Hebrew alphabet

Hebrew alphabet
Script type	Abjad (sometimes used as an alphabet)
Time period	1000 BCE to the present
Direction	Right-to-left script
Languages	Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic (see Jewish languages)
Related scripts
Sister systems	Nabataean Syriac Palmyrenean Mandaic Brāhmī Pahlavi Sogdian
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Hebr (125), ​Hebrew
Unicode
Unicode alias	Hebrew
Unicode range	U+0590 to U+05FF, U+FB1D to U+FB40

This article is mainly about Hebrew letters. For Hebrew diacritical marks, see niqqud (for the vowel points) and cantillation.

The Hebrew alphabet (Template:Lang-he-n , alephbet ’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 also 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 אלפבית (alephbet), 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 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 , 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 was used by Jews for writing Hebrew since the 6th century BCE. 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

Main article: History of the Hebrew alphabet

File:Aleppo codex.jpg

Aleppo Codex: 10th century CE Hebrew Bible with Masoretic pointing

A page from a 16th century Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary by Elijah Levita

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 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.

According to Jewish Tradition however, the block script seen today in Hebrew Torah Scrolls, known as Kthav Ashurith, was the original Hebrew script carved into the Ten Commandments . The masses however used Paleo-Hebrew and its cousins, known as Kthav Ivri, for day to day writing, just as Jews today use a non block script for everyday writing.

As time progressed, during the days of the Judges and Kings of Israel, only the priests and scribes still knew how to read the original holy script, Kthav Ashurith. Others did not even recognize it, as demonstrated when King Yoshiyahu of the Davidic Dynasty needed a priest to read to him from the Torah scroll found in the Temple. After the destruction of the first temple, when the famous hand came down and wrote on the wall in Kthav Ashurith, Daniel was the only one King Belshazzar could find who could read it. Later when Ezra and other Jews returned to Israel, Ezra saw how the knowledge of Kthav Ashurith was forgotten and enacted decrees that all writing of scrolls must be in Kthav Ashurith, and that day to day writing should be in an Aramaic form of Kthav Ashurith, so it should not be forgotten. The Samaritans however rejected the Oral Tradition, and in defiance of Ezra's Law, have continued till this day to write their scrolls in Kthav Ivri.

Letter table

The Hebrew alphabet consists of the following letters, five of which have a different form at the ends of words, known as the final form. These are shown in the table below the normal form.

Aleph	Bet/Vet	Gimel	Dalet	He	Vav	Zayin	Chet	Tet	Yud	Kaph/Khaph
א	ב	ג	ד	ה	ו	ז	ח	ט	י	כ
										ך
Lamed	Mem	Nun	Samekh	Ayin	Pei/Fei	Tsadi	Quph	Reish	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. 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. As can be seen in the tables given here, only five letters have a sofit form: ך → כ (kaph and khaph), ם → מ (mem), ן → נ (nun), ף → פ (pe and phe), 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 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, 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 (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".

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.

