# .font: font.text_2
2023-02-12 14:03 dustin  
# .font: font.text_1
^ had almost been certain that the letter „m“ came from an egyptian hieroglyph for the „mc  Donald 's“ sign. However, to his big surprise, this is actually not the case! :d instead, „m“ comes from a water wave, which actually looks very similar to the shape of the modern „m“! from now on, ^ will see a wave in every „m“ he writes and reads!  
  
History of the letter „m“:  
  
| the egyptian root was a hieroglyph for a wave, symbolizing water. The glyph was spoken like [n] because the egyptian word for „water“ started with [n].   
  
| the hieroglyph was shortened from six to three „hills“ for the proto-sinaitic script (see the top ΘΘΘ shape). The sound changed from [n] to [m] (as in „magic wall“)  because the semitic word for „water“ started with [m].   
  
| the phoenicians adopted the glyph and made their 13th letter „mem“ (phoenician for „water“) out of it. For easier writing, they added a „starting line“ at the right side (the phoenicians wrote from right to left!). Also, they made the shape of the letter more angular so the „hills“ became „spikes“. see the bottom shape of ΗΗΗ, ΔΔΔ and |||.  
  
| the ancient greeks further simplified the letter by deleting one spike („v“ shape) at the left and symmetrizing the letter. Maybe the symmetrization happened when the writing direction changed, so another „starting line“ at the left side was needed! The greek letter „my“ already looks identic tothe modern „m“ (see bottom-right ||| shape).  
  
| no further significant changes by the etruscians and romans later. Also the [m] sound always stayed the same from the proto-sinaitic script until the latin (and still until today!).  
  
To sum it up, the shape of the letter „m“ comes from the symbol for a water wave! This is one of my favorite letter histories because you can still see the wave in the modern letter if you imagine it more curved! :d  
  
cave difficulty: 3/10