Editing Sampi (section)

==Glyph development==

In early stone inscriptions, the shape of sampi, both alphabetic and numeric, is <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi Ionian.svg|x16px|Ͳ]]</span>. Square-topped shapes, with the middle vertical stroke either of equal length with the outer ones <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 01.svg|x16px|Ͳ]]</span> or longer <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 04.svg|x16px|Ͳ]]</span>, are also found in early papyri. This form fits the earliest attested verbal description of the shape of sampi as a numeral sign in the ancient literature, which occurs in a remark in the works of the 2nd-century AD physician [[Galen]]. Commenting on the use of certain obscure abbreviations found in earlier manuscripts of [[Hippocrates]], Galen says that one of them "looks like the way some people write the sign for 900", and describes this as "the shape of the letter Π with a vertical line in the middle" ("{{lang|grc|ὁ τοῦ π γραμμάτος χαρακτὴρ ἔχων ὀρθίαν μέσην γραμμὴν, ὡς ἔνιοι γράφουσι τῶν ἐννεακοσίων χαρακτῆρα}}").<ref name="galen"/>

[[File:Greek numerals on 4th century papyrus.svg|thumb|right|Detail from a 4th-century [[cryptography|cryptographic]] text on papyrus, showing "ace-of-spades"-shaped sampi (here redrawn in red) next to digamma (blue) and koppa (green)]]
From the time of the earliest papyri, the square-topped forms of handwritten sampi alternate with variants where the top is rounded (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 06.svg|x16px|ϡ]]</span>, <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 05.svg|x16px|ϡ]]</span>) or pointed (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 09.svg|x16px|ϡ]]</span>, <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 15.svg|x16px|ϡ]]</span>).<ref name="foat1"/><ref name="soldati"/> The rounded form <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi rounded.svg|x16px|Ͳ]]</span> also occurs in stone inscriptions in the Roman era.<ref name="tod"/> In the late Roman period, the arrow-shaped or rounded forms are often written with a loop connecting the two lines at the right, leading to the "ace-of-spades" form <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 03.svg|x16px|ϡ]]</span>, or to <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 07.svg|x16px|ϡ]]</span>. These forms, in turn, occasionally have another decorative stroke added on the left (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 08.svg|x16px|ϡ]]</span>). It can be found attached in several different ways, from the top (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 10.svg|x16px|ϡ]]</span>) or the bottom (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 11.svg|x16px|ϡ]]</span>).<ref name="soldati"/> From these shapes, finally, the modern form of sampi emerges, beginning in the 9th century, with the two straight lines becoming more or less parallel (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 12.svg|x16px|ϡ]]</span>, <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 14.svg|x16px|ϡ]]</span>, <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Sampi.svg|x16px|ϡ]]</span>).

In medieval western manuscripts describing the Greek alphabet, the arrowhead form is sometimes rendered as <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Sampi palaeographic 13.svg|x16px|↗]]</span>.<ref name="gardhausen167">Gardthausen, ''Palaeographie'', p.167.</ref>