N, A liquid consonant, and the thirteenth letter of the Greek, Latin, and English alphabets.
The n is a nasal consonant, its sound being that of a d, passed through the nose; so that when the nose is stopped by a cold, or the like, it is usual to pronounce d for n. The Abbé de Dangeau observes, that in the French, the n is frequently a mere nasal vowel, without any thing of the consonant in it. He calls it the Sclavonic vowel. The Hebrews call their corresponding letter nun, which signifies child, as being supposed the offspring of m; partly from the resemblance of sound, and partly from the similarity of the figure. Thus, from the m, by omitting the last column, is formed n; and from the capital N, by omitting the first column, is formed the Greek minuscule ν. Hence, for biennies the Latins frequently use bimus; and the same people converted the Greek ν, at the end of a word, into an m, as φαρμακιν, pharmacum.
N before p, b, and m, the Latins change into m, and frequently into l and r, as in intuldo, illudo; inrigo, irrigo; in which they agree with the Hebrews, who instead of nun frequently double the following consonants. The Greeks do the same, as when for Manlius they write Μανλιος; and before λ, γ, χ, ν, they changed the ν into γ; in which they were followed by the ancient Romans, who for Angulus wrote Αγγυλος, for anceps, agceps, and so of others. The Latins retrench the n from Greek nouns ending in ων, as Δω, Leo, Δρακων, Draco; but, on the contrary, the Greeks add it to the Latin ones ending in o, as Κατω, Nexen, Cato, Nero.
N, amongst the ancients, was a numeral letter, signifying 900; according to the verse in Baroniis,
N, quoque nongentos numero designat habendos:
And when a line was placed over it, N̄, it signified nine thousand. Amongst the ancient lawyers, N. L. stood for non liquet, that is, the cause is not clear enough to pass sentence upon. N, or N°, in commerce, is used as an abbreviation of numero, number.