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braille

Louis Braille lost his sight as a child and invented a raised-dot alphabet at fifteen. He published it in 1829, his surname became the name of the script in French and then in English by the 1850s, and as schools for the blind adopted it, Braille's name went into dozens of languages.

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The road to English

From French to German

From French to Spanish

From French to Italian

From French to Portuguese

From French to Russian

From French to Polish

From English to Hindi

From English to Arabic

From English to Modern Hebrew

1829French

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

braille

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The road to English

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