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Headword: *si/gma
Adler number: sigma,369
Translated headword: sigma
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[Meaning] the letter [of that name], a phoneme.
Greek Original:
*si/gma: to\ gra/mma, stoixei=on.
Notes:
On stoikheion, the second gloss here, see eta 614.
The Greek language lost the sound of s in initial position and between vowels, but various processes resulted in new sibilant sounds (Smyth, sections 103ff., 118ff.: web address 1 & web address 2).
The letter sigma comes from the Semitic sin (Hebrew שׂ), one of four letters representing sibilants in the Canaanite alphabet. Of the others, zayin (Hebrew ז) became Greek zeta, samek (Hebrew ס) gave xi; and sade (Hebrew צ) was used in some alphabets instead of sigma, but survived eventually only as a numeral with the value 900.
Reference:
M. Lejeune, Phonétique historique du mycénien et du grec ancien (Paris 1972), pp. 88-89.
Associated internet addresses:
Web address 1,
Web address 2
Keywords: definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology
Translated by: Catharine Roth on 31 January 2002@20:21:58.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead on 1 September 2002@06:27:03.
Catharine Roth (cosmetics) on 14 December 2004@00:23:32.
Catharine Roth (cosmetics) on 13 March 2008@01:16:37.
Catharine Roth (updated bibliography) on 5 June 2008@11:34:06.
Raphael Finkel (added Hebrew) on 5 June 2008@12:51:13.
David Whitehead (tweaking) on 24 December 2013@05:10:24.
Catharine Roth (typo, tweaked note, upgraded links) on 26 December 2013@01:15:22.

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