Arriving at 26 Letters: J, U, W, and the Modern Alphabet

From Old English to Almost-Modern English

You have already seen how Old English used extra letters like þ (thorn), ð (eth), ƿ (wynn), æ (ash), and then moved toward a Latin-based alphabet.

By the late Middle Ages (about 1300–1500):

• English scribes were mostly using Latin letters.
• Special Old English letters were fading out.
• But the alphabet was not yet the 26 letters we know today.

Two big facts to keep in mind:

1. I and J were not always separate letters. They were just different shapes of the same letter.
2. U and V were also not separate letters. Again, just different shapes of one letter.

In this module, you will follow how:

• J, U, and W became distinct letters.
• Printing, dictionaries, and schools helped fix the 26-letter English alphabet.
• This process took centuries, roughly from the 1400s to the 1800s.

> As you read, imagine you are a printer or a schoolteacher in 1600 trying to decide: Which letters do I put in my alphabet chart?

Step 1 – One Letter, Two Shapes: I/J and U/V in Medieval Writing

In medieval Latin script (used across Europe, including England):

I and J: same letter, different shapes

• Scribes used I in two ways:
• As a vowel: like modern i in sit.
• As a consonant: like modern y in yes or j in jam in some languages.
• To make handwriting clearer, they sometimes wrote a longer, tail-like form at the end or beginning of words.
• This tail form eventually looked like J, but it was still considered just a fancy I.

Example (Latin):

• Iesus could be written with a long initial form that looked like J, but it was still read as the same letter.

U and V: same letter, different positions

• Scribes used one letter with two shapes:
• V-shape, often at the start of words.
• U-shape, often in the middle of words.
• Both shapes could represent:
• A vowel sound /u/ or /ʊ/ (like oo in book).
• A consonant sound /v/ (like v in very).

Example (Middle English spellings):

• vpon for upon (vowel sound written with v-shape at the start).
• haue for have (consonant sound written with u-shape in the middle).

Key point: Shape did not equal a different letter. I/J and U/V were graphic variants, not separate alphabet entries yet.

Step 2 – Reading Like a Medieval Scribe

Let’s look at some historically realistic spellings and interpret them.

Example 1: I and J

Imagine a 15th-century manuscript where you see:

• Iohannes (Latin for John)
• Iesu (Jesus)

In some scripts, that initial I might be written with a tail, looking like J:

• Johannes
• Jesu

But to the scribe, these are still the same letter, just written with different shapes.

Example 2: U and V

You might see in early printed English (late 1400s–1500s):

• vniuersitie for university
• haue for have
• euer for ever

Try mentally converting them:

• vniuersitie → universitie → university
• haue → have*
• euer → ever*

Notice:

• v at the start of a word can stand for the vowel sound /u/.
• u in the middle can stand for the consonant /v/.

This looks backwards to us today, but it was normal then.

Step 3 – You Be the Typesetter

Imagine you are an English printer around 1500. Your type cases (the metal letters you can print with) contain:

• I-type pieces (some straight, some with a tail shape)
• V-type pieces (some look more like V, some more like U)
• No separate J, U, or W compartments yet.

Task

For each modern word, decide how you might set it using only I/V-type and U/V-type letters as a 1500s printer.

1. JESUS
2. UNIVERSITY
3. VERY
4. JULY

Write down your guesses before you look at the suggested answers below.

<details>

<summary>Suggested historical-style spellings</summary>

1. JESUS → IESVS or IESUS

• I for the initial consonant sound (later J), V for the /u/ sound.

1. UNIVERSITY → VNIVERSITIE

• V at the start, because word-initial, U/V confusion.

1. VERY → VERY or UERY

• Either beginning with V or U shape, both representing the /v/ sound.

1. JULY → IVLY or IVLIE

• I for the consonant (later J), V for the /u/ sound.

These are not the only possible spellings, but they show how flexible letter-shapes were before strict standardization.

