View source for San (letter)

{{Short description|Archaic letter of the Greek alphabet}}
{{protection padlock|small=yes}}
{{Greek Alphabet|Image=Greek San slanted.svg|size=60px}}
[[File:Corinthian incised shard.svg|thumb|right|Use of san in archaic [[Ancient Corinth|Corinthian]] script: incised shard with a list of names, c.700 BC. The text reads:
<poem lang="grc-x-doric">
]........ΑΝ ΑΝΤΑΣ⁞ΧΑ.[
]....ΚΕΑΣ⁞ΑΝΓΑΡΙΟΣ[
]...ΑΥϜΙΟΣ⁞ΣΟΚΛΕΣ⁞[
].ΤΙΔΑΣ⁞ΑΜΥΝΤΑΣ[
]ΤΟΙ ΜΑΛΕϘΟ⁞ΚΑΙ.[
</poem>
Note the use of san at the end of most names, and the difference between san and mu (with a shorter right stem, [[File:Greek Mu short.svg|x16px]]) in the word "ΑΜΥΝΤΑΣ".]]
[[File:Sikyonian incised shard.svg|thumb|right|Use of san in archaic [[Sicyon]]ian writing: shard incised with the dedicatory inscription {{lang|grc-x-doric|ΗΕΡΟΟΣ}} {{Transliteration|grc-x-doric|heroos}} ([[Attic Greek|Attic]] spelling {{lang|grc-x-attic|ἥρωος}}, "of the hero"), using san together with [[heta]] ({{lang|grc-x-doric|Η}}), and a characteristic Sikyonian X-shaped form of epsilon.]]

'''San''' ('''{{lang|grc|Ϻ}}''') is an archaic letter of the [[Greek alphabet]]. Its shape is similar to Latin {{lang|und-Latn|M}} and Greek [[Mu (Greek letter)|mu]] ({{lang|grc|Μ}}), and can be described as a [[sigma]] ({{lang|grc|Σ}}) turned sideways. It was used as an alternative to sigma to denote the sound {{IPA|/s/}}. Unlike sigma, whose position in the alphabet is between [[Rho (letter)|rho]] and [[Tau (letter)|tau]], san appeared between [[Pi (letter)|pi]] and [[Qoppa (letter)|koppa]] in alphabetic order. In addition to denoting the archaic character, the name "san" also came to be used for sigma itself.

==Historical use==
=== Sigma and san ===

The existence of the two competing letters sigma and san is traditionally believed to have been due to confusion during the adoption of the Greek alphabet from the [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] script, because Phoenician had more [[sibilant]] sounds than Greek had. According to one theory,<ref name="jeffery">{{cite book|last=Jeffery|first=Lilian H.|title=The local scripts of archaic Greece|place=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon|year=1961}}</ref>{{rp|25–27}} the distribution of the sibilant letters in Greek is due to pair-wise confusion between the sounds and alphabet positions of the four Phoenician sibilant signs: Greek sigma got its shape and alphabetic position from Phoenician [[Shin (letter)|shin]] ({{lang|und-Phnx|𐤔}}), but its name and sound value from Phoenician [[samekh]]. Conversely, Greek xi ({{lang|grc|Ξ}}) got its shape and position from samekh ({{lang|und-Phnx|𐤎}}), but its name and sound value from shin.

According to a different theory,<ref name="woodard">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of ancient Greece|editor-first=Nigel Guy|editor-last= Wilson|title=Alphabet|first=Roger D.|last=Woodard|year=2006|publisher=Routldedge|place=London|page=38}}</ref> "san" was indeed the original name of what is now known as sigma, and as such presents a direct representation of the corresponding name "shin" in that position. This name was only later also associated with the alternative local letter now known as "san", whose original name remains unknown. The modern name "sigma", in turn, was a transparent Greek innovation that simply meant "hissing", based on a nominalization of a verb {{lang|grc|σίζω}} ({{Transliteration|grc|sízō}}, from an earlier stem {{Lang|grc-latn|*sigj-}}, meaning 'to hiss').

