San (letter)

Use of San in archaic Corinthian script: incised shard with a list of names, c.700 BC. The text reads:

]........ΑΝΤΑΣ:ΧΑ.[
]....ΚΕΑΣ:ΑΝΓΑΡΙΟΣ[
]...ΑΥϜΙΟΣ:ΣΟΚΛΕΣ:[
].ΤΙΔΑΣ:ΑΜΥΝΤΑΣ[
]ΤΟΙ ΜΑΛΕϘΟ:ΚΑΙ.[

Note the use of San at the end of most names, and the difference between San and Mu (with a shorter right stem, ) in the word "ΑΜΥΝΤΑΣ".
Use of San in archaic Sicyonian writing: shard incised with the dedicatory inscription "ΗΕΡΟΟΣ" (classic Greek spelling Ἥρωος, "of the Hero"), using San together with consonantal H and a characteristic Sikyonian X-shaped form of Epsilon.

San (Ϻ) was an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet. Its shape was similar to modern M or Mu, or to a modern Greek Sigma (Σ) turned sideways, and it was used as an alternative to Sigma to denote the sound /s/. Unlike Sigma, whose position in the alphabet is between Rho and Tau, San appeared between Pi and Qoppa in alphabetic order. In addition to denoting this separate archaic character, the name San was also used as an alternative name to denote the standard letter Sigma.


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