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Hebrew alphabet

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Hebrew
Type: Abjad (sometimes used as an alphabet)
Languages: Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and Judaeo-Arabic (see Jewish languages)
Time period: 200 BC to the present
Parent writing systems: Proto-Canaanite alphabet
 Phoenician alphabet
  Aramaic alphabet
   Hebrew
Unicode range: U+0590 to U+05FF,
U+FB1D to U+FB40
ISO 15924 code: Hebr
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.
History of the Alphabet

Middle Bronze Age 19–15th c. BC
Meroitic 3rd c. BC
Complete genealogy
Hebrew alphabet
א    ב    ג    ד    ה    ו
ז    ח    ט    י    כך
ל    מם    נן    ס    ע    פף
צץ    ק    ר    ש    ת
History · Transliteration
Niqqud · Dagesh · Gematria
Cantillation · Numeration
Note: This article contains special characters.
This article is mainly about Hebrew letters. For Hebrew diacritical marks, see niqqud (for the vowel points) and cantillation.

The Hebrew alphabet is a set of 22 letters used for writing the Hebrew language. Five of these letters have a different form when appearing as the last letter in a word. The Hebrew letters are used in mildly adapted forms for writing several languages of the Jewish diaspora, most famously Yiddish, Ladino, and Judaeo-Arabic (for a full and detailed list, see Jewish languages). Hebrew is written from right to left.

The Hebrew word for "alphabet" is אלף-בית (alef-bet), named after the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet was in origin an abjad; in other words it had letters for consonants only, but means were later devised to indicate vowels, first by using consonant letters as matres lectionis, later by separate vowel points or nikud.

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 BC.

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 BC from the Aramaic script, which was used by Jews for writing Hebrew since the 6th century BC. Prior to that, Hebrew was written using the old Hebrew script, which evolved during the 10th century BC from the Phoenician script; the Samaritans still write Hebrew in a variant of this script for religious works (see Samaritan alphabet).

Contents

[edit] Short table

The Hebrew alphabet consists of the following letters. Five letters have a different form (known as the Sofit form) at the ends of words: these are shown in the table below the normal form.

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

[edit] Description

Both the old Hebrew script and the modern Hebrew script have only one case, but in the modern script some letters have special final forms used only at the end of a word. This is similar to the Arabic alphabet, although much simpler. The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad: vowels are normally not indicated. Where they are it is because a weak consonant such as א alef, ה hey, ו vav, or י yod has combined with a previous vowel and become silent or by imitation of such cases in spelling of other forms. When used to write Yiddish, the Hebrew writing system is a true alphabet (see Yiddish orthography), except where Hebrew words are written in Yiddish.

To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of diacritic symbols called nikud (ניקוד; 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).

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

[edit] Main table

The following table is a breakdown of each letter in the Hebrew alphabet, describing its written glyph or glyphs, its name or names, its Latin script transliteration values used in academic work, and its pronunciation in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet. If two glyphs are shown for a letter, then the left-most glyph is the Final form of the letter (or right-most glyph if your browser doesn't support right-to-left text layout).

