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If W is 'double-u'...

I have always wondered about that W-thing. It annoyed me when I was in school. Double-V would make sense. Double-U is just annoying. :)
 
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Oh, it's time for me to be a nerd in this thread.

It all has to do with the origins of the letters. The letter W did not exist in the classical Latin alphabet, the letter they used to represent the 'w' sound was in fact V (which, at the time, was also not distinct from the letter U) but then over time, the sound of the letter 'V' in Latin changed and, by the time of Early Medieval Latin, no longer made the 'w' sound.

So, to represent the 'w' sound used in Germanic languages, Early English and Old High German writers came to use either the digraph 'vv' or 'uu' to represent the sound. And, of course, over time the digraph of the two letters merged together into the modern W. (And, of course, the name comes from the fact that uu was one of the two digraphs used to represent the sound - it could have very easily been called double v as well - I mean look at the name of the letter in Spanish and French [except in some parts of Central America where the letter is called doble u (double u) because of the influence of English thanks to US culture])

Anyways contrast that with the letter M, which does not originate as a duplication of the letter N.
 
@Rodafina, it's still annoying. :) Double U... I don't like it.

I want to mention that when I clicked that link, my computer said "download blocked". The site tried to do something on my computer that my computer didn't like.
 
Princess Viola said:
Oh, it's time for me to be a nerd in this thread.

It all has to do with the origins of the letters. The letter W did not exist in the classical Latin alphabet, the letter they used to represent the 'w' sound was in fact V (which, at the time, was also not distinct from the letter U) but then over time, the sound of the letter 'V' in Latin changed and, by the time of Early Medieval Latin, no longer made the 'w' sound.

So, to represent the 'w' sound used in Germanic languages, Early English and Old High German writers came to use either the digraph 'vv' or 'uu' to represent the sound. And, of course, over time the digraph of the two letters merged together into the modern W. (And, of course, the name comes from the fact that uu was one of the two digraphs used to represent the sound - it could have very easily been called double v as well - I mean look at the name of the letter in Spanish and French [except in some parts of Central America where the letter is called doble u (double u) because of the influence of English thanks to US culture])

Anyways contrast that with the letter M, which does not originate as a duplication of the letter N.
Click to expand...
Same
 
Princess Viola said:
Oh, it's time for me to be a nerd in this thread.

It all has to do with the origins of the letters. The letter W did not exist in the classical Latin alphabet, the letter they used to represent the 'w' sound was in fact V (which, at the time, was also not distinct from the letter U) but then over time, the sound of the letter 'V' in Latin changed and, by the time of Early Medieval Latin, no longer made the 'w' sound.

So, to represent the 'w' sound used in Germanic languages, Early English and Old High German writers came to use either the digraph 'vv' or 'uu' to represent the sound. And, of course, over time the digraph of the two letters merged together into the modern W. (And, of course, the name comes from the fact that uu was one of the two digraphs used to represent the sound - it could have very easily been called double v as well - I mean look at the name of the letter in Spanish and French [except in some parts of Central America where the letter is called doble u (double u) because of the influence of English thanks to US culture])

Anyways contrast that with the letter M, which does not originate as a duplication of the letter N.
Click to expand...
THANKS!
 
I think this letter is interesting: Æ. Our local alphabet has a few extra letters and that's an "A" and an "E" stapled together. It's a letter mash-up. :) If anyone is curious, it's the sound you make in the middle of the word "bad". And "sad". That's the Æ.
 
Princess Viola said:
Oh, it's time for me to be a nerd in this thread.

It all has to do with the origins of the letters. The letter W did not exist in the classical Latin alphabet, the letter they used to represent the 'w' sound was in fact V (which, at the time, was also not distinct from the letter U) but then over time, the sound of the letter 'V' in Latin changed and, by the time of Early Medieval Latin, no longer made the 'w' sound.

So, to represent the 'w' sound used in Germanic languages, Early English and Old High German writers came to use either the digraph 'vv' or 'uu' to represent the sound. And, of course, over time the digraph of the two letters merged together into the modern W. (And, of course, the name comes from the fact that uu was one of the two digraphs used to represent the sound - it could have very easily been called double v as well - I mean look at the name of the letter in Spanish and French [except in some parts of Central America where the letter is called doble u (double u) because of the influence of English thanks to US culture])

Anyways contrast that with the letter M, which does not originate as a duplication of the letter N.
Click to expand...
Interesting piece of information. Thanks. :)
 
Forest Cat said:
I think this letter is interesting: Æ. Our local alphabet has a few extra letters and that's an "A" and an "E" stapled together. It's a letter mash-up. :) If anyone is curious, it's the sound you make in the middle of the word "bad". And "sad". That's the Æ.
Click to expand...
Yeah, French has that and Œ as well, although Æ is considered rare and basically only used in terms borrowed from Latin and Greek.

They're not letters in French though, so like in dictionaries they're just considered a combination of OE and AE when putting words in alphabetical order.

(I've been studying French for some years now lol)
 
Princess Viola said:
Yeah, French has that and Œ as well, although Æ is considered rare and basically only used in terms borrowed from Latin and Greek.

They're not letters in French though, so like in dictionaries they're just considered a combination of OE and AE when putting words in alphabetical order.

(I've been studying French for some years now lol)
Click to expand...

Yeah we have the Æ and the Ø and the Å here. English-speaking people just have too few letters in their alphabet I think. They need more letters. :)
 
Misty Avich said:
...then why isn't M called 'double-n'?
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'M' is actually 'Double Upside Down V'.
'C' is 'Broken O'.
'Q' is 'O With C's Missing Bit'.
'X' is 'Two-Legged Y'.
'F' is 'Broken E'.
'Z' is 'Lazy N'.
'P' is 'Upside Down Small B'.
'R' is 'Two-legged P' or 'Two-Legged Upside Down Small B'.
'K' is 'Broken R' or 'Broken Two-Legged P' or 'Broken Two-Legged Upside Down Small B'.

I hope this clears things up.
 
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If you're looking for logical explanations in languages, don't waste your time on English.

You probably won't find it. ;)
 
I met an old Bavarian man once who's English was better than most Australians, but his thick accent meant that most people couldn't understand him anyway. I asked him if he had much trouble learning English.

"Vhat Engliss? Tzere is no such tzing as Engliss!". Then he switched to a crisp clean Cambridge accent and said "You are all speaking German but you do not have the good grace to speak it properly." :)
 
I've had a few German friends over the years that said that was one of the confusing parts about learning English for them, remembering that it was a double U and not a double V.

As a child I was taught to write it as a double U too, I didn't start seeing the pointy W until computers came along.

Ɯ
 
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