M.
M or m (pronounced: [ ʔɛm ]) is the 12th letter of the classical alphabet and the 13th letter of the modern Latin alphabet . It's a consonant . The letter M has an average frequency of 2.53% in German texts. This makes it the 14th most common letter in German texts .
The finger alphabet for the deaf or hard of hearing represents the letter M with the hand pointing downwards while the index , middle and ring fingers are stretched downwards. The thumb disappears behind the fingers and the back of the hand points forward.
origin
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| Water symbol (protosinaitic) | Phoenician meme | Greek µ | Etruscan M. | Latin M. |
In the Protosinaitic script , the letter represents a wavy line and stands for water. In the Phoenician alphabet , this became the letter mem (water). For better writing - from right to left - the wavy line has been painted on the right. Mem stood for the sound value [m]. The sound value of the letter remained the same in all subsequent adoptions of the alphabet by other peoples.
The meme was adopted as My in the Greek alphabet . At the beginning, like Mem, it was written with a single stroke, but up to the classical Greek alphabet, the left side was also drawn down. The change in writing direction from left to right may be responsible for this, but a change in the writing tools is also a possible cause.
The early Greek variant of the letter, which resembles Mem, was adopted into the Etruscan alphabet. The Latins first adopted the Etruscan variant.
Quote
"In the originally related languages it generally corresponds to m (maus, ahd. Mûs, kslav. Myši, lat. Mus, Greek. MìV, sskr. Mûshî; same, ahd. Sâmo, kslav. Sěme, litt. Sėmů, lat. semen; um, mhd. umbe, ahd. umpi, lat. ambi-, Greek ¡mj ×). "
See also
- م , the Arabic letter Mīm
- מ or ם , the Hebrew letter mem
- M (for Military ), symbol on the AM series of stamps
