History
It is not known how the character for Zhe was derived. No similar letter exists in Greek, Latin or any other alphabet of the time, though there is some graphic similarity with its Glagolitic counterpart Zhivete Ⰶ (Image: ) which represents the same sound. However, the origin of Zhivete, like that of most Glagolitic letters, is unclear. One possibility is that it was formed from two connecting Hebrew letters Shin ⟨ש⟩, the bottom one inverted. The letter Sha ⟨Ш⟩, which represents the unvoiced counterpart of Zhe, is one of several Cyrillic letters which were derived directly from Hebrew letters.
In the Early Cyrillic alphabet the name of Zhe was живѣтє (živěte), meaning "live" (imperative).
Zhe was not used in the Cyrillic numeral system.
In modern typefaces, zhe is displayed as two Kas, the first one reversed, with both sharing a common vertical stroke.
Read more about this topic: Zhe (Cyrillic)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)
“When the coherence of the parts of a stone, or even that composition of parts which renders it extended; when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, and contain circumstances so repugnant and contradictory; with what assurance can we decide concerning the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“We know only a single science, the science of history. One can look at history from two sides and divide it into the history of nature and the history of men. However, the two sides are not to be divided off; as long as men exist the history of nature and the history of men are mutually conditioned.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)