Ee The most dominant letter in the alphabet

The soundThe signThe centuryThe period he pronounced “hey” Consonant “h” sound 1750 B.C..Semitic consonant “h” sound 1000 B.C.Phoenician eta to e epsilon (“naked”) short vowel “he” became e 800 B.C.Greek Long e=“ay” Short e=“eh” 700 B.C.Etruscans 600 B.C.Roman

Ee and its derivations Picture 1 – Central Egypt in about 1800 B.C. carved into limestone. Probably have meant “Hey”, part of message left by a Semitic – language speaker. Picture 2 – Semitic period Picture 3 – Phoenician-reduced to an abstract form for convenient writing. Picture 4 – Greek –Roman. In the Greek period the consonant turned into a vowel for long and short sounds. The change in directionally is probably because of the change in writing. Picture 5- from e epsilon to modern Roman.

Nowadays Ee represent both short e – “set” and long i – “me” in its phonetic values. It has 15 sounds ; be, mere, red, alert, sadden, new, sew, latte, great, heart and height and more. As from 1982 the little e started to symbolize the digital communication; , e-books, e- cash and more.

Other variations: Doubled “ee” ; meet, beer ( front vowels=pushes the tongue forward) To indicate a preceding long vowel and an early period of pronunciation : as from the 1600s when people began writing lexicographers and teacher dictated new rules; wif – wife

Other variations: Combined with other vowels; GVS – 15 th -17 th century when people began articulate the vowels in the upper part of their mouth and vowels which could not move up became diphthongs; a sound made by combination of two vowels: great, wear, ear, rein Less often: u – Europe or o-leopard Symbolizes regional differences; US “ax” UK “axe”

References Haley A., (n.d.). The letter E. U&lc online Issue:28.1. Retrieved from Sacks D. (2003). Letter Perfect. The marvelous history of our alphabet from A to Z. USA: Broadway books. pp

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