Doubling down on the letter “w”

Ever wondered why the letter “w” is called the letter “double-u”? I know I have. I mean, why isn’t it “double-v” like it is in French? It sure would make more sense! Yep, these are the questions that keep a language professional up at night.

And not only does the letter “w” stand out for this oddity, but it’s also unique for a couple of other reasons. Unlike any other letter in the alphabet, its name has more than one syllable. And it’s also the only letter whose name describes the way it looks rather than the way it sounds. (I know you’re running through the rest of the alphabet right now. Trust me. I’ve checked.)

When I searched “Why is the letter ‘w’ called ‘double-u’ and ‘not double-v’?,” I got lots of hits. So it seems I’m not alone in asking this question, which also seems to far predate the advent of the search engine. There was even a children’s poem written about this very conundrum back in the 1800s:

“Excuse me if I trouble you,”
Said V to jolly W,
“But will you have the kindness to explain one thing to me?
Why, looking as you do,
Folks should call you double U,
When they really ought to call you double V?”

Said W to curious V:
“The reason’s plain as plain can be
(Although I must admit it’s understood by very few);
As you say I’m double V;
And therefore, don’t you see,
The people say that I am double you.”

And so to finally put your minds at ease, here’s what I learned about the mysterious letter “w.”

Introduction into the English language

Unlike our modern English alphabet, the classical Latin alphabet had only 23 letters. Which ones were missing? The letters “j,” “u” and . . . you guessed it: “w.” In the classical Latin alphabet, the letter “v” originally represented the sounds “oo” and “uh” (like today’s “u”), as well as the sound “wuh” (like today’s “w”). But as time went on, the “wuh” sound evolved to become what we recognize today as a the sound represented by the letter “v.”

When the Latin alphabet was first used to write English (a Germanic language) in the 7th century, there was a problem: English contained the sound “wuh,” but the Latin alphabet no longer included a letter to represent this sound.

A new symbol was needed! And, at first, this was to be “uu.”

Aha! So now things are starting to make a little more sense, but first there was a slight detour ...

Wyn for the win?

By the 8th century, “uu” began to lose ground and was replaced with the ƿ or wyn, which is a letter of the Runic alphabet. Well now that looks more like a “p” than a “w”!

But according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “in the mean time the ‘uu’ was carried from England to the continent, being used for the sound /w/ in the German dialects, and in French proper names and other words of Germanic and Celtic origin. In the 11th cent. the ligatured form was introduced into England by Norman scribes [. . .].”

So by the 14th century, the wyn finally lost, and there was a move toward a ligatured (or joined) form of “uu.”

“W”: The shapeshifter

Now we know where the letter originally got the name “double-u,” but we still don’t know why it’s shaped like two “v’s”! Well, this is where the story gets a little murkier, and perhaps a little less interesting. A number of sources attribute this new shape to the advent of the printing press in the 15th century.

According to the Reader’s Digest website, the letter was originally printed with “a single double-u block or even two “v’s” if [printers] didn’t have the less commonly used “w” block. Then, as the technology continued to progress and became more streamlined, [the letter] was replaced with a double-v block.”

So there you have it! The mysteries of the letter “w” uncovered!

But “w” isn’t the only letter with an interesting story. Perhaps you have an interesting tidbit to share about one of “w’s” 25 peers?