Upsilon (/ˈʌpsɪˌlɒn, ˈ(j)p-, -lən/, UK also /(j)pˈslən, ʊp-, -lɒn/;[1][2][3][4][5][6] uppercase Υ, lowercase υ; Greek: ύψιλον ýpsilon [ˈipsilon]) or ypsilon /ɪp-/[1] is the twentieth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, Υʹ has a value of 400. It is derived from the Phoenician waw .

The Greek alphabet on a black figure vessel, with a V-shaped upsilon

Etymology

The name of the letter was originally just "υ" (y; also called hy, hence "hyoid", meaning "shaped like the letter υ"), but the name changed to "υ ψιλόν" u psilon 'simple u' to distinguish it from οι, which had come to have the same [y] pronunciation.[7]

Pronunciation

In early Attic Greek (6th century BCE), it was pronounced [u] (a close back rounded vowel like the English "long o͞o").[8][9] In Classical Greek, it was pronounced [y] (a close front rounded vowel), at least until 1030.[10] In Modern Greek, it is pronounced [i]; in the digraphs αυ and ευ, as [f] or [v]; and in the digraph ου as [u]. In ancient Greek, it occurred in both long and short versions, but Modern Greek does not have a length distinction.

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, such as those that begin with hyper- and hypo-. This rough breathing was derived from an older pronunciation that used a sibilant instead; this sibilant was not lost in Latin, giving rise to such cognates as super- (for hyper-) and sub- (for hypo-).

Upsilon participated as the second element in falling diphthongs, which have subsequently developed in various ways.

Correspondence with Latin Y

Cyrillic У, Latin Y and Greek Υ and ϒ in FreeSerif – one of the few typefaces that distinguish between the Latin and the Greek form

The usage of Y in Latin dates back to the first century BC. It was used to transcribe loanwords from Greek, so it was not a native sound of Latin and was usually pronounced /u/ or /i/. The latter pronunciation was the most common in the Classical period and was used mostly by uneducated people. The Roman Emperor Claudius proposed introducing a new letter into the Latin alphabet to transcribe the so-called sonus medius (a short vowel before labial consonants), but in inscriptions, the new letter was sometimes used for Greek upsilon instead.

Four letters of the Latin alphabet arose from it: and U , Y and, much later, V and W. In the Cyrillic script, the letters U (У, у) and izhitsa (Ѵ, ѵ) arose from it.

In some languages, including German and Portuguese, the name upsilon (Ypsilon in German, ípsilon in Portuguese) is used to refer to the Latin letter Y as well as the Greek letter. In some other languages, the (Latin) Y is referred to as a "Greek I" (i griega in Spanish, i grec in French), also noting its Greek origin.

Usage

Similar appearance

Symbolism

Upsilon is known as Pythagoras' letter, or the Samian letter, because Pythagoras used it as an emblem of the path of virtue or vice.[13] As the Roman writer Persius wrote in Satire III:

and the letter which spreads out into Pythagorean branches has pointed out to you the steep path which rises on the right.[14]

Lactantius, an early Christian author (ca. 240 – ca. 320), refers to this:

For they say that the course of human life resembles the letter Y, because every one of men, when he has reached the threshold of early youth, and has arrived at the place "where the way divides itself into two parts," is in doubt, and hesitates, and does not know to which side he should rather turn himself.[15]

Character encodings

  • Greek Upsilon
Character information
PreviewΥυϒ
Unicode name GREEK CAPITAL LETTER UPSILON GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON GREEK UPSILON WITH HOOK SYMBOL
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechex
Unicode933U+03A5965U+03C5978U+03D2
UTF-8206 165CE A5207 133CF 85207 146CF 92
Numeric character referenceΥΥυυϒϒ
Named character referenceΥυ, υϒ, ϒ
DOS Greek14894172AC
DOS Greek-2209D1239EF
Windows 1253213D5245F5
TeX\Upsilon\upsilon

[16]

