upsilon

The name of the letter was originally just {{lang|grc|υ}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|y}}, also called {{lang|grc|ὑ}} {{lang|grc-Latn|hy}}, hence hyoid, meaning 'shaped like the letter {{lang|grc|υ}}'), but the name changed to {{lang|grc|υ ψιλόν}} (={{lang|grc|υ}} {{lang|grc-Latn|psilon}}, 'u-plain' or 'u-simple') to distinguish it from {{lang|grc|οι}}, which had come to have the same {{IPA|[y]}} pronunciation.W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca, 3rd ed., Cambridge 1987, p. 69.

In early Attic Greek (6th century BCE), it was pronounced {{IPAblink|u|}} (a close back rounded vowel like the English "long o͞o").{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rXYDQwehOVMC&q=upsilon+%22back+vowel%22|title=Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer: A Linguistic Interpretation of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and the Continuity of Ancient Greek Literacy|first=Roger D.|last=Woodard|date=June 12, 1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195355666|via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmHsrNYoe4MC&q=upsilon+%22Close+back+rounded+vowel%22+greek&pg=PA12|title=Introduction to Attic Greek|first=Donald J.|last=Mastronarde|date=February 21, 2013|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520275713|via=Google Books}} In Classical Greek, it was pronounced {{IPAblink|y|}} (a close front rounded vowel), at least until 1030.F. Lauritzen, "Michael the Grammarian's irony about Hypsilon. A step towards reconstructing Byzantine pronunciation", Byzantinoslavica, 67 (2009) In Modern Greek, it is pronounced {{IPA|{{IPAblink|i|}}}}; in the digraphs {{IPA|⟨αυ⟩}} and {{IPA|⟨ευ⟩}}, as {{IPA|/f/}} or {{IPA|/v/}}; and in the digraph {{IPA|⟨ου⟩}} as {{IPA|/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.

File:Y-like European letters.svg, Latin Y and Greek Υ (upsilon) and ϒ (hooked upsilon) 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 {{IPA|/u/}} or {{IPA|/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 {{lang|la|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 {{lang|ru-Latn|izhitsa}} (Ѵ, ѵ) arose from it.

In some languages, including German and Portuguese, the name upsilon ({{lang|de|Ypsilon}} in German, {{lang|pt|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" ({{lang|es|i griega}} in Spanish, {{lang|fr|i grec}} in French), also noting its Greek origin.

• In particle physics the capital Greek letter ϒ denotes an Upsilon particle. Note that the symbol should always look like $\backslash ,\backslash Upsilon$ in order to avoid confusion with a Latin Y denoting the hypercharge. This may be done either with a font such as FreeSerif or with the dedicated Unicode character U+03D2 ϒ.
• Automobile manufacturer Lancia has a model called the Ypsilon.
• In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the symbol {{angbr IPA|ʋ}} is used to represent a labiodental approximant.
• In astrophysics and physical cosmology, ϒ refers to the mass-to-light ratio.Mihalas and McRae (1968), Galactic Astronomy (W. H. Freeman)
• In statistics, it is sometimes used instead of v or nu to indicate degrees of freedom.{{cite book|title=Probability and Statistics for Scientists and Engineers|edition=9th|year=2017|last = Walpole|first=Ronald}}
• In the Persian language, “one upsilon” is used to describe a positive amount close to 0 (zero).{{cn|date=November 2024}}

• A similar symbol {{unichar|2648}} is used for the astrological sign of Aries.

File:Geoffrey Tory Ypsilon.jpg Ypsilon]]

Upsilon is known as Pythagoras' letter, or the Samian letter, because Pythagoras used it as an emblem of the path of virtue or vice.Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham. The reader's handbook of famous names in fiction, allusions, references, proverbs, plots, stories, and poems, [https://books.google.com/books?id=n3kjAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA956&q=%22samian%20letter%22 Vol. 2, p. 956]. Lippincott, 1899. As the Roman writer Persius wrote in Satire III:

{{quote|and the letter which spreads out into Pythagorean branches has pointed out to you the steep path which rises on the right.{{cite book|author=Persius|title=Satires|year=1920|url=https://archive.org/stream/juvenalpersiuswi00juveuoft/juvenalpersiuswi00juveuoft_djvu.txt|author-link=Persius}}}}

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

{{quote|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.{{cite book|author=Lactatius|title=The Divine Institutes|pages=Book VI Chapter III|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_VII/Lactantius/The_Divine_Institutes/Book_VI/Chap._III|author-link=Lactantius}}}}

Upsilon and Coptic Ua characters.Unicode Code Charts: [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0370.pdf Greek and Coptic (Range: 0370-03FF)]

• {{unichar|01B1|html=}}
• {{unichar|028A|html=}}
• {{unichar|038E|html=}}
• {{unichar|03A5|html=}}
• {{unichar|03AB|html=}}
• {{unichar|03B0|html=}}
• {{unichar|03C5|html=}}
• {{unichar|03CB|html=}}
• {{unichar|03CD|html=}}
• {{unichar|03D2|html=}}
• {{unichar|03D3|html=}}
• {{unichar|03D4|html=}}
• {{unichar|1D7F|html=}}
• {{unichar|1DB7|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F50|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F51|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F52|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F53|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F54|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F55|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F56|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F57|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F59|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F5B|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F5D|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F5F|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F7A|html=}}
• {{unichar|1F7B|html=}}
• {{unichar|1FE0|html=}}
• {{unichar|1FE1|html=}}
• {{unichar|1FE2|html=}}
• {{unichar|1FE3|html=}}
• {{unichar|1FE6|html=}}
• {{unichar|1FE7|html=}}
• {{unichar|1FE8|html=}}
• {{unichar|1FE9|html=}}
• {{unichar|1FEA|html=}}
• {{unichar|1FEB|html=}}
• {{unichar|2CA8|html=}}
• {{unichar|2CA9|html=}}
• {{unichar|1D6BC|html=}}
• {{unichar|1D6D6|html=}}
• {{unichar|1D6F6|html=}}
• {{unichar|1D710|html=}}
• {{unichar|1D730|html=}}
• {{unichar|1D74A|html=}}
• {{unichar|1D76A|html=}}
• {{unichar|1D784|html=}}
• {{unichar|1D7A4|html=}}
• {{unichar|1D7BE|html=}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Wiktionary|Υ|υ}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{cite web|last=Merrifield|first=Michael|title=Υ – Mass to Light Ratio|url=http://www.sixtysymbols.com/videos/masstolight.htm|work=Sixty Symbols|publisher=Brady Haran for the University of Nottingham|year=2009}}

Category:Greek letters

Category:Vowel letters