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from the æ-þƿ-is-the-name-of-the-spy-in-my-novel dept.
Along quaint New England streets, you'll probably spot a sign or two declaring itself "Ye Olde Tavern" or "Ye Old Soda Shoppe." But before you adopt a British accent and order a pint of ale inside, there's a bit of history you should know.
Phrases like ye olde are actually just some of the late 19th century's first marketing ploys, meant to evoke a sentimental connection to older times. And ye has its own complicated story—based in the history of the alphabet.
English has always been a living language, changing and evolving with use. But before our modern alphabet was established, the language used many more characters we've since removed from our 26-letter lineup.
The six letters described in the article are: ð, þ, ƿ, ȝ, æ, and œ. Orthographic history is fun!
(Score: 1) by charon on Thursday January 19 2017, @03:31AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @03:48AM
Makes sense to me that w is pronounced as a doubled u.
(Score: 1) by purple_cobra on Saturday January 21 2017, @01:22PM
'W' is a vowel in the Welsh language. For example, "bwrw glaw" (pr. boo-roo glow, with the last syllable pronounced as the 'ou' in 'ouch') means 'rain' (first DDG hit showed it to be "pouring with rain", with 'glaw' being 'rain'. I don't know enough of the language to confirm or deny that). You also see it in place names, e.g. Clywd; pronunciation of that I've heard as "clue-id" and "kloid" and as the majority of Brits speak English, the former tends to get more use.
Weird? Compared to English, yes. Look at it as more a relative to French and it makes a little(!) more sense, e.g. 'pont' means 'bridge' in both Welsh and French, albeit with different pronunciations ('Pontnewydd' is 'Newport').