Why do we have the letters "QU" when "K" and "KW" make the same sound?

Question

The alphabet needs some serious optimization.

Answer 1

There was a now obsolete Greek letter called Qoppa, which had the sounds kw and kwh. The Etruscans, the people who would later start the Roman Empire, used Q (based on the greek Qoppa) exclusively with their letter V, which has the same sound as the modern English W. As a result, modern laguages written with Latin letters used qu too (The letter u was used with q in Latin, which had about the same sound as kw when used).

Answer 2

You are right, it seems like its just convention to keep Qu when K or KW could do. I think C is also useless, its sounds can be accomplished by K or S. It would also be nice if spelling got rationalized but as they say, don't hold your breath!

Answer 3

I guess you mean the English language (as an asker you should never assume that because Y!Answers is international). If so,the answer is: English spelling is etymological, rather than phonetical;it looks at the origin of words not at how they sound now. Most "qu" words come from Latin or French.

Answer 4

I am the sole and founder member of the 'Save QU Society'. Hands off our letters! If you did away with Q, how would I get those splendid Scrabble scores?

Answer 5

English is a mixture of many other languages, such as Frisian, Anglo-Saxon, German, Danish, Gaelic (Scottish, Welsh, Irish, etc), French, Old Norse, and much older, Sanskrit (Indo-European, Indo-Iranian).

It is because of this mix that the examples you list, and many more, exist.