digamma

[ dahy-gam-uh ]

noun

1. a letter of the early Greek alphabet that generally fell into disuse in Attic Greek before the classical period and that represented a sound similar to English w.

digamma

/ daɪˈɡæmə /

noun

1. a letter of the Greek alphabet ( ) that became obsolete before the classical period of the language. It represented a semivowel like English W and was used as a numeral in later stages of written Greek, and passed into the Roman alphabet as F

Other Words From

• di·gam·mat·ed [dahy-, gam, -ey-tid], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of digamma¹

1545–55; < Latin < Greek dígamma, equivalent to di- di- ¹ + gámma gamma; from its resemblance to two gammas placed one over the other, similar to Roman French, which is a descendant of digamma

Word History and Origins

Origin of digamma¹

C17: via Latin from Greek, from di- ¹+ gamma ; from its shape, which suggests one gamma upon another

Example Sentences

When the Greeks, instead of writing like the Phœnicians from right to left, began to write from left to right, they turned each letter, and as became K, our k, so , vau, became F, the Greek so-called Digamma, the Latin F. The first letter in Chu-fu, too, still exists in our alphabet, and in the transverse line of our H we must recognize the last remnant of the lines which divide the sieve.

From Project Gutenberg

In the vocabulary the most striking difference is that many words appear from the metre to have contained a sound which they afterwards lost, viz. that which is written in some Greek alphabets by the “digamma” ϝ Thus the words ἄναξ, ἄστυ, ἔργον, ἔπος, and many others must have been written at one time ϝάναξ, ϝάστυ, ϝέργον, ϝέπος.

From Project Gutenberg

So too the digamma is called “Aeolic” by grammarians, and is found on Aeolic and Doric inscriptions.

From Project Gutenberg

The apparent exception κόρη is explained by the fact that in this word a digamma ϝ has been lost after ρ, in Doric κόρϝα.

From Project Gutenberg

Behind the latter stands a winged, draped, tall female figure, whom at one time I took to be the glorified soul of Patroclus; but, having seen a similar figure on other Etruscan designs depicting human sacrifice or death, and finding over the head of this one the word fanth, vanth, or fano—according to the value which we assign to the digamma or F and O—which is, I think, equivalent to the Latin Fatum, fate, &c., we must regard the figure as resembling Azrael—"the angel of death."

From Project Gutenberg