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· 05 Jan 2022

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How many letters in an Alphabet?

There are 26 letters in Alphabet. In this article,I will also discuss a brief history of the Alphabet. The early alphabetic writing started about four thousand years ago. According to many scholars, it was in Egypt that alphabetic writing developed between 1800 and 1900 BC. The origin was a Proto-Sinaitic (Proto-Canaanite) form of writing that was not very well known. About 700 years after, the Phoenicians developed an alphabet based on the earlier foundations. It was widely used in the Mediterranean, including southern Europe, North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula and the Levant. The alphabet was made up of 22 letters, all of the consonants.

In 750 BC, the Greeks added vowels to the Phoenician alphabet and the combination was regarded as the initial true alphabet. This was seized by the Latins (Romans) and combined with some Etruscan characters such as the letter S and F. Around the third century, ancient Latin script removed the letters G, J, V/U, W, Y and Z. When the Roman Empire was ruling parts of the world, they introduced the Roman alphabet derived from the Latin version, although the letters J, U/V and W were still omitted.

Evolution of the English Alphabets

When the Roman Empire reached Britain, they brought with them the Latin language. Britain at that time was under the control of the Anglo-Saxons, a Germanic tribe that used Old English as their language. At that time Old English was using Futhorc, an older alphabet. It was also called a runic alphabet.

Old English

The combination of the Latin alphabet and the runic alphabet of Futhorc resulted in the modern English alphabet. Some of the additions from the runic alphabets were ‘thorn’ that had a ‘th’ sound and ‘wynn’ that made a ‘w’ sound. Remember that there was no letter ‘w’ in the Latin alphabet. In the Middle Ages, when the people in Britain ceased to use the old runes, the letter thorn was eventually substituted by ‘th’, and the runic ‘wynn’ became ‘uu’ that later evolved into ‘w.’ Later in the same period, the letters ‘j’ and ‘u’ were added and brought the number of letters to 26. However, the letter combinations like ‘æ,’ ‘œ’ and the symbol ampersand (&) were included in the alphabet.
Modern English

In the 15 century, the printing press was introduced to Great Britain by William Caxton. By this time, the English language was standardized. From being used interchangeably, the letters V and U were separated, with the former becoming a consonant while using U as a vowel. The Table Alphabeticall, the first dictionary in English, published by Robert Cawdrey in 1604. The letter J was also added to Modern English, during this time as well.

Some letters of the Alphabet we see and learn today were initially written in different forms before changed into what we see today.

Like the letter A

The original shape of the letter A was upside down. It was introduced in the 1800s. Being inverted, it looked like the head of an animal with horns or antlers. It was fitting because, in ancient Semitic, the letter translates to ‘ox.’

Letter B

In its original form, the letter B was borrowed from the Egyptian hieroglyphics and with the letter resting on its belly. In its original shape, it looked like a house with a door, a roof and a room. The symbol represented ‘shelter’ about 4,000 years ago.

Letter C

The letter came from the Phoenicians. It was shaped like a boomerang or hunter’s stick. The Greeks called it ‘gamma’, and from being written facing the other direction, it was flipped to the direction it is written today, with the Italians giving it a better crescent shape.
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