digamma

American  

[dahy-gam-uh] / daɪˈgæm ə /

noun

digammas plural

1. a letter of the early Greek alphabet that generally fell into disuse in Attic Greek before the classical period and that represented a sound similar to English w.

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digamma British  

/ daɪˈɡæmə /

noun

1. a letter of the Greek alphabet ( ) that became obsolete before the classical period of the language. It represented a semivowel like English W and was used as a numeral in later stages of written Greek, and passed into the Roman alphabet as F

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• digammated
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• digammas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of digamma

1545–55; < Latin < Greek dígamma, equivalent to di- di- ¹ + gámma gamma; from its resemblance to two gammas placed one over the other, similar to Roman French, which is a descendant of digamma

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

digamma

It is worth all the digamma disquisitions in the world; and France, as well as Italy, was once rich in historical Literati.

From A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Two by Dibdin, Thomas Frognall

It resembled our letter F, and hence was called digamma, that is, double Γ. It appears to have had the force of f or v.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia Volume 4, Part 1: Deposition to Eberswalde by Various

The philological chores, so to speak, night and morning, that had once fallen to the digamma, they took upon themselves, until the very name of the letter was all but lost.

From Chimney-Pot Papers by Endell, Fritz August Gottfried

The grammarians also state that this consonant u was represented by the Greek digamma, which the Romans called vau also.

From The Roman Pronunciation of Latin Why we use it and how to use it by Lord, Frances Ellen

The question then is, which of these various sounds of the digamma is represented by the Latin u consonant, or does it represent all, or none, of these.

From The Roman Pronunciation of Latin Why we use it and how to use it by Lord, Frances Ellen