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Acrophony
Acrophony (; + 'sound') is the naming of letters of an alphabetic writing system so that a letter's name begins with the letter itself. For example, Greek letter names are acrophonic: the names of the letters α, β, γ, δ, are spelled with the respective letters: (), (), (), (). The paradigm for acrophonic alphabets is the Proto-Sinaitic script and the succeeding Phoenician alphabet, in which the letter A, representing the sound , is thought to have derived from an Egyptian hieroglyph representing an ox, and is called 'ox', , which starts with the glottal stop sound the letter represents. The second letter of the Phoenician alphabet is ''bet'' (which means 'house' and looks a bit like a shelter) representing the sound and from ''ālep-bēt'' came the word "alphabet"another case where the beginning of a thing gives the name to the whole, which was in fact common practice in the ancient Near East. The Glagolitic and early Cyrillic alphabets, although not consisting o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from another in a given language. Not all writing systems represent language in this way: a syllabary assigns symbols to spoken syllables, while logographies assign symbols to words, morphemes, or other semantic units. The first letters were invented in Ancient Egypt to serve as an aid in writing Egyptian hieroglyphs; these are referred to as Egyptian uniliteral signs by lexicographers. This system was used until the 5th century AD, and fundamentally differed by adding pronunciation hints to existing hieroglyphs that had previously carried no pronunciation information. Later on, these phonemic symbols also became used to transcribe foreign words. The first fully phonemic script was the Proto-Sinaitic script, also descending from Egyptian hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoenician Alphabet
The Phoenician alphabet is an abjad (consonantal alphabet) used across the Mediterranean civilization of Phoenicia for most of the 1st millennium BC. It was one of the first alphabets, attested in Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean basin. In the history of writing systems, the Phoenician script also marked the first to have a fixed writing direction—while previous systems were multi-directional, Phoenician was written horizontally, from right to left. It developed directly from the Proto-Sinaitic script used during the Late Bronze Age, which was derived in turn from Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Phoenician alphabet was used to write Canaanite languages spoken during the Early Iron Age, sub-categorized by historians as Phoenician, Hebrew, Moabite, Ammonite and Edomite, as well as Old Aramaic. It was widely disseminated outside of the Canaanite sphere by Phoenician merchants across the Mediterranean, where it was adopted and adap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thai Alphabet
The Thai script (, , ) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai script itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols (, ), 16 vowel symbols (, ) that combine into at least 32 vowel forms, four tone diacritics ( or , or ), and other diacritics. Although commonly referred to as the ''Thai alphabet'', the script is not a true alphabet but an abugida, a writing system in which the full characters represent consonants with diacritical marks for vowels; the absence of a vowel diacritic gives an implied 'a' or 'o'. Consonants are written horizontally from left to right, and vowels following a consonant in speech are written above, below, to the left or to the right of it, or a combination of those. History The Thai script is derived from the Sukhothai script, which itself is derived from the Old Khmer script (, ''akson khom''), which is a southern Brahmic style of writing derived from the south Indian Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bet (letter)
Bet, Beth, Beh, or Vet is the second Letter (alphabet), letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician language, Phoenician ''bēt'' 𐤁 , Hebrew language, Hebrew ''bēt'' , Aramaic language, Aramaic ''bēṯ'' 𐡁, Syriac alphabet, Syriac ''bēṯ'' ܒ and Arabic Alphabet, Arabic ''bāʾ'' . It is also related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪈, Ancient South Arabian script, South Arabian , and Ge'ez . Its sound value is the voiced bilabial stop ⟨b⟩ or the voiced labiodental fricative ⟨v⟩. The letter's name means "house" in various Semitic languages (Arabic '':wikt:بيت#Arabic, bayt'', Akkadian '':wikt:𒂍#Akkadian, bītu, bētu'', Hebrew: '':wikt:בית#Hebrew, bayīṯ'', Phoenician '':wikt:𐤁𐤉𐤕#Phoenician, bēt'' etc.; ultimately all from Proto-Semitic '':wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/bayt-, *bayt-''), and appears to derive from an Egyptian hieroglyph of a house by acrophony. O1 The Phoenician letter gave rise to, among others, the Greek al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thurisaz
The rune is called Thurs (Old Norse ''Jötunn, Þurs'', a type of entity, from a reconstructed Common Germanic ') in the Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems. In the Anglo-Saxon rune poem it is called thorn, whence the name of the Thorn (letter), letter þ derived. It is transliterated as ''þ'', and has the sound value of a voiceless dental fricative (the Pronunciation of English th, English sound of ''th'' as in ''thing''). The rune is absent from the earliest Vimose inscriptions, but it is found in the Thorsberg chape inscription, dated to ca. AD 200. The rune may have been an original innovation, or it may have been adapted from the History of the Latin alphabet#Classical Latin period, classical Latin alphabet's ''D'', or from the Rhaetic alphabets, Rhaetic's alphabet's ''Θ''. Name In Anglo-Saxon England, the same rune was called ''Thorn'' or "Þorn" and it survives as the Icelandic orthography, Icelandic letter Thorn (letter), Þ (þ). An attempt has been made to accou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ur (rune)
