In ancient times, Greek had a letter "Ϝ" called digamma that disappeared and that had the sound of an English "v" or "w".
Ϝ ϝ Ϛ ς
The Greek digamma corresponds to the English "F" and had an "f" or "v" or "w". As it was not needed for sound value, it disappeared except for it's numeric value of six (6).
Here are some Greek words that originally had a "
digamma".
see: «ϝείδε» (vee-the or we-the) became «είδε» (ee-tha) and is related, through Latin, to the English "video".
house: «ϝοικος» (vee-kos or wee-kos) became «οίκος» (ee-kos) and is related to the Old English "wic" or house.
work: «ϝέργα» (ver-ga or wer-ga) became «έργα» (er-ga) and is related to the German "Werk" and English "work".
Some of these (and other) words are detailed below.
Σ σ ς
Unlike the upper case sigma "
Σ", the lower case sigma is written differently if it is at the end of a word, as "
ς" or not at the end of a word as "
σ".
ΧΡΙΣΤΌΣ = χριστός
Hebrew has a number of such letters. Greek has only this one.
Revelation 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. [kjv]
ωδε η σοφια εστιν ο εχων νουν ψηφισατω τον αριθμον του θηριου αριθμος γαρ ανθρωπου εστιν και ο αριθμος αυτου εξακοσιοι εξηκονταεξ [gnt]
… sapientia … intellectum conputet numerum bestiae numerus … numerus … sescenti sexaginta sex [v]
The Greek Bible has one digamma in it, the one used in the
6 for the number
666 in Revelation 13:8 as the "
number of the beast". This appears in the
TR (Textus Receptus).
A well-known example of Greek gematria is "
χξς" (lowercase) or "
ΧΞϜ" (uppercase) which is the number
666 from Revelation 13:18, also known as the "
number of the beast".
600 = "χ" = "Χ" (chi)
60 = "ξ" = "Ξ" (xi)
6 = "Ϛ" = "Ϝ" (digamma)
The original Greek word for house «ϝοικος» (vee-kos or wee-kos) started with a digamma and became «οίκος» (ee-kos) and is related to the Old English "wic" or house as in the "Earl of Sandwich".
Revelation 4:3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. [kjv]
και ο καθημενος ομοιος ορασει λιθω ιασπιδι και σαρδιω και ιρις κυκλοθεν του θρονου ομοιος ορασει σμαραγδινω [gnt]
… iris … zmaragdinae [v]
10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: [kjv]
και ειδον αλλον αγγελον ισχυρον καταβαινοντα εκ του ουρανου περιβεβλημενον νεφελην και η ιρις επι την κεφαλην αυτου και το προσωπον αυτου ως ο ηλιος και οι ποδες αυτου ως στυλοι πυρος [gnt]
… iris … [v]
