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==Description==
==Description==


In its traditional usage in [[Hebrew]] (as opposed to [[Yiddish]] and to some extent modern [[Israeli Hebrew]]), the Hebrew alphabet is an [[abjad]]: [[vowel]]s are normally not indicated. Where they are, it is because a weak [[consonant]] such as {{hebrew|א}} ''aleph'', {{hebrew|ה}} ''hey'', {{hebrew|ו}} ''vav'', or {{hebrew|י}} ''yod'' has combined with a previous vowel and become silent, or by imitation of such cases in the spelling of other forms. When used to write [[Yiddish]], the Hebrew writing system uses consonants to indicate all the vowels (see [[Yiddish orthography]]), except where Hebrew words are written in Yiddish.
In its traditional usage in [[Hebrew]] (as opposed to [[Yiddish]] and to some extent modern [[Israeli Hebrew]]), the Hebrew alphabet is an [[abjad]]: [[vowel]]s are normally not indicated. Where they are, it is because a weak [[consonant]] such as {{hebrew|א}} ''aleph'', {{hebrew|ה}} ''hey'', {{hebrew|ו}} ''vav'', or {{hebrew|י}} ''yod'' has combined with a previous vowel and become silent, or by imitation of such cases in the spelling of other forms. When used to write [[Yiddish]], ''all'' vowels are indicated, using certain letters, either with or without [[niqqud]]-diacritics (e.g., respectively: "אָ", "יִ" or "י", "ע", see [[Yiddish orthography]]), except for Hebrew words, which in Yiddish are written in their Hebrew spelling.


To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of vocalisation and diacritical symbols called ''[[niqqud]]'' ({{hebrew|ניקוד}}, literally "applying points"). One of these, the [[Tiberian vocalization|Tiberian system]], eventually prevailed. [[Aaron ben Moses ben Asher]], and his family for several generations, are credited for refining and maintaining the system. These points are normally used only for special purposes, such as [[Bible|Biblical]] books intended for study, in [[poetry]] or when teaching the language to children. The Tiberian system also includes a set of [[cantillation]] marks used to indicate how scriptural passages should be chanted, used in synagogue recitations of scripture (although these marks do not appear in the scrolls), called "trope". In everyday writing of modern Hebrew, ''niqqud'' are absent; however, patterns of how words are derived from Hebrew roots (called shoreshim, or [[triliteral root]]s) allow Hebrew speakers to determine the vowel-structure of a given word from its consonants based on the word's context and part of speech.
To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of vocalisation and diacritical symbols called ''[[niqqud]]'' ({{hebrew|ניקוד}}, literally "applying points"). One of these, the [[Tiberian vocalization|Tiberian system]], eventually prevailed. [[Aaron ben Moses ben Asher]], and his family for several generations, are credited for refining and maintaining the system. These points are normally used only for special purposes, such as [[Bible|Biblical]] books intended for study, in [[poetry]] or when teaching the language to children. The Tiberian system also includes a set of [[cantillation]] marks used to indicate how scriptural passages should be chanted, used in synagogue recitations of scripture (although these marks do not appear in the scrolls), called "trope". In everyday writing of modern Hebrew, ''niqqud'' are absent; however, patterns of how words are derived from Hebrew roots (called shoreshim, or [[triliteral root]]s) allow Hebrew speakers to determine the vowel-structure of a given word from its consonants based on the word's context and part of speech.

Revision as of 20:38, 21 March 2009

Hebrew alphabet
Script type (sometimes used as an alphabet)[citation needed]
Time period
3rd century BCE to present
DirectionRight-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesHebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic (see Jewish languages)
Related scripts
Parent systems
Sister systems
Nabataean
Syriac
Palmyrenean
Mandaic
Brāhmī
Pahlavi
Sogdian
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Hebr (125), ​Hebrew
Unicode
Unicode alias
Hebrew
U+0590 to U+05FF,
U+FB1D to U+FB40
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The Hebrew alphabet (aleph-bet) (Alef Beis) (Template:Lang-he-n,[1] alephbet ivri) consists of 22 letters used for writing the Hebrew language and, in mildly adapted forms, for writing several languages of the Jewish diaspora, most famously Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic (for a full and detailed list, see Jewish languages). Five of these letters have a different form when appearing as the last letter in a word. Hebrew is written from right to left.