Ur is the recorded name for the Runes, rune in both Old English and Old Norse, found as the second rune in all futharks (runic alphabets starting with F, U, Þ, Ą, R, K), i.e. the Elder Futhark, Germanic Elder Futhark, the Anglo-Saxon runes, Anglo-Frisian Futhark and the Younger Futhark, Norse Younger Futhark, with continued use in the later medieval runes, early modern runes and Dalecarlian runes. It corresponds to the letter u in the Latin alphabet, but also carries other sound values, especially in Younger Futhark, were its sound values correspond to the vowels: , , and etc., and the consonants: and etc., in the Latin alphabet. Character The character ᚢ may have been derived from the Old Italic scripts, as such features various characters corresponding to Elder Futhark, elder runes, including both upside and downside characters for Upsilon (/u, y/): , , specifically the Rhaetic, East Rhaetic alphabet from the Magrè-region of north-east Italy, which primarily used t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fehu
Fehu is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name for the rune (; ), found as the first rune in all futharks (runic alphabets starting with F, U, Þ, Ą, R, K), i.e. the Germanic Elder Futhark, the Anglo-Frisian Futhark and the Norse Younger Futhark, with continued use in the later medieval runes, early modern runes and Dalecarlian runes. It corresponds to the letter f in the Latin alphabet, but it can periodically shift into the sound value of v (compare "leaf" and "leaves"). Character The shape of the rune is likely based on Etruscan ''v'' ⟨𐌅⟩ ⟨⟩, like Greek Digamma ⟨⟩ and Latin ⟨ F⟩ ultimately from Phoenician waw ⟨⟩. The change of the bistaves pointing upward could stem from visually diverging it from the rune ᚨ, as well as linking it visually to the horns of cattle (see ). Name The root name is an ancient word for "livestock". Compare ("livestock, animal"), ("livestock, cattle"), ("livestock"), ("livestock, loose assets"), ("lives ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proto-Germanic Language
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branches during the fifth century BC to fifth century AD: West Germanic, East Germanic and North Germanic. North Germanic remained in contact with the other branches over a considerable time, especially with the Ingvaeonic languages (including English), which arose from West Germanic dialects, and had remained in contact with the Norse. A defining feature of Proto-Germanic is the completion of the process described by Grimm's law, a set of sound changes that occurred between its status as a dialect of Proto-Indo-European and its gradual divergence into a separate language. The end of the Common Germanic period is reached with the beginning of the Migration Period in the fourth century AD. The alternative term " Germanic parent langua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literature dates from the mid-7th century. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, English was replaced for several centuries by Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman (a langues d'oïl, type of French) as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during the subsequent period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into what is now known as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland. Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or Ingvaeonic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles (tribe), Angles, Saxons and Jutes. As the Germanic settlers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irish Orthography
Irish orthography is the set of conventions used to write Irish. A spelling reform in the mid-20th century led to , the modern standard written form used by the Government of Ireland, which regulates both spelling and grammar. The reform removed inter-dialectal silent letters, simplified some letter sequences, and modernised archaic spellings to reflect modern pronunciation, but it also removed letters pronounced in some dialects but not in others. Irish spelling represents all Irish dialects to a high degree despite their considerable phonological variation, e.g. ("tree") is read in Mayo and Ulster, in Galway, or in Munster. Some words may have dialectal pronunciations not reflected by their standard spelling, and they sometimes have distinct dialectal spellings to reflect this. Alphabet Latin script has been the writing system used to write Irish since the 5th century, when it replaced Ogham, which was used to write Primitive Irish and Old Irish. Prior to the mid- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their Viking expansion, overseas settlements and chronologically coincides with the Viking Age, the Christianization of Scandinavia, and the consolidation of Scandinavian kingdoms from about the 8th to the 15th centuries. The Proto-Norse language developed into Old Norse by the 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid- to late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not precise, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century. Old Norse was divided into three dialects: Old West Norse (Old West Nordic, often referred to as ''Old Norse''), Old East Norse (Old East Nordic), and Old Gutnish. Old West Norse and O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rune
Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see '' futhark'' vs ''runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were primarily used to represent a sound value (a phoneme) but they were also used to represent the concepts after which they are named ( ideographic runes). Runology is the academic study of the runic alphabets, runic inscriptions, runestones, and their history. Runology forms a specialised branch of Germanic philology. The earliest secure runic inscriptions date from at latest AD 150, with a possible earlier inscription dating to AD 50 and Tacitus's possible description of rune use from around AD 98. The Svingerud Runestone dates from between AD 1 and 250. Runes were generally replaced by the Latin alphabet as the cultures that had used runes underwent Christianisation, by approximately AD 700 in central Europe and 1100 in northern Europe. However, the use of runes persisted for spe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
