Latin alphabet is an improved version of the Etruscan one.
We possess no documentary evidence to show us the Etruscan alphabet letter names. But we possess Latin alphabet letter names.
In my opinion, these letter names are mainly Etruscan words, whose meanings we do not understand, that's why we simply call them "letter names".
On the other hand, in a large variety of Italic dialects, it was the Tuscan dialect which "happened" to be recognized as the official language of Italy. Although latinized, this dialect appears to have a strong Etruscan substrate. Even I think that the drafters of the Italian alphabet, either have known very well the meaning of its letter names, or these letter names are inherited in the Tuscan dialect from the depth of the centuries.
As I’ve written previously, the Albanian language is very close to Etruscan, so via Albanian we can identify many of the Italian (Latin) alphabet letter names.
Even Albanian seems to be very conservative in preserving the ancient word-forms which allows us to identify the Greek alphabet letters too.
/a/= In nowadays Albanian, ‘a /a/ means eat. Its regular form is ha/ha/ = eat; Often, in colloquial, just ‘a.
Aj /aj/ = 1- eat; 2- bite (v).
A-ja /aja/ = the letter “a” (literally it means the “a”);
Haja /haja/ = the food.
Considering the fact that this phoneme name in the Greek alphabet is “al-φα”, I think it contains both PIE word al (nourish, grow) and the Greek word φά/ω (eat). So its first form could have been al, φά/ω just the words used by greek and nongreek speakers (which coexisted in ancient Greece).
/bi/ = In nowadays Albanian, pi /pi/ means “drink” (v).
From PIE base: *po(i) = to drink
In Sanskrit:
pibh; pibati = drink (v);
pibeth = may one drink;
pitha = a drink, draught.
Old Sanskrit:
pati = drinks (v).
In Latin:
bibo = drink (v); potare = to drink;
In Greek:
ποτό = drink ;
In Romanian:
băutură = drink (v).
In O.Ch.Sl:
piti = to drink.
In Russian:
Вода (voda) = water.
Beta is a definite noun. Indefinite: bet-.
Be /be/= drink (v); It’s the name of the Latin alphabet B letter too.
In nowadays Italian: bere = to drink (v); Romanian: bea = drink , etc.
Bet- = drink , (see below the use of suffix t in Albanian).
Beta = the drink.
/tʃi/ = In nowadays Gheg Albanian, çi /tʃi/ means “to join sexually”. In standard Albanian, qi /khi/. It relates to Albanian word çaj (in some Gheg areas kaj/kaj/).
Çaj /tʃaj/ (to split, to force one’s way through; to gape) from PIE *gh(a)i- (to gape).
Çarje /tʃarje/ (gaping void), shares the same semantics with chaos.
Gojë /gojə/ (mouth), from the same PIE word, *gh(a)i-.
Gamma is a definite noun. Indefinite: gam-.
The only attested Greek words (in any time) which contain this wordroot, are:
Γαμ/ώ /gam-o/ = to join sexually
Γάμο/ς /gamo-s/ = marriage; wedding.
As both words contain the same wordroot, the meaning of gamma is either
the sexual union or the marriage.
So, there is not difficult to understand the correlations γαμ/ώ -gamma (from PIE base *gem(e)- “to marry”) and /ke:/ - /khi/ - /tʃi/.
ke: -the name of the latin alphabet c letter;
khi -the Albanian word qi /khi/ (to join sexually);
tʃi – the Gheg Albanian word çi /tʃi/ (to join sexually) and the Italian alphabet letter c name.
Since the Albanian qi /khi/ sounds like English key, let’s see its etymology too:
See www.etymonline.com
key (1)
"metal piece that works a lock," from O.E. cæg, of unknown origin, with no certain cognates other than O.Fris. kei. Perhaps related to M.L.G. keie "lance, spear" on notion of "tool to cleave with," from P.Gmc. *ki- "to cleaver, split" (cf. Ger. Keil"wedge," Goth. us-kijans "come forth," said of seed sprouts, keinan "to germinate"). But Liberman writes, "The original meaning of *kaig-jo- was presumably '*pin with a twisted end.' Words with the root *kai- followed by a consonant meaning 'crooked, bent; twisted' are common only in the North Germanic languages."
Figurative sense of "that which serves to open or explain" was in O.E.; meaning "that which holds together other parts" is from 1520s. Musical sense of "tone, note" is 15c., but modern sense of "scale" is 1580s, probably as a translation of L. clavis or Fr.clef (see clef; also cf. keynote). Extended c.1500 to "mechanism on a musical instrument."
