Latin (nor did J, or
ch-sounding C) and would not chew on the universal tongue of scholars,
scientists, and sordid struggling artists until the Dark Ages had fallen
and indoor plumbing was forgotten.

V as we print it originally represented the Latin U regardless of its
incarnation; what dictated the appearance of the letter was the medium in
which it was displayed.  All handwriting in those days was (impossible to
read and), in what we would call cursive--try working with a quill on a
scroll, and you'll find lifting the pen off the papyrus is an exercise you
care to engage in as infrequently as possible, so your script will tend to
avoid both breaks between words and straight lines.  If, however, you are
carving dedications on a marble monument, chances are pretty good you'll
want to keep curves to a minimum, and as it was pro forma to drop the name
of the deity to whom you built such a nice temple, CAPITALS (get it?)
spelled it out over the colonnade.

It may be apocryphal, but the designation of V to distinguish consonantal
use is attributed to (my favorite emperor) C-C-Claudius (a.d.41-54), who
had studied both history and language before the assassination of
Gaius-don't-call-me-Caligula-godammit gave him the authority to determine
common spelling application.  I happen to be fond of the old guy, so I'm
buying.


Isn't she wonderful?

Love ya,

Brad
http://www.moosenet.com/poison.html