terça-feira, 13 de março de 2012

Wondering why is "I" written with a capital letter...

... this is all I found.

The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology (Wilson, 1988, ISBN 0-8242-0745-9) says: "~I~ pron. 1137 i; later I (about 1250, in The Story of  Genesis and Exodus); developed from the unstressed form of Old English (about 725) ic singular pronoun of the first person (nominative case).  Modern and Middle English I developed from earlier i in the stressed position.  I came to be written with a capital letter thereby making it a distinct word and avoiding misreading handwritten manuscripts.  In the northern and midland dialects of England the capitalized form I appeared about 1250. In the south of England, where Old English ic  early shifted in pronunciation to ich (by palatalization), the form I did not become established until the 1700's (although it appears sporadically before that time)."

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