Sherrill Joseph is the author of the Botanic Hill Detectives mystery series for kids age 9 to 12. He latest book is Jacaranda Street: Gravestone Image. You can find out more about her on her website, www.sherrilljoseph.com, or by clicking here, read her last post here, and buy her books here.
Most people familiar with the Modern English alphabet would likely say that it contains twenty-six letters, beginning with A and ending with Z. And they would be correct. But did you know that until the early-1800s, there was a twenty-seventh letter in that alphabet?
The “letter” followed Z. Can you guess what it was?
AND.
Wait a minute! “And” is a word, not a letter. I will try to explain.
Some Fundamental Alphabet History
According to historian Jane Sancinito and letterform scholar Johanna Drucker, around 3200 BCE, the Egyptians created hieroglyphs, images representing words, for sacred script. Over time, those were simplified to a cursive script and an even simpler hieratic script for faster writing and administrative use. Traders and travelers took that consonant script home to Phoenicia (Syria, Lebanon, and Israel) and surrounding towns and villages.
Sometime between 1700 and 1400 BCE, the Phoenician alphabet was created when cuneiform writing and hieroglyphic writing were blended. The Phoenicians also established its alphabetic order. From that parent Phoenician alphabet descended all western alphabets including the Aramaic and Greek alphabets in the 10th century BCE, and the Hebrew alphabet in the 9th century BCE.
The Greek alphabet gave rise to the Cyrillic alphabet in the 9th century BCE. By 750 BCE, the Greeks added vowels to their Phoenician-based alphabet, creating what is regarded as the first “true” alphabet from which came the Latin alphabet in the 6th century BCE.
Old English was first written down using the Latin alphabet during the 7th century CE. Some letters came and went. The letter “W” was added to the Latin alphabet during the Middle Ages and the letters “J” and “U” during the Renaissance.
By the 16th century CE, the Modern English alphabet of twenty-seven letters was mostly stabilized with letters having an uppercase and lowercase form.
Back to AND:
The Latin word for “and” is spelled et. Over time, ancient Romans blended the two letters to form a ligature, a printed or written character or symbol where two or more letters are joined. Imagine an uppercase “E” smashed alongside a lowercase “t.” Soon, that blended Et became the symbol “&.” Notice the uppercase cursive letter “E” merged with the lowercase cursive letter “t”? According to Keith Houston, author of Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks, the & symbol was first found in some “anonymous graffiti” in the famous ruins of Pompeii, so it obviously predates the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.
More Relevant History
Beginning in the late Middle Ages, single English letters that also served as words (like “I” and “A”) were distinguished as letters with the help of the Latin phrase per se: “I” per se, I—meaning “I” by itself, I (the letter, not the word).
As to our extinct twenty-seventh letter within the English alphabet, let’s use the Latin ligature Et’s symbol “&” for “and,” then add the Latin per se phrase: “&” by itself, and. “&” joined the English alphabet as a letter possibly in the 17th century due to its popularity, mostly in business.
Onward to the Classroom
When students were reciting the English alphabet, it was confusing to say “X, Y, Z, and.” So, children would say “and” per se, and. That meant “and” by itself, and—the first “and” being the symbol &. So that’s how and why the English alphabet ended with X, Y, Z, &.
Now, for some fun! Say “and per se, and” quickly. Do you hear it? Somewhere in time, “and per se, and” was corrupted into the name of the symbol &—becoming ampersand.
The song “A Was an Apple Pie” was used to teach children the alphabet in the 1800s and at least as far back as the reign of England’s King Charles II in the 1660s. It ended with the lyrics:
“X, Y, Z and ampersand
All wished for a piece (of pie) in hand.”
But around 1835—dates differ—some thought it strange that & would still be called a letter since it resulted from an ancient ligature and represented a word, not a classic phoneme. So, the twenty-seventh “letter” & was dropped from the English alphabet and relegated to the punctuation pile. But it was not forgotten. It pervades worldwide businesses like Barnes & Noble, Dolce & Gabbana, Tiffany & Co., and Lindt & Sprüngli for concision and brand recall.
& don’t even get me started on &c, meaning et cetera—and similar items!
How interesting. I had no idea our alphabet had evolved so much.
Thanks, Carl. The alphabet is quite amazing in its long journey to become the basis of our communication!
What a great post. I had no idea of any of this. The evolution of language is fascinating and I’m curious where it will go next. Thank you!
Thanks, Colleen. Glad you enjoyed it. Wouldn’t it be fun–and potentially confusing–to see new letters added that are true phonemes!?
Fun and interesting blog post! I studied several different languages and am fascinated by the etymologies, alphabets, idioms, & more.
Thanks, Saralyn. Glad you enjoyed it!
Ha! When I said, “and, per se, and” out loud I shouted “Oh my goodness!” So much fun!
The Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters, seven of them vowels. When you try to navigate by looking for a street name with Hs and Ms, you won’t get too far because they all look the same.
Thanks, Sharon. Isn’t it fun to find out things like this? You’ll have to talk to Moki about the language issue! Maybe he can help.
Sherrill, I’m so impressed with your research here! Thanks so much for sharing such interesting facts with us.
Thanks, Margaret, for your high praise! So glad you enjoyed it. I increasingly enjoy researching, including going down some of those rabbit holes.
Really fascinating! Thanks for the education.
You’re welcome, Sheila. Once a teacher . . .
Thanks for compiling all this juicy info about the alphabet!
You’re welcome, Galit! Thanks for reading it.
Sherrill, I laughed out loud at your explanation of how saying the words “And per se and” evolved into the word ampersand. I’ve read other accounts of how the American English has evolved through pronunciation, and as a musician, I find it fascinating! Thanks for this insight into our evolution.
Thanks, Tracey. Punctuation likely has an interesting evolution, too. Glad you enjoyed my blog.
Great post! I shared it in my Substack Notes just now. Your new book about Frankenstein and those old movies is fabulous, and just in time for Halloween reading. Good luck with all your writing!
Thanks for the share and praise, Christine! And best wishes to you as well.
How fascinating! I had no idea how our alphabet has evolved and it was fun to learn about the song, “A Was an Apple Pie.” I love it!
Thanks, Kathleen! Glad you enjoyed it.
Whoa! Who knew? You always share such interesting information in your posts.
Well, thanks, Laurie! I love researching.