Greek numbers in Unicode - Revision history

GabrielBodard: redundant sections and cats

2020-02-14T12:44:40Z

redundant sections and cats

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	'''This content is a stub, adapted from an email discussion in c 2005. Please add to and improve this page.'''		'''This content is a stub, adapted from an email discussion in c 2005. Please add to and improve this page.'''

	~~[[category:FAQ]]~~
	~~[[category:Unicode]]~~

	~~==Question: which of the various Unicode codepoints for Greek numerals should be supported by fonts/keyboards?==~~

	~~tba~~

	~~==Question: What variant forms of Greek numerals would be useful in, e.g. an OpenType font?==~~

	~~tba~~

	(see also [[Greek Fonts (variant character forms)]])		(see also [[Greek Fonts (variant character forms)]])

GabrielBodard: /* Question: which of the various Unicode codepoints for Greek numerals (in the U+03D8-U+03E1 range) should be used by preference? */

2020-02-14T12:44:05Z

Question: which of the various Unicode codepoints for Greek numerals (in the U+03D8-U+03E1 range) should be used by preference?

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:44, 14 February 2020
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	Speaking descriptively not prescriptively:		Speaking descriptively not prescriptively:

	(1) Re the upper- and lowercase forms for archaic numerals, although of course all characters on inscriptions (and presumably seals) are technically uppercase, editors may choose to render then in upper- or lowercase depending on editorial preference, and in some cases this difference is even meaningful (lowercase representing units, uppercase thousands, for example). Unicode merely reflects this practice. While ~~I woulod~~ strongly recommend anybody using these to be consistent within their project/corpus, ~~I don't think~~ it is possible to impose consistency across the field.		(1) Re the upper- and lowercase forms for archaic numerals, although of course all characters on inscriptions (and presumably seals) are technically uppercase, editors may choose to render then in upper- or lowercase depending on editorial preference, and in some cases this difference is even meaningful (lowercase representing units, uppercase thousands, for example). Unicode merely reflects this practice. While we would probably strongly recommend anybody using these to be consistent within their project/corpus, it is surely possible to impose consistency across the field.

	(2) Re the two ~~koppas (~~Q-form and lightningbolt-form, ~~for want of better terms~~), ~~my understanding is that~~ the Q-form is the archaic letter and the numeral 90 throughout antiquity. At some point (~~I think fairly recently~~) the lightningbolt-form replaced the numeral and is now so used in modern Greek chapter numbers and the like. ~~I don't know if the~~ two are ~~ever used~~ in the same text with different meanings, but Unicode has clearly decided to encode the two as separate codepoints. I would suggest that when encoding ancient Greek texts, we always use the Q-form, whatever the actual shape of the glyph on the stone/seal/page.		(2) Re the two qoppas, Q-form (Ϙ,ϙ) and lightningbolt-form (Ϟ,ϟ), the Q-form is the archaic letter and was used as the numeral 90 throughout antiquity. At some point (in the print-era) the lightningbolt-form, which is a mediaeval orthographic development of ϙ, replaced the numeral and is now so used in modern Greek chapter numbers and the like. The two are unlikely to appear in the same text with different meanings (unless potentially a modern Greek edition of an epigraphic corpus, but the contexts would also be very clear), but Unicode has clearly decided to encode the two as separate codepoints. I would suggest that when encoding ancient Greek texts, we always use the Q-form, whatever the actual shape of the glyph on the stone/seal/page. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koppa_(letter) Wikipedia] on the history and use of the letter qoppa.

	(3) ~~I presume there's a similar~~ situation ~~involving~~ the stigma and F-shaped digamma, when used as numerals; the latter is also sometimes an alphabetic character. ~~The difference being that I believe most people having encoded~~ numerical digamma=6 using the stigma codepoint.		(3) The situation with the "stigma" (ϛ) and F-shaped (Ϝ, ϝ) digamma, when used as numerals, is similar but not identical to the above. The latter is also sometimes an alphabetic character in archaic or dialect Greek, especially inscriptions, Sappho, etc. Encoding numerical ancient digamma (6) using the stigma codepoint is more common, however. See also [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digamma Wikipedia] discussion of digamma.

