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Ask-A-Linguist - Message details
Subject: History of the Letter T
Question:
Just wondering where the letter T came from, how it was formed, and how it ended up in our alphabet today.

Reply:
Hi,
I just want to confirm Prof. Sampson's answer. The letter T comes from the Old Hebrew or Semitic letter X, last consonant letter of the alphabet. This letter became a T in Early Greek and continued so in Classical Greek. The Etruscan alphabet(based on Greek, but the model of the Early Latin alphabet)actually had a "crossed T" (with the horizontal line crossing the vertical one near the top, just like a cross). Early Latin rather went for the Greek T model.

Reply From: Robert A Papen    click here to access email
Date: Oct-30-2006
Other Replies:
  1. Re: History of the Letter T Geoffrey Sampson    (Oct-30-2006)
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