Why Google is now dedicating its doodle to the letter Ñ

Today’s doodle pays homage to the letter Ñ. Upon entering the search engine, you can see this consonant in a colorful format that appears behind the letters Google. The work was created by the artist Min, who lives in Barcelona.

“I’m a typography lover, so it was special to celebrate an element so little used in languages ​​other than Spanish,” Min said on the Google blog, referring to his creation.

As for how he was inspired to make the graphic, he said: “For the artwork, what inspired me the most are the geometric shapes and colors of the flags of the Spanish speaking countries” .

The Ñ is the only letter of the Spanish alphabet that originated in Spain, which is why it is considered much more than a consonant: it is a representation of Hispanic heritage and identity.

“The story of Ñ began with the Spanish scribes of the 12th century. While hand-copying Latin manuscripts, these medieval scholars devised a plan to save time and parchment by shortening words with double letters. They combined the two numbers into one and scribbled a little ‘n’ at the top, a symbol now known as a ‘tick’ or tilde, to indicate the change, ”says the official doodle blog.

This is how Latin terms like “annus” became “year” in the Spanish language. In 1803 it was officially incorporated into the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, and in 1993 Spain passed a law to protect its inclusion in computer keyboards due to its unbearable cultural significance.

It should be noted that the letter Ñ appears in over 17,700 words in Spanish, which clearly shows the fundamental role it plays within the Hispanic language and culture. In this sense, it should be noted that this consonant has left its mark on other languages ​​as well. Is the ñ also present in the alphabets of many other languages ​​historically linked to Spanish such as Euskera, Guaraní, Quechua or Aymara, among others.

In 2010, the United Nations declared April 23 a day to celebrate the Spanish language every year, one of the most widely spoken in the world.

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