			'''This content is a stub, adapted from an email discussion in c 2005. Please add to and improve this page.'''

			[[category:FAQ]]
			[[category:Unicode]]

	==Question: which of the various Unicode codepoints for Greek numerals should be supported by fonts/keyboards?==		==Question: which of the various Unicode codepoints for Greek numerals should be supported by fonts/keyboards?==

GabrielBodard: cat; struct

2016-01-07T18:21:10Z

cat; struct

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:21, 7 January 2016
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	====Question: which of the various Unicode codepoints for Greek numerals (in the U+03D8-U+03E1 range) should be used by preference?====		==Question: which of the various Unicode codepoints for Greek numerals (in the U+03D8-U+03E1 range) should be used by preference?==

	Speaking descriptively not prescriptively:		Speaking descriptively not prescriptively:
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	(3) I presume there's a similar situation involving the stigma and F-shaped digamma, when used as numerals; the latter is also sometimes an alphabetic character. The difference being that I believe most people having encoded numerical digamma=6 using the stigma codepoint.		(3) I presume there's a similar situation involving the stigma and F-shaped digamma, when used as numerals; the latter is also sometimes an alphabetic character. The difference being that I believe most people having encoded numerical digamma=6 using the stigma codepoint.

	====Question: which of the various Unicode codepoints for Greek numerals should be supported by fonts/keyboards?====		==Question: which of the various Unicode codepoints for Greek numerals should be supported by fonts/keyboards?==

	~~...~~		tba

	====Question: What variant forms of Greek numerals would be useful in, e.g. an OpenType font?====		==Question: What variant forms of Greek numerals would be useful in, e.g. an OpenType font?==

			tba

	~~...~~
	(see also [[Greek Fonts (variant character forms)]])		(see also [[Greek Fonts (variant character forms)]])

	[[category:FAQ]]		[[category:FAQ]]
			[[category:Unicode]]

GabrielBodard: three questions and beginnings of one answer

2011-06-13T15:56:04Z

three questions and beginnings of one answer

New page

====Question: which of the various Unicode codepoints for Greek numerals (in the U+03D8-U+03E1 range) should be used by preference?====

Speaking descriptively not prescriptively:

(1) Re the upper- and lowercase forms for archaic numerals, although of course all characters on inscriptions (and presumably seals) are technically uppercase, editors may choose to render then in upper- or lowercase depending on editorial preference, and in some cases this difference is even meaningful (lowercase representing units, uppercase thousands, for example). Unicode merely reflects this practice. While I woulod strongly recommend anybody using these to be consistent within their project/corpus, I don't think it is possible to impose consistency across the field.

(2) Re the two koppas (Q-form and lightningbolt-form, for want of better terms), my understanding is that the Q-form is the archaic letter and the numeral 90 throughout antiquity. At some point (I think fairly recently) the lightningbolt-form replaced the numeral and is now so used in modern Greek chapter numbers and the like. I don't know if the two are ever used in the same text with different meanings, but Unicode has clearly decided to encode the two as separate codepoints. I would suggest that when encoding ancient Greek texts, we always use the Q-form, whatever the actual shape of the glyph on the stone/seal/page.

(3) I presume there's a similar situation involving the stigma and F-shaped digamma, when used as numerals; the latter is also sometimes an alphabetic character. The difference being that I believe most people having encoded numerical digamma=6 using the stigma codepoint.

====Question: which of the various Unicode codepoints for Greek numerals should be supported by fonts/keyboards?====

...

====Question: What variant forms of Greek numerals would be useful in, e.g. an OpenType font?====

...
(see also [[Greek Fonts (variant character forms)]])

[[category:FAQ]]