(bolded by me)
*Ki- [in the meaning “split” and/or “open” like PIE *gh(a)i or *gh(e)i] is also the wordroot of:
In Latin:
Caelum /kaelum/ = sky;
In Italian:
Cielo /tʃelo/ = sky;
In Gheg Albanian:
Çel /tʃel/ = 1- open (v); Çell /tʃell/ - sky. In standard Albanian: Çel = open; qiell/khiell/ = sky.
Çelç /tʃeltʃ/ = glass. In Standard Albanian: qelq /khelkh/ = glass.
Çels / tʃels/ = key. In standard Albanian: Çelës / tʃeləs/ = key (literally it means opener).
Çelt /tʃelt/ = 1- light (opposite of dark). 2- open (adj). In standard Albanian: Çelët / tʃelət/ 1- light (opposite of dark). 2- open (adj).
/di/ = In nowadays Albanian, di /di/ means 1- have idea; 2- illuminate;
3- know (although the correct Albanian word for know is njoh /njoh/).
Old Sanskrit: dhi-; dhiti- (thought, reason, opinion).
From PIE base *dyeu- (to shine)
Delta is a definite noun. Indefinite: delt-.
From PIE base *tel- = “to bear, carry” (?!), meaning also “special natural ability, aptitude”. It’s the root of talent.
In Albanian:
Dell /dell/ = 1- tendon; 2- vein; 3- (fig.) talent.
Diell /diell/ sun.
Old Albanian (reconstructed):
*dellt (delltë) /dellt/= 1- talented (adj); 2- visionary; 3- talent ; 4- apparence.
*diellt (dielltë) /dielltə/ 1- sunny; 2- shine .
*dellta (or diellta)/delta/ = the talent; the vision; the shine.
Here is the use of suffix t in Albanian (and not only) word-formation:
Pak /pak/ = less (opposite of shumë /ʃumə/ = many, very) and pakt /pakt/ =
1- pact; 2- least. In Albanian it’s an adjective noun and literally means “least”;
e pakta = the least (fem.); i pakti = the least (masc.); te pakten (or të paktën)
/tə paktən/ = at least.
pakësoj /pakəsoj/ = to lessen; Paqësoj /pakhəsoj/ to pacify.
Pako /pako/ (paketë or paqetë) = package;
Pakoj /pakoj/ (or pakëtoj) = 1- pack (v); 2- lessen;
Paqe /pakhe/ = peace. Its regular form is pakje /pakje/ = less ;
Di /di/ = illuminate, have idea, (from PIE *dyeu = shine) and dit (ditë) /ditə/ = day;
i ditur /i ditur/ = versed, illuminated (adj); dietar (or dijetar) /dijetar/ illuminator, ideator.
Çel /tʃel/ (in some Gheg areas kel /kel/) = open (v), and çelt (adj.)/tʃelt/ = 1- light (opposite of dark); 2- open (adj).
As a noun it survives in kelt /kelt/ = celt.
Fus /fus/ (or fut /fut/, both forms are useful) = put (in/into), insert, infuse, and fust (fustë) /fustə/ = dress or futë /futə/ (apron); Literally it means “put (the body) into”.
Ar /ar/ (gold) and art /art/ = golden;
As a noun it survives in art /art/ = art.
Herë /herə/ (time; a period of time; era) and herët /herət/ (early);
Hera = the time; the period of time; the era.
Err /err/ (dim, obscure, wait until nightfall) and errt (or errët) /errət/ dark, darkly; sombre, etc., etc.
Albanian delltë/dielltë (def. dellta/diellta) is not in use, it is replaced with “talent”.
Albanian dell relates to dal (another Albanian word).
Dal /dal/ (sprout, come up, come out, appear, show). It’s in first person, singular.
Del /del/ (sprout/s, come/s up ...). It’s in second and third person, singular.
Te dalet /te dalet/(or: të dalët /tə dalət/) = 1- the sprout, the coming up; 2- the appearance, the show.
Dalt/ë /daltə/ (chisel);
Daltoj /daltoj/ (to chisel).
i dalë /i dalə/ (apt; an apt man; someone who owns a lot of experiences);
i dali /i dali/ (the apt man).
i dalluar /i dalluar/ (distinguished; remarkable; eminent).
Dalloj /dalloj/ (discern);
Dallim /dallim/ (discernment);
Dallgë /dallgə/ (wave);
Dalldi /dalldi/ (1- excessive fondness; 2- ecstasy).
