Stigma and Final Sigma
Stephen C. Carlson
scarlson at mindspring.com
Thu Oct 31 22:42:01 EST 2002
At 12:51 AM 11/1/02 -0000, Mark Goodacre wrote:
>Please excuse my ignorance, but is there any substantial difference
>between a lower case vau/digamma and a final sigma? Are they
>different names for the same thing? And is a stigma another name for
>a vau/digamma? Is a stigma another name for a final sigma?
>
>My understanding was that final sigma was the name given to the sigma
>occurring at the end of the word in cursive script, as all first year
>Greek students learn, and that the similar looking lower case digamma
>was not the same thing but was written slightly differently and used
>only for the number 6. But I am beginning to realise that my
>thinking is not clear on this and I'd appreciate some help.
The stigma was originally one of many ligatures that
were so common in the minuscule handwriting of Greek.
It is the combination of a sigma + tau. Its shape is
very similar to the final sigma, but its top part is
flatter and extends a little farther. The stigma is
used in (older) textual apparatuses to denote the
Stephanus text (i.e. the Received Text).
The final sigma is a fairly recent typographical
convention. If you look at medieval manuscripts, you
will see that the other sigma is used even at the end
of words.
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.
The SP Ionic font has both the final sigma (j) and the
stigma (v).
The digamma acquired a number of different forms over
the centuries and one of the cursive forms so resembled
the stigma that the stigma ended up replacing the diagamma
in numerals in cursive handwriting and has remained the
standard symbol for the numeral 6 in printed Greek texts.
Hope this helps.
Stephen Caarlson
--
Stephen C. Carlson mailto:scarlson at mindspring.com
Synoptic Problem Home Page http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/synopt/
"Poetry speaks of aspirations, and songs chant the words." Shujing 2.35
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