[edit] Name and transliteration

Symbol Name Transliteration
Academic Uni. Std. Israeli Ash. Academic Israeli
Unicode Font-
friendly		 ISO-8859-1-
friendly		 Uni. Font-
friendly		 ISO-
friendly
א ʾā́lep̄ ’āleph 'àleph alef alef alef ʾ ’ ' - (1)
ב bêṯ, ḇêṯ bêth, bhêth bêth, bhêth bet bet, vet beis, veis b, ḇ b, bh b, bh b, v
ג gímmel, ḡímel gímel, ghímel gímel, ghímel gimel gimel gimmel g, ḡ g, gh g, gh g
ד dā́leṯ, ḏā́leṯ dāleth, dhāleth dàleth, dhàleth dalet dalet doles d, ḏ d, dh d, dh d
ה  ? hê hê he he hei h, Ḏ  ?  ? h (2)
ו wāw wāw wàw vav vav vov, vof  ? w w v
ז  ? záyin záyin zayin zayin zayin ? z z z
ח ḥêṯ, (3) ḫêṯ ħêth, (3) xêth h`êth, (3) xêth het khet ches ḥ, (3) ḫ ħ, (3) x h`, (3) x kh (ch,h) (4)
ט ṭêṯ ţêth t`êth tet tet tes ṭ ţ t` t
י yôḏ yôdh yôdh yod yod yud  ? y y y (8)
ך כ kāp̄, ḵāp̄ kāph, khāph kàph, khàph kaf kaf, khaf kof, chof k, ḵ k, kh k, kh k, kh (ch)
ל lā́meḏ lāmedh làmedh lamed lamed lomed  ? l l l
ם מ mēm mēm mèm mem mem mem  ? m m m
ן נ  ? nûn nûn nun nun nun  ? n n n
ס sā́mekh sāmekh sàmekh samekh samekh somech  ? s s s
ע ʿáyin, (3) ġáyin ‘áyin, (3) ġáyin `áyin, (3) 3áyin ayin ayin ayin, oyin ʿ, (3) ġ ‘, (3) ġ `, (3) 3 - (9)
ף פ pê, p̄ê pê, phê pê, phê pe pe, fe pei, fei p, p̄ p, ph p, ph p, f
ץ צ ṣāḏê şādhê s`àdhê tsadi tsadi tsodi, tsodik ṣ ş s` ts (tz,z)
ק qōp̄ qôph qôph qof kuf kuf  ? k k k (q)
ר rêš rêš rêsh resh resh reish  ? r r r
ש šîn, śîn šîn, śîn shîn, lhîn shin shin, sin shin, sin š, ś š, ś sh, lh sh, s
ת tāw, ṯāw tāw, thāw tàw, thàw tav tav tov, tof, sov, sof t, ṯ t, th t, th t

[edit] Numerical value and pronunciation

Symbol Numerical
Value		 Pronunciation (IPA)
Israeli Ashkenazi Sephardi Yemenite Tiberian Reconstructed
Mishnaic Biblical
א 1 [ʔ] [ - ] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ]
ב 2 [b, v] [b, v~v̥] [b, b~β~v] [b] [b, v] [b, β] [b]
ג 3 [g] [g~g̊] [g, g~ɣ] [ʤ, ɣ] [ɡ, ɣ] [ɡ, ɣ] [ɡ]
ד 4 [d] [d~d̥] [d̪~ð] [d̪, ð] [d̪, ð] [d̪, ð] [d̪]
ה 5 [h~ʔ, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h]
ו 6 [v] [v~v̥] [v] [w] [w] [w] [w]
ז 7 [z] [z~z̥] [z] [z] [z] [z] [dz]
ח 8 [χ~ħ] [x] [ħ] [ħ] [ħ] [ħ, x] [ħ, x]
ט 9 [t] [t] [ [t̴̪] (5) [t̴̪] [t̪ˁ] (6) [t̪ʼ] (7)
י 10 [j] [j] [j] [j] [j] [j] [j]
ך כ 20 [k, χ] [k, x] [k, x] [k, x] [k, x] [k, x] [k]
ל 30 [l] [l~ɫ] [l] [l] [l] [l] [l]
ם מ 40 [m] [m] [m] [m] [m] [m] [m]
ן נ 50 [n] [n] [n̪] [n̪] [n̪] [n̪] [n̪]
ס 60 [s] [s] [s] [s] [s] [s] [ts]
ע 70 [ʔ~ʕ, – ] [ - ] [ʕ, ŋ, – ] [ʕ] [ʕ] [ʕ, ɣ] [ʕ, ɣ]
ף פ 80 [p, f] [p, f] [p, f] [f] [p, f] [p, ɸ] [p]
ץ צ 90 [ʦ] [ʦ] [ʦ] [s̴] (5) [s̴] [sˁ] (6) [ʦʼ, ʧʼ, tɬʼ] (7)
ק 100 [k] [k] [k] [ɡ] [q] [q] [kʼ] (7)
ר 200 [ʁ] [ʀ] [r~ɾ] [r~ɾ] [ɾ] [ɾ] [ɾ]
ש 300 [ʃ, s] [ʃ, s] [ʃ, s] [ʃ, s] [ʃ, s] [ʃ, s] ʧ, tɬ, s]
ת 400 [t] [t, s] [t̪, θ] [t̪, θ] [t̪, θ] [t̪, θ] [t̪]

