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Zeta (, ; uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; , , classical or ''zē̂ta''; ''zíta'') is the sixth letter of the
Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as wel ...
. In the system of
Greek numerals Greek numerals, also known as Ionic, Ionian, Milesian, or Alexandrian numerals, is a numeral system, system of writing numbers using the letters of the Greek alphabet. In modern Greece, they are still used for ordinal number (linguistics), ordi ...
, it has a value of 7. It was derived from the Phoenician letter
zayin Zayin (also spelled zain or zayn or simply zay) is the seventh letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ''zayn'' 𐤆, Hebrew ''zayīn'' , Aramaic ''zain'' 𐡆, Syriac ''zayn'' ܙ, and Arabic ''zāy'' . It represents the sound . It ...
. Letters that arose from zeta include the Roman Z and Cyrillic З.


Name

Unlike the other
Greek letters The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as we ...
, this letter did not take its name from the Phoenician letter from which it was derived; it was given a new name on the pattern of
beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; or ) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive . In Modern Greek, it represe ...
,
eta Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...
and
theta Theta (, ) uppercase Θ or ; lowercase θ or ; ''thē̂ta'' ; Modern: ''thī́ta'' ) is the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, derived from the Phoenician letter Teth 𐤈. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 9. Gree ...
. The word ''zeta'' is the ancestor of ''zed'', the name of the Latin letter Z in Commonwealth English. Swedish and many
Romance language The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...
s (such as Italian and Spanish) do not distinguish between the Greek and Roman forms of the letter; "''zeta''" is used to refer to the Roman letter Z as well as the Greek letter.


Uses


Letter

The letter ζ represents the
voiced alveolar fricative The voiced alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a sibilant or non-sibilant fricative is being described. * The symbol for the alveolar sibilant ...
in
Modern Greek Modern Greek (, or , ), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the language sometimes referred to ...
. The sound represented by zeta in Greek before 400 BC is disputed. See
Ancient Greek phonology Ancient Greek phonology is the reconstructed phonology or pronunciation of Ancient Greek. This article mostly deals with the pronunciation of the standard Attic dialect of the fifth century BC, used by Plato and other Classical Greek writers ...
and Pronunciation of Ancient Greek in teaching. Most handbooks agree on attributing to it the pronunciation (like ''Mazda''), but some scholars believe that it was an affricate (like adze). The modern pronunciation was, in all likelihood, established in the Hellenistic age and may have already been a common practice in Classical
Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...
; for example, it could count as one or two consonants metrically in Attic drama.


