Sho (letter)

The Scholars ( Ϸ majuscule, minuscule ϸ ) is a letter that was added to the Greek alphabet to write some expressions of the Bactrian language. It is the phonetic value probably around the voiceless postalveolar fricative / ʃ /, in accordance with the "sh" in English.

Origin and use

The Bactrian language is the only member of the family of Iranian languages ​​, which was written in Greek characters. The reason for this are the conquests of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BC and the subsequent Seleucid rule in Bactria him. After the Greco- Bactrian Kingdom was conquered in the late 2nd century BC by the nomadic Yuezhi from the North, the new rulers kept the Greek as the official language. Later, however, she also went on to write the local Bactrian language written in Greek letters.

The Bactrian has a sibilant sound - the voiceless postalveolar fricative - which does not exist in Greek, and is therefore not allowed to write to the classical Greek letters. In Greek, the combination of Sigma Σ σ and Chi Χ χ is namely not contracted for / ʃ /, but as / σχ / pronounced (Example: σχῆμα schematic, spoken / sk ʰ ɛmɐ / instead of / ʃɛmɐ / ). Not least for the names of the Kushan rulers - Kanishka, Huvischka and Vaschischka - ie a letter for this sibilant was needed.

This letter looks in Bactrian manuscripts the Phi Φ φ and the Rho Ρ ρ very similar. The upper case is a great Phi Φ without the bow on the left as written; the minuscule like a small Rho ρ with extended longitudinal line. Furthermore, the letter provides the Thorn Þ þ, an Icelandic additional letters of the Latin alphabet, very similar, but has no relationship. The name Schofield is used in modern research because the letter is similar to the Rho. The Bactrian name of the letter is unknown.

It is unclear, has been at what point in the Greco- Bactrian alphabet the letter Scho. It is conceivable that he had the same position as the pre-classical letter San Ϻ ϻ, which was transferred to the Old Italic alphabet as She 𐌑. Thus it was in alphabetical order by Pi Π π and before Qoppa Ϙ ϙ. Some researchers, however, assign it instead to the end of the Greek alphabet, ω behind the letter omega Ω. Others place it after the Sigma Σ σ, due to the Latin transliteration ( s Sigma and š for Scholars ).