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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: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 16:04:23 GMT
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Further refferences on greek xsi, X
Here is what I found in the Brittanica, this refference might
actually be acceptable to Mr.Woode. It is part of the entry 'Greek 
Language' in my copy it is vol.8 of the macropedia.

It lists both the Modern and the Ancient Greek alphabets
in both there is a letter xsi, which has the /ks/ sound but is
not represented by the X character. Its capital form appears to be
derived from the old Semitic SAMEKH. So Mr. Woode was not completely
wrong. As miracle Max would say:"He's mostly wrong"

The character X stands for a different letter completely, called
khi in the modern Greek and chi in the classical Greek alphabet.
Both are represented in the chart as approximating the _ch_ in
German Buch, which is similar to the modern Hebrew HET - actually it's 
closer to the unaccented -KAF, many Hebrew speakers don't differentiate
between the two.
Hence, according to the Britanica, my original assertion that the Greek
charcter X stands for the Semitic HET sound, was correct.
Latin adopted this character to represent the /ks/ sound. 
Why they didn't adopt just the xsi 'as is' I can't make a guess, but
they had no use for the /kh/. One reason for them to retain the X
character might have been for writing adopted Greek words.

As far as the Semitic Tav -X connection, evidence is more flimsy,
so Mr.Woode may be right in not accepting this, however, this is a 
possibility, especially in light of the similar meanings of both letters,
which would be meaningles to Mr. Woode.

If there are any Greek speakers out there, I would appreciate their input.
(unless, of course, they would not be acceptable to Mr. Woode on account
 of being foreigners)

Uri Bruck
bruck@actcom.co.il