Moreover, a modern re-interpretation of the sound values of the sibilants in [[Proto-Semitic]], and thus in Phoenician, can account for the values of the Greek sibilants with less recourse to "confusion".  Most significant is the reconstruction of shin as {{IPA|[s]}} and thus also the source of the sound value of sigma; in turn, Samekh is reconstructed as the [[affricate]] {{IPA|[ts]}}, which is a better match for the plosive-fricative cluster value {{IPA|[kʰs]}} of xi.<ref name="kogan">Kogan, Leonid (2011). "Proto-Semitic Phonetics and Phonology". In Semitic languages: an international handbook, Stefan Weninger, ed. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 69.</ref>

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="6"|Phoenician
!colspan="5"|Greek
|-
!colspan=2|shape
!position
!name
!traditional <br> sound
!sound <br> after Kogan<ref name="kogan" />
!colspan=2|shape
!position
!name
!sound
|-
|[[File:Phoenician sin.svg|x16px]]||{{lang|und-Phnx|𐤔}}||after {{lang|und-Phnx|𐤓}} (R)||[[Shin (letter)|Shin]]||{{IPA|/ʃ/}}||{{IPA|/s/}}||[[File:Greek Sigma normal.svg|x16px]]||{{lang|grc|Σ}}||after {{lang|grc|Ρ}} (R)||[[Sigma (letter)|Sigma]]|| {{IPA|/s/}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician samekh.svg|x16px]]||{{lang|und-Phnx|𐤎}}||after {{lang|und-Phnx|𐤍}} (N)||[[Samekh]]||{{IPA|/s/}}||{{IPA|/ts/}}||[[File:Greek Xi archaic.svg|x16px]]||{{lang|grc|Ξ}}||after {{lang|grc|Ν}} (N)||[[Xi (letter)|Xi]]|| {{IPA|/ks/}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician zayin.svg|x16px]]||{{lang|und-Phnx|𐤆}}||after {{lang|und-Phnx|𐤅}} (W)||[[Zayin]]||{{IPA|/z/}}||{{IPA|/dz/}}||[[File:Greek Zeta archaic.svg|x16px]]||{{lang|grc|Ζ}}||after {{lang|grc|Ϝ}} (W) ||[[Zeta (letter)|Zeta]]|| {{IPA|/dz/, /zd/}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician sade.svg|x16px]]||{{lang|und-Phnx|𐤑}}||after {{lang|und-Phnx|𐤐}} (P)||[[Tsade]]||{{IPA|/ts/}}||{{IPA|/tsʼ/}}||[[File:Greek San slanted.svg|x16px]]||{{lang|grc|Ϻ}}||after {{lang|grc|Π}} (P)||San|| {{IPA|*/z/}}? > {{IPA|/s/}}
|}

Whereas in early [[abecedarium|abecedaria]], sigma and san are typically listed as two separate letters in their separate alphabetic positions, each Greek dialect tended to use either san or sigma exclusively in practical writing. The use of san became a characteristic of the [[Doric Greek|Doric]] dialects of [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] and neighboring [[Sikyon]], as well as [[Crete]]. San became largely obsolete by the second half of the fifth century BC, when it was generally replaced by sigma, although in Crete it continued in use for about a century longer. In Sikyon, it was retained as a symbolic mark of the city used on coin inscriptions, in the same way that archaic [[Koppa (letter)|koppa]] ({{lang|grc|Ϙ}}) was used by Corinth, and a special form of [[Beta (letter)|beta]] by [[Byzantium]]).

San could be written with the outer stems either straight (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek San straight.svg|x16px]]</span>) or slanted outwards (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek San slanted.svg|x16px]]</span>), and either longer or of equal length with the inner strokes (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Mu 02.svg|x16px]]</span>). It was typically distinguished from the similar-looking [[Mu (letter)|mu]] ({{lang|grc|Μ}}) by the fact that san tended to be symmetrical, whereas mu had a longer left stem in its archaic forms (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Mu 04.svg|x16px]]</span>, <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Mu 08.svg|x16px]]</span>, <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Mu short.svg|x16px]]</span>).

Outside Greece, san was borrowed into the [[Old Italic alphabet]]s ({{lang|und-Ital|𐌑}}, transcribed as Ś). It initially retained its M-shape in the archaic Etruscan alphabet, but from the 6th century BC changing its aspect to a shape similar to that of the [[Dagaz|d-rune]] {{lang|und-Runr|ᛞ}}.

