(apologies if you received this more than once; I am switching e-mail addresses and I think I got caught up here.) Hello, I believe that the mentioned variation of miniscule lambda (λ, U+03BB) is used in a condensed variation of the font. Indeed, in newspaper articles on the front page, you expect the font width to be as small as possible. For example, see * http://www.enet.gr/online/online (click on the front page image on the top-left, the front page pops. Today's issue has a miniscule lambda on the left column of the front page) However, another major newspaper does not follow this style of miniscule lambda, see http://tovima.dolnet.gr/front_page.php (screenshot quality is low, however several miniscule lambdas are visible). You may see also how miniscule lambda looks in a series of traditional Greek fonts at http://www.greekfontsociety.org/pages/en_typefaces.html In all cases, the miniscule lambda looks like the style adopted in DejaVu. I am CC:ing a couple of greek mailing lists in case there is further input to this issue. Cheers, Simos Στις 09-08-2006, ημέρα Τετ, και ώρα 15:31 +0200, ο/η Ben Laenen έγραψε: > Hi, > > my understanding about the shape you suggest is that it is generally > used in titles only (most of the times with η and χ (eta and chi) also > without descenders). Most of the times I've seen it, the article has > the original shape in the main text. Of course, I'm not Greek and may > be very wrong on this, but a quick googling for images of magazines and > newspapers seems to confirm this. > > Furthermore, the style in Sans is one that tries to be close to the > original shapes, see the alpha and nu for example. If the new alpha > will be put in there, the other glyphs should match the style as well, > so that would mean more or less redoing the entire Greek glyph set -- > and now people are using the font in Greek, it's way too late to change > the style. > > It may be discussable for Serif though, it still needs a review to fix > some other issues as well, and the new lambda seems to fit much better > in there. > > Greetings > Ben > > > On Wednesday 09 August 2006 08:19, James Cloos wrote: > > Some years back (gak! how time flies!) I inquired about the form of > > the miniscule lambda in the misc-fixed bdf fonts. The resulting > > discussion indicated that modern greek uses a different form than > > that used in math or ancient greek. Specifically, they said the > > new form is the norm in newspapers, popular periodicals and > > mainstream greek-language books. > > > > The form in question is easiest seen in the glyph from 9x18.bdf > > (here rendered in ascii art based on the bdf file itself): > > > > ,----(lambda aka uni03bb from 9x18.bdf) > > > > | **** > > | * * > > | * > > | *** * > > | * ** > > | * * > > | * * > > | * * > > | * * > > | * * > > > > `---- > > > > Given that DejaVu is used more from text than for math, I beleive it > > would be useful to have uni03bb look like that glyph, and perhaps > > save the current glyph as uni03bb.alt, and make it available as a > > stylistic alternative. The old form is still of course prefered for > > mathematics, and is also useful for setting text from the era when it > > was most common. > > > > DejaVu alread has U+0266 LATIN SMALL LETTER H WITH HOOK. This lambda > > glyph can be generated by taking uni0266, flipping it horizontally > > and extending the hook to end directly about the left stem. > > > > I'd appreciate a confirm/deny from anyone here is is Greek, but my > > understanding is that this would make DejaVu a better font for > > rendering modern greek text. > > > > -JimC