# .font: font.text_2
# .autowrap: false
# .centered: true
b for house (abc history)
# .font: font.text_1
by
# .font: font.text_2
dustin
# .centered: false

# .font: font.value_1
# .autowrap: false
DUSTIN                            2023-01-15 21:14
# .font: font.value_2
# .autowrap: true
^ STARTS HIS NEXT CAVE INSIDE A TWO-DIMENSIONAL HOUSE WHICH WAS DETERMINED TO BECOME THE LETTER "B"! HOWEVER, COMPARED WITH ITS NEIGHBOR "A", THIS LETTER HAS GONE THROUGH A LOT OF COSMETIC SURGERY DURING THE MILLENIUMS!  
  
HISTORY OF THE LETTER "B":  
  
| THE EGYPTIAN ROOT IS MOST LIKELY THE HIEROGLYPH "PR" (HOUSE), WHICH LOOKS LIKE THE FLOOR-PLAN OF A HOUSE (SEE TOP-LEFT ΔΔΔ  SHAPE WHERE ^ STARTS), ALTHOUGH IT WASN'T YET SPOKEN AS [B]. (THE GLYPH FOR THE [B] SOUND WAS A LEG WITH FOOT, BUT THAT ONE DIDN'T MAKE IT INTO LATER ALPHABETS.)  
  
| IN THE PROTO-SINAITIC SCRIPT, A MODIFIED VERSION OF THE GLYPH WAS ADAPTED, AND FROM THERE ON, IT WAS USED FOR THE [B] SOUND BECAUSE THE SEMITIC WORD FOR HOUSE, "BAYT", STARTED WITH THAT SOUND. SEE BOTTOM-LEFT SHAPE.  
  
| THE PHOENICIANS ADAPTED THE LETTER AS "BET",  ROTATED IT BY 90 DEGREES AND MODIFIED IT FURTHER, SO THAT IT LOOKED NOW SIMILAR TO A "9". SEE TOP-RIGHT SHAPE. "BET" WAS THE SECOND LETTER OF THE PHOENICIAN ALPHABET, AND IT KEPT ITS POSITION EVER SINCE.  
  
| THE ANCIENT GREEK SYMMETRIZED THE PHOENICIAN LETTER AND CALLED IT BETA (SEE BOTTOM-RIGHT SHAPE). LATER, WHEN THE WRITING DIRECTION CHANGED FROM "RIGHT-TO-LEFT" TO "LEFT-TO-RIGHT", THE LETTER WAS ALSO MIRRORED. THE LETTER COULD BE WRITTEN EITHER IN THE ANGULAR FORM YOU SEE IN THE CAVE, OR IN THE ROUNDED FORM WE KNOW TODAY.  
  
| THE ROMANS ADAPTED THE FORM AND SOUND OF THE LETTER WITHOUT FURTHER MODIFICATIONS.  
  
NOTE THAT IN MODERN GREEK, THE LETTER "B" (BETA) IS SPOKEN NOT LIKE [B], BUT LIKE [V] (AS IN "VOODOO"). LIKEWISE, THE LETTER NAME IS TODAY PRONOUNCED SOMETHING LIKE "VEETA". HOWEVER, THIS SOUND CHANGE TOOK PLACE AFTER THE LETTER WAS ADAPTED BY THE ROMANS. THE ANCIENT GREEK DID SPEAK THE LETTER AS [B].  
  
CAVE DIFFICULTY: 3/10