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Information about Theta

Greek alphabet
Αα AlphaΝν Nu
Ββ BetaΞξ Xi
Γγ GammaΟο Omicron
Δδ DeltaΠπ Pi
Εε EpsilonΡρ Rho
Ζζ ZetaΣσ Sigma
Ηη EtaΤτ Tau
Θθ ThetaΥυ Upsilon
Ιι IotaΦφ Phi
Κκ KappaΧχ Chi
Λλ LambdaΨψ Psi
Μμ MuΩω Omega
Obsolete letters
Ϝϝ DigammaϘϙ Qoppa
Ϛϛ StigmaϠϡ Sampi
Ϻϻ SanϷϸ Sho
Greek diacritics
For other senses of this word, see theta (disambiguation).


Theta (uppercase Θ, lowercase θ or ϑ) is the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, derived from the Phoenician letter Teth. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 9. In Classical Greek θ represented an aspirated voiceless dental plosive (/t̪ʰ/), but in Koiné and later dialects it became a voiceless dental fricative /θ/. In American English, the name of the letter is commonly pronounced [θeɪɾə]. In Modern Greek and British English, the name is pronounced [θiːtə].

Letters such as the early Cyrillic letter fita (Ѳ, ѳ) developed from θ.

In its archaic form, θ was written as:
  • a cross within a circle ( or )
  • and later, as a line or point within a circle ( or ).
According to Porphyry of Tyros, the Egyptians used an X within a circle as a symbol of the soul; having a value of nine, it was used as a symbol for Ennead. Johannes Lydus says that the Egyptians used a symbol for Kosmos in the form of theta, with a fiery circle representing the world, and a snake spanning the middle representing Agathos Daimon (literally: good spirit).[1]

The Egyptians also used the symbol of a point within a circle (, the sun disc) to represent the sun, which might be a possible origin of its use as the Sun's astrological glyph. It is worthwhile to note that θῆτα (theta) has the same numerical value in isopsephy as Ηλιος (Helios): 318.

In classical Athens, it was used as an abbreviation for the Greek θάνατος (thanatos, "death") and as it vaguely resembles a human skull, theta was used as a warning symbol of death, in the same way that skull and crossbones are used in modern times. It survives on potsherds used by Athenians when voting for the death penalty.[1]

Symbol

The lower-case letter θ is used as a symbol for: The upper-case letter Θ is used as a symbol for:

In options investing

Theta is known as an option Greek measuring the rate of time decay on a daily basis. One can look at this as an ice cube melting in your hand. A Theta of -.05 means that the option is losing a nickel of time value each day. Other option Greeks include Delta, Vega, Rho and Gamma.

See also: Greeks (finance)

In popular sociology

Theta is used colloquially to refer to the quotient of a person's appearance versus time. Similar to the Options investing as a description of the effect of time on price, Theta in this sense describes the effect of time on appearance. For example, a 50-year old woman, who looks as if she were 40 years old, would have a Theta of (50/40=1.20). An excellent example is Vanna White, who appears approximately 10 years younger than her calendar age. Theta is a desirable quality; people generally are more attracted to a person with good theta than those who look their age.

Usage in names

Footnote

To add the symbol into a document, type Alt-0415 (MS Word 2003 SP2 tested only).

References

1. ^ .
2. ^ .
  • Barry, Kieren (1999), The Greek Qabalah, Samuel Weiser, ISBN 1-57863-110-6.
Greek alphabet
Child systems Gothic
Glagolitic
Cyrillic
Coptic
Old Italic alphabet
Latin alphabet

ISO 15924 Grek

Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
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Alpha (Greek ἄλφα), (uppercase Α, lowercase α) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 1. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Aleph .
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Nu (uppercase Ν, lowercase ν) is the 13th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 50. Its Latin Alphabet equivalent is N.
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Beta (uppercase Β, lowercase β and internal ϐ) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 2. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Beth .
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Xi (uppercase Ξ, lowercase ξ) is the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet. It is pronounced [zaɪ] by US English speakers, but [ksi]
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Gamma (uppercase Γ, lowercase γ) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Gimel .
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Omicron (uppercase Ο, lowercase ο, literally "small o": o mikron, micron meaning 'small' in contrast to omega) is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 70.
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Delta (uppercase Δ, lowercase δ) is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 4. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Dalet .
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Pi (uppercase Π, lower case π) is the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 80.

In Modern Greek, the name of the letter is pronounced /pi/
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Epsilon (uppercase Ε, lowercase ε) is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponding phonetically to a close-mid front unrounded vowel /e/. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 5. It was derived from the Phoenician letter He .
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Rho (uppercase Ρ, lowercase ρ or ϱ) is the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 100. It is derived from Semitic Rêš "head" (see Resh).
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Zeta (uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ) is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 7. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Zayin . Letters that arose from Zeta include the Roman Z and Cyrillic З (Ze).
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Sigma (upper case Σ, lower case σ, lower case in word-final position ς) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 200.
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Eta (uppercase Η, lowercase η) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 8. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Heth . Letters that arose from Eta include the Latin H and the Cyrillic letter И.
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Tau (uppercase Τ, lowercase τ) is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 300. This letter in English is pronounced taʊ
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Upsilon (uppercase Υ, lowercase υ) is the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 400. It is derived from the Phoenician waw.
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Phi (uppercase Φ, lowercase φ or ϕ), pronounced [fi] in modern Greek and as [faɪ] in English, is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet.
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Kappa (uppercase Κ, lowercase κ or ϰ) is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, used to represent the voiceless velar stop, or "k", sound in Ancient and Modern Greek.
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Chi (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ) is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet. Its value in Ancient Greek was an aspirated velar stop /kʰ/ (in the Western Greek alphabet: /ks/).
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Lambda (uppercase Λ, lowercase λ) is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 30. Letters that arose from Lambda include the Roman L and the Cyrillic letter El (Л, л).
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Psi (uppercase Ψ, lowercase ψ) is the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet and has a numeric value of 700. In both Classical and Modern Greek, the letter indicates the combination /ps/ (like in English "lapse").
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Mu (uppercase Μ, lowercase μ) is the 12th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 40. Mu was derived from the Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol for water () which had been simplified by the Phoenicians and named after their
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OMEGA is the premier counter-terrorism unit of Latvia.

Founded in 1992, OMEGA cooperates with many other counter-terrorism units over the world. Its equipment and weaponry includes the Heckler & Koch MP5, the Steyr AUG and the Makarov PM.
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Digamma (uppercase Ϝ, lowercase ϝ) is an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet, used primarily as a Greek numeral.

The letter had the phonetic value of a voiced labial-velar approximant /w/.
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Qoppa or Koppa (uppercase Ϙ, lowercase ϙ) is a letter that was used in early forms of the Greek alphabet, derived from Phoenician qoph.
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Stigma (uppercase Ϛ, lowercase ϛ) is a ligature of the Greek letters sigma and tau, sometimes used nowadays to represent the Greek numeral 6. It is encoded in Unicode as "Greek letter stigma" U+03DA (Ϛ
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Sampi (uppercase Ϡ, lowercase ϡ) is an obsolete letter of the Greek alphabet and has a numeric value of 900 when used as a mathematical character. It may have been derived from the older letter san.
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San (uppercase Ϻ, lowercase ϻ) was a letter of the Greek alphabet, appearing between Pi and Qoppa in alphabetical order, corresponding in position to the Phoenician Tsade , but its name comes from Shin.
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Sho (majuscule Ϸ, minuscule ϸ) was a letter added to the Greek alphabet in order to write the Bactrian language[1].
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