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| History | |
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Main article: History of the Hebrew alphabet
According to contemporary scholars, the original Hebrew script developed alongside others used in the region during 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). A distinct Hebrew variant, called the paleo-Hebrew alphabet, emerged by the 10th century BCE,[2] an example of which is represented in the Gezer calendar. It was commonly used in the ancient Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Aleppo Codex: 10th century CE Hebrew Bible with Masoretic pointing. Text of Joshua 1:1
Following the fall of the Kingdom of Judah in the 6th century BCE, in the Babylonian exile, Jews adopted the Aramaic script, which was another offshoot of the same family of scripts, evolved into the Jewish, or "square" script, that is still in use today and known as the "Hebrew alphabet". The Samaritan script, used in writing Samaritan Hebrew, is descended directly from the paleo-Hebrew script.
The Hebrew alphabet was later adapted and used for writing languages of the Jewish diaspora - such as Karaim, Judæo-Arabic, Ladino, Yiddish, etc. The Hebrew alphabet came again into everyday use with the rebirth of the Hebrew language as a spoken language in the 18th and 19th centuries.
[edit] Tags:Samaritan Script,Hebrew,Aramaic,Yiddish,Ladino,Phoenician,Samaritan,Arabic,Greek,Hebrew Language,Paleo-hebrew Script,Aramaic Script,Jews,Phoenician Script,Greece,Gezer Calendar,Israel,Judah,Aleppo Codex,Hebrew Bible,Masoretic,Joshua,Babylonian Exile,Samaritan Hebrew,Jewish Diaspora,Karaim,Judæo-arabic,He,Bet,Pe, | |
| General | |
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In the traditional form, the Hebrew alphabet is an abjad consisting only of consonants, written from right to left. It has 22 letters, five of which use different forms at the end of a word. The Hebrew alphabet has a cursive script used for writing. (lower case) A upper case is used only for reading things such as books.
[edit] Tags:Abjad,Consonants,Case,Letters, | |
| Vowels | |
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In the traditional form, vowels are indicated by the weak consonants Aleph (א), He (ה), Vav (ו), or Yodh (י) serving as vowel letters, or matres lectionis: the letter is combined with a previous vowel and becomes silent, or by imitation of such cases in the spelling of other forms. Also, a system of vowel points to indicate vowels (diacritics), called niqqud, was developed. In modern forms of the alphabet, as in the case of Yiddish and to some extent modern Israeli Hebrew, vowels may be indicated. Today, the trend is toward full spelling with the weak letters acting as true vowels.
Hebrew script on the bustier of Jan van Scorel's Maria Magdalena, 1530.
When used to write Yiddish, vowels are indicated, using certain letters, either with or without niqqud-diacritics (e.g., respectively: "אָ", "יִ" or "י", "ע"), 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 vocalization and diacritical symbols called niqqud (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), called "trope". In everyday writing of modern Hebrew, niqqud are absent; however, patterns of how words are derived from Hebrew roots (called shorashim, 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.
[edit] Tags:Cantillation,Vowels,Niqqud,Matres Lectionis,Israeli Hebrew,Full Spelling,Aleph,Vav,Yodh,Bustier,Jan Van Scorel,Maria Magdalena,Write Yiddish,Tiberian System,Aaron Ben Moses Ben Asher,Biblical,Poetry, | |
| Alphabet | |
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Neither the old Hebrew script nor the modern Hebrew script have case, but five letters have special final forms,[c] called sofit (Hebrew: 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[b]. These are shown below the normal form, in the following table (letter names are Unicode standard). Hebrew is written from right to left.
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.
[edit] Tags:Mandaic, | |
| Pronunciation of letter names | |
