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Encyclopedia > Upsilon (letter)
Greek alphabet
Α α Alpha Β β Beta
Γ γ Gamma Δ δ Delta
Ε ε Epsilon Ζ ζ Zeta
Η η Eta Θ θ Theta
Ι ι Iota Κ κ Kappa
Λ λ Lambda Μ μ Mu
Ν ν Nu Ξ ξ Xi
Ο ο Omicron Π π Pi
Ρ ρ Rho Σ σ Sigma
Τ τ Tau Υ υ Upsilon
Φ φ Phi Χ χ Chi
Ψ ψ Psi Ω ω Omega
Obsolete letters
Ϝ ϝ Digamma Ϻ ϻ San
Ϙ ϙ Qoppa Ϡ ϡ Sampi


Upsilon (upper case Υ, lower case υ) is the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 400. Four letters of the Latin alphabet arose from it; U, V, W, and Y.


In early Greek it was pronounced like "continental" u or English oo. In Classical Greek, it was pronounced like French u or German ü — a sound that is not found in most dialects of English. In Modern Greek it is pronounced like "continental" i or English ee. In ancient Greek it occurred in both long and short versions, but this distinction has been lost in Modern Greek.


As an initial letter in Classical Greek it always carried the rough breathing (equivalent to h) as reflected in the many Greek-derived English words starting with hy.


Upsilon participated as the second element in falling diphthongs, which have subsequently developed in various ways: for instance after alpha or epsilon it is pronounced f or v.


The name of the letter was originally just υ. It changed to "u psilon" (Greek υ ψιλόν, meaning "simple u") to distinguish it from οι, which had come to have the same ü pronunciation.


  Results from FactBites:
 
Upsilon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (294 words)
Upsilon (upper case Υ, lower case υ) is the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet.
Upsilon participated as the second element in falling diphthongs, which have subsequently developed in various ways: for instance after alpha or epsilon it is pronounced f or v.
The Roman Emperor Claudius proposed introducing a new letter into the Latin alphabet to approximate the sound of upsilon, but in due course the letter Y was adopted instead.
Interloping Scripts (3326 words)
The IPA version of the gamma, upsilon, and phi, for instance, have true serifs, which are alien to the Greek typographical tradition.
The real justification for their disjunction, where other letters have been borrowed into the IPA from Greek, is that they are not limited to phonetic usage; they have been adopted in the widely used, and largely IPA-based, Practical Orthography of African languages.
This is resolved for Latin mathematical letters in a Latin context by the use of italics—or of plenty of indentation.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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