Lunate, Terminal, and Medial Sigma

From: P. T. Rourke (ptrourke@methymna.com)
Date: Fri Nov 08 2002 - 16:32:42 EST

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    >
    >
    >I like to think of the long s as similar to the final sigma. Nobody
    >thinks that final sigma should be a presentation form of sigma.
    >
    >
    Actually, I do, given an ideal encoding system without any compatibility
    compromises. I think that the presence of the separate final and medial
    sigma codepoints, and especially of the separate lunate sigma symbol,
    will become a substantial normalization problem for Greek text. Too many
    people creating Greek texts will use only the lunate sigma for both
    medial and final, while the majority use the final for a terminal sigma
    and the medial for a non-terminal sigma. So either there should only be
    one sigma, with the presentation being determined by position (unless
    the font defines both positions as lunate), or there should only be the
    medial and terminal and no lunate "symbol," with lunate being defined
    only by the font - but then most people entering Greek text would just
    use the medial form for all sigmas, regardless of the position. Maybe
    text entry could correct this . . .

    But this opinion is pretty late in the game, isn't it? I just can't wait
    for all the search failures resulting from searching for τις in a text
    with τιϲ

    Patrick Rourke
    ptrourke@methymna.com



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