Ruby's Greek Thread

[farmerjohn]

I have always thought of oiin as sort of contraction of oaiin

And what does oaiin mean? 
Would that be Latin?

My initial thought was that oin, oiin, oiiin stand for uō, uī, uae, while oain, oaiin, oaiiin should stand for vō, vī, vae (note oaiiin is never met). This idea has some difficulties. As any other.

Another possibility: oaiin is contracted to oiin depending on aiin. Most of instances of aiin (and aiiin too) are "clear", but some are written with "the plume" above it. This suggests that aiin (also aiiin) have several values. So it can be that one of these values contracts oaiin to oiin, and the other doesn't.