The Hebrew word for "alphabet" is אלפבית (alephbet), named after the first two letters of the Greek (and Hebrew) alphabet (Alpha/aleph, Beta). The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad, having letters only for consonants, but means were later devised to indicate vowels by separate vowel points or niqqud. In rabbinic Hebrew, the consonant letters אהוי are used as matres lectionis to represent vowels.

The number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, their order, their names, and their phonetic values are virtually identical to those of the Aramaic alphabet, as both Hebrews and Arameans borrowed the Phoenician alphabet for their uses during the end of the 2nd millennium BCE.

According to contemporary scholars[2], the modern script used for writing Hebrew (usually called the Jewish script by scholars, and also traditionally known as the square script, block script, or Assyrian script — not to be confused with the Eastern variant of the Syriac alphabet) evolved during the 3rd century BCE from the Aramaic script, which had been used by Jews for writing Hebrew since the 6th century BCE, retaining the old script only for the Name of God. Prior to that, Hebrew was written using the old Hebrew script, which evolved during the 10th century BCE from the Phoenician script; the Samaritans still write Hebrew in a variant of this script for religious works (see Samaritan alphabet). For other opinions, see below.

History

File:Aleppo codex.jpg
Aleppo Codex: 10th century CE Hebrew Bible with Masoretic pointing. Text of Joshua 1:1

According to contemporary scholars, the original Hebrew script developed alongside others in the region during the course of the late second and first millennia BCE; it is closely related to the Phoenician script, which itself probably gave rise to the use of alphabetic writing in Greece (Greek). It is sometimes claimed that around the 10th century BCE[3] [verification needed] a distinct Hebrew variant, the original "Hebrew script", emerged, which was widely used in the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah until they fell in the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, respectively. It is not straightforward, however, to distinguish Israelite/Judahite scripts from others which were in use in the immediate area, most notably by the Moabites and Ammonites.

Following the Babylonian exile, Jews gradually stopped using the Hebrew script, and instead adopted the Aramaic script (another offshoot of the same family of scripts). This script, as used for writing Hebrew, later evolved into the Jewish, or "square" script, that is still used today. Closely related scripts were in use all over the Middle East for several hundred years, but following the rise of Christianity (and later, the rise of Islam), they gave way to the Roman and Arabic alphabets, respectively.

The Hebrew alphabet was later adapted in order to write down the languages of the Jewish diaspora (Karaim, Judæo-Arabic, Ladino, Yiddish, etc.). The Hebrew alphabet was retained as the alphabet used for writing down the Hebrew language during its rebirth in the 18th to 19th century.

Description

In its traditional usage in Hebrew (as opposed to Yiddish and to some extent modern Israeli Hebrew), the Hebrew alphabet is an abjad: vowels are normally not indicated. Where they are, it is because a weak consonant such as Template:Hebrew aleph, Template:Hebrew hey, Template:Hebrew vav, or Template:Hebrew yod has combined with a previous vowel and become silent, or by imitation of such cases in the spelling of other forms. When used to write Yiddish, all vowels are indicated, using certain letters, either with or without niqqud-diacritics (e.g., respectively: "אָ", "יִ" or "י", "ע", see Yiddish orthography), except for Hebrew words, which in Yiddish are written in their Hebrew spelling.

