Alphabet Soup

Through my investigations of what letters have come to be from what they might have once been, I have found that the letters I am familiar with and count on to sound a certain way, look a certain way, and begin words upon words that render an even greater concept, have stemmed from different cultures, their influences, and time itself. The letter "N", a letter I have become quite fond of and have spent years doodling

 on the sides of my papers in all sorts of different handwritings, has actually originated from the Egyptian hieroglyph for snake. The Semitic people who were working in Egypt adapted their hieroglyphs to form an alphabet, using the Egyptian symbol for snake for the letter "N" since the beginning of the Egyptian's word for snake, "djet", sounded like an "n". When I look at the letter "N" I can see a snake shape but with this knowledge it forces me to step back, I have always considered the letter "N" a letter, drawing it all over my papers in all different ways and have never realized this letter "N" is nothing but a shape. Not just any shape, but a shape powerful enough to be a part of an entire di

alect where everyone understands what this letter's purpose is in a word. Aside from it's shape deriving from the Egyptian hieroglyph for snake, it is also the 2nd most commonly used consonant in the English language after "T". It is Without this shape, millions of words would not be possible. Since when could a squiggly shape demand so much gratification and attention through just being?

""I" is from the Greek iota. It first appeared looking more like a Z in the Semitic and Greek alphabets, with the Greek form gradually straightening until the Romans flattened it out. The modern miniscule "i" acquired its dot when blackletter script had to refine the difference between two sequential "I's", which they first did by putting a short line over the two "Is". After awhile th

ose started looking too much like "Us" and so the practice became a habit of dotting every "i"". After reading this description I was not very impressed with the letter "I". I found it very interesting that the letter "N" seemed to deem itself more important over the letter "I" since it is much more commonly used. "I", on the other hand, many not be included in as many words as other letters but it is associated with a very important concept, the idea of self. Whenever we want to express our wants, needs, desires, or ideas, we begin our thoughts with "I". "I" may be just a straight shape used to represent a letter, but it is the only letter that can stand alone without any others and represent a human being and what they stand for. If anything, this is the most impressive letter in the alphabet even though it may be the most uninteresting shape.

The letter "C" seems to have no real certain origin. It has been decided that it comes from the letter "G" and that the Semites named it gimel but there are no real facts revealing where the shape of the letter "C" stemmed from. Appearing to be an unfinished circle, the uncertainty of this letter's origin also seems to reflects the uncertainty about its creation. It resembles the letter "G", "O", a "D", "Q", and "U" which does not help its cause very much. To me the letter "C" seems like a lost shape with no real origin, not much thought, and lacking a personality. 

Through this project I have really had the time to appreciate letters and what they stand for. They are shapes but at the same time they have a pronunciation, their sound can change when paired with other letters, and they can be combined to make up an entire language filled with different context. There are some letters that seem more important or interesting then others but when it comes down to it, every letter is treated equal when they are combined to create a word because, without the other, words, phrases, and language would not be possible without their cooperation.