"W"

“W”

         I have a Masters Degree in City and Regional Planning. I am certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners as a qualified planning professional that can assist metropolitan governments establish growth goals for the future. As a consultant I am paid to know the answers to difficult questions. That is what I do. You would think that, with all these credentials, I could answer an eleven year-old boy’s simple question. However, I must confess that I was stumped. The question came out of nowhere. I was not prepared for it.

         With real purpose in his voice, my eleven year-old grandson asked, “Grandpa, why do they call it a “double-u” (“w”)? Why don’t they call it a “double-v”? Think about it; that’s a heck of a question.

         You have got to understand; my grandson’s grandpa, that’s me, knows everything. A trip with grandpa is like a journey through the encyclopedia. My grandkids are constantly being bombarded with questions that make them think.

         “Do you see those big fluffy clouds? What are they made of? If they are made of water, what keeps them in the air?”

         “What causes that ink spot to spread on your shirt pocket? What do we mean by capillary action?”

         “How do you suppose they change the light bulbs in stop lights?”

         “Why is concrete so hard?”

         Therefore, I suppose I should not have been surprised when he turned the table on grandpa with a question of his own. The “double-u” – now that is an interesting letter. It is made up of two “v’s” stuck together. Yet we call it a double “u”. So, not wanting to lose the opportunity for both of us to learn something I responded, “Gee Ryan, I don’t know. But I bet we can find out. Let’s search the Internet and see if someone can tell us why the “w” is called “double-u” and not “double-v.”

         What we found was interesting. The letters of our English language find their origin in Latin. The Latin alphabet has no “w”. It does, however, have a “u” and a “v”. In my high school Latin class I learned that, in the ancient Latin language, the letter “u” and the letter “v” are interchangeable. The flexible Romans used the “u” as a vowel and the “v” as a consonant.

         You may be familiar with two Latin phrases: “e pluribus unum” and “veni, vidi, vinci”. The first phrase is our national motto, which is written on our seal. It means “out of many one.” In this phrase we find three “u”s used as a vowel and is often spelled with a “v”. The second phrase is attributed to Julius Caesar and says, “We came. We saw. We conquered.” In it we find the use of the consonant “v”. Notice, in particular that the second phrase is correctly spoken with the “w” sound: “weni, widi, winci.”

         When the English speakers adopted the Latin alphabet there was no letter for their consonant “w”, which was actually the Runic letter “wynn”, of which I don’t have a clue as to what it looks like. As an alternative to using the “wynn” letter the linguists simply used the letter “u” or “v” twice. (Remember there was no difference in “u” and “v”. They are interchangable)

         When the printing press brought the printed word to the masses the popular European fonts didn’t have the “wynn” letter. As a result, the double letter for “v” was combined into a single letter “w”. I can only assume it was much easier to carve and form the straight lines of the “v” rather than two uniform curves of the “u”. As a result the new letter, which has the sound of the “w”, took the form of the “v” but retained the name of the “u” – thence the “double-u” and not the “double-v.”


         From a little boy’s simple question I was provided with an opportunity to learn. My new-found knowledge of the letter “w” will likely have little change in my life. But it has enriched it just a little. It has added to my knowledge bank. It has afforded me with the opportunity to respond when one of my other grandchildren quizzically furrows their brow and asks, “Grandpa, why do they call it a “double-u” and not a “double-v?” Hey! I’ll know the answer. And now you will too.