why is "W" sounded like double u, when it looks like a double V?

Answer 1

Taken from Wikipedia:

"The earliest form of the letter W was a doubled V used in the 7th century by the earliest writers of Old English; it is from this digraph that the modern name "double U" comes. This digraph was not extensively used, as its sound was usually represented instead by the runic letter "wynn", but W gained popularity after the Norman Conquest, and by 1300 it had taken wynn's place in common use. Other forms of the letter were a pair of Vs whose branches cross in the middle. An obsolete, cursive form found in the nineteenth century in both English and German was in the form of an "n" whose rightmost branch curved around as in a cursive "v"."

The Latin [w] sound developed into Romance [v]; therefore V no longer adequately represented Germanic [w]. [This means that in Latin, the letter "V" has the sound of our English "W."]

Answer 2

Quirk of the English language. Same reason why C sounds like K and K sounds like Kay. Or when you just say S. Sounds like your saying ES.

Answer 3

I think it it because the V use to be a U. If you look at older buildings with writing on them, often there is a v where in today's world there should be a u. For example: Kentvcky (on the state capital building)

Answer 4

I don't actually know, but I'm guessing you'll have a pretty tough uphill slog to convince the english-speaking world to switch their pronunciation to "double-v".

Answer 5

maybe because before, when the alphabets was invented, v was also said as double u.

Answer 6

Because it was invented by George W. Bush. Typical of his level of intelligence.

Answer 7

In the old days, there was no 'u', and 'v' was used for both letters.

Answer 8

English language has no logic.

Answer 9

it was just made that way