THE LETTER Q - THE 17TH LETTER OF THE ALPHABET. This letter corresponds to Semitic cp (koph) and Greek Q (koppa). The form of the majuscule has been practically identical throughout its known history. In the form found on the Moabite Stone the vertical stroke extended to the top of the loop and the same is the case with an early form p from the island of Thera. The Etruscan form was identical with the Greek. The letter did not occur in the Ionic alphabet. The Latin alphabet had two forms 4and Q.
In the minuscle form the stroke has moved to the right side of the letter owing to the speed of writing. This produced the cursive form occurring in the 6th century A.D. Uncial writing also had the form and the Carolingian form was practically identical.
In Semitic the sound represented by the letter was an un voiced guttural pronounced further back than that represented by the letter kaph. In Greek the letter was largely redundant,
and in the eastern alphabet was entirely superseded by kappa.
In the Chalcidic alphabet it lingered and was taken over from this into Latin, where it became stereotyped for use only before the letter U in words in which the unvoiced labio-velar occurred, rep resented by the combination of these letters. The combination of these two letters holds to the present day, and in modern English Q is not used unless followed by U, even if, in words such as oblique, the sound is a simple velar and not a labio-velar. The most usual position of the sound is initial in words such as queen, quick. Q is used apart from U only very rarely in words of foreign origin, especially to represent a Semitic guttural, as in Qabala, 'Iraq. (B. F. C. A.)