letters k and q

[mathman]

Why do we have these two letters in the alphabet, which sound the same? How did it develop (starting from ancient Phoenician)?

 

[arfa brane]

What we have is the "k" sound and the "kw" sound; for some reason the language needs it.

 

[Sarkus]

Google is your friend:
https://www.superprof.co.uk/blog/ancient-latin-alphabet/

 

[mathman]

Google is your friend:
https://www.superprof.co.uk/blog/ancient-latin-alphabet/

Existence of K and Q is explained, but why are they there? k was kept only for some words and q was used in qu. Note that transcriptions from Arabic (Iraq) use q without a u. Did Semitic alphabets have predecessors for both?