Friday, 27 August 2010

Something interesting, but that would never be published

Which letter of the Greek alphabet starts the most words?

Here is a survey based on the page numbers of the Revised Supplement to LSJ. Of course, it may reflect letters which needed more revision and correction for faulty treatment as well as expansion or the 'raw number' of lexemes. It may also reflect the publisher's concern about space and time.

The major players (emboldened, with more than 30 pages) are hardly surprising, but their relative coverage might be. Also, some likely second division letters might seem under- or disproportionally represented.

Alpha: 1-64
Beta: 65-73
Gamma: 74-80
Delta: 81-100
Epsilon: 101-141
Zeta: 142-143
Eta: 144-147
Theta: 148-154
Iota: 155-161
Kappa: 162-191
Lamda: 192-200
Mu: 201-214
Nu: 215-220
Xi: 221-222
Omicron: 223-234
Pi: 235-268
Rho: 269-272
Sigma: 272-289
Tau: 290-298
Upsilon: 299-304
Phi: 305-310
Chi: 311-316
Psi: 317-318
Omega: 319-320

Counts for the Supplement and for LSJ itself will follow, along with some analysis.

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