We possess no documentary evidence to show us the Etruscan alphabet letter names. But we possess Latin alphabet letter names.
In my opinion, these letter names are mainly Etruscan words, whose meanings we do not understand, that's why we simply call them "letter names".
On the other hand, in a large variety of Italic dialects, it was the Tuscan dialect which "happened" to be recognized as the official language of Italy. Although latinized, this dialect appears to have a strong Etruscan substrate. Even I think that the drafters of the Italian alphabet, either have known very well the meaning of its letter names, or these letter names are inherited in the Tuscan dialect from the depth of the centuries.
As I’ve written previously, the Albanian language is very close to Etruscan, so via Albanian we can identify many of the Italian (Latin) alphabet letter names.
Even Albanian seems to be very conservative in preserving the ancient word-forms which allows us to identify the Greek alphabet letters too.
/a/= In nowadays Albanian, ‘a /a/ means eat. Its regular form is ha/ha/ = eat; Often, in colloquial, just ‘a.
Aj /aj/ = 1- eat; 2- bite (v).
A-ja /aja/ = the letter “a” (literally it means the “a”);
Haja /haja/ = the food.
Considering the fact that this phoneme name in the Greek alphabet is “al-φα”, I think it contains both PIE word al (nourish, grow) and the Greek word φά/ω (eat). So its first form could have been al, φά/ω just the words used by greek and nongreek speakers (which coexisted in ancient Greece).
/bi/ = In nowadays Albanian, pi /pi/ means “drink” (v).
From PIE base: *po(i) = to drink
In Sanskrit:
pibh; pibati = drink (v);
pibeth = may one drink;
pitha = a drink, draught.
Old Sanskrit:
pati = drinks (v).
In Latin:
bibo = drink (v); potare = to drink;
In Greek:
ποτό = drink ;
In Romanian:
băutură = drink (v).
In O.Ch.Sl:
piti = to drink.
In Russian:
Вода (voda) = water.
Beta is a definite noun. Indefinite: bet-.
Be /be/= drink (v); It’s the name of the Latin alphabet B letter too.
In nowadays Italian: bere = to drink (v); Romanian: bea = drink , etc.
Bet- = drink , (see below the use of suffix t in Albanian).
Beta = the drink.
/tʃi/ = In nowadays Gheg Albanian, çi /tʃi/ means “to join sexually”. In standard Albanian, qi /khi/. It relates to Albanian word çaj (in some Gheg areas kaj/kaj/).
Çaj /tʃaj/ (to split, to force one’s way through; to gape) from PIE *gh(a)i- (to gape).
Çarje /tʃarje/ (gaping void), shares the same semantics with chaos.
Gojë /gojə/ (mouth), from the same PIE word, *gh(a)i-.
Gamma is a definite noun. Indefinite: gam-.
The only attested Greek words (in any time) which contain this wordroot, are:
Γαμ/ώ /gam-o/ = to join sexually
Γάμο/ς /gamo-s/ = marriage; wedding.
As both words contain the same wordroot, the meaning of gamma is either
the sexual union or the marriage.
So, there is not difficult to understand the correlations γαμ/ώ -gamma (from PIE base *gem(e)- “to marry”) and /ke:/ - /khi/ - /tʃi/.
ke: -the name of the latin alphabet c letter;
khi -the Albanian word qi /khi/ (to join sexually);
tʃi – the Gheg Albanian word çi /tʃi/ (to join sexually) and the Italian alphabet letter c name.
Since the Albanian qi /khi/ sounds like English key, let’s see its etymology too:
See www.etymonline.com
key (1)
"metal piece that works a lock," from O.E. cæg, of unknown origin, with no certain cognates other than O.Fris. kei. Perhaps related to M.L.G. keie "lance, spear" on notion of "tool to cleave with," from P.Gmc. *ki- "to cleaver, split" (cf. Ger. Keil"wedge," Goth. us-kijans "come forth," said of seed sprouts, keinan "to germinate"). But Liberman writes, "The original meaning of *kaig-jo- was presumably '*pin with a twisted end.' Words with the root *kai- followed by a consonant meaning 'crooked, bent; twisted' are common only in the North Germanic languages."
Figurative sense of "that which serves to open or explain" was in O.E.; meaning "that which holds together other parts" is from 1520s. Musical sense of "tone, note" is 15c., but modern sense of "scale" is 1580s, probably as a translation of L. clavis or Fr.clef (see clef; also cf. keynote). Extended c.1500 to "mechanism on a musical instrument."
