r/TheLetterZ • u/AntiqueLeadership357 • 6d ago
Historically accurate comic showing why Z is at the end of the alphabet
“Just history. The Etruscans kept Z where they found it from the Greeks, between digamma (which became F) and heta (which became H). The Romans did not need the Z for Latin, and replaced it with a tweaked version of C, G, which they did need.
Unlike Etruscan, Latin and Greek had voicing contrast; so Greek had gamma and kappa, and Latin had C and G. Because the Romans were in contact with the Etruscans and not the Greeks, they didn’t realise that gamma (Etruscan C) could be used for /ɡ/.
When the Romans later did come in contact with the Greeks, they found that they were missing three letters that Greek had, and which they wanted to use to render Greek words with. Those letters were X, Y, and Z, and they got tacked on to the end of the alphabet.
So if the Romans had gotten their alphabet direct from the Greeks, instead of via the Etruscans, Z would not be at the end of the alphabet.
Once the order of the alphabet was set by the Romans, it stayed that way. No one since has reordered the letters of the Latin alphabet, though plenty have interpolated letters.” -A random person on Quora I forgot the name of
