Fita (Ѳ ѳ; italics: Ѳ ѳ) is a letter of the Early Cyrillic alphabet. The shape and the name of the letter are derived from the Greek letter theta (Θ θ). In the ISO 9 system, Ѳ is romanized using F grave accent (F̀ f̀).[1]

Cyrillic letter Fita
Cyrillic letter Fita.svg
Phonetic usage:[f], [t], [θ]
Name:ѳита́
Numeric value:9
Derived from:Greek letter Theta (Θ θ)
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА́А̀А̂А̄ӒБВ
ГҐДЂЃЕЕ́Ѐ
Е̄Е̂ЁЄЄ́ЖЗЗ́
ЅИІІ́ЇЇ́И́
ЍИ̂ӢЙЈКЛЉ
МНЊОО́О̀О̂Ō
ӦПРСС́ТЋЌ
УУ́У̀У̂ӮЎӰФ
ХЦЧЏШЩЪ
Ъ̀ЫЫ́ЬѢЭЭ́Ю
Ю́Ю̀ЯЯ́Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
ӐА̊А̃Ӓ̄ӔӘӘ́Ә̃
ӚВ̌ԜГ̑Г̇Г̣Г̌Г̂
Г̆Г̈ҔҒCyrillic capital letter Ghe with stroke and descender.svgӺҒ̌Ӷ
Cyrillic capital letter Ghe with hook.svgД́Д̌Д̈Д̣Д̆ӖЕ̃
Ё̄Є̈ҖӜӁЖ̣ҘӞ
З̌З̣З̆ԐԐ̈ӠИ̃Ӥ
ҊҚӃҠҞҜК̣Ԛ
Л́ӅԮԒЛ̈ӍН́
ӉҢԨӇҤО̆О̃Ӧ̄
ӨӨ̄Ө́Ө̆ӪԤП̈Р̌
ҎС̌ҪС̣С̱Т́Т̈Т̌
Т̇Т̣ҬCyrillic capital letter Te Soft-sign.svgУ̃ӲУ̊Ӱ̄
ҰҮҮ́Х̣Х̱Х̮Х̑Х̌
ҲӼӾҺԦЦ̌Ц̈Ҵ
ҶҶ̣ӴӋCyrillic capital letter Che with hook.svgҸЧ̇Ч̣
ҼҾШ̈Ш̣Ы̆Ы̄Ӹ
ҌҨЭ̆Э̄Э̇ӬӬ́
Ӭ̄Ю̆Ю̈Ю̈́Ю̄Я̆Я̄Я̈
Я̈́Ӏ
Archaic or unused letters
Cyrillic capital letter script A.svgА̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧
Г̄Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆Cyrillic capital letter split by middle ring Ghe.svgԀД̓
Д̀Д̨Cyrillic capital letter archaic Dje.svgԂЕ̇Е̨
Ж̑Cyrillic small letter Zhe with long middle leg and stroke through descender.svgCyrillic capital letter bashkir Ie.svgCyrillic small letter Dje with high right breve serif.svgЏ̆
Ꚅ̆З̀З̑ԄԆԪ
Cyrillic capital letter Shha with Cil top.svgCyrillic capital letter Shha with high right breve serif.svgІ̂І̣І̨Cyrillic capital letter bashkir Dha.svg
Ј̵Ј̃К̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆К̑
К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂Cyrillic capital letter Ka with loop.svgCyrillic small letter ka with ascender.svgЛ̀
ԠԈЛ̑Л̇ԔМ̀М̃
Н̀Н̄Н̧Н̃ԊԢН̡
ѺCyrillic capital letter open at bottom O.svg
Cyrillic capital letter O with left notch.svgП̓П̀П́П̧П̑ҦҀ
Ԛ̆Cyrillic capital letter Shha with hook.svgР́Р̀Р̃ԖС̀С̈
ԌҪ̓Cyrillic capital letter long Es.svgТ̓Т̀ԎТ̑
Т̧Ꚍ̆Cyrillic small letter Te El Soft-sign.svgCyrillic small letter voiceless L with comma above.svgѸCyrillic capital letter script U.svg
У̇У̨Ф̑Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇
Х̧Х̓Cyrillic capital letter bashkir Ha.svgѠѼѾ
Ц̀Ц́Ц̓Cyrillic capital letter Tse with long left leg.svgꚎ̆Cyrillic capital letter Cil.svgCyrillic capital letter Cil with bar.svg
Ч́Ч̀Ч̑Ч̓Cyrillic capital letter Char.svgCyrillic small letter Char with high right breve serif.svgԬ
Ꚇ̆Ҽ̆Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆
Ꚗ̆Cyrillic capital letter Che Sha.svgЫ̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆
Э̨Ю̂Я̂Я̨Ԙ
ѤѦѪѨѬ
ѮѰѲѴѶ