To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of vocalisation and diacritical symbols called niqqud (Template:Hebrew, literally "applying points"). One of these, the Tiberian system, eventually prevailed. Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, and his family for several generations, are credited for refining and maintaining the system. These points are normally used only for special purposes, such as Biblical books intended for study, in poetry or when teaching the language to children. The Tiberian system also includes a set of cantillation marks used to indicate how scriptural passages should be chanted, used in synagogue recitations of scripture (although these marks do not appear in the scrolls), called "trope". In everyday writing of modern Hebrew, niqqud are absent; however, patterns of how words are derived from Hebrew roots (called shoreshim, or triliteral roots) allow Hebrew speakers to determine the vowel-structure of a given word from its consonants based on the word's context and part of speech.

Both the old Hebrew script and the modern Hebrew script have only one case, but some letters have special final forms, called sofit (Heb. סופית, meaning in this case "final" or "ending") form, used only at the end of a word, somewhat as in the Arabic and Mandaic alphabets.[4] As can be seen in the tables given here, only five letters have a sofit form: ך → כ (kaph and khaph), ם → מ (mem), נ → ן (nun), ף → פ (pe and phe), ץ → צ (tsadi or tsade).[5]These are shown below the normal form, in the following table.

Alef Bet Gimel Dalet He Vav Zayin Het Tet Yod Kaf
א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ
ך
Lamed Mem Nun Samekh Ayin Pe Tsadi Qof Resh Shin Tav
ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת
ם ן ף ץ

Note: The chart reads from right to left.

Hebrew letters may also be used as numbers; see the entry on Hebrew numerals. This use of letters as numbers is common in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) in a practice known as gematria, as well as in the Hebrew calendar.

Pronunciation of Letter Names

letter Name of letter Established pronunciation
in English
[6]
standard Israeli
pronunciation
colloquial Israeli
pronunciation (if differing)
Yiddish / Ashkenazi
pronunciation
AHD[6] Unicode
א Aleph Alef /'ɑlɛf/ /'alef/   /alef/
ב Beth Bet /bɛt/ /bet/   /beis/, /veis/
ג Gimel Gimel /'gɪməl/ /'gimel/   /gimmel/
ד Daleth Dalet /'dɑlɪd/, /'dɑlɛt/, /'dɑlɛθ/ /'dalet/ /'daled/ /daled/
ה He He /heɪ/ /he/ /hej/ /hei/
ו Vav Vav /vɑv/, /vɔːv/ /vav/   /vov/, /vof/
ז Zayin Zayin /'zɑjɪn/ /'zajin/ /'zain/ /zajin/
ח Heth Het /xɛt/, /xɛs/ /ħet/ /χet/ /xes/
ט Teth Tet /tɛt/, /tɛs/ /tet/   /tes/
י Yodh Yod /juːd/, /jɔːd/ /jod/ /jud/ /jud/
כ Kaph Kaf /kɑf/, /kɔːf/ /kaf/   /kof/, /xof/
ך   Final Kaf   /kaf sofit/  
ל Lamedh Lamed /'lɑmɪd/, /'lɑmɛd/ /'lamed/   /lomed/
מ Mem Mem /mɛm/ /mem/   /mem/
ם   Final Mem   /mem sofit/  
נ Nun Nun /nuːn/ /nun/   /nun/
ן   Final Nun   /nun sofit/  
ס Samekh Samekh /'sɑmɛk/, /'sɑməx/ /'sameχ/   /somex/
ע Ayin Ayin /aɪɪn/ /'ʕajin/ /'ain/ /ajin/, /ojin/
פ Pe Pe /peɪ/ /pe/ /pej/ /pei/, /fei/
ף   Final Pe   /pe sofit/ /pej sofit/
צ Tsade
or
Sadhe
Tsadi /'tsɑdə/, /'tsɑdiː/,
/'sɑdə/, /'sɑdiː/
/'ʦadi/ /'ʦadik/ /tsodi/, /tsodik/
ץ   Final Tsadi   /'ʦadi sofit/ /'ʦadik sofit/
ק Qoph Qof /kɔːf/ /kof/ /kuf/ /kuf/
ר Resh Resh /rɛʃ/ /reʃ/ /rejʃ/ /reiʃ/
ש Shin Shin /ʃiːn/, /ʃɪn/ /ʃin/   /ʃin, sin/
ת Tav Tav /tɑf/, /tɔːf/ /tav/ /taf/ /tov/, /tof/
/sov/, /sof/

