The shape (Σς) and alphabetic position of sigma is derived from the Phoenician letter (shin). Sigma's original name may have been san, but due to the complicated early history of the Greek epichoric alphabets, san came to be identified as a separate letter in the Greek alphabet, represented as . Herodotus reports that "san" was the name given by the Dorians to the same letter called "sigma" by the Ionians.