Editing R (section)

===Antiquity===
[[File:Prognatus.png|thumb|The word {{lang|la|prognatus}} as written on the [[Sarcophagus of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus]] (280 BC) reveals the full development of the Latin {{angbr|R}} by that time; the letter {{angbr|P}} at the same time still retains its archaic shape distinguishing it from Greek or Old Italic ''rho''.]]
The letter {{angbr|R}} is believed to derive ultimately from an image of a head, used in [[Semitic alphabets]] for the sound {{IPA|/r/}} because the word for 'head' was ''[[rêš]]'' or similar in most [[Semitic languages]].  The word became the name of the letter, as an example of [[acrophony]].

It developed into Greek {{angbr|[[Rho (letter)|Ρ]]}} {{lang|grc|ῥῶ}} ({{transliteration|grc|rhô}}) and Latin {{angbr|R}}. The descending diagonal stroke develops as a graphic variant in some [[Western Greek alphabets]] (writing ''rho'' as [[File:Greek Rho 03.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px| ]]), but it was not adopted in most [[Old Italic alphabet]]s; most Old Italic alphabets show variants of their ''rho'' between a {{angbr|P}} and a {{angbr|D}} shape, but without the Western Greek descending stroke.
Indeed, the oldest known forms of the Latin alphabet itself of the 7th to 6th centuries BC, in the [[Duenos Inscription|Duenos]] and the [[Forum inscription]], still write {{angbr|r}} using the {{angbr|P}}<!--𐌓Ρ--> shape of the letter.
The [[Lapis Satricanus]] inscription shows the form of the Latin alphabet around 500 BC. Here, the rounded, closing Π shape of the {{angbr|p}} <!--𐌐--> and the {{angbr|Ρ}} shape of the {{angbr|r}} have become difficult to distinguish.
The descending stroke of the Latin letter {{angbr|R}} has fully developed by the 3rd century BC, as seen in the [[Tomb of the Scipios]] sarcophagus inscriptions of that era. From {{circa|50 AD}}, the letter {{angbr|P}} would be written with its loop fully closed, assuming the shape formerly taken by {{angbr|R}}.