Letter variants and values

The following table is a breakdown of each letter in the Hebrew alphabet, showing the letter, its name, its numerical value, and its transliteration for English. There are five letters with a second, "final form", used at the end of words, represented below on the right-hand side of the letter's column. For additional ancestral scripts, see History of the Hebrew alphabet → Ancestral scripts and script variants

Symbol Israeli
Transliteration
Numerical
Value
Scripts
Hebrew Ancestral
Cursive Rashi Phoenician Paleo-Hebrew Aramaic
א ' (1) 1 Aleph Aleph
ב b, v 2 Beth Bet
ג g 3 Gimel Gimel
ד d 4 Daleth Daled
ה h (2) 5 He Heh
ו v 6 Waw Vav
ז z 7 Zayin Zayin
ח kh (or ch/h) (3) 8 Heth Khet
ט t 9 Teth Tet
י j (4) 10 Yodh Yud
כ ך k, kh (or ch) 20 Kaph Khof
ל l 30 Lamedh Lamed
מ ם m 40 Mem ‎Mem
נ ן n 50 Nun Nun
ס s 60 Samekh Samekh
ע ' (1) 70 Ayin Ayin
פ ף p, f 80 Pe Pey
צ ץ ts (or tz/z) 90 Sade Tzadi ,
ק k (or q) 100 Qoph Quf
ר r 200 Res Resh
ש sh, s 300 Sin Shin
ת t 400 Taw Tof

Notes

  1. Ayin and Consonantal Aleph are always transcribed except when in initial and final word positions[7]
  2. unwritten in final positions
  3. "h" initial or after consonants, "ch" everywhere else
  4. "i" in final positions or before consonants

Yiddish symbols

Symbol Explanation
Template:Hebrew These are intended for Yiddish. They are not used in Hebrew[8]. See: Yiddish orthography.
Template:Hebrew The rafe (Template:Hebrew) niqqud is no longer used in Hebrew. It is still seen in Yiddish. In masoretic manuscripts, the soft fricative consonants are indicated by a small line on top of the letter. Its use has been largely discontinued in printed texts.

Pronunciation

The descriptions that follow are based on the pronunciation of modern standard Israeli Hebrew. For a concise summary, see the article International Phonetic Alphabet for Hebrew. For further information on regional and historical variations in pronunciation, see Hebrew phonology.

Letters א בּ ב ג גּ ג׳ ד דּ ד׳ ה ו וּ וֹ וו) , ו׳) ז ז׳ ח ט י
IPA [ʔ] [b] [v] [g] [ʤ] [d] [ð] [h~ʔ, -] [v] [uː] [oː] [w] (non-standard)[9] [z] [ʒ] [x] [t] [j]
Letters ִי כּ ךּ ך כ ל ם מ ן נ ס ע פּ פ ף ץ צ ץ׳ צ׳ ק ר שׁ שׂ תּ ת ת׳
IPA [i] [k] [χ] [l] [m] [n] [s] [ʔ~ʕ, - ] [p] [f] [ʦ] [tʃ] [k] [ʁ] [ʃ] [s] [t] [θ]

Shin and sin

Shin and sin are represented by the same letter, Template:Hebrew, but are two separate phonemes. They are not mutually allophonic. When vowel diacritics are used, the two phonemes are differentiated with a shin-dot or sin-dot; the shin-dot is above the upper-right side of the letter, and the sin-dot is above the upper-left side of the letter.

