Peter Giles

“ This arises from the pronunciation of u as yu, and does not affect the English dialects which have not thus modified the u sound. Similar changes had taken place in some of the local dialects of Italy before the Christian era. At the end of words the English t is really aspirated, a breath being audible after the t in words like bit, hit, pit. This is the sound that in ancient Greek was represented by θ. In medieval and modern Greek, however, this has become the unvoiced sound represented in English by th in thin, thick, pith. ”

“ T the last letter in the Semitic alphabet, where, however, its form in the earliest inscriptions is that of a St Andrew's Cross X. In both Greek and Latin, however, although the upright and cross stroke are frequently not exactly at right angles and the upright often projects beyond the cross stroke, the forms approach more nearly to the modern than to the Semitic shape. ”