[edit] Notes

  1. unwritten in initial and final positions, though often not written at all
  2. unwritten in final positions
  3. archaic
  4. h initial or after consonants, ch everywhere else
  5. velarized or pharyngealized
  6. pharyngealized
  7. sometimes said to be ejective but more likely glottalized.
  8. i in final positions or before consonants
  9. often not written at all
  • Historically, the consonants ב bet, ג gimel, ד dalet, כ kaf, פ pe, and ת tav each had two sounds: one hard (plosive consonant), and one soft (fricative consonant), 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 (דגש), while the soft sounds lack a dagesh. In masoretic manuscripts, the soft fricative consonants are indicated by a small line on top of the letter; this diacritical mark is called raphe (רפה), but its use has been largely discontinued in printed texts.
  • א alef, ה he, ו vav and י yod are consonants that can sometimes fill the position of a vowel. vav and yod in particular are more often vowels than they are consonants.
  • ש shin and sin are two separate phonemes written with the same letter. 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 sin-dot is above the upper-left side of the letter.
  • In Israel's general population, many consonants have merged to the same pronunciation. They are:
    • א alef with ayin and (varyingly) ה he
    • ב bet (without dagesh) with ו vav
    • ח het with כ kaf (without dagesh)
    • ט tet with ת tav (both with and without dagesh)
    • כ kaf (with dagesh) with ק qof
    • ס samekh with שׂ sin (but not with שׁ shin)
    • צ tsadi with the consonant cluster תס tav-samekh

[edit] Vowel formation

Some of the letters, as well as their consonantal function, also acted as matres lectionis to represent vowels, as follows:

Symbol Name Vowel formation
א alef ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
ה he ê, ệ, ậ, â, ô
ו vav ô, û
י yod î, ê, ệ

[edit] Vowels and consonants in Ancient Hebrew

Some of the variations in sound mentioned above are due to a systematic feature of Ancient Hebrew. The six consonants /p t k b d g/ were pronounced differently depending on their position. These letters were also called BeGeDKePHeT (pronounced /beɪgɛd'kɛfɛt/) letters. (The full details are very complex; this summary omits some points.) They were pronounced as stops [p t k b d g] at the beginning of a syllable, or when doubled. They were pronounced as fricatives [p̄ ṯ ḵ ḇ ḏ ḡ] — IPA [f θ x v ð ɣ] when preceded by a vowel. 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.

ו vav was a semivowel /w/ (as in English, not as in German).

ח het and ע ayin were pharyngeal fricatives, צ tsadi was an emphatic /s/, ט tet was an emphatic /t/, and ק qof was /q/. All these are common Semitic consonants.

שׂ sin (the /s/ variant of ש shin) was originally different from both שׁ shin and ס samekh, but had become /s/ the same as ס samekh by the time the vowel pointing was devised. Because of cognates with other Semitic languages, this phoneme is known to have originally been a lateral consonant, most likely IPA the fricative /ɬ/ (as in Welsh ll) or the affricate /tɬ/ (as in Náhuatl tl).

[edit] History

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[1], 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, 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, despite several unsuccessful attempts to replace it with the Latin alphabet.

[edit] Possible linguistic origins

The familiar, "square" script used for Hebrew was developed originally for Aramaic, although it was already being used for Hebrew in the last few centuries BCE: Hebrew inscriptions from an earlier period use the rather different archaic script. Like other alphabetic scripts from the region, these derive ultimately from a system which was probably inspired by features of the Egyptian hieroglyphic script, and developed in the late second millennium BCE.

This section may stray from the article's topic into the topic of another article: Kabbalah.
Please improve the section, or see the relevant discussion on the talk page.

