Hebrew alphabet
Hebrew alphabet | ||
---|---|---|
Type | Abjad (sometimes used as an alphabet) | |
Languages | Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic (see Jewish languages) | |
Time period | 300 BCE to the present | |
Sister systems | Nabataean Syriac Palmyrenean Mandaic Brāhmī Pahlavi Sogdian |
|
Unicode range | U+0590 to U+05FF, U+FB1D to U+FB40 |
|
ISO 15924 | Hebr | |
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. |
History of the alphabet |
---|
Middle Bronze Age 18–15th c. BC
|
Meroitic 3rd c. BC |
Hangul 1443 |
Zhuyin 1913 |
complete genealogy |
- Note: This article contains special characters.
The Hebrew alphabet (Hebrew: אָלֶף-בֵּית עִבְרִי [1], alefbet ’ivri) consists 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 Judeo-Arabic (for a full and detailed list, see Jewish languages). Hebrew is written from right to left.
The Hebrew word for "alphabet" is אלףבית (alefbet), named after the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad, having letters for consonants, but means were later devised to indicate vowels by separate vowel points or niqqud. In rabbinic Hebrew, the alefbet is used as an alphabet by using the consonant letters אהוי as matres lectionis.
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; it would be safe to say that the modern Hebrew alphabet is essentially a standardized form (with modifications) of the Aramaic.
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 |
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[2], 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.
Short table
The Hebrew alphabet consists of the following letters. Five letters have a different form (known as the final form) at the ends of words: these are shown in the table below the normal form.
Aleph | 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 |
Description
Both the old Hebrew script and the modern Hebrew script have only one case, but some letters have special final forms, called sofit (Heb. ספית, meaning in this case final or ending) form, used only at the end of a word, somewhat as in the Arabic and Mandaic alphabets[3]. As can be seen in the tables given here, only five letters can receive a sofit form: ך → כ (kaf and khaf) [4], ם → מ (mem), ן → נ (nun), ף → פ (pe and fe), ץ → צ (tsadi or tsade).
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 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.
To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of vocalisation 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".
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.
Main table
- Further information: Romanization of Hebrew, Hebrew numerals, Cursive Hebrew, Rashi script
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.
Symbol | Name | Israeli Transliteration |
Numerical Value |
Scripts | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Israeli | Ashkenazi | Unicode | Hebrew | Ancestral | |||||||||
Cursive | Rashi | Phoenician | Paleo-Hebrew | Aramaic | |||||||||
א | alef | alef | alef | - (1) | 1 | ||||||||
ב | bet, vet | beis, veis | bet | b, v | 2 | ||||||||
ג | gimel | gimmel | gimel | g | 3 | ||||||||
ד | dalet | doles | dalet | d | 4 | ||||||||
ה | he | hei | he | h (2) | 5 | ||||||||
ו | vav | vov/vof | vav | v | 6 | ||||||||
ז | zayin | zayin | zayin | z | 7 | ||||||||
ח | khet | ches | het | kh (or ch/h) (3) | 8 | ||||||||
ט | tet | tes | tet | t | 9 | ||||||||
י | yod | yud | yod | y (4) | 10 | ||||||||
כ | ך | kaf, khaf | kof, chof | kaf | k, kh (or ch) | 20 | |||||||
ל | lamed | lomed | lamed | l | 30 | ||||||||
מ | ם | mem | mem | mem | m | 40 | |||||||
נ | ן | nun | nun | nun | n | 50 | |||||||
ס | samekh | somech | samekh | s | 60 | ||||||||
ע | ayin | ayin/oyin | ayin | - (5) | 70 | ||||||||
פ | ף | pe, fe | pei, fei | pe | p, f | 80 | |||||||
צ | ץ | tsadi | tsodi/tsodik | tsadi | ts (or tz/z) | 90 | , | ||||||
ק | kuf | kuf | qof | k (or q) | 100 | ||||||||
ר | resh | reish | resh | r | 200 | ||||||||
ש | shin, sin | shin, sin | shin | sh, s | 300 | ||||||||
ת | tav | tov/tof, sov/sof | tav | t | 400 |
- unwritten in initial and final positions, though often not written at all
- unwritten in final positions
- "h" initial or after consonants, "ch" everywhere else
- "i" in final positions or before consonants
- often not written at all
Pronunciation
- Further information: Hebrew phonology
The following table contains the pronunciation of the Hebrew letters in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet.
