Letter Perfect: The Marvelous History of Our Alphabet From A to ZCrown, 18 déc. 2007 - 416 pages A fun, lively, and learned excursion into the alphabet—and cultural history. Letters are tangible language. Joining together in endless combinations to actually show speech, letters convey our messages and tell our stories. While we encounter these tiny shapes hundreds of times a day, we take for granted the long, fascinating history behind one of the most fundamental of human inventions: the alphabet. The heart of the book is the 26 fact-filled “biographies” of letters A through Z, each one identifying the letter’s particular significance for modern readers, tracing its development from ancient forms, and discussing its noteworthy role in literature and other media. We learn, for example, why the letter X has a sinister and sexual aura, how B came to signify second best, why the word “mother” in many languages starts with M, and what is the story of O. Packed with information and lavishly illustrated, Letter Perfect is accessible, entertaining, and essential to the appreciation of our own language. |
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
Letter Perfect: The Marvelous History of Our Alphabet From A to Z David Sacks Aucun aperçu disponible - 2007 |
Expressions et termes fréquents
aleph alpha alphabetic writing American ancient Greek ancient Roman Arabic became beta British called capital Carolingian minuscule carved centuries consonant sound consonantal copied the Phoenician Delta denoted Dictionary earliest early Greek Egypt Egyptian hieroglyphic England English spelling English words Etruscan alphabet Etruscan letters eventually example German Greek alphabet Greek letter handwriting style Hebrew alphabet Indo-European invented Italian Italy kaph later Latin word letter names letter shapes look lowercase meaning Meanwhile medieval French Middle Ages modern English Old English Old French original Phoenician alphabet Phoenician letters phonetic picture place number probably pronounced pronunciation qoph qoppa represent resembles right-to-left Roman alphabet Roman letters Romance languages Rome scholars script serifs Spanish speech spoken symbol Today tradition Trajan Inscription transliterating tsade type designer typeface uncial variant vocabulary vocal cords vowel letters vowel sound Wadi el-Hol writing system written yogh وو
Références à ce livre
Mapudungun: el habla mapuche : introducción a la lengua mapuche, con notas ... Fernando Zúñiga Affichage d'extraits - 2006 |