Newsgroups: sci.lang
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From: bruck@actcom.co.il (Uri Bruck)
Subject: Re: Question About the Letter X
Organization: ACTCOM - Internet Services in Israel
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 1995 22:18:16 GMT
Message-ID: <DA8JAH.CM7@actcom.co.il>
References: <199506150214.TAA04350@bud.indirect.com>
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Felix E. Tilley Jr. (ftilley@indirect.com) wrote:
: I have an odd question about the letter _X_.  As an English speaker, 
: it seems to be a useless letter.  It could easily be replaced by 
: _cs_, _gs_, etc.  Is it as useless a letter in Latin and Greek as 
: well?  Would the Latin _rex_ be pronounced the same as _recs_?  
: Likewise, could the Greek Xi be replaced with Kappa-Sigma?

: Is there something about the pronunciation of _X_ in Latin and Xi in 
: Greek that makes it impossible to be replaced with a double 
: consonant?

The letter X was used for a consonant that does not exist in English.
It is the sound represented by the Hebrew HET, or the Spanish G/J
Dutch G etc.
If you are familiar with the word 'chutspa', that would the first consonant
of that word.
The origin of X is from the ol Semitic TAV, which represents the T sound.
T is also descended from that same letter. The old semitic form was also 
written as an X, and it's meant - a character, a symbol, pretty much what
X could stand for today.
Hebrew TAV can be pronounced as T, or by European Jews, as TH
Uri Bruck
bruck@actcom.co.il

