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letter
Alternate titles: H
By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Edit History

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h, eighth letter of the alphabet. It corresponds

to Semitic cheth and Greek eta (Η). It may
derive from an early symbol for fence. In the
early Greek alphabets a form with three
horizontal bars and the simpler form H were
both widely distributed. In Etruscan the
prevailing form was similar to the early Greek
form, and the same or a similar form occurs in
very early Latin inscriptions, but the form H
came into general use in Latin, either from the
Chalcidic Greek alphabet of Cumae or from
some other source. The modern majuscule H
is derived directly from the Latin. The cursive
Latin form resembled a stylized version of the
modern minuscule h, as did the uncial form.
Both of these forms result from writing the
letter without taking the pen from the paper,
the right-hand vertical bar being thus
foreshortened and the horizontal stroke
rounded. From these came the Carolingian
form as well as the modern minuscule h.

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In the alphabets used to write the East Ionic

dialect of Greek the letter became superfluous
as a result of the disappearance of the aspirate
which it represented in that dialect. It was
accordingly put to a new use to indicate the
open long e which had arisen through
alteration of the primitive Greek long a. In a
few inscriptions from Thera, Naxos, and
several other localities the letter was used with
syllabic value; that is, it included he, thus
showing its old consonantal and its new
vocalic value at the same time. Eventually, as a
result of the spread of the Ionic alphabet, its
use for the long vowel e or η became general
throughout Greece, while its consonantal
value as the aspirate h passed from the
western Greek alphabets into the Etruscan
alphabets and then into the Latin and other
alphabets of ancient Italy. In the Romance
languages the sound has largely disappeared,
but the letter is still extensively used, partly
with only etymological value, (e.g., French
homme), partly with fancied etymological
value (e.g., French haut from Latin altus, with
h through the influence of hoh, the Old High
German word of the same meaning), partly
with special orthographical functions. For
example, in Italian h is used in combination
with c or g to indicate the hard sound before a
front vowel (e.g., chi, ghetto).

In English the initial h is pronounced in words

of Germanic origin (e.g., hunt, hook); in some
words of Romance origin, the h remains
unpronounced (e.g., heir, honour), but in
others it has been restored (e.g., humble,
humour). The initial h often disappears in
unaccented syllables (e.g., “What did he
say?”). In chemistry H is the symbol for the
element hydrogen.

This article was most recently revised and updated

by Michael Ray.

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f # Actions
letter
Alternate titles: F
By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Edit History

$ Table of Contents

f, letter that corresponds to the sixth letter of

the Greek, Etruscan, and Latin alphabets,
known to the Greeks as digamma.

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The sound represented by the letter in Greek

was a labial semivowel similar to the English
w. This sound had disappeared early from the
Ionic and Attic Greek dialects, so that the
Ionic alphabet, which eventually came into
general use in Greece, contained no digamma.
It was retained, however, for some time in
many local dialects and alphabets, including
that from which the Etruscan (and through it
the Latin alphabet) was derived.

None of the various Greek forms occur in the

Semitic alphabets. Its origin in the Greek
alphabet has been a matter of dispute, some
maintaining that it descends from Semitic vau
and others, less convincingly, maintaining that
it was merely differentiated from the
preceding letter E by the omission of a
horizontal stroke. In either case it is probable
that the Greeks were not the innovators, since
a form of the letter occurs in the Lydian
alphabet. The letter was probably contained in
an Asian alphabet from which the Greek,
Lydian, and Etruscan were derived.

In some very early Latin inscriptions, f was

used in combination with h to represent the
unvoiced labial spirant (English f). The h was
soon dropped, and the sound was represented
by the letter f alone. It was not required in
Latin to represent the bilabial semivowel (w),
for the Latins had taken the letter V to
represent both this sound and the
corresponding vowel (u). The letter f has
represented the unvoiced labial spirant ever
since.

In the Faliscan alphabet the letter had the

curious form resembling an arrow pointing up.
The Latin cursive of the 5th century CE
employed a lengthened form, and the letter
was generally extended below the line in
uncial writing. In Irish writing of the 7th
century the form came to resemble the
modern f, and the Carolingian added further
rounding of the top. From this developed the
modern minuscule f.

This article was most recently revised and updated

by Michael Ray.

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