Borrowing From Greek
Both the horizontal and the vertical digraph were borrowed from the Greek alphabet. The Greek ligature Ou (Ȣ ȣ) is frequently found in Greek medieval manuscripts and in some modern editions of classical texts. Modern Greek still uses ⟨ου⟩ (omicron-upsilon) for /u/ but rarely uses the vertical ligature.
Read more about this topic: Uk (Cyrillic)
Famous quotes containing the words borrowing and/or greek:
“Now that is the wisdom of a man, in every instance of his labor, to hitch his wagon to a star, and see his chore done by the gods themselves. That is the way we are strong, by borrowing the might of the elements. The forces of steam, gravity, galvanism, light, magnets, wind, fire, serve us day by day and cost us nothing.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“He degraded himself by the vice of drinking, which, together with a great stock of Greek and Latin, he brought away with him from Oxford and retained and practised ever afterwards.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)