PlantDadManGuy@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world · 11 months agoIs the word Alphabet literally just a conjunction made from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet?message-squaremessage-square49fedilinkarrow-up1253arrow-down18
arrow-up1245arrow-down1message-squareIs the word Alphabet literally just a conjunction made from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet?PlantDadManGuy@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world · 11 months agomessage-square49fedilink
minus-squareLvxferre@lemmy.mllinkfedilinkarrow-up66arrow-down1·11 months agoPretty much. English borrowed it from Latin because it’s posh. And Latin borrowed it from Greek because it’s posh. But at the end of the day it’s in the same spirit as “the ABC”, or Latin “abecedarius”.
minus-squaremodeler@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkarrow-up14·11 months agoAnd the Greeks took it from the Phoenicians where it was Alep Bet (almost identical to the Hebrew Aleph Beth). And these are words that start with the sound of the letter. Aleph means Ox and Beth is house.
minus-squareTheGreenGolem@lemmy.dbzer0.comlinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up11·11 months agoIt’s also “ABC” (“ábécé”) in Hungarian. (And I bet in a lot of other languages too.)
minus-squareWilzax@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkarrow-up9·11 months agoThen why do Abacuses help us count instead of spell? 🤔
minus-squareDillyDaily@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkarrow-up6·11 months agoAbacus comes from the Greek “Abak” meaning board or slab.
minus-squareLvxferre@lemmy.mllinkfedilinkarrow-up5·11 months agoCoincidence. The word backtracks to Greek ᾰ̓́βᾰξ / ábax “board, slab”, it doesn’t have to do with ABC.
Pretty much. English borrowed it from Latin because it’s posh. And Latin borrowed it from Greek because it’s posh. But at the end of the day it’s in the same spirit as “the ABC”, or Latin “abecedarius”.
And the Greeks took it from the Phoenicians where it was Alep Bet (almost identical to the Hebrew Aleph Beth).
And these are words that start with the sound of the letter. Aleph means Ox and Beth is house.
It’s also “ABC” (“ábécé”) in Hungarian. (And I bet in a lot of other languages too.)
Then why do Abacuses help us count instead of spell? 🤔
Abacus comes from the Greek “Abak” meaning board or slab.
Coincidence. The word backtracks to Greek ᾰ̓́βᾰξ / ábax “board, slab”, it doesn’t have to do with ABC.
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