Online Encyclopedia

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. ...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 501 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LETTER (through Fr. lettre from
See also:
Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with
See also:
wax, for an inscription with a stilus)
  , a character or symbol expressing any one of the elementary sounds into which a spoken word may be analysed, one of the members of an alphabet . As applied to things written, the word follows mainly the meanings. of the Latin plural litterae, the most
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common meaning attaching to the word being that of a written communication from one person to another, an
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epistle (q.v.) . For the means adopted to secure the transmission of letters see
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POST AND POSTAL SERVICE . The word is also, particularly in the plural, applied to many legal and formal written documents, as in letters patent, letters rogatory and dismissory, &c . The Latin use of the plural is also followed in the employment of "letters" in the sense of literature (q.v.) or learning .

End of Article: LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)
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JEAN FRANCOIS LESUEUR (1760 or 1763–1837)
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