What is the history of English alphabet?

Answer 1

English was first written in the Anglo-Saxon futhark runic alphabet, in use from the 5th century.

The Latin alphabet, introduced by Christian missionaries, began to replace Futhark Runs about the 7th century.

Futhark influenced the Latin alphabet by providing it with the letters thorn (Þ þ) and wynn (Ƿ ƿ). The letter eth (Ð ð) was later devised as a modification of Dee (D d), and finally yogh (Ȝ ȝ) was created by Norman scribes from the insular g in Old English and Irish, and used alongside their Carolingian g.

The a-e ligature ash (Æ æ) was adopted as a letter its own right, named after a futhark rune æsc. In very early Old English the o-e ligature ethel (Œ œ) also appeared as a distinct letter, likewise named after a rune, œðel. Additionally, the v-v or u-u ligature double-u (W w) was in use.

In 1011, a writer named Byrhtferð ordered the Old English alphabet for numerological purposes. He listed the 24 letters of the Latin alphabet (including ampersand) first, then 5 additional English letters, starting with the Tironian note ond (⁊) an insular symbol for and:

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z & ⁊ Ƿ Þ Ð Æ

⁊ Ƿ Þ Ð Æ were removed from the Alphabet by the 15th Century. J, U, and W were added in the 17th Century.