</details>

Step 4 – Printing Presses Push Toward Fixed Letters

The printing press arrived in England in the late 1400s (William Caxton set up England’s first press in 1476, about 550 years ago). Printing changed everything:

• Printers had to choose spellings and letter-forms that could be reused.
• Once a spelling was printed in many copies, it became harder to change.
• Different printing houses (in England and across Europe) slowly developed habits:
• Using one shape mainly for vowels.
• Using another shape mainly for consonants.

Across the 1500s–1600s:

• I/J began to split by sound:
• I for the vowel /i/.
• J for the consonant sound /dʒ/ (like jam).
• U/V also began to split by sound:
• U for vowels /u, ʊ, ʌ/ etc.
• V for the consonant /v/.

This was not instant or perfectly consistent, but printing created pressure to decide: Which shape goes with which sound?

Step 5 – The Birth of J, U, and W as Separate Letters

J separates from I

• By the 1600s, many European printers and scholars treated J as a distinct letter, especially in languages like French, Spanish, and later English.
• In English:
• Words like iudge increasingly became judge.
• Iesus shifted to Jesus.
• J came to represent the consonant /dʒ/ in English.

U separates from V

• Printers and grammarians gradually agreed:
• U = vowel (as in up, rule).
• V = consonant (as in very).
• By the 1700s, this separation was largely standard in printed English.

W stabilizes as "double U" (or "double V")

• Old English had ƿ (wynn) for the /w/ sound.
• Over time, scribes replaced ƿ with uu, literally double u.
• In medieval and early modern manuscripts, uu merged visually into a single symbol w.
• By the time of widespread printing in English:
• W was treated as a normal letter for /w/.
• It was often called “double u”, even though in many printed fonts it looks like double v.

So, by around 1700–1800, English writing regularly used J, U, and W as distinct letters with their own sounds and places in the alphabet.

Step 6 – Quick Check: Letter Splits

Test your understanding of how letters split apart.

Step 7 – Dictionaries and Schoolbooks Lock In the Alphabet

Printing pushed change, but dictionaries, grammars, and schools locked it in.

Early English dictionaries

• Robert Cawdrey’s Table Alphabeticall (1604) is one of the earliest English dictionaries. It still shows inconsistent use of I/J and U/V.
• Through the 1600s and 1700s, more dictionaries appeared.
• By the time of Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language (1755) (about 270 years ago), the separation of J from I and U from V was much more consistent.

Alphabet order and teaching

• As schools became more common in the 18th and 19th centuries, children learned:
• A fixed alphabet song or chart.
• A stable order: A B C D … X Y Z.
• J found its place between I and K.
• U and V settled into their modern positions.
• W was treated as its own letter, not just double of something else.

By the 19th century, the 26-letter English alphabet was firmly standard in:

• School primers
• Official documents
• Most printed books

From then to now (early 21st century), that 26-letter set has remained stable in English, even though:

• Spelling reforms have been proposed.
• Other writing systems (like IPA or texting shortcuts) add symbols or change usage.

The core alphabet, however, is the same one you know today.

Step 8 – Compare Old and Modern Spellings

Match early spellings to their modern forms and notice which letters changed.

Task

Look at each historical-style spelling and decide:

1. What is the modern spelling?
2. Which letters show the old I/J or U/V usage?

A. IULIUS

B. HAUE

C. IUDGEMENT

D. VNDERSTAND

Write down your answers, then open the solutions.

<details>

<summary>Solutions and comments</summary>

A. IULIUS → JULIUS

• Modern English: Julius.
• Change: Initial I used for the consonant /dʒ/ becomes J.

B. HAUE → HAVE

• Modern English: have.
• Change: U used for consonant /v/ becomes V.

C. IUDGEMENT → JUDGEMENT / JUDGMENT

• Modern English: judgement (British) or judgment (American).
• Change: Initial I (consonant) becomes J.

D. VNDERSTAND → UNDERSTAND

• Modern English: understand.
• Change: Initial V used for vowel /ʌ/ becomes U.

Key observation: Old spellings often use I where we now use J, and U/V interchangeably where we now clearly separate them.

</details>

Step 9 – Review Key Terms

Flip these cards (mentally or with a partner) to review the main concepts about the modern alphabet’s formation.

Step 10 – Final Check: Timeline to 26 Letters

One last question to connect the timeline.