The strangest letter of the alphabet: The rise and fall of yogh
9 hours ago
- #linguistics
- #history
- #English-language
- English spelling is complex with silent letters and multiple sounds for the same letters.
- The letter 'g' in Old English was written as the insular 'g' (���), different from the Carolingian 'g' used for Latin.
- After the Norman conquest, Norman scribes introduced Carolingian 'g' to English, leading to changes in spelling conventions.
- Yogh (��) emerged in Middle English to represent both the 'y' sound and the 'gh' sound (like in 'loch').
- Yogh's dual sounds mirror modern letters 'c' and 'g', which also represent multiple sounds.
- Palatalization explains why 'g' sounds shifted based on adjacent vowels.
- Yogh disappeared due to printing press limitations and alternative spellings ('y' and 'gh').
- In Scotland, yogh persisted longer, sometimes represented as 'z' in names like 'Menzies'.