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2023-02-17 17:37 dustin  
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when ^ learns that the letter "p" was once a mouth, he wonders whether it was the old egyptians who had invented the :-p smiley... :d  
  
remark in advance: the letter shapes you see in this cave are only built by the ΔΔΔ, not by the ΕΕΕ. i added the ΕΕΕ only to make the cave more bd1-p themed. Also, the ΕΕΕ demonstrate how the shapes can be completed to make a reverse "p"!  
  
history of the letter "p":  
  
| it doesn't seem completely clear if there was an egyptian root at all this time, but given the following, it seems at least very plausible that the egyptian mouth hieroglyph was the origin of "p" (see the left ΔΔΔ shape).  
  
| it's known for certain, however, that the 17th phoenician letter was "pe", meaning "mouth" in their language. it doesn't look so much different from the possible egyptian predecessor (see the second-left shape). the letter was spoken [p] (as in "puzzle") and it never changed its sound from then on.  
  
| the ancient greeks made the shape more angular (see the third shape from the left). this letter was called "pi".  
  
| no significant changes by... oh no wait, the etruscians did change something this time! :d it was not much, but they rounded one of the angles (see the last shape).  
  
| and also the romans still had some work to do: they added another circular arc at the left end of the letter (see again the last shape, but now actually with the ΕΕΕ included!), and they mirrored it because the writing direction changed. finally, the letter looked like the familiar modern "p"!  
  
remark 1: not only mathematicians will know that the greek "pi" is the symbol for the circular number 3.14..., and that "pi" looks quite symmetric today. that's perfectly true, but when the greek alphabet was handed over to the etruscians, "pi" still looked very asymmetric, and that's why "p" is not symmetric although its predecessor "pi" is!  
  
remark 2: there is a letter in the modern greek alphabet which looks exactly like a "p", but as we've seen, that one is n o t "p"'s actual predecessor! more about that soon!  
greek alphabet: <a href="https://boulderdash.krissz.hu/images/caves/OibRhTJYXoxJ.png?type=20230113003958" target="external">https://boulderdash.krissz.hu/images/caves/OibRhTJYXoxJ.png?type=20230113003958</a>  
most likely you can imagine what became of the greek "p"-shaped letter in latin. i think it's probably to obvious to make a puzzle out of it... ;)  
  
i still have one:  
  
for puzzle fans:  
the next letter "q" has actually also a not-so-clear hieroglyphic root, but according to the coolest theory, it was once an animal! With that in mind, what part of the animal do you think the stroke of the „q“ symbolizes? (i don't think it's really possible to guess the whole animal because the „q“ shape is not specific enough.) btw, „q“ is not related to „o“ despite the similar shape.  
  
cave difficulty: 3/10

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2023-02-17 18:30 nesdori  
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on some fonts, capital Q looks like a sitting cat facing backwards and the stroke looks like its tail. so my guess is a cat with a tail. ancient egyptians worshipped cats so it would make sense :)

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2023-02-18 16:10 dustin  
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sounds very interesting  nesdori ! solution tomorrow :d

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2023-02-18 20:55 helena  
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Sounds good indeed  nesdori ! Considering the fact that a snake has already been used ( Arno  pointed me to that fact), and it should probably be an animal in the area, maybe it is a bird, where the beak is sticking out?

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2023-02-19 20:20 dustin  
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very cool idea too,  Helena ! i actually wondered if someone would make that guess when making the puzzle :d unfortunately it's not a bird, but something very similar to a bird will come later in the series... :d  
  
so here's the solution:  nesdori , you're right about the tail, congrat! :d the cat is not correct (although very plausible!), but the animal is really almost impossible to guess as every animal with tail seems equally likely :d  
  
the "q" cave must wait until tomorrow because there's so much to write about this letter, and i'm trying to find the balance between "giving all important info" and "not giving confusingly much info" :d to raise your curiosity,we will see why "q" is such a rare letter in most languages, and that it barely made it into latin script at all!  
  
until then, feel free to post as many guesses about the animal as you like! :d