Zeta - Name

Name

Unlike the other Greek letters, this letter did not take its name from the Phoenician letter from which it was derived; it was given a new name on the pattern of beta, eta and theta.

The word zeta is the ancestor of zed (UK) or zee (US), the name of the Latin letter Z. However, many Roman languages (such as Italian and Spanish) and Scandinavian languages do not distinguish between the greek and Roman forms of the letter; "zeta" is used to refer to the Roman letter Z as well as the Greek letter.