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The resemblance to the omega seems to be coincidental. In Pullum's Phonetic Symbol guide there is a clear difference between the heavy legs of the uppercase omega (or the small capital omega) and the tapering serifs on the Latin upsilon. Some fonts do mistakenly show an inverted Omega rather than providing a distinctive design. --Oracle of Truth (talk) 19:56, 9 February 2015 (UTC)
That's not a mistake. Pullum just made his name up, as he notes in his book. He thought it was an upsilon and so called it one, but why he thought that when there's already an IPA upsilon (which Pullum then had to call a 'script V') I don't know. Historically it's a small-cap U, with the serifs exaggerated to make them more distinctive, and omega was the closest thing available in metal type. (Especially once the capital was introduced, a capital small-cap U wasn't practical). Other typographers created a special sort, with a rounded body that wasn't quite a turned omega, but really it makes no difference which allograph is used. — kwami (talk) 23:20, 27 December 2020 (UTC)