Re: CHAT: Names of Latin alphabet letters

Am 01/23 22:00  Eric Christopherson yscrifef:

> and Danny Wier wrote:
> >A quick question: how did the letter H get to be known as "aitch"
> >(French and Spanish _ache_, both of course being pronounced differently?
>
> The _American Heritage Dictionary_, Third Edition, gives an explanation. (I
> noticed it's not under <aitch>, but is listed on the first page of the H
> section.) Apparently, the Latin name was <ha>, which somehow and for some
> reason was changed later to <ah>, also spelled <ach> (perhaps it was more
> /ak/ or /ax/ than /ah/?) Supposedly, the French <hache> (and I presume the
> Spanish cognate /atSe/ of the same spelling) came from this <ach>, and let
> to <eitS> by regular sound changes.
>
I understood the Roman name for <h> was "acca".  If somebody has the
little book called _Vox Latina_ about the scholarly pronunciation of
Latin and its history they may check that.  It has a chapter on the
names of latin letters.  In Brithenig it is called 'ach', /ax/.

- andrew.
--
Andrew Smith, Intheologus                       hobbit@earthlight.co.nz

Hey, these instructions are in three different languages...
It starts in English, but then it goes into French and Spanish...
It's hard to believe this model is for ages six and up...
You have to be tri-lingual just to read the instructions...
 - Hobbs, Weirdos from Another Planet.