-
Symbol Pronunciation (IPA) Israeli Ashkenazi Sephardi Yemenite Tiberian Reconstructed Mishnaic Biblical א [ʔ] [ - ] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ] ב [b, v] [b, v~v̥] [b, b~β~v] [b] [b, v] [b, β] [b] ג [g] [g~g̊] [g, g~ɣ] [ʤ, ɣ] [ɡ, ɣ] [ɡ, ɣ] [ɡ] ד [d] [d~d̥] [d̪~ð] [d̪, ð] [d̪, ð] [d̪, ð] [d̪] ה [h~ʔ, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h] ו [v] [v~v̥] [v] [w] [w] [w] [w] ז [z] [z~z̥] [z] [z] [z] [z] [dz] ח [χ~ħ] [x] [ħ] [ħ] [ħ] [ħ, x] [ħ, x] ט [t] [t] [t̪] [t̴̪] (1) [t̴̪] [t̪ˁ] (2) [t̪ʼ] (3) י [j] [j] [j] [j] [j] [j] [j] ך כ [k, χ] [k, x] [k, x] [k, x] [k, x] [k, x] [k] ל [l] [l~ɫ] [l] [l] [l] [l] [l] ם מ [m] [m] [m] [m] [m] [m] [m] ן נ [n] [n] [n̪] [n̪] [n̪] [n̪] [n̪] ס [s] [s] [s] [s] [s] [s] [s] ע [ʔ~ʕ, – ] [ - ] [ʕ, ŋ, – ] [ʕ] [ʕ] [ʕ, ɣ] [ʕ, ɣ] ף פ [p, f] [p, f] [p, f] [f] [p, f] [p, ɸ] [p] ץ צ [ʦ] [ʦ] [ʦ] [s̴] (1) [s̴] [sˁ] (2) [ʦʼ, ʧʼ, tɬʼ] (3) ק [k] [k] [k] [ɡ] [q] [q] [kʼ] (3) ר [ʁ] [ʀ] [r~ɾ] [r~ɾ] [ɾ] [ɾ] [ɾ] ש [ʃ, s] [ʃ, s] [ʃ, s] [ʃ, s] [ʃ, s] [ʃ, s] [ʧ, tɬ, s] ת [t] [t, s] [t̪, θ] [t̪, θ] [t̪, θ] [t̪, θ] [t̪]
- velarized or pharyngealized
- pharyngealized
- sometimes said to be ejective but more likely glottalized.
Matres lectionis
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.
-
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
Niqqudot
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, foreign words, and words which would be ambiguous to pronounce.
Shin and sin
- Further information: Shin (letter)
Shin and sin are represented by the same letter, ש, 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 sin-dot is above the upper-left side of the letter.
Name | Symbol | IPA | Transliteration | Example |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sin dot (left) | שׂ | /s/ | s | sour |
Shin dot (right) | שׁ | /ʃ/ | sh | shop |
Dagesh
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 modern Hebrew, however, the dagesh only changes the pronunciation of ב bet, כ kaf, פ pe, and ת tav (tav only changes in Ashkenazic pronunciation).
Dagesh | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Without | With | ||||||
Name | Symbol | IPA | Example | Name | Symbol | IPA | Example |
Vet | ב | /v/ | van | Bet | בּ | /b/ | bun |
Chaph | כ ך | /x/ | loch | Kaph | כּ ךּ | /k/ | kangaroo |
Fei | פ | /f/ | find | Pei | פּ | /p/ | pass |
Sav* | ת | /s/ | sorry | Tav | תּ | /t/ | talent |
* Only used in Ashkenazi pronunciation. In Israeli Hebrew, it is always a tav, with a /t/ sound.
