Editing Digamma (section)

=== Conflation with the στ ligature ===
[[File:Greek minuscule numerals Cod.Const.Pal.Vet.f96r.svg|thumb|right|Two instances of s-shaped numeral digamma in the number "9996 4/6" ({{lang|grc|{{overline|͵θϡϟϛ}} δʹ ϛʹ}}) in a minuscule mathematical manuscript, c.1100 AD. Below, a phrase containing two instances of the ligature "στ" ("{{lang|grc|ἔσται τὸ στερεὸν}}"), still distinguished from the numeral.]]
In the ninth and tenth centuries, the cursive shape digamma was visually conflated with a [[ligature (typography)|ligature]] of [[sigma]] (in its historical "lunate" form) and [[tau]] (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek uncial Sigma.svg|x14px]]</span> + <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek uncial Tau.svg|x14px]]</span> = <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Digamma cursive 07.svg|x16px]]</span>, <span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Digamma cursive 06.svg|x16px]]</span>).<ref>Gardthausen, ''Griechische Paleographie,'' p.238; {{cite book|first=Edward M.|last=Thompson|title=Handbook of Greek and Latin palaeography|url=https://archive.org/details/apl0171.0001.001.umich.edu|location=New York|publisher=D. Appleton|year=1893|page=[https://archive.org/details/apl0171.0001.001.umich.edu/page/104 104]}}</ref> The στ-ligature had become common in [[minuscule Greek|minuscule]] handwriting from the 9th century onwards. Both closed (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Digamma cursive 07.svg|x16px]]</span>) and open (<span style="background-color: white;">[[File:Greek Digamma cursive 04.svg|x16px]]</span>) forms were subsequently used without distinction both for the ligature and for the numeral. The ligature took on the name of "''stigma''" or "''sti''", and the name stigma is today applied to it both in its textual and in the numeral function. The association between its two functions as a numeral and as a sign for "st" became so strong that in modern typographic practice in Greece, whenever the ϛʹ sign itself is not available, the letter sequences στʹ or ΣΤʹ are used instead for the number 6.