Ω,ὦ,τό,twenty-fourth and last letter of the Ionic alphabet,
A.
ἀπὸ ἄλφα ἕως .ω.
Gloss. iii 283
(ix A. D.); thence used as a symbol ofthe end, the last, ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ ἄλφα καὶ τὸ ὦ(notτὸ ὦ μέγα) Apoc. 1.8 , al.:—as a numeralώ =
800 , butωΝΥΜ =
800 , 000 . The epichoric Att. and other alphabets of the Inscrr. had used o in differently to represent the sounds of the laterοandω:Ωis a differentiated form ofο,and, though usu.= ω,was used in the Ionic islands of Paros, Thasos, and Siphnos with the valueο,while O or O represented the soundω.The name of the letter wasτὸ ὦ(perispom. acc. to Hellad. ap. Phot. p.530B. ), cf. Achae. 33.3 , Pl. Phdr. 244d , Cra. 420b , Tht. 203c : after the loss of the distinction betw. long and short vowels,οandωhad the same pronunciation; they begin to be confused in Papyri ofiii B. C.( οἰκωνόμου
PRev.Laws 50.22
(iii B. C.)), but the nameω μέγαappears first in later Greek, Theognost. Can. 13 ; κατὰ σχῆμα διπλοῦ ω̄ ἤτοι μεγάλου
Eust. 869.26
; οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἀρίσταρχον αὐτὸ τὸ ποτήριον ω̄ μέγα εἶναί φασιν, ὁποῖν ἴσως τὸ κατὰ δύο ῡ ἐσχηματισμένον