M

M or m (pronounced: [ ʔɛm ] ) is the 13th letter of the Latin alphabet and a consonant. The letter M has an average frequency of 2.53 % in German texts. He is the 14th - most frequent letter in German texts.

Origin

In the proto- Semitic alphabet, the letter is a wavy line and stands for water. In the Phoenician alphabet from the letter Mem is (water). For a better case - from right to left - the wavy line on the right was provided with a coat of paint. Mem stood for the phonetic value of [ m]. The phonetic value of the letter remained the same for all subsequent acquisitions of the alphabet by other peoples.

The meme has been adopted as My in the Greek alphabet. At the beginning it was just as Mem written with a painting until the classical Greek alphabet but also the left side was pulled down. Maybe for the change of writing direction from left to right is responsible, however, also comes a change of writing tools as the cause in question.

The early Greek version of the letter was not included in the Etruscan alphabet, which is similar meme. The Latins took only the Etruscan variant, but they later adapted it as the Greeks with a coat of paint left.

Quote

"In the urverwandten spoke to him in general also corresponds to m ( mouse, Mus OHG, kslav Myší, Latin mus, Greek MIV, sskr Mushi; .. Joint, OHG Samo, kslav Seme, suffered SEMU, lat. . semen, to, MHG renamed, OHG Umpi, Latin ambi -, Greek ¡ × mj ) "( of the Grimm dictionary ).