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4 2. Letters standing for Consonants: B C D F G K L M N P Q R S T.

3. Letters standing sometimes for Vowels and sometimes for Consonants: I U.

Besides these there are:—

4. Letters standing for two Consonants: X Z.

5. H, which stands for a mere breathing, the English h.

On comparing the Latin alphabet with the English, it will be seen that neither W, nor J, nor V was found in the Latin alphabet.

The device of using J and V to distinguish the consonantal sounds of I and U from their vowel sounds, is not older than the sixteenth century A.D. And now J is no longer printed in the best editions, and in many V is given up too.

In this book, the consonantal sound of I will be distinguished from the vowel sound by a difference of type; while U u will be used for the vowel sound of U, and V v for the consonantal sound. Thus we shall write Iuppiter Jupiter, iuga yokes, verba words.

§ 8. :—

1. Vowels. The vowels differed in pronunciation according as they were short or long. Thus the short e (written ĕ) in ĕs you-are was a different vowel sound from the long e (written ē) in ēs you-eat.

There were six vowels in Latin, pronounced nearly as follows :

2. Diphthongs. There were also six diphthongs: AE, AU, OE, EU, EI, UI—the last three being rarely used.