ζ

Ζζ, ζῆτα (q.v.), τό, indecl., seventh (later sixth) letter of Gr. alphabet (cf. IG 14.2420): as numeral ζʹ

• = ἑπτά and ἕβδομος (Ϛ, i.e. ϝ, ϝαῦ, the digamma, being retained to represent ἕξ, ἕκτος), but ͵ζ = 7,000.
• Zeta, being a double consonant (pronounced either as zd or as dz acc. to dialect and date), made a short vowel at the end of the foregoing syllable long by position; exc. before pr. names, which could not otherwise come into the hexam., ἄστῠ Ζελείης Il. 4.103, 121; ὑλήεσσᾰ Ζάκυνθος h.Ap. 429, etc.: afterwds. pronounced as Engl. z, cf. ζμῆνος PCair.Zen. 151.4 (iii B.C.), ζμύρνης ib. 9 (iii B.C.), ἀμφιζβήτησιν Mitteis Chr. 31 viii 6 (ii B.C.), cf. Ael.Dion. Fr. 187; sts. σζ was written, ἐνδέσζμους IG 2(2).1672.308 (iv B.C.), θυσιάσζειν IG 3.73.