Qoppa

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Greek alphabet
Αα Alpha Νν Nu
Ββ Beta Ξξ Xi
Γγ Gamma Οο Omicron
Δδ Delta Ππ Pi
Εε Epsilon Ρρ Rho
Ζζ Zeta Σσς Sigma
Ηη Eta Ττ Tau
Θθ Theta Υυ Upsilon
Ιι Iota Φφ Phi
Κκ Kappa Χχ Chi
Λλ Lambda Ψψ Psi
Μμ Mu Ωω Omega
Obsolete letters
Digamma Qoppa
San Sampi

Greek diacritics

Qoppa or Koppa (Ϙ) is a letter that was used in early forms of the Greek alphabet, derived from Phoenician qoph. In Phoenician, qoph was pronounced as a uvular stop (IPA[q]); in Greek, which lacked such a sound, it was instead used for /k/ before back vowels (Ο and Υ). As the sound /k/ then had two redundant spellings, qoppa was eventually replaced by kappa (Κ). Qoppa remained in use as a letter in some Doric[1] regions into the 5th century BC.

Like all Greek letters, qoppa was also used as a numeral, and had the value of 90. It has continued to be used in this function into modern times, though its shape has changed over time from a Q-like one to a Z-like one (inline)

The Qoppa was used as a symbol for the city of Corinth, which had the early spelling of Ϙόρινθος. Qoppa is also the source of the Latin letter Q and the archaic Cyrillic numeral koppa (Ҁ).

In the Unicode computer encoding standard, there are two pairs of codepoints to represent Qoppa: U+03D8/U+03D9 ("Greek Letter Archaic Koppa" and "Greek Small Letter Archaic Koppa", Ϙϙ), intended for representing the epigraphic Q-like glyph, and U+03DE/U+03DF ("Greek Letter Koppa" and "Greek Small Letter Koppa", Ϟϟ), intended for the numeric Z-like glyphs.[2]

Corinthian stater. Obverse: Pegasus with qoppa beneath, for Corinth. Reverse: Athena wearing Corinthian helmet.
Corinthian stater. Obverse: Pegasus with qoppa beneath, for Corinth. Reverse: Athena wearing Corinthian helmet.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer[2]by Roger D. Woodard
  • Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet[3] by Barry B. Powell
  • The Grammar of Attic Inscriptions[4] by Leslie Threatte
  1. ^ Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer[1] by Roger D. Woodard
  2. ^ Note that computer fonts used in browsers may show these codepoints differently.

[edit] External links