Arguments for

# PIE *''zd'' becomes ζ in Greek (e.g. *''sísdō'' > ). Contra: these words are rare and it is therefore more probable that *''zd'' was absorbed by *''dz'' (< *''dj'', *''gj'', *''j''); further, a change from the cluster /zd/ to the affricate /dz/ is typologically more likely than the other way around (which would violate the
sonority hierarchy A sonority hierarchy or sonority scale is a hierarchical ranking of speech sounds (or phones). Sonority is loosely defined as the loudness of speech sounds relative to other sounds of the same pitch, length and stress, therefore sonority is ofte ...
). # Without there would be an empty space between and in the Greek sound system (), and a voiced affricate would not have a voiceless correspondent. Contra: a) words with and are rare, and exceptions in phonological and (even more so) phonotactic patterns are in no way uncommon; b) there was in etc.; and c) there was in fact a voiceless correspondent in Archaic Greek ( > Attic, Boeotian , Ionic, Doric ). # Persian names with ''zd'' and ''z'' are transcribed with ζ and σ respectively in Classical Greek (e.g. ''Artavazda'' = ~ ''Zara(n)ka-'' = . Similarly, the
Philistine Philistines (; Septuagint, LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philist ...
city
Ashdod Ashdod (, ; , , or ; Philistine language, Philistine: , romanized: *''ʾašdūd'') is the List of Israeli cities, sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District (Israel), Southern District, it lies on the Mediterranean ...
was transcribed as . # Some inscriptions have -ζ- written for a combination -ς + δ- resulting from separate words, e.g. θεοζοτος for θεος δοτος "god-given". # Some
Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...
inscriptions have -σζ- for -σδ- or -ζ-, which is thought to parallel -σστ- for -στ- and therefore to imply a pronunciation. # ν disappears before ζ like before σ(σ), στ: e.g. * > , * > , * > . Contra: ν may have disappeared before /dz/ if one accepts that it had the allophone in that position like /ts/ had the allophone : cf.
Cretan Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
~ (Hinge). # Verbs beginning with ζ have in the perfect reduplication like the verbs beginning with στ (e.g. = ). Contra: a) The most prominent example of a verb beginning with στ has in fact < *''se-'' in the perfect reduplication (); b) the words with /ts/ > σ(σ) also have :
Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
, Ion. . #
Alcman Alcman (; ''Alkmán''; fl. 7th century BC) was an Ancient Greek choral lyric poet from Sparta. He is the earliest representative of the Alexandrian canon of the Nine Lyric Poets. He wrote six books of choral poetry, most of which is now lost; h ...
,
Sappho Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...
, Alcaeus and
Theocritus Theocritus (; , ''Theokritos''; ; born 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily, Magna Graecia, and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings ...
have σδ for Attic-Ionic ζ. Contra: The tradition would not have invented this special digraph for these poets if was the normal pronunciation in all Greek. Furthermore, this convention is not found in contemporary inscriptions, and the orthography of the manuscripts and papyri is
Alexandrine Alexandrine is a name used for several distinct types of verse line with related metrical structures, most of which are ultimately derived from the classical French alexandrine. The line's name derives from its use in the Medieval French '' Ro ...
rather than historical. Thus, indicates only a different pronunciation from Hellenistic Greek , i.e. either or . # The grammarians
Dionysius Thrax Dionysius Thrax ( ''Dionýsios ho Thrâix'', 170–90 BC) was a Greek grammarian and a pupil of Aristarchus of Samothrace. He was long considered to be the author of the earliest grammatical text on the Greek language, one that was used as a st ...
and
Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus (, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary style was ''atticistic'' – imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime. ...
class ζ with the "double" () letters ψ, ξ and analyse it as σ + δ. Contra: The Roman grammarian Verrius Flaccus believed in the opposite sequence, δ + σ (in Velius Longus, ''De orthogr''. 51), and
Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
says that it was a matter of dispute (''Metaph''. 993a) (though Aristotle might as well be referring to a pronunciation). It is even possible that the letter sometimes and for some speakers varied in pronunciation depending upon word position, i.e., like the letter X in English, which is (usually) pronounced initially but zor selsewhere (cf. Xerxes). # Some Attic transcriptions of Asia Minor toponyms (βυζζαντειον, αζζειον, etc.) show a -ζζ- for ζ; assuming that
Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...
value was , it may be an attempt to transcribe a dialectal pronunciation; the reverse cannot be ruled completely, but a -σδ- transcription would have been more likely in this case. This suggests that different dialects had different pronunciations. (For a similar example in the
Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...
, cf. Serbo-Croatian ''(iz)među'', Russian между, Polish ''między'', and Czech ''mezi'', "between".)


Arguments for z

# The Greek inscriptions almost never write ζ in words like or , so there must have been a difference between this sound and the sound of . Contra: a few inscriptions do seem to suggest that ζ was pronounced like σδ; furthermore, all words with written σδ are morphologically transparent, and written σδ may simply be echoing the morphology. (Note, for example, that we write "ads" where the morphology is transparent, and "adze" where it is not, even though the pronunciation is the same.) # It seems improbable that Greek would invent a special symbol for the bisegmental combination , which could be represented by σδ without any problems. , on the other hand, would have the same sequence of plosive and sibilant as the double letters of the Ionic alphabet ψ and ξ , thereby avoiding a written plosive at the end of a syllable. Contra: the use of a special symbol for is no more or no less improbable than the use of ψ for and ξ for , or, for that matter, the later invention ϛ ( stigma) for , which happens to be the voiceless counterpart of . Furthermore, it is not clear that ζ was pronounced when it was originally invented.
Mycenean Greek Mycenaean Greek is the earliest attested form of the Greek language. It was spoken on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC). The language is preserved in inscriptions in Linear B, a script first attested ...
had a special symbol to denote some sort of affricate or palatal consonant; ζ may have been invented for this sound, which later developed into . (For a parallel development, note that original palatal
Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...
developed into in
Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...
, with similar developments having led to combinations such as зд and жд being quite common in Russian.) #
Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...
n, Elean,
Laconia Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...
n and Cretan ''δδ'' are more easily explained as a direct development from *''dz'' than through an intermediary *''zd''. Contra: a) the sound development ''dz'' > ''dd'' is improbable (Mendez Dosuna); b) ν has disappeared before ζ > δδ in Laconian (Aristoph., ''Lys''. 171, 990) and Boeotian (Sch. Lond. in Dion. Thrax 493), which suggests that these dialects have had a phase of metathesis (Teodorsson). # Greek in South Italy has preserved until modern times. Contra: a) this may be a later development from or under the influence of Italian; b) even if it is derived from an ancient , it may be a dialectal pronunciation. #
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Colloquial, Popular, Spoken or Vernacular Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. ''Vulgar Latin'' a ...
inscriptions use the Greek letter Z for indigenous affricates (e.g. ''zeta'' = ''diaeta''), and the Greek ζ is continued by a Romance affricate in the ending > Italian. ''-eggiare'', French ''-oyer''. Italian, similarly, has consistently used Z for and (Lat. ''prandium'' > It. ''pranzo'', "lunch"). Contra: whether the pronunciation of was , or , ''di'' would probably still have been the closest native Latin sound; furthermore, the inscriptions are centuries later than the time for which is assumed.