The original pictographic aspects of the alphabet are noted in a much later list, which mixes some aspects which are probably historical with others which are quite fanciful, Mathers table, appearing in a Kabbalistic book, The Kabbalah Unveiled (an English translation of Christian Knorr von Rosenroth's Latin translation of The Kabbalah Denudata — a version of the Zohar, a primary Kabbalistic text.):

  • א aleph [aleiph] - "ox" (also "bull" / "G-d" / "Master" / "champion" / "teaching")

          *Meaning: strength, leader, first

  • ב bet [beit, beth, beith] - "house" (also "tent" / "blessing")

          *Meaning: G-d's House, household, in, into

  • ג gimel [gimmel] - "camel" (also "bridge" / "weaning" / "benevolence")

          *Meaning: pride, to lift up, derived from gemul meaning giving reward or punishment, also, "the rich man chasing after dalet which is the poor man"

  • ד dalet [daleth, D'alet:hard d] - "fish" or "door" (also "drawing up" / "a poor man")

          *Meaning: pathway, to enter, the door of beit - the house, "the poor man"

  • ה heh [hei, hey] - "jubilation" or "window" (also "breath" / "spirit" / "fence" / "to be broken" / "to take seed" / "behold")

          *Meaning: "the", to reveal

  • ו vav [waw] - "cane" (also "hook" / "nail" / "Messiah")

          *Meaning: "and", add, secure, hook, the idea of a ray of straight light or the "or yashar" as if G-d is reaching down to man or the world

  • ז zayin - "manacle" or "weapon" (also "sword" / "scepter" / "crown" / "a species" / "to nourish")

          *Meaning: cut, to cut off, the returning light or the "or chozer" which is the reflected light off the crown topping vav which is zayin

  • ח ḥet [chet, hard gutteral 'h'] - "enclosure" or "fence" (also "hedge" / "chamber" / "sin" / "fear" / "lifeforce")

          *Meaning: private, to separate, letter of life (chaim, from the root chayah, whose most important letter is chet

  • ט ṭet [hard t] - "snake" (also "staff" / "to twist" / "an inclination" / "below" / "a bed")

          *Meaning: to surround, upside-down tov symbolizing hidden and inverted good as in the Zohar: "its good is hidden within it."

  • י yud [yod, yad] - "arm" or "hand" (also "G-d" / "thrust" / "closed hand")

          *Meaning: deed, work, to make, G-d's thought - the origin of the Jewish soul

  • כ kaph [khaph] - "hand" or "palm" (also "arm" / "wing" / "open hand" / "a cloud" / "to suppress")

          *Meaning: to cover, allow, strength, subdue, coerce

  • ל lamed - "study" or "teach" (also "staff" / "cattle goad")

          *Meaning: prod, go toward, tongue, lamed-mem-dalet (lev meiven da'at) meaning a heart that understands knowledge [Letters of Rabbi Akiva]

  • מ mem [M'em:hard m] - "water" (also "kingdom" / "a blemish")

          *Meaning: massive, overpower, chaos, water (mayim), fountain of the Divine Wisdom of Torah, open mem (things revealed), closed final mem (things concealed)

  • נ nun - "fish [moving]" (also "kingdom" / "a royal heir" / "Messiah [Who is] Heir to the Throne")

          *Meaning: activity, life

  • ס samech [hard 'h'] - "prop" (also "ordain" as in ordination or support / "to rely on" / "construct form as in grammar")

          *Meaning: support, turn, circular form symbolizes the fundamental truth reflected at all levels of Torah and reality

  • ע 'ayin - "eye" (also "eye of spring or well" / "color" / "fountain" / "in Aramaic: sheep")

          *Meaning: see, know, experience, Divine Providence, The Oral Torah

  • פ pei [pey, phey] - "mouth" [as in speech/silence] (also "a mouth" / "here")

          *Meaning: speak, open, word

  • צ tsadee [tzadi, tzadik] - "righteous" (also "plant" / "fish-hook" / "to hunt" / "side" / "in Aramaic: chaos")

          *Meaning: harvest, desire

  • ק qoph [koph, kuph] - "monkey" or "back of the head" (also "to surround or touch" / "strength" / "in Aramaic: the eye of a needle")

          *Meaning: behind, the last, least, Omnipresence, kedushah meaning holiness

  • ר reš [resh, reish] - "head" (also "beginning")

