The Latin alphabet (original) (raw)
The Latin, or Roman, alphabet was originally adapted from the Etruscan alphabet during the 7th century BC to write Latin. Since then it has had many different forms, and been adapted to write many other languages.
According to Roman legend, the Cimmerian Sibyl, Carmenta, created the Latin alphabet by adapting the Greek alphabet used in the Greek colony of Cumae in southern Italy. This was introduced to Latium by Evander, her son. 60 years after the Trojan war. There is no historical evidence to support this story, which comes from the Roman author, Gaius Julius Hyginus (64BC - 17AD).
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Versions of the Latin alphabet
Archaic Latin alphabet, Basque-style lettering, Carolingian Minuscule, Classical Latin alphabet, Fraktur, Gaelic script,Merovingian,Modern Latin alphabet, Roman Cursive, Rustic Capitals, Old English,Sütterlin,Visigothic Script
Archaic Latin alphabet
The earliest known inscriptions in the Latin alphabet date from the 6th century BC. It was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet during the 7th century BC. The letters Y and Z were taken from the Greek alphabet to write Greek loan words. Other letters were added from time to time as the Latin alphabet was adapted for other languages.
Notes
- This is one version of the Ancient Latin alphabet. Many of the letters have serveral different shapes in different inscriptions and texts.
- Latin was original written either from right to left, left to right, or alternating between those two directions (boustrophedon). By the 5th or 4th century BC it was normally written from left to right.
- The sounds /g/ and /k/ were not distinguished in the oldest Latin texts. Before A the letter K was used for these sounds, before O or V, Q was used, and C was used elsewhere. The letter G was later added to the alphabet to distinguish these sounds.
- Before a vowel or between vowels I was pronounced /j/. Elsewhere it was pronounced /i/.
Sample texts
This is a version of the earliest known text in Latin. It is known as the Duenos inscription, and was found on the Quirinal Hill in Rome by Heinrich Dressel, a German archaeologist, in 1880. It is thought to date from the 7th to 5th century BC.
Source and more information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duenos_inscription
Sample texts
Old Latin (Prisca Latinitas) (600-500 BC)
Transliteration
Opnēs hemones decnotāti et iovesi louberoi et parēs gnāscontor, rationes et comscientiās particapes sont, quois enter sēd comcordiās studēōd agontinom est.
Old Latin (400-300 BC)
Transliteration
Obnēs homenēs degnetāte et iouse leiberei et parēs gnāscontor, ratiōnes et cōnscientiaī particepēs sont, queis enter sēd concordiaī studeōd agondom est.
Old Latin translations by Giorgio Nagy
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Other versions of the Latin alphabet
Archaic Latin alphabet, Basque-style lettering, Carolingian Minuscule, Classical Latin alphabet, Fraktur, Gaelic script,Merovingian,Modern Latin alphabet, Roman Cursive, Rustic Capitals, Old English,Sütterlin,Visigothic Script
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Modern Latin alphabet
The modern Latin alphabet is used to write hundreds of different languages. Each language uses a slightly different set of letters, and they are pronounced in various ways. Some languages use the standard 26 letters, some use fewer, and others use more.
This is the modern Latin alphabet as used to write English.
Other versions of the Latin alphabet
Archaic Latin alphabet, Basque-style lettering, Carolingian Minuscule, Classical Latin alphabet, Fraktur, Gaelic script,Merovingian,Modern Latin alphabet, Roman Cursive, Rustic Capitals, Old English,Sütterlin,Visigothic Script
Accented letters & special characters
Accented letters
Many languages supplement the basic Latin alphabet with a variety of accented letters:
Note: the names of these accents varies from language to language. In Czech, for example, the caron is known as a háček [ˈɦaːtʃɛk], which means 'little hook'.
These accented letters can have a number of different functions:
- Modifying the pronunciation of a letter. For example in French, e has different sounds depending on the accent on it: é = [e], è & ê = [ɛ] and e = [ə].