Summary

* is attested only in the
lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, t ...
of the Greek isle of
Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...
and the
city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, ...
of
Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...
during the Archaic Age and in Bucolic poetry from the
Hellenistic Age In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the Roma ...
. Most scholars would take this as an indication that the -pronunciation existed in the dialects of these authors. * The transcriptions from Persian by
Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...
and testimony by grammarians support the pronunciation in Classical
Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...
. * is attested from c. 350 BC in
Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...
inscriptions, and was the probable value in Koine. * or may have existed in some other dialects in parallel.


Numeral

Zeta has the numerical value 7 rather than 6 because the letter
digamma Digamma or wau (uppercase: Ϝ, lowercase: ϝ, numeral: ϛ) is an Archaic Greek alphabets, archaic letter of the Greek alphabet. It originally stood for the sound but it has remained in use principally as a Greek numeral for 6 (number), 6. Whe ...
(ϝ, also called ' stigma' as a
Greek numeral Greek numerals, also known as Ionic, Ionian, Milesian, or Alexandrian numerals, is a system of writing numbers using the letters of the Greek alphabet. In modern Greece, they are still used for ordinal numbers and in contexts similar to those ...
) was originally in the sixth position in the alphabet.


Mathematics and science

The uppercase zeta is not used, because it is normally identical to Latin Z. The lower case letter can be used to represent: *The Riemann zeta function in
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
*The Hurwitz Zeta Function in mathematics *The Weierstrass zeta-function *The
damping ratio In physical systems, damping is the loss of energy of an oscillating system by dissipation. Damping is an influence within or upon an oscillatory system that has the effect of reducing or preventing its oscillation. Examples of damping include ...
of an oscillating system in engineering and physics *The rotational quantity of angular jerk in physics *The effective nuclear charge on an electron in quantum chemistry *The electrokinetic potential in colloidal systems *The lag angle in
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
blade dynamics *Relative
vorticity In continuum mechanics, vorticity is a pseudovector (or axial vector) field that describes the local spinning motion of a continuum near some point (the tendency of something to rotate), as would be seen by an observer located at that point an ...
in the
atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...
and
ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...
*A number whose discrete values (eigenvalues) are the positive roots of transcendental equations, used in the series solutions for transient one-dimensional conduction equations *The heat flux across or through a plane (industrial materials technology) *In physical chemistry equilibrium computations (using lower case Zeta (ζ)), the extent of reaction *The height of the surface of a fluid layer ZETA (fusion reactor) (all uppercase) was an early fusion experiment.


Unicode

* * ( in TeX) * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


See also

* Z, z - Latin * З, з - Ze (Cyrillic)


References


General references

*{{cite book , last1=Allen , first1=W. Sidney , authorlink=W. Sidney Allen , title=Vox Graeca: The Pronunciation of Classical Greek , date=1987 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , isbn=978-0-521-33555-3 , pages=56–59 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yws4Zey-ZnYC *Hinge, George. “Die Aussprache des griechischen Zeta”, in ''Die Sprache Alkmans: Textgeschichte und Sprachgeschichte''. PhD dissertation. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2001, pp. 212–234

*Méndez Dosuna, Julián. “On <Ζ> for <Δ> in Greek dialectal inscriptions”, ''Die Sprache'' 35 (1993): 82–114. * Gerhard Rohlfs, Rohlfs, Gerhard. 1962. “Die Aussprache des z (ζ) im Altgriechischen”, ''Das Altertum'' 8 (1962): 3–8. *Sheets, George A.
The Pronunciation of Classical Attic Zeta
''Classical Continuum'' 2023.07.25. *Teodorsson, Sven-Tage. “On the pronunciation of ancient greek zeta”, ''Lingua'' 47, no. 4 (April 1979): 323–32. *Teodorsson, Sven-Tage. “The pronunciation of zeta in different Greek dialects”, in ''Dialectologia Graeca: Actas del II Coloquio internacional de dialectología griega'', eds. E. Crespo et al. Madrid: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 1993, pp. 305–321. Greek letters