Comments on Why did the letter K survive in Latin, though it was rarely used?
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Why did the letter K survive in Latin, though it was rarely used?
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In classical Latin, the letter C is pronounced like K. Hardly any words use the latter K; even imports from Greek turned kappa into C. A handful of words, such as "kalendae," held onto their K.
In general, classical Latin avoided superfluous letters. There was no distinction between I and J, or between U and V, until after the classical period. The letters J, V, and W are medieval additions to the alphabet.
Given the rarity of its use and the redundancy of its function, one might expect K to be dropped in favor of C, yet it wasn't. What factors kept it alive in the language?
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