U
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Customary name: | y psilon |
| Represents: | u |
Variants and attestation
| Transliteration | Sinistroverse | Dextroverse | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph | Number | Glyph | Number | |
| U | 
|
31 | 
|
8 |
| U2 | 
|
86 | 
|
5 |
| U3 | 
|
5 | 
|
3 |
| U4 | 
|
7 | 
|
0 |
| U5 | 
|
8 | 
|
5 |
Upsilon is one of the letters (together with Lambda and Pi) which serve as a basis for distinguishing the Magrè and Sanzeno alphabets (see Script): The "inverted" variant 
(
, 
), sometimes termed "Venetoid" in TIR, is used in the Magrè alphabet, while 
(
), typical for the Etruscan and Lugano alphabets, is used in the Sanzeno alphabet. The choice between a symmetrical form and a rarer one with a straight hasta appears to be one of style – the form of Alpha usually corresponds to that of Upsilon. The curved variant (again, together with curved Alpha) appears only in rock inscriptions and the possibly archaic PU-1, as well as in the Trissino. As in the case of Alpha, an inverted rounded form is not attested.
Note that because of the basicness of the shape of Upsilon, the number of occurrences given in the table above is misleading: Due to the great number of inscriptions without linguistic content in the Raetic corpus, the number includes all instances of a chevron in dubious or non-inscriptions.
In addition to Raetic /u/, Upsilon may have been employed to write foreign middle back rounded vowel phones ([o] or similar). See The Raetic language for a discussion.