The name "san" lived on as an dialectal or archaic name for sigma, even after the letter itself had been fully replaced by it. As such, [[Herodotus]], in the late 5th century, reports that the same letter was called "san" by the [[Doric Greek|Dorians]], but "sigma" by the [[Ionic Greek|Ionians]].<ref>"{{lang|grc|…τὠυτὸ γράμμα, τὸ Δωριέες μὲν σὰν καλέουσι ,Ἴωνες δὲ σίγμα}}" ("the same letter, which the Dorians call 'san', but the Ionians 'sigma{{'"}}; Herodotus, ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' 1.139); cf. Nick Nicholas, [http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/nonattic.html ''Non-Attic letters''] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120628161421/http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/nonattic.html |date=2012-06-28 }}.</ref> [[Athenaeus]] in his ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' (c.200 AD) quotes an [[epigram]] which contained the spelled-out name of the philosopher [[Thrasymachus]], still using san as the name for sigma:<ref>Athenaeus, ''Deipnosophistae'', 10.81.</ref>

{{poemquote|{{lang|grc|τοὔνομα θῆτα ῥῶ ἄλφα σὰν ὖ μῦ ἄλφα χεῖ οὖ σάν,}}
{{lang|grc|πατρὶς Χαλκηδών· ἡ δὲ τέχνη σοφίη.}}

"Name: {{lang|grc|Θ-Ρ-Α-Σ-Υ-Μ-Α-Χ-Ο-Σ}},
Birthplace: [[Chalcedon]]; profession: wisdom"}}

===Arcadian tsan{{anchor|Tsan}}===
[[File:Greek Sigma 01.svg|thumb|right|50px|Arcadian "ts"]]
A unique letter variant {{lang|grc-x-arcadcyp|Ͷ}} (shaped similarly to modern Cyrillic {{lang|mul-Cyrl|И}}, but with a slight leftward bend){{r|jeffery}}{{rp|212 ff.}} has been found in a single inscription in the [[Arcadocypriot]] dialect of [[Mantineia]], [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]], a 5th-century BC<ref name="woodard97">{{cite book|last=Woodard|first=Roger D.|title=Greek writing from Knossos to Homer: a linguistic interpretation of the origin of the Greek alphabet and the continuity of ancient Greek literacy|year=1997|place=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=177–179}}</ref> inscription dedicated to [[Athena Alea]] (''[[Inscriptiones Graecae]]'' V.ii.262)<ref name="nicholas">{{cite web|last=Nicholas|first=Nick|title=Proposal to add Greek epigraphical letters to the UCS|url=http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/epigraphical.pdf|accessdate=2010-08-12|year=2005|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060217000025/http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/epigraphical.pdf|archivedate=2006-02-17}}</ref><ref name="ig">{{cite web|title=PHI Greek Inscriptions: IB V,2 262|url=http://epigraphy.packhum.org/inscriptions/oi?ikey=32298&bookid=12&region=2|accessdate=2010-08-12}} Note that on that page this letter is transcribed as "σ5".</ref> It is widely assumed to be a local innovation based on san, although Jeffery (1961) classes it as a variant of sigma.{{r|jeffery}}{{rp|212 ff.}} It appears to have denoted a {{IPA|/ts/}} sound and has been called ''tsan'' by some modern writers.<ref name="nicholas"/> In the local Arcadian dialect, this sound occurred in words that reflect [[Proto-Greek]] {{IPA|*/kʷ/}}. In such words, other Greek dialects usually have {{IPA|/t/}}, while the related Cypriot dialect has {{IPA|/s/}}. Examples are:

* {{lang|grc-x-arcadcyp|ͷις}} (cf. {{langx|grc-x-attic|τις}}, 'somebody')
* {{lang|grc-x-arcadcyp|ͷινα}} (cf. {{langx|grc-x-attic|τινά}}, 'somebody')
* {{lang|grc-x-arcadcyp|οͷεοι}} (cf. {{langx|grc-x-attic|ὅτῳ}} 'to whomever')
* {{lang|grc-x-arcadcyp|ειͷε}} (cf. {{langx|grc-x-attic|εἴτε}} 'either')