- Indicating where the stress should fall in a word. For example in Spanish, stress normally falls on the penultimate syllable (second to last). When it doesn't, an acute accent is used - célebre ('famous'), celebre ('[that] he/she celebrates'), celebré ('I celebrated')
- Indicating tone of a word or syllable. For example, in Navajo an acute accent indicates a high tone - á, ę́, ó, etc.
- Indicating vowel length. For example in Welsh, long vowels are usually marked with a circumflex accent, known as a to bach (‘little roof’) in Welsh - â, ê, î, etc.
- Visually distinguishing homophones. For example in Spanish, tu = your and tú = you.
How to type accented letters in Windows,Mac and HTML
Some extra letters
Eth, Thorn, Yogh and Wynn were used in Old English; Eth and Thorn are also used in Icelandic; the long s was used in English and other languages to write non-final esses until about the late 18th / early 19th century; the dotted upper case i and dotless lowercase i are used in Turkish, and the schwa is used in Azeri. The other letters are used in various other languages, particularly those spoken in West Africa.
Ligatures (two or three letters joined together)
These are used in a number of languages including French, German, Icelandic, Croatian and Dutch:
Click here to find out how to type ligatures in Windows,Mac and HTML
Further information about diacritics and their usage
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/dia/diacritics-revised.htm,
Download charts for Latin alphabets (Excel)
Latin alphabet | Latin language | Phrases | Numbers | Time | Tower of Babel | Articles | Links | Learning materials
Latin language resources on Amazon
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Links
Information about the Latin alphabet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Latin_script
http://la.raycui.com/alphabet.html
http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/classics/latalph.htm
http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/jmag0042/LATIN_PALEOGRAPHY.pdf
Alphabets
A-chik Tokbirim, Adinkra,ADLaM,Armenian,Avestan,Avoiuli,Bactrian,Bassa (Vah),Beitha Kukju,Beria (Zaghawa),Borama / Gadabuursi,Carian,Carpathian Basin Rovas,Chinuk pipa,Chisoi,Coorgi-Cox,Coptic,Cyrillic,Dalecarlian runes,Elbasan,Etruscan,Faliscan,Fox,Galik,Georgian (Asomtavruli),Georgian (Nuskhuri),Georgian (Mkhedruli),Glagolitic,Global Alphabet,Gothic,Greek,Hurûf-ı munfasıla,Irish (Uncial),Kaddare,Kayah Li,Khatt-i-Badí’,Khazarian Rovas,Koch,Korean,Latin,Lepontic,Luo Lakeside Script,Lycian,Lydian,Manchu,Mandaic,Mandombe,Marsiliana,Medefaidrin,Messapic,Mongolian,Mro,Mundari Bani,Nag Chiki,Naasioi Otomaung,N'Ko,North Picene,Novo Tupi,Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong,Odùduwà,Ogham,Old Church Slavonic,Oirat Clear Script,Ol Chiki (Ol Cemet' / Santali),Old Italic,Old Nubian,Old Permic,Ol Onal,Orkhon,Osage,Oscan,Osmanya (Somali),Pau Cin Hau,Phrygian,Pollard script,Runic,Székely-Hungarian Rovás (Hungarian Runes),South Picene,Sutton SignWriting,Sunuwar,Tai Viet,Tangsa,Todhri,Toto,Umbrian,(Old) Uyghur,Wancho,Yezidi,Zoulai
ALPHABETUM - a Unicode font for ancient scripts, including Classical & Medieval Latin, Ancient Greek, Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian, Faliscan, Messapic, Picene, Iberian, Celtiberian, Gothic, Runic, Old & Middle English, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Old Nordic, Ogham, Kharosthi, Glagolitic, Anatolian scripts, Phoenician, Brahmi, Imperial Aramaic, Old Turkic, Old Permic, Ugaritic, Linear B, Phaistos Disc, Meroitic, Coptic, Cypriot and Avestan.
https://www.typofonts.com/alphabetum.html
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