DIGAMMA

(Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.), so called from its representing two gammas, one set above another, thus, F.) The name given to the form of that letter in the ancient Greek alphabet which corresponds in appearance generally to the Latin F. A mere outline of the controversies that have prevailed among the learned respecting the form and power of the digamma, the mode of its pronunciation, and the purposes which it served in the early language of Greece would. occupy more space than our prescribed limits admit of; and we must content ourselves with referring the reader to the article "Digamma" in theEncyc.Mctrop., and Ersch and Gruber's A/lgem. Encyc, in which the discu ions on this subject display great learning and research. This letter appears to have occupied the sixth place in the alphabet, and was most prevalent in the ^olic dialect; though some grammarians contend that it was common to all the dialects of Greece in their more ancient mode of pronunciation. It has often been expre ed by B, and sometimes by, F, A, e, *, and X; and it is now almost universally considered to have had the force of F, V, or the English W. As the Latin language approximated more nearly to the JEolic than to any of the other Grecian dialects, the use of the digamma is very prevalent in many Latin words, and the facility with which it was there interchanged for V, both at the commencement and in the middle of words; will be at once apparent from the following examples.: — Gr, eas^, spring, JEol. Feat^, Lat. ver; Gr. ia-jn^o;, evening, 2Eol. Ytcnri^c?, Lat. vesper us; Gr. otvoi, wine, jEol. Fwvef, Lat. vinum; Gr. uov, an egg, Mo\.. oYov, Lat. ovum, . (See Kidd's edition of Dawe's Miscellanea Crilica, pp. 175— 335.; and J5wrmarm's Greek Grammar.) [s. 357]