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Main articles: Biblical Hebrew phonology, Modern Hebrew phonology, and Yiddish phonology
letter
Name of letter
Established pronunciation
in English[3]
standard Israeli
pronunciation
colloquial Israeli
pronunciation (if differing)
Yiddish / Ashkenazi
pronunciation
MW[3]
Unicode
א
Aleph
Alef
/ˈɑːlɛf/, /ˈɑːlɨf/
/ˈalef/
/ˈalɛf/
בּ
Beth
Bet
/bɛθ/, /beɪt/
/bet/
/bɛɪs/
ב
/vɛɪs/
ג
Gimel
Gimel
/ˈɡɪməl/
/ˈɡimel/
/ˈɡimːɛl/
ד
Daleth
Dalet
/ˈdɑːlɨθ/, /ˈdɑːlɛt/
/ˈdalet/
/ˈdaled/
/ˈdalɛd/
ה
He
He
/heɪ/
/he/
/hej/
/hɛɪ/
ו
Waw
Vav
/vɑːv/
/vav/
/vɔv/
ז
Zayin
Zayin
/ˈzaɪ.ɨn/
/ˈzajin/
/ˈza.in/
/ˈzajin/
ח
Heth
Het
/hɛθ/, /xeɪt/
/ħet/
/χet/
/χɛs/
ט
Teth
Tet
/tɛθ/, /teɪt/
/tet/
/tɛs/
י
Yod
Yod
/jɔːd/
/jod/
/jud/
/jud/
כּ
Kaph
Kaf
/kɑːf/
/kaf/
/kɔf/
כ
/χɔf/
ך
Final Kaf
/kaf sofit/
/laŋɡɛ χɔf/
ל
Lamed
Lamed
/ˈlɑːmɛd/
/ˈlamed/
/ˈlamɛd/
מ
Mem
Mem
/mɛm/
/mem/
/mɛm/
ם
Final Mem
/mem sofit/
/ʃlɔs mɛm/
נ
Nun
Nun
/nuːn/
/nun/
/nun/
ן
Final Nun
/nun sofit/
/laŋɡɛ nun/
ס
Samekh
Samekh
/ˈsɑːmɛk/
/ˈsameχ/
/ˈsamɛχ/
ע
Ayin
Ayin
/ˈaɪ.ɨn/
/ˈʕajin/
/ˈa.in/
/ˈajin/
פּ
Pe
Pe
/peɪ/
/pe/
/pej/
/pɛɪ/
פ
/fɛɪ/
ף
Final Pe
/pe sofit/
/pej sofit/
/laŋɡɛ fɛɪ/
צ
Sadhe
Tsadi
/ˈsɑːdə/, /ˈsɑːdi/
/ˈtsadi/
/ˈtsɔdi/, /ˈtsɔdik/, /ˈtsadɛk/
ץ
Final Tsadi
/ˈtsadi sofit/
/laŋɡɛ ˈtsadɛk/
ק
Qoph
Qof
/kɔːf/
/kof/
/kuf/
/kuf/
ר
Resh
Resh
/rɛʃ/, /reɪʃ/
/reʃ/
/rejʃ/
/rɛɪʃ/
ש
Shin
Shin
/ʃiːn/, /ʃɪn/
/ʃin/
/ʃin, sin/
תּ
Tav
Tav
/tɑːf/, /tɔːv/
/tav/
/taf/
/tɔv/, /tɔf/
ת
/sɔv/, /sɔf/
[edit] Tags: | |
| Orthographic variants | |
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Further information: Cursive Hebrew, Rashi script, Ashuri alphabet, and History of the Hebrew alphabet
The following table displays orthographic variants of each letter. For the five letters that have a different final form used at the end of words, the final forms are displayed beneath the regular form.
The three lettering variants currently in use are block, cursive and Rashi. Block and Rashi are used in books. Block lettering dominates, with Rashi lettering typically used for certain editorial inserts (as in the glosses of Isserles to the Shulchan Aruch) or biblical commentaries (as in the commentary of Rashi) in various standard literary works. Cursive is used almost exclusively when handwriting, unless block lettering is desired for stylistic purposes (as in signage).
Letter
name
(Unicode)
Variants
Modern Hebrew
Ancestral
Serif
Sans-
serif
Mono-
spaced
Cursive
Rashi
Phoenician
Paleo-Hebrew
Aramaic
Alef
א
א
א
Bet
ב
ב
ב
Gimel
ג
ג
ג
Dalet
ד
ד
ד
He
ה
ה
ה
Vav
ו
ו
ו
Zayin
ז
ז
ז
Het
ח
ח
ח
Tet
ט
ט
ט
Yod
י
י
י
Kaf
כ
כ
כ
Final Kaf
ך
ך
ך
Lamed
ל
ל
ל
Mem
מ
מ
מ
Final Mem
ם
ם
ם
Nun
נ
נ
נ
Final Nun
ן
ן
ן
Samekh
ס
ס
ס
Ayin
ע
ע
ע
Pe
פ
פ
פ
Final Pe
ף
ף
ף
Tsadi
צ
צ
צ
,
Final Tsadi
ץ
ץ
ץ
Qof
ק
ק
ק
Resh
ר
ר
ר
Shin
ש
ש
ש
Tav
ת
ת
ת
[edit] Tags:Cursive Hebrew, | |
| Yiddish symbols | |
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Symbol
Explanation
װ ױ ײ ײַ
These are intended for Yiddish. They are not used in Hebrew[d].
בֿ
The rafe (רפה) diacritic is no longer regularly used in Hebrew. In masoretic manuscripts and some other older texts the soft fricative consonants and sometimes matres lectionis are indicated by a small line on top of the letter. Its use has been largely discontinued in modern printed texts. It is still used to mark fricative consonants in the YIVO orthography of Yiddish.
[edit] Tags: | |
| Numeric values of letters | |
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Main article: Hebrew numerals
Hebrew letters are also used to denote numbers, nowadays used only in specific contexts, e.g. denoting dates in the Hebrew calendar, denoting grades of school in Israel, other listings (e.g. שלב א׳, שלב ב׳ – "phase a, phase b"), commonly in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) in a practice known as gematria, and often in religious contexts.
letter
numeric value
letter
numeric value
letter
numeric value
א
1
י
10
ק
100
ב
2
כ
20
ר
200
ג
3
ל
30
ש
300
ד
4
מ
40
ת
400
ה
5
נ
50
ך
500
ו
6
ס
60
ם
600
ז
7
ע
70
ן
700
ח
8
פ
80
ף
800
ט
9
צ
90
ץ
900
The numbers 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900 are commonly represented by the Tags: | |
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