C is the third letter of our alphabet. It was also the third letter in the alphabet used by the Semites, who once lived in Syria and Palestine. C comes from the same letter as our G or g. The Semites named it gimel, their word for a throwing stick. The sign is possibly adapted from an Egyptian hieroglyphic (picture symbol) for a boomerang. The Romans gave the letter its capital C form, and used it to indicate two sounds, that of g and that of k. The Romans finally made two different letters by adding a vertical stroke to the C to make G. See Alphabet.