DN on thorns: "but "ki" and other details still perplex me"
The very first text of Italian language, known as "Placito cassinese"
(ca. 960), begins with such words:
Sao ko kelle terre...
I know that these fields...
or, in modern Italian: So che quelle terre...
So you may see how 'k' was used then for both the sounds represented in
modern centuries Italian by 'Ch' before a 'e' or 'i' and by 'Qu' before
a wovel.