digamma

Greek alphabet
Αα Alpha	Νν Nu
Ββ Beta	Ξξ Xi
Γγ Gamma	Οο Omicron
Δδ Delta	Ππ Pi
Εε Epsilon	Ρρ Rho
Ζζ Zeta	Σσ Sigma
Ηη Eta	Ττ Tau
Θθ Theta	Υυ Upsilon
Ιι Iota	Φφ Phi
Κκ Kappa	Χχ Chi
Λλ Lambda	Ψψ Psi
Μμ Mu	Ωω Omega
Obsolete letters
Ϝϝ Digamma	Ϙϙ Qoppa
Ϛϛ Stigma	Ϡϡ Sampi
Ϻϻ San	Ϸϸ Sho
Greek diacritics

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

The letter had the phonetic value of a voiced labial-velar approximant /w/. It was originally called Ϝαῦ wau.^[1] It was later called διγαμμα (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.

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

Numeral

It is also used as the Greek numeral 6. In ancient usage, the numeral had the same form as the letter digamma. However, in medieval and modern usage, the numeral has normally been written in the graphic form of a stigma (Ϛ, ϛ), which historically is completely distinct from digamma; it is a medieval ligature of sigma and tau. To complete the confusion, in modern times, the sequence στ or ΣΤ is sometimes used instead of the stigma symbol.

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 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] (cf. Latin vinum and English "wine"). For some time, word-initial /w-/ remained foreign to Greek phonology, and was dropped in loanwords, compare the name of Italy (Italia from Oscan Viteliu *Ϝιτελιυ) or of the Veneti (Greek Enetoi).

By the 2nd century BC, the phoneme was once again registered, compare for example the spelling of ουατεις for vates. The digamma survives even today as /v/ in the Doric (or Doric-derived) Tsakonian, the only dialect not descended from ancient Alexandrian (the famous example being βάννε /vánnε/ "lamb" for standard Greek αρνί).

Notes

References

• Peter T. Daniels - William Bright (edd.), The World's Writing Systems, New York, Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 0195079930
• Jean Humbert, Histoire de la langue grecque, Paris, 1972.
• Michel Lejeune, Phonétique historique du mycénien et du grec ancien, Klincksieck, Paris, 1967. ISBN 2252034963
• "In Search of The Trojan War", pp.142-143,187 by Michael Wood, 1985, published by BBC.

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