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The English alphabet has evolved over centuries, with many commonly used letters disappearing or being replaced by others over the years.
The modern 26-letter system we know today has been shaped by the lost English alphabet. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Thorn, written as Þ or þ, represented the “th” sound and was widely used in Old and Middle English. It was gradually replaced by ‘th’ due to printing limitations.
Also representing the sound ‘th’, and often interchangeable with thorn, Eth was also common in Old English. It vanished over the years and is only used in some Icelandic texts today.
Representing the sound of modern ‘w’, Wynn, written as ƿ, became obsolete as early as the 14th century. Over time, it was replaced by ‘uu’ and then finally by today’s ‘w’.
Yogh, written as Ȝ or ȝ, was used to represent the sounds ‘y’, ‘gh’ or ‘g’, depending on context. Due to printing confusion and limitations, it disappeared and was replaced by ‘y’.
Long S, which looked like an ‘f’ without a crossbar, represented ‘s’ in the middle of words. Written as ſ, the Long S went out of use by the 19th century due to clarity concerns.
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