Qoph or Qop (In Hebrew: Kuf) is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet (in abjadi order). Its sound value is an emphatic (pharyngealized) velar stop, , or uvular stop .It became over time the letter Q in the Latin alphabet, and the letter Qoppa in certain early varieties of the Greek alphabet.
Origins of Qoph
The origin of Qoph is usually thought to have come from a pictogram of a monkey, with the body and tail shown (In Hebrew, Qoph, spelled in Hebrew letters as ???, means "monkey", and K'of in Old Egyptian meant a type of monkey). Others have proposed that it originated from a pictogram of someone's head and neck (Qaph in Arabic meant the nape).
Hebrew Kuf
Hebrew Pronunciation
In modern Israeli Hebrew, Kuf usually represents i.e., no distinction is made between Kuf and Kaph. However, many historical groups have made that distinction, with Kuf being pronounced as a voiceless uvular plosive by Iraqi Jews and ot
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qoph