C

1. C is the third letter of the English alphabet. It is from the Latin letter C, which in old Latin represented the sounds of k , and g (in go ); its original value being the latter. In Anglo-Saxon words, or Old English before the Norman Conquest, it always has the sound of k . The Latin C was the same letter as the Greek Γ, γ, and came from the Greek alphabet. The Greeks got it from the Phœnicians. The English name of C is from the Latin name ce , and was derived, probably, through the French. Etymologically C is related to g , h , k , q , s (and other sibilant sounds). Examples of these relations are in L. a c utus, E. a c ute, a g ue; E. a c rid, ea g er, vine g ar; L. c ornu, E. h orn; E. c at, k itten; E. c oy, q uiet; L. c ir c are, OF. c er ch ier, E. s ear ch .
2. The keynote of the normal or “natural” scale, which has neither flats nor sharps in its signature; also, the third note of the relative minor scale of the same.
3. C after the clef is the mark of common time, in which each measure is a semibreve (four fourths or crotchets); for alla breve time it is written &unr_;.
4. The “C clef,” a modification of the letter C, placed on any line of the staff, shows that line to be middle C.
5. As a numeral, C stands for Latin centum or 100, CC for 200, etc.

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