Note 942 — Chapter IX · LEUKIPPOS OF MILETOS

Arist. Met. Α, 4. 985 b 13 (R. P. 192); cf. de Gen. Corr. 315 b 6. As Diels suggests, the illustration from the letters of the alphabet is probably due to Demokritos. It shows, in any case, how the word στοιχεῖον came to be used later for “element.” We must read, with Wilamowitz, τὸ δὲ Ζ τοῦ Η θέσει for τὸ δὲ Ζ τοῦ Ν θέσει, the older form of the letter Ζ being just an Η laid upon its side (Diels, Elementum, p. 13, n. 1).