11 ms·
I wonder if this is part of why there is a special sigma for use at the end of words. σ is normal sigma and ς is for the endings of words.
by srcreigh 5y ago
I wonder if this is part of why there is a special sigma for use at the end of words.
σ is normal sigma and ς is for the endings of words.
- throwawayffffas 5y agoI wouldn't think so, I am under the impression lowercase case and thus the two different characters for sigma came after spacing out words.
- fourtrees 5y agoI think the word-final sigma has been found in manuscripts dating to the 1st century BCE, but I think its use was only in cursive and not universal. So, I think you're basically right; certainly majuscule scripta continua documents like the Codex Sinaiticus or Vaticanus wouldn't have used it.
- fourtrees 5y agoOh that's a really neat theory! So many regularly declined nouns and related word classes end in the sigma. It certainly makes sense considering the frequency of -s ending words. The rough breathing mark seems like it could have played a similar role. (At least, you have the singular nominatives of the 1st declension masculines, all the 2nd declension noms and a fraction of the 3rd declension noms. And then the singular genitives and the plural accusatives and datives. And so on. Using a 2nd person singular verb, you could probably make a complete and rather complicated sentence in which every word ended in sigma.)