          *Meaning: person, head, highest, poor man, state of poverty of this world, the upper limit of poverty

  • ש šin [as 'seen', also shin as 'sheen'] - "tooth" (also "Divine Power" / "year" / "change" / "scarlet" / "serenity" / "to sleep" / "to teach" / "two" / "sharp" / "old" / "viceroy")

          *Meaning: consume, destroy, The Eternal Flame, the fire of Torah or sharpness in learning

  • ת tav [tov, tau, thav] - "good" (also "signature" or "sign" or "impression" or "code" / "sign" / "cross" / "in Aramaic: more")

          *Meaning: covenant, to seal, the sign on the forehead of Cain, Teshuvah or prayer or Torah, the last letter of the first word of Creation: the ultimate origin

Remember: There is technically no "f" or "j" in Hebrew. The "f" proximity is a soft "p" like "ph" and "j" is a derivative of the "y" or "Yuh" sound.

The following sources were used in creating the previous compilation additions:
Hebrew Word Pictures, Frank T. Seekins, Living Word Pictures Inc, Phoenix Arizona, 1994
The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters, Robert Haralock
The Wisdom of the Hebrew Alphabet, Rabbi Michael Munk
How the Hebrew Language Grew, Edward Horowitz
Honey from the Rock, Lawrence Kushner
The Secrets of Hebrew Words, Benjamin Bleck
and extended studies at Austin, TX Tzion MJC, and JewFaq.org

More details on Hidden Meanings of the Letters: http://www.inner.org/HEBLETER/HEBLETRS.HTM

[edit] Unicode table

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.

Unicode table
  …0 …1 …2 …3 …4 …5 …6 …7 …8 …9 …A …B …C …D …E …F
U+059… ֑ ֒ ֓ ֔ ֕ ֖ ֗ ֘ ֙ ֚ ֛ ֜ ֝ ֞ ֟
U+05A… ֠ ֡ ֢ ֣ ֤ ֥ ֦ ֧ ֨ ֩ ֪ ֫ ֬ ֭ ֮ ֯
U+05B… ְ ֱ ֲ ֳ ִ ֵ ֶ ַ ָ ֹ ֺ ֻ ּ ֽ ־ ֿ
U+05C… ׀ ׁ ׂ ׃ ׄ ׅ ׆ ׇ
U+05D… א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י ך כ ל ם מ ן
U+05E… נ ס ע ף פ ץ צ ק ר ש ת
U+05F… װ ױ ײ ׳ ״ ׵
   
U+FB1… יִ ﬞ ײַ
U+FB2… ﬠ ﬡ ﬢ ﬣ ﬤ ﬥ ﬦ ﬧ ﬨ ﬩ שׁ שׂ שּׁ שּׂ אַ אָ
U+FB3… אּ בּ גּ דּ הּ וּ זּ טּ יּ ךּ כּ לּ מּ
U+FB4… נּ סּ ףּ פּ צּ קּ רּ שּ תּ וֹ בֿ כֿ פֿ ﭏ

Note: The ligature characters װ ױ ײ are intended for Yiddish. They are not used in Hebrew.

[edit] HTML Code Table

These are the Hebrew Numeric Character References. 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.

Alef-Bet

ג ב בּ א
ג ב בּ א
ז ו ה ד
ז ו ה ד
כּ י ט ח
כּ י ט ח
מ ל ך כ
מ ל ך כ
ס ן נ ם
ס ן נ ם
ף פ פּ ע
ף פ פּ ע
ר ק ץ צ
ר ק ץ צ
ת תּ שׂ שׁ
ת תּ שׂ שׁ

Vowels and Unique Characters

Short/Hard Long/Soft
( ַ ) ( ָ )
ַ ָ
( ֵ ) ( ֶ )
ֵ ֶ
וֹ ( ֹ )
וֹ ֹ
וּ ( ֻ )
וּ ֻ
( ִ ) Letter Yud ( י )
ִ י
Shva Nach ( ְ ) Shva Nah ( ְ )
ְ ְ
Dagesh ( ּ )
ּ

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ 10th century BCE script

(using new citation method)

Roots of the Hebrew Alphabet

[edit] External links

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