Languages

For arcane name forms used on this site, see the names page.

Alphabet

Letters are written as uncial (now called lowercase), but sentence & proper noun initials are written as capital (now called uppercase). The terms upper- & lower-case come from printing presses.

History

Hebrew

Moses invented letters for the purpose of writing the Law for the Hebrews, which was adopted by the Phœnicians & Chaldæans. From the Chaldæans, the Assyrians & Persians adopted it.

But according to the gentiles, Mercury Trismegistus invented letters, with Phœbus adding some.

Ægyptian

Isis (c. 3748 AM)—i.e. Io–after she married Telegonus, taught a form of Phœnician letters to the Ægyptians.

Greek

Cadmus (c. 3769 AM) from Phonœcia taught sixteen letters to the Greeks: α β γ δ ε ζ ι κ λ μ ν ο π ρ σ τ φ.

Evidently ϛ ϡ ϟ were later received as numerals. Despite this disordered reception, all except υ ϡ are correctly ordered.

Palamedes (c. 4330 AM), son of Nauplius, added three letters: η χ ω. But some say Cadmus did not teach ζ, rather Palamedes added it. Aristotle says Epicharmus, instead of Palamedes, added these.

Simonides the Lyricist (c. 5041 AM) added three letters: θ ξ ψ.

Pythagoras (c. 5058 AM), some say, added one letter: υ. But others say rather Simonides added this.

Aristophanes of Byzantium (c. 5324 AM) invented accent, breath, & punctuation marks. Previously η was written as ⊢ or ⊣ to denote breaths.

Latin

Carmentis (c. 3977 AM) taught a form of Greek letters to the Latins: a b c d e f i l m n o p q r s t u.

Evidently f q were received from ϛ ϟ. Later, h was added.

Appius Claudius (c. 5229 AM), some say, as Roman censor purged z from the alphabet. If so, then Carmentis’ alphabet must have included z instead of u.

Spurius Carvilius Libertus (c. 5281 AM) invented the letter g from c.

Salvius Grammaticus added the letter k.

During the reign of Augustus (5524 AM), the letters x y z were added.

Gian Giorgio Trissino (7059 AM) invented the letters j v. These are a stylized & capital i & u respectively. Before, to distinguish consonantal from vocal u, the digraphs uu or ve were written.

Georgian

Pharnabazus (5272 AM) taught a form of Assyrian letters, from the Persians, to the Georgians.

Slavonic

SS. Cyril & Methodius (†6394 AM) taught a form of Greek letters to the Bulgarians, further developed by SS. Clement of Ochrid (†6425 AM), Naum, Sabbas, Gorazd, & Angela. From the Bulgarians it was received by the Russians.

St. Jerome (†5929 AM), some say, created letters for the Illyrians, which later was adopted by the Slovenes. Others say this is rather a variant of Cyrillic letters.

Runes

Bp. Ulfilas (†5889 AM) taught a form of Greek letters to the Goths, i.e. Germans, which later transformed into the so called Runes.

Armenian

Mesropius Mastotzes (†5949 AM) & Isaac the Parthian, together with Bramsapuchus, king of Armenia, Bp. Daniel of Mesopotmia, & Rufinus of Samosata, taught a form of Georgian letters to the Armenians.

Æthiopian

St. Frumentius of Axum (†5892 AM) reformed the letters of Æthiopians, which had prior been learned from the Hebrews.

Indian

Piodasses (c. 5232 AM) taught a form of Assyrian letters, from the Persians, to the Brachmins, i.e. priests of India.

Pronunciation

The following letters are used so for pronunciation on each language page:

Numerals

Greek:

For continued counting, place a numeral over Μ (for myriás) to multiply ten thousands by it: e.g. ϛ̅Μ = 10,000 * 6.

For fractional counting, append ʹ to the numeral: e.g. ϛ̅ʹ = 1/6.

Latin:

For continued counting, place ‾ over a numeral to multiply the number by one thousand: e.g. v̅i̅. = 6 * 1,000.

For fractional counting, append · for 1/12, : for 2/12, &c., s for 6/12, s· for 7/12, &c.

Slavonic:

For continued counting, prefix ҂ to multiply the following number by 1,000, or overlay:

Georgian:

For continued counting up to ten thousands, the rest of the alphabet is used, i.e. ც ძ წ ჭ ხ ჴ ჯ ჰ ჵ.