In the Cyrillic numeral system, Fita has a numerical value of 9.

ShapeEdit

In traditional (Church Slavonic) typefaces, the central line is typically about twice the width of the letter's body and has serifs similar to those on the letter Т:  . Sometimes the line is drawn as low as the baseline, which makes the letter difficult to distinguish from Д.

UsageEdit

Old Russian and Church SlavonicEdit

The traditional Russian name of the letter is фита́ fitá (or, in pre-1918 spelling, ѳита́). Fita was mainly used to write proper names and loanwords derived from or via Greek. Russians pronounced these names with the sound /f/ instead of /θ/ (like the pronunciation of ⟨th⟩ in "thin"), for example "Theodore" was pronounced as "Feodor" (now "Fyodor").

Early texts in Russian (and in the Russian recension of Church Slavonic) demonstrate an increasing interchangeability of Ѳ and Ф. Some scribes preferred one of the two letters and ignored the other. There existed an orthographical system to write Ѳ in an initial position and Ф elsewhere. Since the middle of the 17th century, selection between Ѳ and Ф was re-adjusted to exactly follow the Greek origin, the system still in use in Church Slavonic orthography.

RussianEdit

In the first variant of the Petrine Russian alphabet (1707–1708), the letter Ф was eliminated and Fita became the only way to represent /f/. Later (1710) the letter Ф (with the same etymological rule of spelling Ѳ and Ф) was restored and both letters co-existed until the 1918 spelling reform, when Fita was eliminated and replaced by the letter Ef (Ф ф).

Many Greek words with Theta were adopted in Russian with Te (Т т) instead of Fita (mostly through Latin or other Western European languages): театръ (theatre), теорема (theorem), атлетъ (athlete), пантера (panther), фталевый (phthalic), etc. Sometimes dual spelling/pronunciation existed: аѳеизмъ/атеизмъ (atheism), алгориѳмъ/алгоритмъ (algorithm), каѳолическій/католическій (Catholic), etc.; the variants with Fita (in modern spelling with Ф) are typically more archaic or special.

Other languagesEdit

In other languages which use the Cyrillic alphabet, Fita was pronounced /t/ and was replaced with Te (Т т). For example, the Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian version of Theodore is Тодор Todor or Теодор Teodor.[citation needed]

RomanianEdit

Called thita, ⟨Ѳ⟩ is part of the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, which was used until about 1860.

AleutEdit

Fita is used in the Cyrillic version of the Aleut alphabet, typically in loanwords.

Related letters and other similar charactersEdit

Computing codesEdit

Character information
Preview Ѳ ѳ
Unicode name CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER FITA CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER FITA
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 1138 U+0472 1139 U+0473
UTF-8 209 178 D1 B2 209 179 D1 B3
Numeric character reference Ѳ Ѳ ѳ ѳ

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ "ISO 9:1995: Information and documentation — Transliteration of Cyrillic characters into Latin characters — Slavic and non-Slavic languages". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 15 June 2019.

External linksEdit