[9]
Again there is the question whether certain letters
are not superfluous, not to mention the mark of the
aspirate, to which, if it is required at all, there
should be a corresponding symbol to indicate the
opposite: for instance k, which is also used as an
abbreviation for certain nouns, and q, which, though
slanted slightly more by us, resembles both in sound
and shape the Greek koppa, now used by the Greeks
solely as a numerical sign1: there is also x, the last
letter of our own alphabet, which we could dispense
with as easily as with psi.
1 K = Kaeso, Kalendae, 'Karthago, Kaput, Kalumnia, etc. The q-sound can be expressed by c. Koppa (ZZZ) as a numeral = 90.
Quintilian. With an English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1920.
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