Editing K (section)

== History ==
{| class="wikitable"
! [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian <br />hieroglyph]] D
! [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic]] <br />K
! Proto-Canaanite<br>kap
! [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] <br />kaph
! Western Greek<br />[[Kappa]]
! Etruscan<br/>K
! Latin<br>K
|--- align=center
|<hiero>d</hiero>
| [[File:Proto-semiticK-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|25px]]
| [[File:Protokaf.svg|class=skin-invert-image|25px]]
| [[File:PhoenicianK-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|25px]]
| [[File:Greek Kappa normal.svg|class=skin-invert-image|40px]]
| [[File:EtruscanK-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|25px]]
| [[File:Capitalis monumentalis K.SVG|class=skin-invert-image|x30px|Latin K]]
|}

The letter K comes from the [[Greek letter]] Κ ([[kappa]]), which was taken from the [[Semitic alphabets|Semitic]] [[kaph]], the symbol for an open hand.<ref name="OED">[http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50124982?query_type=word&queryword=k&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=1&search_id=h5Sx-nTaC9b-24269&hilite=50124982 "K". ''The Oxford English Dictionary'', 2nd ed., 1977, online]{{registration required}}{{dead link|date=September 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> This, in turn, was likely adapted by [[Semitic people|Semitic tribes]] who had lived in Egypt from the hieroglyph for [[hand (hieroglyph)|"hand" representing /ḏ/]] in the Egyptian word for hand, ⟨[[wikt:ḏrt|ḏ-r-t]]⟩ (likely pronounced {{IPA|/ˈcʼaːɾat/}} in [[Egyptian language|Old Egyptian]]). The Semites evidently assigned it the sound value {{IPA|/k/}} instead, because their word for hand started with that sound.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Cyrus H. |last=Gordon|title=The Accidental Invention of the Phonemic Alphabet|journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies|volume=29|issue=3|pages=193–197|jstor=543451|doi=10.1086/372069 |year=1970|s2cid=161870047}}</ref>

K was brought into the Latin alphabet with the name ''ka'' /kaː/ to differentiate it from C, named ''ce'' (pronounced /keː/) and Q, named ''qu'' and pronounced /kuː/. In the earliest [[Latin]] inscriptions, the letters C, K and Q were all used to represent the sounds {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} (which were not differentiated in writing). Of these, Q was used before a rounded vowel (e.g. {{angbr|EQO}} 'ego'), K before /a/ (e.g. {{angbr|KALENDIS}} 'calendis'), and C elsewhere. Later, the use of C and its variant G replaced most usages of K and Q. K survived only in a few fossilized forms, such as ''Kalendae'', "the [[calends]]".<ref>{{cite book |title=New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin |first=Andrew L. |last=Sihler |edition=illustrated |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1995 |location=New York |isbn=0-19-508345-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IeHmqKY2BqoC |page=21 |access-date=2016-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109231225/https://books.google.com/books?id=IeHmqKY2BqoC |archive-date=2016-11-09 |url-status=live }}</ref>

After [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] words were taken into Latin, the kappa was transliterated as a C. Loanwords from other alphabets with the sound {{IPA|/k/}} were also transliterated with C. Hence, the [[Romance languages]] generally use C, in imitating Classical Latin's practice, and have K only in later loanwords from other language groups. The [[Celtic languages]] also tended to use C instead of K, and this influence carried over into [[Old English]].