> But then I got to think of the fact that Greek has two vowels for
> each of /e/ and /o/.
> One could imagine a situation where one of each pair had been used to
> designate a laryngeal, the other one to designate a vowel (/e/
> or /o/). Or?
Surprisingly, you are actually half right. The letter we know as eta was
originally used for /h/. It was only in the psilotic dialects that it was
available for the long vowel. It probably developed this sound becasue
every other letter in teh alphabet has a nam which begins with its sound -
therefore it was logical that this letter, originally heta but now
pronounced e:ta, should represent the sound e:
Omega has a different origin - it develops within Greek itself, and its two
forms reflect the two different origins. One is simply a double oo written
closely. This gives the rounded w form of the letter. The other, which can
still be seen in Greece today, is simply an O with a macron mark underneath.
When written in one storke of thepen, it becomes the form used by the
watchseller.
Peter