Studying the (Eucleidian) Hellenic alphabet again recently, it struck me for the very first time that the letter ‘Λ’ halfway through is actually named as ‘lab-da’ (λάμπ-ντα) compared to ‘lam-ða’ (λάμ-δα) in modern Greek.

The ground is that the prefix/first component ‘lab-‘ of the word is actually Lydian carrying the sense of ‘double,’ usually in symmetrical fashion – and ‘Λ’ does present two sort of ‘legs’ either side of its top in symmetrical form.

Which, in turn, spells that the Ionians on the eastern Aegean apparently didn’t have a name for the letter so incorporated it into their alphabets just as they found it.

Even though the respective Lydian letter (𐤩) isn’t quite as symmetrical(1) but still displays a brace of ‘legs’ either side of its own top. It is quite likely, at least with some words or names, to have carried the sound ‘d’ falling in line with letter ‘Δ’ nonetheless.

There has got to be said that the ‘symmetrical’ Λ actually emerges originally in the Phrygian alphabet whereas it doesn’t appear in its Lydian counterpart.

But the Lydians seem to have employed the Phrygian before they came up with their own individual script during the 7th century BC so the Ionians apparently borrowed the letter indirectly through them.

The reasoning, coming back, behind it all lies with the very intriguing word ‘ΛΑΒΡΥΣ’ (pronounced as ‘lab-rus’) meaning (symmetrical) ‘double axe,’ which is Lydian as attested by Pausanias and shares the same prefix.

Hellenes, again, apparently didn’t have a name for the symbol/weapon in their own tongues so adopted it from those it came from, the Lydians (the second component ‘-ΡΥΣ’ spelling ‘axe’ by implication).

‘ΛΑΒΡΥΣ’ may as well lie behind the name ‘ΛΑΒΥΡΙΝΘΟΣ” (labyr-inth), pronounced as ‘laburintos,’ in sense of the ‘Hall of the Double Axes’ which comprises a substantial part of the Palace of Knossos (Crete), built in a time of a major influx by peoples from Anatolia, that features the symbol around conspicuously.

And I speculate that the ancient word ‘ΛΑΒΙΣ’ (or ‘ΛΑΒΥΣ?’), spelling ‘tongs’ in English, is also of Lydian origin and the same root while the instrument presents two arms itself for that matter.

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Glossary (Lydian in Hellenic spelling)

ΛΑΒΡΥΣ /lab-rus/ double axe

ΛΑΒ- /lab/ (prefix) double

ΡΥΣ /rus/ axe

ΛΑΒΙΣ (or ΛΑΒΥΣ) /lab-is/ tongs