From: Mike Sangrey (msangrey@BlueFeltHat.org)
Date: Sat Apr 21 2001 - 09:02:08 EDT
"Craig Jackson" <dittydog101@yahoo.com> asked:
> Why does Greek have a final sigma? Is there another reason besides
> just identifying it as the last letter?
FWIW:
Final sigma occurs 27128 times in the GNT. Final nu is the only letter
to occur more often. So, and this is a total guess, it may have been a
convenient letter to choose so as to separate words. Recall the lack of
space in the writings of the time.
Here is the list of final letter counts. Enjoy.
2 G
2 Z
4 Y
34 B
102 D
113 C
123 Q
170 F
253 M
258 T
295 P
321 X
338 L
1538 K
1675 R
5824 W
6590 H
7079 O
7120 E
9714 A
10190 U
24045 I
27128 S
35101 N
And here are the counts for non-final letters. Non-final sigma occurs
24585 times while non-final nu occurs 21333 times.
943 Y
1570 Z
1907 X
3483 B
3860 F
5124 C
10661 Q
11148 G
12695 D
15719 W
18030 L
19448 M
21255 P
21333 N
21454 R
21785 H
22412 K
24585 S
29498 U
40743 I
50951 T
60135 E
62544 O
66515 A
Anyone want to play GNT trivia? <chuckle>
--
Mike Sangrey
msangrey@BlueFeltHat.org
Landisburg, Pa.
"The first one last wins."
"A net of highly cohesive details reveals the truth."
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