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What a coincidence that English manages fine with just the letters in ASCII. Seriously though, what definition of "special Latin characters" are you using? Ita
by qu4z-2 9y ago
What a coincidence that English manages fine with just the letters in ASCII.
Seriously though, what definition of "special Latin characters" are you using? Italian does just fine with fewer...
- thaumasiotes 9y agoG, J, K, U, W, Y, and Z are all characters that aren't used in Latin (in the case of G, J, U, and W, because they didn't exist; in the case of Y, it is used in Greek words but doesn't represent a sound that's possible in Latin; I'm not sure if Z was used in Greek words or not. K is just a Greek letter -- since it represents the sound written with C in Latin, it is never used at all).
- cronjobber 9y agoSure about the G?
- Tepix 9y agoHardly. See https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Iulius_Caesar https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Iulius_Caesar
- thaumasiotes 9y agoLatin wikipedia isn't exactly an ancient source. Without bothering to read the article, why do you think it has a subhead of "Fontes_de_vita_C._Iulii_Caesaris_praecipui"?
- cronjobber 9y agoI'll take this cum cranulo salis.
- thaumasiotes 9y agoYou think "cum granulo salis" is evidence for G being an original part of the Latin alphabet, while not being evidence that U was an original part of the Latin alphabet?
- cronjobber 9y agoSure, G wasn't "originally" part of the Latin alphabet—until they invented that letter.
- thaumasiotes 9y agoWhat do you think makes G different from J and U in that regard?
- cronjobber 9y agoTiming. Where do you think G slots in the timeline, relative to the Latin classics?
- thaumasiotes 9y agoG dates to the classical period. But, as I pointed out above, it's still intrusive enough then that Caesar's praenomen, Gaius, is written C, not G. The name is older than the letter, but younger than Latin writing.