Symbol Name Transliteration IPA Example
Template:Hebrew (left dot) sin s /s/ sour
Template:Hebrew (right dot) shin sh /ʃ/ shop

Dagesh

Historically, the consonants Template:Hebrew bet,beis, Template:Hebrew gimel, Template:Hebrew dalet, Template:Hebrew kaf,kof, Template:Hebrew pe,pey, and Template:Hebrew tav each had two sounds: one hard (plosive), and one soft (fricative), depending on the position of the letter and other factors. When vowel diacritics are used, the hard sounds are indicated by a central dot called dagesh (Template:Hebrew), while the soft sounds lack a dagesh. In modern Hebrew, however, the dagesh only changes the pronunciation of Template:Hebrew bet, Template:Hebrew kaf, Template:Hebrew pe, and Template:Hebrew tav (tav only changes in Ashkenazi (sof) and Yemenite pronunciations).

With dagesh Without dagesh
Symbol Name Transliteration IPA Example Symbol Name Transliteration IPA Example
Template:Hebrew bet b /b/ bun Template:Hebrew vet v /v/ van
[10]Template:Hebrew kaph k /k/ kangaroo Template:Hebrew khaph kh/ch/k /χ/ loch
Template:Hebrew pe p /p/ pass Template:Hebrew phe ph/f /f/ find
Template:Hebrew tav t /t/ talent Template:Hebrew sav* s /s/ sorry

* Only in Ashkenazi pronunciations. In Israeli Hebrew, it is always a tav, with a /t/ sound.
** The letters gimmel (ג) and dalet (ד) also have dagesh (dotted) forms, but these do not differ phonetically from the forms without the dagesh in most of the Modern Hebrew dialects. Israeli Hebrew also exhibits no phonetic distinction between tav (ת) with or without a dagesh.

Identical pronunciation

In Israel's general population, many consonants have the same pronunciation. They are:

Letters Transliteration Pronunciation (IPA)
Template:Hebrew
aleph*
Template:Hebrew
ayin*
- /ʔ/
Template:Hebrew
vet (without dagesh)
Template:Hebrew
vav
v /v/
Template:Hebrew
chet
Template:Hebrew
khaph (without dagesh)
kh/ch/h /χ/
Template:Hebrew
tet
Template:Hebrew
tav
t /t/
Template:Hebrew
kaph (with dagesh)
Template:Hebrew
qoph
k /k/
Template:Hebrew
samekh
Template:Hebrew
sin (with left dot)
s /s/
Template:Hebrew
tsadi*
Template:Hebrew
tav-samech*
and Template:Hebrew
tav-sin*
ts/tz /ts/

* Varyingly

Ancient Hebrew pronunciation

Some of the variations in sound mentioned above are due to a systematic feature of Ancient Hebrew. The six consonants /b g d k p t/ were pronounced differently depending on their position. These letters were also called BeGeDKePHeT (Template:PronEng) letters. (The full details are very complex; this summary omits some points.) They were pronounced as stops [b g d k p t] at the beginning of a syllable, or when doubled. They were pronounced as fricatives [v ɣ ð x f θ] when preceded by a vowel (commonly indicated with a macron, [ḇ ḡ ḏ ḵ p̄ ṯ]). The stop and double pronunciations were indicated by the dagesh. In Modern Hebrew the sounds [ḏ] and [ḡ] have reverted to [d] and [g] respectively, and [ṯ] has become [t], so only the remaining three consonants /b k p/ show variation. Template:Hebrew "reish" may have also been a "doubled" letter, making the list BeGeD KePoReS" and also rendering Hebrew one of the only languages to possess two 'r' sounds. (Sefer Yetzirah, 4:1, this depends on the antiquity of this book.)

Vowels

Matres lectionis

Template:Hebrew aleph, Template:Hebrew he, Template:Hebrew vav and Template:Hebrew yod are consonants that can sometimes fill the position of a vowel. The latter two in particular are more often vowels than they are consonants.

