K

K was borrowed from the Greek happa, and was but little used amongst the Latins. Priscian looked on it as a superfluous letter, and says that it was never to be used except in words borrowed from the Greek. Dausquius, after Sallust, observes that it was unknown to the ancient Romans. Indeed we seldom find it in any Latin authors, excepting in the word kalendæ, where it sometimes stands instead of c. Carthage, however, is frequently spelt on medals with a K, SALVIS AUG. ET CAES. FEL. KART.; and sometimes the letter K alone stood for Carthage. M. Berger has observed, that a capital K, on the reverse of the medals of the emperors of Constantinople, signified Konstantinus; and that on the Greek medals it signified KOIAH ÆTPIA, Cale-Syria. Quintilian tells us, that in his time, some people had a mistaken notion, that wherever the letters c and a occurred at the beginning of a word, k ought to be used instead of the c. Lipsius observes, that K was a stigma anciently marked on the foreheads of criminals with a red-hot iron.

The letter K has various significations in old charters and diplomas; for instance, KR. stood for chorus; KR. C. for cara civitas; KRM. for carmen; KR. AM. N. for carus amicus noster; KS. chaos; KT. capite tonsus, &c. The French never use the letter k excepting in a few terms of art and proper names borrowed from other languages. Abancourt, in his dialogue of the letters, introduces K as complaining that he has been often in a fair way of being banished from the French alphabet, and confined to the countries of the north.