#15
(of 26)
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(the letter was derived from the semitic ayin (eye), which represented a consonant, probably the voiced pharyngeal fricative, the sound represented by the arabic letter ع called `ayn)
(this semitic letter in its original form seems to have been inspired by a similar egyptian hieroglyph for “eye”)
The Greeks are thought to have come up with the innovation of vowel characters, and lacking a pharyngeal consonant, employed this letter as the Greek O to represent the vowel /o/, a sound it maintained in Etruscan and Latin.
In Greek, a variation of the form later came to distinguish this long sound (Omega, meaning “large O”) from the short o (Omicron, meaning “small o”)
(its graphic form has also remained fairly constant from Phoenician times until today.
(indeed, even alphabets constructed “from scratch”, i.e. not derived from semitic, usually have similar forms to represent this sound—for example the creators of the afaka and chiki scripts, each invented in different parts of the world in the last century, both attributed their vowels for ‘O’ to the shape of the mouth when making this sound)
O
The letter was derived from the Semitic Ayin”Ayin (eye), which represented a consonant, probably the HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_pharyngeal_fricative” \o “Voiced pharyngeal fricative”voiced pharyngeal fricative (IPA: HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA” \o “Wikipedia:IPA”[ʕ]), the sound represented by the HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_alphabet” \o “Arabic alphabet”Arabic letter ع called `Ayn. This Semitic letter in its original form seems to have been inspired by a similar Egyptian hieroglyph for “eye”. The Greeks are thought to have come up with the innovation of vowel characters, and lacking a pharyngeal consonant, employed this letter as the HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_alphabet” \o “Greek alphabet”Greek HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omicron” \o “Omicron”O to represent the vowel /o/, a sound it maintained in HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_language” \o “Etruscan language”Etruscan and HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin” \o “Latin”Latin. In Greek, a variation of the form later came to distinguish this long sound (HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega” \o “Omega”Omega, meaning “large O”) from the short o (Omicron, meaning “small o”)
Its graphic form has also remained fairly constant from HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_alphabet” \o “Phoenician alphabet”Phoenician times until today.
(indeed, even alphabets constructed “from scratch” (i.e. not derived from ‘semitic’) usually have similar forms to represent this sound—for example the creators of the HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afaka_script” \o “Afaka script”Afaka and HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ol_Chiki_script” \o “Ol Chiki script”Ol Chiki scripts, each invented in different parts of the world in the last century, both attributed their vowels for ‘O’ to the shape of the mouth when making this sound)
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👈👈👈☜*“THE 26 ENGLISH LETTERS”* ☞ 👉👉👉
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