  • Coptic Ua
Character information
Preview
Unicode name COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER UA COPTIC SMALL LETTER UA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechex
Unicode11432U+2CA811433U+2CA9
UTF-8226 178 168E2 B2 A8226 178 169E2 B2 A9
Numeric character referenceⲨⲨⲩⲩ
Character information
PreviewƱʊᵿ
Unicode name LATIN CAPITAL LETTER UPSILON LATIN SMALL LETTER UPSILON MODIFIER LETTER SMALL UPSILON LATIN SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH STROKE
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode433U+01B1650U+028A7607U+1DB77551U+1D7F
UTF-8198 177C6 B1202 138CA 8A225 182 183E1 B6 B7225 181 191E1 B5 BF
Numeric character referenceƱƱʊʊᶷᶷᵿᵿ
  • Mathematical Upsilon
Character information
Preview𝚼𝛖𝛶𝜐𝜰𝝊
Unicode name MATHEMATICAL BOLD
CAPITAL UPSILON
MATHEMATICAL BOLD
SMALL UPSILON
MATHEMATICAL ITALIC
CAPITAL UPSILON
MATHEMATICAL ITALIC
SMALL UPSILON
MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC
CAPITAL UPSILON
MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC
SMALL UPSILON
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode120508U+1D6BC120534U+1D6D6120566U+1D6F6120592U+1D710120624U+1D730120650U+1D74A
UTF-8240 157 154 188F0 9D 9A BC240 157 155 150F0 9D 9B 96240 157 155 182F0 9D 9B B6240 157 156 144F0 9D 9C 90240 157 156 176F0 9D 9C B0240 157 157 138F0 9D 9D 8A
UTF-1655349 57020D835 DEBC55349 57046D835 DED655349 57078D835 DEF655349 57104D835 DF1055349 57136D835 DF3055349 57162D835 DF4A
Numeric character reference𝚼𝚼𝛖𝛖𝛶𝛶𝜐𝜐𝜰𝜰𝝊𝝊
Character information
Preview𝝪𝞄𝞤𝞾
Unicode name MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD CAPITAL UPSILON
MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD SMALL UPSILON
MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD ITALIC CAPITAL UPSILON
MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD ITALIC SMALL UPSILON
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode120682U+1D76A120708U+1D784120740U+1D7A4120766U+1D7BE
UTF-8240 157 157 170F0 9D 9D AA240 157 158 132F0 9D 9E 84240 157 158 164F0 9D 9E A4240 157 158 190F0 9D 9E BE
UTF-1655349 57194D835 DF6A55349 57220D835 DF8455349 57252D835 DFA455349 57278D835 DFBE
Numeric character reference𝝪𝝪𝞄𝞄𝞤𝞤𝞾𝞾

These characters are used only as mathematical symbols. Stylized Greek text should be encoded using the normal Greek letters, with markup and formatting to indicate text style.

Notes

  1. 1 2 "upsilon". Chambers Dictionary (9th ed.). Chambers. 2003. ISBN 0-550-10105-5.
  2. "upsilon". Collins English Dictionary (13th ed.). HarperCollins. 2018. ISBN 978-0-008-28437-4.
  3. "Upsilon". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  4. "Upsilon". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2019-12-21.
  5. "upsilon". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  6. "upsilon". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  7. W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca, 3rd ed., Cambridge 1987, p. 69.
  8. Woodard, Roger D. (June 12, 1997). Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer: A Linguistic Interpretation of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and the Continuity of Ancient Greek Literacy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195355666 via Google Books.
  9. Mastronarde, Donald J. (February 21, 2013). Introduction to Attic Greek. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520275713 via Google Books.
  10. F. Lauritzen, "Michael the Grammarian's irony about Hypsilon. A step towards reconstructing Byzantine pronunciation", Byzantinoslavica, 67 (2009)
  11. Mihalas and McRae (1968), Galactic Astronomy (W. H. Freeman)
  12. Walpole, Ronald (2017). Probability and Statistics for Scientists and Engineers (9th ed.).
  13. Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham. The reader's handbook of famous names in fiction, allusions, references, proverbs, plots, stories, and poems, Vol. 2, p. 956. Lippincott, 1899.
  14. Persius (1920). Satires.
  15. Lactatius. The Divine Institutes. pp. Book VI Chapter III.
  16. Unicode Code Charts: Greek and Coptic (Range: 0370-03FF)
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