From these correspondences, it can be concluded that the letter most likely denoted an [[affricate]] sound, possibly {{IPA|[ts]}} or {{IPA|[tʃ]}}, which would have been a natural intermediate step in the sound change from {{IPA|*/kʷ/}} to {{IPA|/s/}}.<ref name="woodard97"/> The letter has been represented in modern scholarly transcriptions of the Mantinea inscription by ⟨ś⟩ (s with an acute accent) or by ⟨σ̱⟩ (sigma with a macron underneath).<ref name="nicholas"/>

Note, however, that the same glyph is used to denote the unrelated letter [[digamma]] {{IPA|/w/}} in [[Pamphylia]] (the "[[Pamphylian digamma]]") and <span style="background-color: white;">{{GrGl|Beta 05}}</span> was also the form of [[beta]] {{IPA|/b/}} used in [[Melos]].

===Sampi ===
{{main|Sampi}}
[[File:Greek Sampi 2 shapes.svg|thumb|right|70px|Sampi]]
The [[Ionic Greek|Ionic]] letter sampi ({{lang|grc-x-ionic|Ͳ}}), which later gave rise to the numeral symbol ({{lang|grc|ϡ}} = 900) may also be a continuation of san, although it did not have the same alphabetic position.{{r|jeffery}}{{rp|38 ff.}}

===Bactrian {{lang|xbc|Ϸ}}===
{{main|Sho (letter)}}
[[File:Bactrian sh.svg|thumb|right|100px|Bactrian þ]]
In the Greek script used for writing the [[Bactrian language]], there existed the letter {{lang|xbc|Ϸ}}, which apparently stood for the sound {{IPAslink|ʃ}} (transliterated as {{Transliteration|xbc|š}}), and has been named "sho" in recent times. According to one hypothesis, this letter too may go back to san.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Greeks in Bactria and India
|first=William Woodthorpe|last=Tarn|page=508|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1961|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HeJS3nE9cAC&q=Bactrian+%22letter+san%22&pg=PA508|isbn=9781108009416}}</ref>

==Modern use==
[[File:San (Ϻϻ).png|thumb|right|The letter san as it appears in four basic fonts: [[Times Roman|Times New Roman]], [[Lucida Grande]], [[Arial]], and [[Helvetica]]]]

In modern editions and transcriptions of ancient Greek writing, san has rarely been used as a separate letter. Since it never contrasts systematically with sigma except in abecedaria, it is usually silently regularized to sigma in modern editorial practice.<ref>Nick Nicholas, [http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/nonattic.html ''Non-Attic letters''] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120628161421/http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/nonattic.html |date=2012-06-28 }}</ref> In the electronic encoding standard [[Unicode]], a pair of uppercase and lowercase forms of the letter was introduced in version 4.0 (2003).<ref>[https://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/DerivedAge.txt Unicode character database]</ref> For this purpose, new lowercase forms for modern typography, for which no prior typographic tradition existed, had to be designed.<ref>David Perry (2002) [http://scholarsfonts.net/DesignSan.pdf Design of the Greek archaic letter san for use in computer fonts] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929090320/http://scholarsfonts.net/DesignSan.pdf |date=2010-09-29 }}</ref> Most fonts have adopted the convention of distinguishing uppercase san from mu by having its central V-like section descend only halfway down above the baseline, and lowercase san by giving it a left stem descending below the baseline. (Note that in historical epigraphic practice it was the other way round, with san being symmetrical and mu having a longer left stem.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}})

==Unicode==

San is encoded in Unicode, but the Arcadian "tsan" variant is unified with the identical-looking [[Pamphylian Greek|Pamphylian]] [[Digamma]] since version 5.1.<ref name="unicode">{{cite web|title=The Unicode Standard, Version 5.1: Greek and Coptic, Range 0370–03FF|url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/Unicode-5.1/U51-0370.pdf|accessdate=2010-08-12}}</ref>

* {{unichar|03FA}}
* {{unichar|03FB}}
* {{unichar|0376}}
* {{unichar|0377}}

==References==
<references/>
{{Greek language}}

[[Category:Greek letters]]
[[Category:Arcadocypriot Greek]]