ο
ο, the letter omikron
Ο ο,
- sixteenth (later fifteenth) letter in Gr. alphabet: as numeral oʹ = 70, but ͵o = 70,000. The name of the letter was οὖ, Pl. Cra. 414c, al., Callias ap. Ath. 10.453d, Neoptol. ap. eund. 10.454f, AP 9.385 (Steph.Gramm.): this name was in Platoʼs time pronounced like the letter itself, Pl. Cra. 393d; ο scanned long, Achae. 33.4; τὸ ο̄ (v.l. ου) στοιχεῖον Suid. s.v. Φιλοξένου γραμμάτιον; later called ὂ μικρόν (Hdn. Epim. 209, Theognost. Can. 13), little or short o, opp. ὢ μέγα great or long o.
ο
- 1Ο, ο, ὂ μικρόν, little or short o, as opp. to ὂ μέγα great or long o, i. e. double o (for ω was orig. written, i. e. oo): fifteenth letter in the Greek alphabet: as numeral οʹ 70, but ͵ο 70,000. In early times ο represents both ο and ω; and in many words must have sounded like ου, as in βόλομαι for βούλομαι; while reversely, in Ionic μοῦνος νοῦσος κοῦρος οὔνομα stand for μόνος νόσος κόρος ὄνομα. Dialect. changes: Aeolic for α, as στροτός for στρατός;— for ε, Ἐρχόμενος for Ὀρχόμενος (Boeot.);—for υ, as ὄνυμα στύμα for ὄνομα στόμα.
- 2Doric often into οι, ἀγνοιέω πτοιέω πνοιά for ἀγνοέω ἀλοάω πτοέω.
- 3like α, ο is often rejected or prefixed for euphony, as κέλλω ὀκέλλω, δύρομαι ὀδύρομαι.
- 4in compd. Adjectives, ο is changed metri grat. into η, θεογενής ξιφοφόρος into θεηγενής ξιφηφόρος.