Digamma

From Freepedia

This article is about the Greek letter; for the mathematical function, see digamma function.

Greek alphabet
Α α Alpha	Β β Beta
Γ γ Gamma	Δ δ Delta
Ε ε Epsilon	Ζ ζ Zeta
Η η Eta	Θ θ Theta
Ι ι Iota	Κ κ Kappa
Λ λ Lambda	Μ μ Mu
Ν ν Nu	Ξ ξ Xi
Ο ο Omicron	Π π Pi
Ρ ρ Rho	Σ σ Sigma
Τ τ Tau	Υ υ Upsilon
Φ φ Phi	Χ χ Chi
Ψ ψ Psi	Ω ω Omega
obsolete letters
Ϝ ϝ Digamma	Ϻ ϻ San
Ϙ ϙ Qoppa	Ϡ ϡ Sampi

Digamma (upper case Ϝ, lower case ϝ) is an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet, used primarily as a Greek numeral.

The letter had the phonetic value w. Its original name is unknown, but was probably Ϝαυ (wau). It was later called 'digamma' (double gamma) because of its shape. It is attested in archaic and dialectal ancient Greek inscriptions, and is occasionally used as a symbol in later Greek mathematical texts.

It is also used as the Greek numeral 6. In ancient usage, the numeral had the same form as the letter. However, in medieval and modern usage, the numeral has normally been written in the graphic form of a stigma (Ϛ, ϛ), which was originally a ligature of sigma and tau, or even as the sequence στ or ΣΤ.

Digamma, like Y, derives from the Phoenician letter Waw, and in its turn gave rise to the Roman letter F.

The sound [w] in Greek

The sound [w] existed in Mycenean Greek, as attested in Linear B and archaic Greek inscriptions using digamma. It is also confirmed by the Hittite name of Troy, Wilusa, corresponding to the reconstructed Greek name *Wilion. The sound was lost at various times in various dialects, mostly before the classical period.

In Ionic, [w] had probably disappeared before Homer's epics were written down (7th century BC), but its former presence can be detected in many cases because its omission left the meter defective. An example is the word ἄναξ (king) found in the Iliad, which would originally have been [wanaks]. Also οἶνος (wine) was used in the meter where a word starting with a consonant would be expected. Further evidence coupled with cognate-analysis shows that οἶνος was earlier [woinos].