SHAPE: Almost half of the ancient greek cities used the Γ version. The curving of its two antennae produced C which was the shape used by the rest of the cities (the so-called western group). This very C was used as the third letter of latin alphabet, where it represented /k/. So, 'G' was created for [g] sound, with one little line added at the bottom edge.

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SOUND:
ANCIENT: [g]  In alexandrian koine language times, or possibly last pre-christian times, gamma ceased representing [g] and became [γ] till today. The tendency to move from closed (plosive) consonants e.g.[b, d, g] to the fricatives [v, δ, γ] is persistent in the evolution of greek pronunciation.
LATER:
1. [γ].
2. ALSO: Gamma is uttered in modern greek as [j] before front vowels. AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THE [g] SOUND?: in modern greek it is written as digrammes ΓK, ΓΓ.
3. The velar [] (called «άγμα» [ˈaɣma] ) [ng] sound is occurring in the digrammes: ΓΓ [ⁿg],ΓK [ⁿg],ΓX [ⁿx], ΓΞ [ⁿks]).

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NAME: ETYMOLOGY from northsemitic (phoenician): gimel = camel
NAME: SPELLING normally with two Ms: γάμμα, but also occurring with one only: γάμα.

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COMBINATIONS: DIGRAMMES: ΓΓ [ⁿg],ΓK [ⁿg] (or [g] for foreign words),ΓX [ⁿx], ΓΞ [ⁿks]).
DOUBLED: the double occurrence ΓΓ within a word is pronounced as /ng/.

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VARIATIONS: see Digamma (di+gamma = dis+gamma = twice+gamma).

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MORE GREEK WORDS STARTING WITH Gamma
•γη=earth - geo(logy) •Γαία=Gaea •γένεσις=genesis/birth - (oxy)gen, genea(logy) •γραφή=writing - graph(ic), γράμμα=letter, γραμματικό=grammatic •γυναίκα=woman - gynaec(ologist) •γάλα/γάλακτoς=milk/of the milk - galactic, galaxy