The Letter K - the 11th Letter of the Alhapbet
velar, unvoiced and semitic
THE LETTER K - THE 11TH LETTER OF THE ALHAPBET. This letter, corresponding to Semitic 1 (kaph), Greek )1, K (kappa), has changed its shape less perhaps than any other in the history of the alpha bet. Early Greek forms from the island of Thera lc, lc, closely resemble the Semitic. In the Lydian alphabet the form occurs, written from right to left, as had been the case with the Semitic form on the Moabite stone. The Chalcidic, Etruscan, and Latin forms were identical, K, and the letter has retained its shape till modern times. The minus cule form k is but a slight adaptation of the majuscule with the point of junction of the three strokes lowered and the lower trans verse stroke consequently much shortened and moved to the right. The round form & also appears in handwriting.
The sound represented by the letter throughout its known his tory until the present day has been the unvoiced velar stop. Its function in the Latin alphabet was usurped by the letter C, which, taken over as representing the voiced velar, came under Etruscan influence to represent the unvoiced sound as well. Later the letter
G was adapted from C to represent the voiced velar and C stood for the unvoiced only. K now fell into disuse 'except in official formulae or initials such as in the word Kalendae.
In late Latin and the early Roman period the unvoiced velar, represented by C, became palatalised before front vowels, and in the 12th century K was reintroduced as a substitute for C to rep resent the velar before front vowels, since C did duty for both the velar and palatal in such cases and confusion was thus liable to arise. Thus the English word cyng for example began to be spelt kyng, later king.