Digamma

The Digamma ( Greek δίγαμμα, Majuskel Ϝ / Ͷ, minuscule ϝ / ͷ) was originally the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet , but came v around 500th Chr. Out of use. He had the phonetic value [⁠ w ⁠] and comes from the Phoenician letter " Waw from". The descriptive name Digamma (“double gamma") Is based on its F-shaped form (two right-turned" gallows "placed one on top of the other result in an F with a common line on edge) and indicates that the sound originally depicted was no longer used in some dialects of classical Greek antiquity, v. a. in the Attic - Ionic , while the Doric dialects kept this sound longer. According to the Milesian system, it has the numerical value 6.

origin

The Digamma also comes as the Ypsilon from the Phoenician letter Waw ( ) for [⁠ w ⁠] from. With the acquisition of the Phoenician alphabet is from the Phoenician waw developed the consonant Digamma (Ϝ) for [⁠ w ⁠] and the vowel Ypsilon (Υ), originally the phonetic value [⁠ u ⁠] had. The digamma was in the same place in the alphabetical order as the Phoenician vav, namely in the sixth position between epsilon and zeta , the ypsilon was added at the end of the alphabet. The original name of the digamma is unknown, but by analogy with the development of the name of the letter tau (Phoenician taw → Greek tau ) it can be assumed that it was ϝαῦ waú (because of Phoenician waw ).

Use as a letter

The archaic inscription […] Ι ϜΑΝΑΚΤΙ ( [poteidan] i wanakti ) on this ceramic fragment corresponds to the word ἄναξ ( ánax , “prince”) in classical Greek.

The Greek had originally [⁠ w ⁠] -sound from the Primitive Indo-European accepted. The Digamma an equivalent in related English words w (that but the phonetic value v has), and in Latin words a v (phonetic value w ;.. See gr οἶνος oinos , formerly ϝοῖνος woînos ., With German wine . And Latin vinum or gr. εἰδέναι eidénai , formerly ϝειδέναι weidénai , with German knowledge and Latin videre ).

In some dialects, including Attic , the classical form of ancient Greek, this sound was dropped early on. Therefore there was no use for the letter Digamma. When in Athens in 403 BC When the Milesian alphabet was introduced, the obsolete digamma was abolished.

In those dialects that the [⁠ w ⁠] still had -According, the use of Digamma occupied by inscriptions. In poetry, too, particularly in Homer , Sappho and Alkman, there are references to the presence of the Digamma.

The w-sound in early Greek was rediscovered by Richard Bentley (1662–1742) when he was trying to reconstruct the metric in Homer's epics . Words that originally began with Digamma appear more than 3000 times in Homer in places where the meter requires a consonantic word. In Homer's time, the Digamma was probably no longer spoken, but it still had an effect in orally transmitted verses.

Use as a numeral

It was then only used as a numeral (6), but often another form, the stigma (ϛ), a ligature made up of sigma and tau, or the end-of-word form of sigma (ς) or sigma-tau ( στ) as two separate letters, is written. The original letter name "Wau" was lost and was replaced by Digamma.

Descendants

When it was still in general use, the digamma was borrowed from the old Italian alphabet . Since it in Etruscan also not present in the classical Greek According to [⁠ f ⁠] gave (the Phi was originally [ P ] pronounced later was [⁠ f ⁠] thereof), it was with an archaic H related to this. However, since the archaic U (except for also [⁠ u ⁠] ) for [⁠ w ⁠] was used as the Romans, when they also took over the alphabet, as felt redundant, they interpreted this letter because of its use in the combination "FH" for [⁠ f ⁠] and set as the current F thereof.

Digamma inversum

The Roman emperor Claudius tried in the Latin alphabet a twisted Digamma ( digamma inversum ) Ⅎ (U + 2132), to identify the sound [⁠ v ⁠] introduce. There is also a lowercase letter, ⅎ (U + 214E), which does not appear in texts from Claudius' time, as these were written with capital letters, but can be used when stylistically lowercase letters are to be used.

Single receipts

^ Inscriptiones Graecae IV 220 [1]

Web links

Thesaurus Linguae Graecae [2] (Eng.)

[1] Inscriptiones Graecae IV 220 [1]