Symbol Name Vowel value
א aleph ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
ה he ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
ו vav ô, û
י yud î, ê, ệ

Vowel points

Niqqud is the system of dots the help determine vowels and consonants. In Hebrew, all forms of niqqud are often omitted in writing, except for children's books, prayer books, poetry, foreign words, and words which would be ambiguous to pronounce. Israeli Hebrew has five vowel phonemes, /i e a o u/, but many more written symbols for them:

Name Symbol Israeli Hebrew
IPA Transliteration English
example
Hiriq [i] i see
Zeire [ɛ] and [ɛi] e and ei men,
main
Segol [ɛ], ([ɛi] with
succeeding yod)
e, (ei with
succeeding yod)
men
Patach [a] a car
Kamatz [a], <car>(or [ɔ]) a, (or o)</car> car
Holam סׁ [ɔ] o cone
Shuruk File:Equal Shuruk.PNG [u] u tube
Kubutz File:Backslash Qubuz.PNG [u] u tube

Note Ⅰ: The symbol "O" represents whatever Hebrew letter is used.
Note Ⅰ: The zeire is pronounced correctly as ei in modern Hebrew.
Note Ⅱ: The dagesh, mappiq, and shuruk have different functions, even though they look the same.
Note Ⅲ: The letter ו (vav) is used since it can only be represented by that letter.

Sh'va

By adding two vertical dots (called Sh'va) underneath the letter, the vowel is made very short.

Name Symbol Israeli Hebrew
IPA Transliteration English
example
Sh'va [ɛ] or [[Zero (linguistics)|Ø]] apostrophe, e,
or nothing
silent
Reduced Segol [ɛ] e men
Reduced Patach File:2 Hataf Patah.PNG [a] a cup
Reduced Kamatz [ɔ] o cone

Comparison table

Vowel comparison table
Vowel Length
(phonetically not manifested in Israeli Hebrew)
IPA Transliteration English
example
Long Short Very Short
Template:Hebrew Template:Hebrew Template:Hebrew [a] a spa
Template:Hebrew Template:Hebrew Template:Hebrew [ɛ] e temp
Template:Hebrew Template:Hebrew Template:Hebrew [ɔ] o cone
Template:Hebrew Template:Hebrew n/a [u] u tube
Template:Hebrew Template:Hebrew [i] i ski
Note I: By adding two vertical dots (sh'va) Template:Hebrew
the vowel is made very short.
Note II: The short o and long a have the same niqqud.
Note III: The short o is usually promoted to a long o
in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation
Note IV: The short u is usually promoted to a long u
in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation

Gershayim

The symbol Template:Hebrew is called a gershayim and is a punctuation mark used in the Hebrew language to denote acronyms. It is written before the last letter in the acronym. Gershayim is also the name of a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, printed above the accented letter.

Symbols for non-native sounds

The sounds [ʧ], [ʤ], [ʒ], written "Template:Hebrew", "Template:Hebrew", "Template:Hebrew" and [w], standardly transliterated as "Template:Hebrew" (while "Template:Hebrew" normally is a [v]), non-standardly sometimes transliterated Template:Hebrew or Template:Hebrew[8], are found in many loanwords that are part of the everyday Hebrew colloquial vocabulary, even among people who don't know the source languages. The apostrophe-looking symbol after the Hebrew letter modifies the pronunciation of the letter and is called a geresh.

English loanwords
Name Symbol IPA Transliteration Example
Gimel with a geresh Template:Hebrew [ʤ] j George 'ג׳ורג
Zayin with a geresh Template:Hebrew [ʒ] varies Jabotinsky
Jacques
ז׳בוטינסקי
ז׳אק
Tsadi with a geresh Template:Hebrew [ʧ] ch Chernobyl צ׳רנוביל
Vav with a geresh
or double Vav
Template:Hebrew or Template:Hebrew [w] (non standard)[9] w William ויליאם
Tav with a geresh Template:Hebrew [θ] th Thurston ת׳רסטון
Arabic loanwords
Name Symbol IPA Arabic letter Example Comment
Khet with a geresh Template:Hebrew [χ] Ḫāʼ (خ) Sheikh (شيخ)‎ שייח׳
Ayin with a geresh Template:Hebrew [ʁ] Ġayn (غ) Ghaja'r ע׳ג׳ר
Dalet with a geresh Template:Hebrew [ð] Ḏāl (ذ)
th
Dhu al-Hijjah (ذو الحجة)‎ ד׳ו אל-חיג'ה * Also used for English voiced th
* Often a simple ד is written.
Tet with a geresh Template:Hebrew [ðˁ] Ẓāʼ (ظ) Tanzim (تنظيم)‎ תנט׳ים * In scientific and professional writing
* Transliterated as a regular ז in colloquial writing (תנזים)
Tsadi with a geresh Template:Hebrew [dˁ] Ḍād (ض) Ramaān רמצ׳אן * In scientific and professional writing
* Transliterated as a regular ד in colloquial writing (רמדאן)

