why is the letter Q allways followed by the letter U

[pjay119]

why is the letter Q allways followed by the letter U ?.......why not just forget the letter U in this scenario ?

[shero101]

By adding a 'u' you get the sound 'kwer'. For example the word - quota - without a 'u' would sound like 'koh-ter'. The country Qatar doesn't have a 'u' and is pronounced 'kat-ar'.
Someone more literate than me may be able to give you a better answer.

[Quizmonster]

This is because of the influence of Latin. In that language, the 'kw' sound was represented by 'qu' in words such as 'quis', meaning 'who'. In Old English, this sound was represented by 'cw' in words such as 'cwene', meaning 'queen'. After 1066 and the Norman Conquest, 'qu' began to be used alongside 'cw' and by the end of the 13th century it had replaced it entirely. So, the 'qu' form has existed for over 700 years now.

[Bert]

I hope that "allways" was just a typographical error.

[Nether Edge]

Quizmonster: but why did Latin have Q always followed by U?

[Peter Pedant]

well that is just incredible that someone has asked that !

In 1978 'they' dug up some incredibly old Latin, and there were exciting arguments about who had written it and also when.

Its - Elegiacs by Gallus from Qasr Ibrim Anderson Parsons and Nisbet Journal of Roman Studies 1979 49 125-155

quom comes up, and commentators er comment:
Quom is the older spelling. *** begins to replace it in CIcero's time,...but Quintilian records that many choose to distinguish quom conjunction from *** preposiition.

hum, i'm sure you say to yourself. Quintilian wrote a third century grammar, which is where we get most of the Latin grammar my generation was subjected to.

Later Kato is mentioned - oh God this is getting EXCITING ! and heis the fella we know as Cato.
of which the egg heads comment:
"This convention ('quotiens A sequitur K litteram praeponendam esse, non C; Quotiens V sequitur, per Q non per C scribendum) has early beginnings and continues in normal use until the second century AD"

A reference is given, I thought Quintilian again, but it is :
Donatus GL iv 368

I mean HOT STUFF ! this sort of thing keeps you awake at night !

But anyway for the QU and C controversy, I am sure readers did not expect references from 300 AD !!!

[Quizmonster]

Well, Nether, in ancient Latin, the 'Q' originally represented the guttural 'q' which is still found in Arabic, for example. You see - or rather hear - it in the name of the country Qatar, as pronounced by an Arab as opposed to a British newsreader. The latter will just say 'Catter' or, worse, 'Catarrh'! The former will pronounce the q-sound much further back in his throat.
When the Romans wanted to link that 'q' with an 'oo' sound, as in 'koo-iss' (quis), they added what looks to us like a 'V'. (You still see this letter in a pretentious restaurant's menu, which is frequently written 'MENV'.)
Thus, for them, 'qv' represented the sound which appeared in Old English as 'cw', as I said in my earlier response.

[pjay119]

thank you guys>>you amaze me sometimes>>one thing however and it may be because i hail from the black country , the old english spelling CW as in cwene rolls off my tongue much easier and surely would be easier for children to learn.did our forfathers get it correct after all..
p.s excuse the grammer my eyes are poor and education worse..but brain still hungry...

[Quizmonster]

The problem, Pjay, is that once one talks of changing English spelling, one opens a can of worms! For example, should we sail in 'yots' instead of 'yachts'? If we did, we would lose the wonderful etymology of the word...ie from Dutch 'jacht' from 'jagen' = chase/hunt.
I myself don't think we should change a thing in the spelling 'world' for children's - or anyone else's - supposed 'benefit'. Sorry!