Stigma and Final Stigma
revelation
info at revelationjesuschrist.com
Tue Nov 5 21:20:28 EST 2002
On 11/5 Mark Goodacre wrote:
I find that my thinking is still not clear on this. You say here,
Daniel, that "the alphabetic letter Final Sigma . . . was now called
STIGMA". But I understood from Stephen and Carl that final sigma and
stigma were different. Stephen writes:
> Because of its similarity in shape to the final sigma,
> the stigma is sometimes replaced by the final sigma,
> perhaps due to computing limits or out of ignorance.
And Carl writes the following in response to my question "Is a stigma
another name for a final sigma?":
> No, it is not; what is perhaps confusing is that the stigma, which
> looks much like a final sigma but the end of the upper line extends
> slightly farther to the rightand was meant to represent the
> combination of sigma and tau, came to serve as the number for "6"
> where the digamma had functioned earlier.
So my understanding is that stigma is *not* the same thing as final
sigma, or am I missing something somewhere? I notice when looking
at the apparatus to Rev. 13.18 in N-A26 that the stigma there is
clearly represented differently from final sigma; the stigma has the
elongated upper line mentioned by Carl above.
The other thing that concerns me in what Daniel writes above is that
this came in "when the Greeks began to write in cursive". Looking at
P115 (late 3rd, early 4th C.), there is clearly a stigma used (C
shape but with elongated upper line) for 6 in 616 (Chi, Iota,
Stigma). There's a good image on-line at
http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/POxy/beast616.htm . So stigma for 6 surely
didn't come in with the advent of cursive writing, did it?
Finally, I wonder if I might ask for some additional clarification on
stigma being an abbreviation for sigma + tau? Does this mean that
stigma was used in texts as an abbreviation for sigma + tau? Was
that the origin of the letter before it was used for the numeral 6?
Thanks, Carl, for the Herbert Weir Smyth reference; I've looked that
up and it was helpful, but somewhat terse.
Many thanks for helping me to get clear on this.
Mark
Hi Mark
It seems my previous understanding re stigma and final sigma was incorrect.
Stigma and final sigma are absolutely different signs, stigma being much
earlier.
I found these three excellent links regarding the numerical sign called
STIGMA:
by Otfried Lieberknecht
http://www.ku.edu/~medieval/melcher/matthias/t51/0017.html
by Dr G.R. Asser http://www.parthia.com/assar_vardanes2.htm
by Chris Hopkins http://www.parthia.com/font_stigma.htm
regarding the Carls link ... http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/POxy/beast616.htm .
(The Stigma looks like a "C" on this papyrus witness to Revelation)
This link and other examples I have come across doing a web search show
Uncials with Stigma.
Does anyone know the earliest use of stigma? I suspect sometime around 400
BC but can't find any source.
Daniel Gleason
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list