Thomas W. Hodgkinson

From alpha to omega

Mary Norris is in love with all things Greek, from the alphabet to Zeno, by way of sailors and skinny-dipping

issue 01 June 2019

Mary Norris’s book about her love affair with Greece and the Greek language starts with a terrific chapter about alphabets. That may sound like an oxymoron, but I was fascinated to learn why the Y and the Z come at the end of our alphabet. When the Romans were adapting the Greek alphabet, they ditched these letters because they didn’t need them.

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