THE LETTER B. This letter, corresponding to Semitic beth and Greek beta, has retained the second place in the alphabet from the earliest times. Its form in the writing of the Moabite Stone, dating from the 9th century B.C., was 9. Early Greek forms were (–' .E and ru. The usual Greek form was F or B, and in Latin these two latter forms appear unchanged, giving the modern B. An uncial form 6' occurs in the 6th century A.D. strangely re sembling the early Greek forms from the island of Thera, but there can scarcely be a direct connection, the two similar forms having developed independently.
Our minuscule form b is a descendant of Latin cursive t . In this form the upper loop is extremely elongated and has almost disappeared. The early Irish form was b , the Carolingian (9th or loth centuries) b. As early as the 2nd century A.D. we find a form -E, in which the upper loop of the letter has disappeared in the speed of writing.
The sound represented by the letter is the voiced labial stop. It stood for this sound in the Semitic languages, and in Greek and Latin. From the 2nd century A.D. onwards the sound in Latin tended to become a bilabial spirant, for we find confusion in spelling between b and a. The letter however, did not fall into disuse and was used by the Romance languages to represent the voiced labial stop, which was redeveloped by them. In English the sound was always present, an original Indo-European *bh being represented by it.
In music, B is the second note of the musical alphabet and the 7th degree of the "natural scale" of C. In Germany, however, the alphabetical name for this note is, not B, but H, while B stands for B flat, a fact which it is important to remember in dealing with German music, German writings on music, and so on. Thus in German nomenclature Schubert's "Unfinished" symphony is not in B minor but in H moll (minor), while Brahms's second pianoforte concerto stands as being, not in B flat, but in B.