Using וו to represent [w] is, however, non-standard, while still done; standard spelling rules determine that in ktiv male—i.e. text without niqqud—a "double vav" (וו) is used to indicate a vav in a non-initial and non-final position denoting the consonant [v], as opposed to a vav denoting the vowels [u] or [ɔ], which is indicated by a single ו.[9]

A geresh is also used to denote initialisms and to denote a Hebrew numeral. Geresh also is the name of one of the notes of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, but its appearance and function is different.

Unicode and HTML

The Unicode Hebrew block extends from U+0590 to U+05FF and from U+FB1D to U+FB40. It includes letters, ligatures, combining diacritical marks (niqqud and cantillation marks) and punctuation. The Numeric Character References is included for HTML. These can be used in many markup languages, and they are often used in Wiki to create the Hebrew glyphs compatible with the majority of web browsers.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Aleph-bet" is commonly written in Israeli Hebrew without the maqaph (מקף, hyphen), אלפבית עברי, as opposed to with the hyphen, אלף־בית עברי
  2. ^ A History of the Hebrew Language. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 1993. ISBN 0-521-55634-1.
  3. ^ 10th century BCE script
  4. ^ The Arabic letters have, in principle (as six of the primary letters can have only two variants), four forms, according to their place in the word. The same goes with the Mandaic ones, except for three of the 22 letters, which have only one form. For more information, see Arabic alphabet and Mandaic alphabet.
  5. ^ כ״ף, בי״ת and פ״א can only be read b, k and p, respectively, at the beginning of a word, while they will have the sole value of v, kh and ph in a sofit (final) position. In medial positions, both pronunciations are possible, but a dagesh may be inserted (in dictionaries or learning books) to know which pronunciation applies: = b and ב = v, = k and כ = kh, =p and פ = ph.
  6. ^ a b [American Heritage Dictionary ]
  7. ^ Guidelines of the Academy of the Hebrew Language
  8. ^ a b However, וו (two separate vavs), used in Ktiv male, is to be distinguished from the Yiddish ligature װ (also two vavs but together as one character).
  9. ^ a b c "Transliteration Rules" (PDF). issued by the Academy of the Hebrew Language states that both [[Voiced labiodental fricative|[v]]] and [[Voiced labial-velar approximant|[w]]] be indistinguishably represented in Hebrew using the letter Vav. Sometimes the Vav is indeed doubled, however not to denote [w] as opposed to [v] but rather, when spelling without niqqud, to denote the phoneme /v/ at a non-initial and non-final position in the word, whereas a single Vav at a non-initial and non-final position in the word in spelling without niqqud denotes one of the phonemes /u/ or /o/. To pronounce foreign words and loanwords containing the sound [[Voiced labial-velar approximant|[w]]], Hebrew readers must therefore rely on former knowledge and context, see also pronunciation of Hebrew Vav.
  10. ^ "ךּ" is rare but exists, e.g. last word in Deuteronomy 7 1 (דברים פרק ז׳ פסוק א׳) in the word "מִמֶּךָּ" – see תנ״ך מנוקד, דברים פרק ז׳

Bibliography

Roots of the Hebrew Alphabet

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