Evolution of the Alphabet

Phoenician
(~1050 BCE)
Early Greek
(~750 BCE)
Latin
(~600 BCE)
Modern
English
𐤀
aleph (ox)
Α
alpha
A
a
A
a
𐤁
beth (house)
Β
beta
B
b
B
b
𐤂
gimel (camel)
Γ
gamma
C
c (also G later)
C / G
c, g
𐤃
daleth (door)
Δ
delta
D
d
D
d
𐤊
kaph (palm)
Κ
kappa
C
c (k sound)
K
k
𐤌
mem (water)
Μ
mu
M
m
M
m
𐤍
nun (fish)
Ν
nu
N
n
N
n
𐤐
pe (mouth)
Π
pi
P
p
P
p
𐤓
resh (head)
Ρ
rho
R
r
R
r
𐤔
shin (tooth)
Σ
sigma
S
s
S
s
Historical Notes:

Phoenician: Written right-to-left, consonantal alphabet with no vowels. Letter names often derived from objects (aleph = ox, beth = house).

Greek: Adapted Phoenician around 800 BCE, adding vowels. Early Greek was sometimes written right-to-left or boustrophedon (alternating directions).

Latin: Borrowed from Greek via Etruscan around 700 BCE. Originally used C for both /k/ and /g/ sounds; G was added later (~300 BCE) as a modification of C. The letter K was rarely used, appearing mainly in a few archaic words.