Cedilla: Difference between revisions

The tail originated in Spain as the bottom half of a miniature [[cursive]] [[z]]. The word ''cedilla'' is the [[diminutive]] of the [[Old Spanish language|Old Spanish]] name for this letter, {{lang|osp|[[zeta (letter)|ceda]]}} ({{lang|osp|zeta}}).<ref>For {{lang|osp|cedilla}} being the diminutive of {{lang|osp|ceda}}, see [http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?TIPO_HTML=2&LEMA=cedilla definition of ''cedilla''], {{lang|es|Diccionario de la lengua española}}, 22nd edition, [[Real Academia Española]] {{in lang|es}}, which can be seen in context by accessing the [http://www.rae.es/ site of the Real Academia] and searching for {{lang|es|cedilla}}. (This was accessed 27 July 2006.)</ref> Modern Spanish and isolationist Galician no longer use this diacritic (apart from {{lang|es|Barça}}, the nickname of the [[FC Barcelona]] football team), although it is used in [[Reintegrationism|Reintegrationist Galician]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]],<ref name="OED2">{{OED|cedilla}}</ref> [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[Occitan language|Occitan]], and [[French language|French]], which gives [[English language|English]] the alternative spellings of ''cedille'', from [[French language|French]] "{{lang|fr|cédille}}", and the [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] form {{lang|pt|cedilha}}. An obsolete spelling of ''cedilla'' is ''cerilla''.<ref name="OED2"/> The earliest use in English cited by the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''<ref name="OED2"/> is a 1599 Spanish-English dictionary and grammar.<ref>Minsheu, John (1599) ''Percyvall's (R.) Dictionarie in Spanish and English'' (as enlarged by J. Minsheu) Edm. Bollifant, London, {{OCLC|3497853}}</ref> Chambers' ''Cyclopædia''<ref>Chambers, Ephraim (1738) ''Cyclopædia; or, an universal dictionary of arts and sciences'' (2nd ed.) {{OCLC|221356381}}</ref> is cited for the printer-trade variant ''[[c-cedilla|ceceril]]'' in use in 1738.<ref name="OED2"/> Its use in English is not universal and applies to loan words from [[French language|French]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] such as ''[[façade]]'', ''[[limaçon]]'' and ''[[cachaça]]'' (often typed ''facade'', ''limacon'' and ''cachaca'' because of lack of ''ç'' keys on English language keyboards).