Kythul. See KAITHAL.

L

the twelfth letter in our alphabet, is descended from the Phœnician character called the 'ox-goad,' lamed, whence the Greek name lambda was derived. The letter lamed was probably a degraded form of the Hieroglyphic picture of a recumbent lioness, from which the hind-quarters have disappeared, leaving two straight lines, one of which represented the outstretched fore-paws and the other the chest (see ALPHABET). The early Greek form l passed over to Italy, where it became L. From L, through the intermediate stage Ⲁ, the Greeks got the form ⲁ (which was transmitted to the Runes), and this finally became λ in the Greek capitals and λ in the minuscules. Our own minuscule form l, in which the horizontal bar is evanescent, was derived from the old Roman cursive. The Roman numeral for 50 was L, but this is not the letter of the same form, but was obtained from the western form of the Greek letter chi, the successive stages being X, Ψ, ↓, Ⲁ, and finally L.

The letter l is usually termed a 'liquid,' but is more correctly designated as a 'front palatal.' It has a great affinity with r, the positions of the vocal organs for forming l and r being nearly the same. In sounding r the breath escapes over the tip of the tongue, while for l the tip of the tongue touches the front palate or the base of the gums, the breath escaping over the two sides of the tongue, and the vibrations of the soft lateral edges producing slight oscillations in the force of the breath, whereas in the case of r a stronger trill is caused by the vibration of the tip of the tongue. In the Spanish ll, the Italian gli, and in the English word glory, the contact with the palate is made by the middle of the tongue instead of by the tip.

Owing to the affinity between l and r they are frequently interchanged. In some languages the same sign was used for both sounds, in others either l or r is wanting. The old Egyptians seem to have made no distinction between the two; in old Pali the signs were interchanged; the Japanese sign for r was borrowed from a character which represented l in Chinese; while the Polynesians substitute l for r in foreign words. In English a Latin r has become l in such words as plum (prunus), turtle (turtur), purple (purpura), marble (marmor), and pilgrim (peregrinus). We have the converse change in chapter from capitulum, and lavender from lavendula, while colonel is now pronounced curnel.

The letters d and n have also an affinity with l. We have the change of d to l in lacruma for dacruma, lingua for dinqua, lapillus from lapidulus, sella from sedula, alloquor from adloquor. In the numerals eleven and twelve the l is also believed to represent a primitive d. We find the change of n to l in asellus for asinulus, collegium for conlegium, and Bologna from Bononia.

In the spelling of several English words the letter l has fallen out, as in such and each, from the old English swilc and alc. Though preserved in the spelling, it is not heard in the words alms, palm, calm, yolk, half, would, and should. A final l is often mute in the Scotch dialect, as in a' for all, fa' for fall, fu' for full. In modern French it sometimes fades to u, as in aux for à les, du for de le, chevaux for chevals. In Italian it may become i, as in piano from planus. On the other hand, l is intrusive in windlass from O.E. windass, and in myrtle from myrtus, principle from principium, and participle from participium. From a false analogy with would and should, where the l, derived from will and shall, is radical, it has crept into the spelling, though not into the pronunciation, of could, which is the past tense of can. The M.E. form coude has no l, while the Dutch konde and the German könnte have preserved the n which belongs to the root.