Evolution of Greek San from Phoenician Tṣadē

Asked Jul 10 '20 at 22:16

Active Jul 10 '20 at 22:16

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It is generally agreed that the Greek letter San developed from the Phoenician Tṣadē, but I'm not sure I see the graphical similarity. The Phoenician form does bear some resemblance to the Greek form and even to the more common Greek form , but the resemblance doesn't seem that great to me, and there is evidence to suggest that the Greek alphabet was developed at a time when Tṣadē was drawn more like a Y, as shown on the Izbet Ṣartah abecedary:

How did the shape evolve?

asked Jul 10 '20 at 22:16

user17584

1

Why do you call it "tṣade" instead of ṣade (or ṣadhe)? – Draconis Jul 10 '20 at 22:38
There's evidence to suggest its sound was [tsʼ]. See https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Semitic_Languages/SMzgBLT87MkC?hl=en&gbpv=1, pg. 69. – user17584 Jul 10 '20 at 22:52
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Sure, but the usual way of indicating the phoneme in Semitic studies, at least in my experience, is just plain ṣ. – Draconis Jul 10 '20 at 23:03
FWIW, the modern Hebrew form of the letter is צ medially or initially and ץ finally. Those do sort of look like a Y. – Robert Columbia Jul 11 '20 at 11:41
When do you think the Greek alphabet developed? – Yellow Sky Jul 12 '20 at 00:20
beta and pi are also similarly different from their phoenician antecedents to my eyes – Tristan Jul 13 '20 at 10:40

Evolution of Greek San from Phoenician Tṣadē

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