LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
letter

z1

Meaning

  1. letterlowercaseThe twenty-third letter of the Classical Latin alphabet, called zēta and written in the Latin script.

Z, z, was perhaps a letter of the original Latin alphabet, since it is found in the Carmen Saliare, Varr. L. L. 7, § 26 Müll.; and in a Latin record of an Oscan law of the time of the Gracchi, C. I. L. 1, 197; but it had long disappeared, when, in Cicero's time, it again came into use, but only in transcribing Greek names, to represent the Greek Ζ, ζ, which had previously been represented, when initial, by
I. s, as in Saguntum for Ζάκυνθος, Sethus, sona, etc.; and by ss when medial, as in Atticisso, badissas, etc., in Plautus. It seems to have been sounded like the Engl. z (Corss. Ausspr. 1, p. 295; but cf. Roby, Gr. 1, § 195). In late Latin writings z is very frequent in place of s, and in the words Zmyrna for Smyrna, zmaragdus for smaragdus, is found in the best MSS. In writings of the third and fourth Christian centuries z often stands for initial di before a vowel, as zaconus, zabulus, etc.; cf. the Æolic ζά for διά.

Origins

The minuscule form derives from the majuscule Z.

letter
Z2
Classical[ˈz]Ecclesiastical[ˈd͡z]

Meaning

  1. letteruppercaseThe twenty-third letter of the Classical Latin alphabet, called zēta and written in the Latin script.

Origins

The letter descended from the Old Italic letter 𐌆 (z) in the Old Latin period, but had long fell into native disuse by the Classical period, when it came back into use, transcribing the Ancient Greek letter Ζ (Z, “zeta”), which had formerly been transcribed S in initial position and SS in medial position. In writings of the Late Latin period, Z frequently takes the place of S and in the third and fourth centuries often represented word-initial prevocalic di.

Quick answers

What does z mean in Latin?
z, a letter, means “The twenty-third letter of the Classical Latin alphabet, called zēta and written in the Latin script.”.