Ypsilon

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Greek letter upsilon serif + sans.svg
Ypsilon
pronunciation
antique [ y ]
modern [ i, u, v, f ]
Equivalents
Latin Yy
Cyrillic Ыы
Phoenician ?
transcription
From the ancient world y, u
From the modern y, v, f
Coding
Capitals
Unicode number U + 03A5
Unicode name GREEK CAPITAL LETTER UPSILON
HTML & # 933;
HTML entity & Upsilon;
Minuscule
Unicode number U + 03C5
Unicode name GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON
HTML & # 965;
HTML entity & upsilon;
variant
Unicode number U + 03D2
Unicode name GREEK UPSILON WITH HOOK SYMBOL
HTML & # 978;
HTML entity & upsih;

The Ypsilon ( Greek neuter Ύψιλον , "simple I" [compare epsilon ]; uppercase Υ, minuscule υ) is the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet and, according to the Milesian system, has the numerical value 400. In the 1st century BC. Chr. , The letter was also named the 25th letter in the Latin alphabet adopted, see Y .

In modern Greek the letter is called Ípsilon and is pronounced like an "I".

origin

The Ypsilon is the first letter the Greeks added to their alphabet . They used a variant of the Phoenician Vaw , after the other variant had already been used for the Digamma . In early Greek the sound value of the Ypsilon was the vowel [u]. The new letter was later called (according to the changed pronunciation) “Ü” (in Greek “υ”) but later received the ancient Greek name “ u psilon ” (ancient Greek ὔ ψιλόν , pronounced: ǘ psilón ), which means “simple Ü “Means that meanwhile the letter combination οι has also been pronounced as [y].

The Etruscans adopted the early Greek Ypsilon and its sound value. Over time, the lower point disappeared among the Etruscans, the letter took the form V. The meaning of the letter also changed: The Etruscan also contained the half-vowel [w] corresponding to the [u], and the letter was used to denote both sounds to write. The Etruscans passed this letter on to the Romans with these two sound values ​​[u] and [w]. The Romans used the letter as the last of their alphabet for the time being in the form of a V for the sounds [u] and [w] (as in English " well "), but not as [v] as in German "Wein" [ vaɪ̯n ], although this pronunciation is common in Latin class today.

After the conquest of Greece by the Romans and the penetration thus caused many Greek names, the Ypsilon for the letters of the Greek foreign words was then again into into Latin Latin alphabet introduced, but this time in its original form Y . Up until this point in time, the Romans used V or I to write Greek words . During his tenure as censor, the later Roman emperor Claudius tried to introduce a completely new letter , which resembled a half H and the Greek Heta (Ͱ) , for the sound [y]. However, the use of this letter did not catch on.

Pronunciation in German

Words that contain a “y” are usually spoken at the beginning of the word and syllable as if there were a “j” (examples: “the yacht”, “the bayou ”). A “y” inside the word usually has the sound value “ü” (examples: “the myth”, “the island of Sylt”, but: “Sylvia” like “Silvia”), at the end of the word the sound value “i” (example: “Benny "). The name of the letter is mostly pronounced (voiceless) "Üpßilon" or (voiced) "Üpsilon", but occasionally in abbreviations as in the original language (eg " YMCA = wai em ßi äi" or " YPG = jee pee gee") ").

use

In physics, the large Ypsilon denotes the Υ meson . The symbol used here is always a Υ with “ram's horns” , which differs from the Latin letter Y ( hypercharge ).

Character encoding

Uppercase Υ Uppercase ϒ (variant "Ypsilon with hook") Minuscule υ
Unicode codepoint U + 03A5 U + 03D2 U + 03C5
Unicode name GREEK CAPITAL LETTER UPSILON GREEK UPSILON WITH HOOK SYMBOL GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON
HTML & # 933; & # 978; & # 965;
HTML entity & Upsilon; & upsilon;

There are two grapheme variants for the capital letter coded under U + 03A5: one that looks like the Latin Y, and a symmetrical one with two curved branches that look like ram's horns. The latter is used in mathematical theorem to distinguish the Greek Υ from the Latin Y.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mar. Vict. Ars grams. 1.4; Also Revilo P. Oliver: "The Claudian Letter", in: American Journal of Archeology 53, 1949, pp. 249-257. doi : 10.2307 / 500662
  2. The Unicode Standard, Version 5.2.0, European Alphabetic Scripts, p. 211 (PDF; 710 kB)

Web links

Wiktionary: Ypsilon  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations