"Is this the face that launched a thousand ships, And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?"
Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus
In very Ancient Greek (before Homer) there was a 'W' sound, denoted by digamma, which looked like F. But it got lost, otherwise Helen would have burnt the topless towers of Wilium.
Other archaic Greek words that once began with W are oinos (put back the W and it's the same word as English wine and Latin vinum), ion (English violet), and oikos (=house, like Old English wick, found in many place names).
If the Ancient Greeks had only retained their F we might today speak of wecology and weconomics.
The Topless Towers of Wilium
"Is this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?"
Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus
In very Ancient Greek (before Homer) there was a 'W' sound, denoted by digamma, which looked like F. But it got lost, otherwise Helen would have burnt the topless towers of Wilium.
Other archaic Greek words that once began with W are oinos (put back the W and it's the same word as English wine and Latin vinum), ion (English violet), and oikos (=house, like Old English wick, found in many place names).
If the Ancient Greeks had only retained their F we might today speak of wecology and weconomics.
Over to you: What does Greek ergos mean?