(bolded by me)
*Ki- [in the meaning “split” and/or “open” like PIE *gh(a)i or *gh(e)i] is also the wordroot of:
In Latin:
Caelum /kaelum/ = sky;
In Italian:
Cielo /tʃelo/ = sky;
In Gheg Albanian:
Çel /tʃel/ = 1- open (v); Çell /tʃell/ - sky. In standard Albanian: Çel = open; qiell/khiell/ = sky.
Çelç /tʃeltʃ/ = glass. In Standard Albanian: qelq /khelkh/ = glass.
Çels / tʃels/ = key. In standard Albanian: Çelës / tʃeləs/ = key (literally it means opener).
Çelt /tʃelt/ = 1- light (opposite of dark). 2- open (adj). In standard Albanian: Çelët / tʃelət/ 1- light (opposite of dark). 2- open (adj).
/di/ = In nowadays Albanian, di /di/ means 1- have idea; 2- illuminate;
3- know (although the correct Albanian word for know is njoh /njoh/).
Old Sanskrit: dhi-; dhiti- (thought, reason, opinion).
From PIE base *dyeu- (to shine)
Delta is a definite noun. Indefinite: delt-.
From PIE base *tel- = “to bear, carry” (?!), meaning also “special natural ability, aptitude”. It’s the root of talent.
In Albanian:
Dell /dell/ = 1- tendon; 2- vein; 3- (fig.) talent.
Diell /diell/ sun.
Old Albanian (reconstructed):
*dellt (delltë) /dellt/= 1- talented (adj); 2- visionary; 3- talent ; 4- apparence.
*diellt (dielltë) /dielltə/ 1- sunny; 2- shine .
*dellta (or diellta)/delta/ = the talent; the vision; the shine.
Here is the use of suffix t in Albanian (and not only) word-formation:
Pak /pak/ = less (opposite of shumë /ʃumə/ = many, very) and pakt /pakt/ =
1- pact; 2- least. In Albanian it’s an adjective noun and literally means “least”;
e pakta = the least (fem.); i pakti = the least (masc.); te pakten (or të paktën)
/tə paktən/ = at least.
pakësoj /pakəsoj/ = to lessen; Paqësoj /pakhəsoj/ to pacify.
Pako /pako/ (paketë or paqetë) = package;
Pakoj /pakoj/ (or pakëtoj) = 1- pack (v); 2- lessen;
Paqe /pakhe/ = peace. Its regular form is pakje /pakje/ = less ;
Di /di/ = illuminate, have idea, (from PIE *dyeu = shine) and dit (ditë) /ditə/ = day;
i ditur /i ditur/ = versed, illuminated (adj); dietar (or dijetar) /dijetar/ illuminator, ideator.
Çel /tʃel/ (in some Gheg areas kel /kel/) = open (v), and çelt (adj.)/tʃelt/ = 1- light (opposite of dark); 2- open (adj).
As a noun it survives in kelt /kelt/ = celt.
Fus /fus/ (or fut /fut/, both forms are useful) = put (in/into), insert, infuse, and fust (fustë) /fustə/ = dress or futë /futə/ (apron); Literally it means “put (the body) into”.
Ar /ar/ (gold) and art /art/ = golden;
As a noun it survives in art /art/ = art.
Herë /herə/ (time; a period of time; era) and herët /herət/ (early);
Hera = the time; the period of time; the era.
Err /err/ (dim, obscure, wait until nightfall) and errt (or errët) /errət/ dark, darkly; sombre, etc., etc.
Albanian delltë/dielltë (def. dellta/diellta) is not in use, it is replaced with “talent”.
Albanian dell relates to dal (another Albanian word).
Dal /dal/ (sprout, come up, come out, appear, show). It’s in first person, singular.
Del /del/ (sprout/s, come/s up ...). It’s in second and third person, singular.
Te dalet /te dalet/(or: të dalët /tə dalət/) = 1- the sprout, the coming up; 2- the appearance, the show.
Dalt/ë /daltə/ (chisel);
Daltoj /daltoj/ (to chisel).
i dalë /i dalə/ (apt; an apt man; someone who owns a lot of experiences);
i dali /i dali/ (the apt man).
i dalluar /i dalluar/ (distinguished; remarkable; eminent).
Dalloj /dalloj/ (discern);
Dallim /dallim/ (discernment);
Dallgë /dallgə/ (wave);
Dalldi /dalldi/ (1- excessive fondness; 2- ecstasy).
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