**Letters, gimmel (ג), and dalet (ד) also contain dagesh (dotted) forms. However, they are not used in Modern Hebrew.
Vowel points
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 | ski | |
Zeire | /e/ and /ei/ | e and ei | men | |
Segol | /e/, (/ei/ with succeeding yod) |
e, (ei with succeeding yod) |
men | |
Patach | /a/ | a | spa | |
Kamatz | /a/, (or /o/) | a, (or o) | spa | |
Holam | /o/ | o | cone | |
Shuruk | /u/ | u | tube | |
Kubutz | /u/ | u | tube |
Note Ⅰ: The letter "O" represents whatever Hebrew letter is used.
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 /-/ | apostrophe, e, or nothing |
silent | |
Reduced Segol | /ɛ/ | e | men | |
Reduced Patach | /a/ | a | spa | |
Reduced Kamatz | /o/ | o | cone |
Comparison table
Vowel Comparison Table | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vowel Length (phonetically not manifested in Israeli Hebrew) |
IPA | Transliteration | English Example |
||
Long | Short | Very Short | |||
ָ | ַ | ֲ | /a/ | a | spa |
ֵ | ֶ | ֱ | /ɛ/ | e | temp |
וֹ | ָ | ֳ | /o/ | o | coke |
וּ | ֻ | n/a | /u/ | u | tube |
יִ | ִ | /i/ | i | ski | |
Note Ⅰ: | By adding two vertical dots (sh'va) ְ the vowel is made very short. |
||||
Note Ⅱ: | The short o and long a have the same niqqud. | ||||
Note Ⅲ: | The short o is is usually promoted to a long o in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation |
||||
Note Ⅳ: | The short u is is usually promoted to a long u in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation |
Not used in Hebrew
Symbol | Explanation |
---|---|
װ ױ ײ ײַ | These are intended for Yiddish. They are not used in Hebrew[5]. See: Yiddish orthography. |
בֿ | The rafe (רפה) 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. |
Gershayim
The symbol ״ 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.
Loanwords
The sounds /tʃ, dʒ, ʒ, w/, written 'וו ,ז' , ג' , צ, are found in many loanwords that are part of the everyday Hebrew colloquial vocabulary, even among people who don't know the source languages. In addition, there are ways of writing some sounds in words that are truly foreign, not part of Israeli Hebrew:
Everyday Colloquial Hebrew | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Symbol | IPA | Transliteration | Example | Letter |
Jimel | ’ג | /dʒ/ | j | jump | J |
Zhayin | ’ז | /ʒ/ | varies | vision, azure | see examples |
Tshadi | ’צ | /tʃ/ | ch | channel | "ch" |
Double Vav | וו | /w/ | w | wing | W |
Foreign Sounding Loanwords | |||||
Dhal | ’ד | /ð/ | th | then | "th", Ḏāl (ذ) |
Kha | ’ח | /χ/ | Arabic | Ḫāʼ (خ) | |
Za | ’ט | /ðˁ/ | Arabic | Ẓāʼ (ظ) | |
Ghayin | ’ע | /ʁ/ | Arabic | Ġayn (غ) | |
Tshadi | ’צ | /dˁ/ | Arabic | Ḍād (ض) | |
Thav | ’ת | /θ/ | th | thing | "th", Ṯāʼ (ث) |
Transliteration of foreign sounds
When transliterating foreign words, for example in Israeli bilingual dictionaries, special combinations of letters and niqqudot are used —in addition to those given above — to indicate their pronunciation. These are approximative equivalents only, not phonetical signs, as different vowel roundedness amounts are generally not taken into account.
