YWU?

YWU?

Why is the letter “W” called “double U” when it looks more like two “V”s put together? Why isn’t there a unique name for this letter like other letters?

According to the experts at AskOxford.com, English uses the Latin alphabet of the Romans but the latter had no better suitable for representing the phoneme “w” used in Old English. The earliest form for “w” was probably the “uu” that was used by scribes in the seventh century. Some of the scribes later replaced the “uu” with the runic symbol known as “wynn”.

European scribes continued to use the “uu” term and this usagewas brought back to England along with the Norman Conquest in 1066. Early printers sometimes used “vv” for the lack of “w” in their type but the pronunciation “double u” stuck around till now.

Since I’ve started my high school, I seldom ask, why they always called “w” as “double u” and now I’d finally find the answer about this.

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Book:

Reader’s Digests Asia

January 2009-issue