OMONYA on Late Antique Wedding Objects

Abstract

The paper is concerned with a group of published late antique wedding objects bearing the Greek inscription OMONYA. The paper argues that the curious unorthographical spelling is nothing more than a specimen of the postclassical (Hellenistic and Roman-era) vernacular spelling of the oi diphthong as an υ, which ceased to exist only during the eleventh to twelfth centuries. The analysis presents the rings as valuable testimonies to this pronunciation since the rings belong to the quite late period (sixth to early eighth century AD) when the papyrological evidence on it becomes scarce.