Foreign sounds | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Symbol | IPA | Transliteration | Examples | ||
נג | /ŋ/ | English ng, Wolof ŋ, Cantonese 五 etc. | ring, njàŋalekat, 落伍 et al. | ||
יוּ | /y/ | German ü and y, French u and û, Norwegian y etc. | Gemüse, mûr, skyld et al. | ||
¨א | /ø/, /ɵ/, /œ/, /ə/, /ɞ/ etc. | Valdôtain e, eu and final as, spoken tamiḻ unstressed அ and உ, Estonian ö and õ etc. | trouveur, யாவது, põllutööline et al. | ||
א¨ן | /ũ/, /ʊ̃/ etc. | Gujǎrātī ઉં, Breton uñ, Lakĥoṫa un | હાડકું, puñs, šunka | ||
וֹן | /õ/, /ɔ̃/ etc. | some Övdalsk os, Polish ą, Diné b. ǫ etc. | monað, osiąść, sǫʼłání et al. | ||
ֵן | /ĩ/, /ẽ/[6] | Bân-lâm-gú eng, Urdū ـیں, avañeʼẽ ĩ etc. | kè-sêng, ہــیں, peteĩchaʼ et al. | ||
ֶן | /ẽ/, /ɛ̃/ | Hindī ऐं, gegë ê, ñe'engatú ẽ etc. | िकताबें, gjêndje, Iúmuhẽn et al. | ||
אֵן | /ã/ | Portuguese ã, Telugu -ఁ and -ం, Yorùbá an etc. | libertação, మందారం, nnkan et al. |
Same pronunciation
In Israel's general population, many consonants have merged to the same pronunciation. They are:
Letter | with Letter(s) | ||
---|---|---|---|
א alef* |
ה hey* |
||
ב vet (without dagesh) |
ו vav |
||
ח het |
כ kaf (without dagesh) |
||
ט tet |
ת tav |
||
כּ kaf (with dagesh) |
ק qof |
||
ס samech |
שׂ sin (with left dot) |
||
צ tzadi* |
תס tav-semech* |
and | תשׂ tav-sin* |
* Varyingly
Pronunciation of Ancient Hebrew
- Further information: Biblical Hebrew
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 (pronounced /beɪgɛd'kɛfɛt/) 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 [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).
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.
Trivia
- In his science fiction novel The Forever War, author Joe Haldeman names collapsars after letters of the Hebrew alphabet (examples include Aleph and Yod-42).
- In the Discworld novel Feet of Clay, a corrupted version of the Hebrew alphabet (altered slightly to look like roman letters) is used to represent the writing of golems, creatures originating from Jewish mythology.
See also
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 |
- Mater lectionis
- History of the Hebrew language
- Syriac alphabet
- Niqqud
- Dagesh
- Gershayim
- Hebrew braille
- Rashi script
- Ashuri alphabet
- Hebrew keyboard
- Romanization of Hebrew
- Hebrew phonology
- Help:Hebrew
Notes
- ^ "Alef-bet" is commonly written in Israeli Hebrew without the maqaf (מקף, hyphen), אלפבית עברי, as opposed to with the hyphen, אלף־בית עברי
- ^ 10th century BCE script
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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 f 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: בּ = b and ב = v, כּ = k and כ = kh, פּ =p and פ = f.
- ^ However, וו (two separate vavs) is to be distinguished from the Yiddish ligature װ (also two vavs but together as one character), is used in some cases to transliterate the diphtong /w/ in foreign words.
- ^ The differences between [ĩ], [ẽ], [ɛ̃] are not always properly transliterated in some dictionaries, hence some discrepancies reflected here.
References
Roots of the Hebrew Alphabet
- Hoffman, Joel M. 2004. In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language..
- Saenz-Badillos, Angel. 1993. A History of the Hebrew Language. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. New York: NYU Press
- Steinberg, David. History of the Hebrew Language.
- Mathers table
- Aleph-Beth Quick Study Chart. February 28, 2005. Qumran Bet Community. Retrieved January 5th, 2006.
External links
- Hebrew alphabet lesson
- How to draw letters
- Official Unicode standards document for Hebrew
- Transliterate your English name into Hebrew Letters
Keyboards
- Hebrew translit - for typing Hebrew with an English keyboard
- Mikledet.com - for typing Hebrew with an English keyboard