why is a " W " called a double " U " when it looks more like a double " V "?

Question

i hope this maks sense !

Answer 1

It makes a hell lot of sense, great question...
"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 wynn (Ƿ), 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"."

Answer 2

u must remember english is derived from older languages such as french and latin and several more...
i think in addition to the reasons other people gave, which sounds feasible, when we type certain letters, they take on a different shape. The cursive A is different to the printed A ...when we print the W its different to the cursive W. the cursive W has rounded ends like the letter U, or the cursive V. so if you put two cursive V's next to each other, it looks like a Double V or Double U. In french they call it the Double V!! (the french say that makes sense to them).

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

It's only called double u in the UK as traditionanally we wrote it as a double u not as we do now with the increased use of computers as a double v. The rest of Europe write and say as double v

Answer 5

I've read all the answers so far and find them very interesting. But, I wanted to add my "two cents" (two points?) worth. When a lot of Southerners get to that part in pronouncing the alphabet, it goes something like this: "you, vee, DUBYA, ex, wye, zee."

So, it's a two-syllable letter here in Texas (dubya) and not a three-syllable one (double u)... And, NO, it has NOTHING to do with George "Dubya" Bush... *lol*

Answer 6

The 'u' and 'v' used to be used- thuogh there were variations- the other way around. Current conventions for usage came about in the 18th century, when a great deal of prescriptivism appeared.

Answer 7

Don't know but when my sister was teaching my niece the alphabet when she got to W my niece used to repeat it as Double Me - from the mouths of babes

Answer 8

because there was no such font back in the day. One was taught to write a W as a curvy letter. Its too simple really.

Answer 9

i dont know but in spanish its called a double v

Answer 10

Yes, makes sense but the way I do my "UU" looks like a uu!