11 December 2022

Why the Welsh Alphabet Has No ”K” Because of the Bible

The odd things I learn compiling this blog! I had no idea that Welsh didn't have the letter 'K' or that it was because of the Bible being printed in Welsh.

From uCatholic

By George Ryan

Did you know the Welsh alphabet has 29 letters? And none of them are the letter K!

What’s even more interesting though is the reason why the letter K isn’t used in Welsh orthography today has to do with the Bible!

With the translation of the Old and New Testament into Welsh in the mid 16th century, English printers didn’t have enough of the letter K in their printing presses to spell out every word using it.

The quick fix? C is close to enough to K!

Tradition says the order went “C for K, because the printers have not so many as the Welsh requireth.”

An unpopular move at the time, it became standard usage and is the reason the Welsh alphabet lacks the letter K today.

For example, even technical terms like kilogram are replaced by Welsh letters to cilogram.

The history of how our Faith has impacted the world today is truly amazing!

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