1573: Losing and Regaining Z Apr 5, 2019

The letter Z comes from the Greek letter zeta (Ζζ), but for a while it was removed from the Latin script. In around 300 BC, the Censor Appius Claudius Caecus removed it from the Latin writing system; even when it was reintroduced 200 or so years later it was done so only for Greek loan words. There are many cases in which something is written with an S but the sound is voiced like [z], such as in 'wisdom', and often—though not always—this history is why. Germanic languages adopted the Z and use it a great deal, but Latin languages does not use the letter. 
Watch more about letter here: https://youtu.be/dntJLHmkfhw