Names, scripts, values, and transliteration of the letters

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	Literal Meaning	Scripts
		Israeli	Ashkenazi	Unicode				Hebrew				Ancestral
								Cursive		Rashi		Proto-Sinaitic Hieroglyphics	Proto-Canaanite	Phoenician	Paleo-Hebrew	Aramaic
א		alef	alef	alef	- (1)	1	n. thousand, myriad (elef)
ב		bet, vet	beis, veis	bet	b, v	2	n. house (bayit)
ג		gimel	gimmel	gimel	g	3	n. camel (gamal)
ד		dalet	daled	dalet	d	4	n. door (delet)
ה		he	hei	he	h (2)	5	prefix the definite article (he-)
ו		vav	vov/vof	vav	v	6	n. hook, peg (vov); prefix and (v-)					unknown
ז		zayin	zayin	zayin	z	7	n. stabbing weapon (zayin)					unknown
ח		khet	ches	het	kh (or ch/h) (3)	8	n. incisor (khat); n. transgression (kheyt)
ט		tet	tes	tet	t	9	n. clay, mud (teet)
י		yod	yud	yord	y (4)	10	n. hand (yad)
כ	ך	kaf, khaf	kof, chof	kaf	k, kh (or ch)	20	n. palm of hand, spoon (khof), prefix with (k-)
ל		lamed	lomed	lamed	l	30	v. learn (lamad); prefix to (l-)
מ	ם	mem	mem	mem	m	40	n. water (mayim); prefix from (m-)
נ	ן	nun	nun	nun	n	50
ס		samekh	somech	samekh	s	60
ע		ayin	ayin/oyin	ayin	- (5)	70	n. eye (ayin)
פ	ף	pe, fe	pei, fei	pe	p, f	80	n. mouth (peh)
צ	ץ	tsadi	tsodi/tsodik	tsadi	ts (or tz/z)	90	n. righteous (tsaddik)									,
ק		kuf	kuf	qof	k (or q)	100
ר		resh	reish	resh	r	200	n. head (rōsh)
ש		shin, sin	shin, sin	shin	sh, s	300	n. tooth (shin); prefix that (sh-)					unknown
ת		tav	tov/tof, sov/sof	tav	t	400						unknown

1. unwritten in initial and final positions, though often not written at all
2. unwritten in final positions
3. "h" initial or after consonants, "ch" everywhere else
4. "i" in final positions or before consonants
5. often not written at all

Pronunciation

Further information: [[:Hebrew phonology and International Phonetic Alphabet for Hebrew]]

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] |	[ɡ]		[ʤ]	[d]		[ð]	[h~ʔ, -]	[v]	[uː]	[əʊ]	[w]	[z]	[ʒ]	[χ~ħ]	[t]	[j]
Letters	יִ	כּ ךּ	ך כ	ל	ם מ	ן נ	ס	ע	פּ ףּ	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

Further information: [[:Shin (letter)]]

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

Main article: Dagesh

Historically, the consonants Template:Hebrew bet, Template:Hebrew gimel, Template:Hebrew dalet, Template:Hebrew kaf, Template:Hebrew pe 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 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
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 and Yemenite 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 don't 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.

Same 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	/h~ʔ/, -
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

Matres lectiones

Main article: Mater 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

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 (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 vav was a semivowel /w/ (as in English, not as in German).
• Template:Hebrew chet and Template:Hebrew ayin were pharyngeal fricatives, Template:Hebrew tsadi was an emphatic /s/, Template:Hebrew tet was an emphatic /t/, and Template:Hebrew qoph was /q/. All these are common Semitic consonants.
• Template:Hebrew sin (the /s/ variant of Template:Hebrew shin) was originally different from both Template:Hebrew shin and Template:Hebrew samekh, but had become /s/ the same as Template:Hebrew 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 the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative /ɬ/ (the sound of modern Welsh ll) or the voiceless alveolar lateral affricate /tɬ/ (like Náhuatl tl).

Diacritics

Main article: Niqqud

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.

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		[ɛ] and [ɛi]	e and ei	men, main
Segol		[ɛ], ([ɛi] with succeeding yod)	e, (ei with succeeding yod)	men
Patach		[a]	a	under
Kamatz		[a], (or [ɔ])	a, (or o)	spa
Holam		[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

Main article: 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	spa
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:Hebrewֳ	[ɔ]	o	coke
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 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
Template:Hebrew	These are intended for Yiddish. They are not used in Hebrew. 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.

Gershayim

Main article: 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.

Non-native sounds

Main article: Geresh

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, 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		Comment
Gimel with a geresh	Template:Hebrew	[ʤ]	j	George	ג׳ורג
Zayin with a geresh	Template:Hebrew	[ʒ]	varies	Jabotinsky	ז׳בוטינסקי
Tsadi with a geresh	Template:Hebrew	[ʧ]	ch	Chernobyl	צ׳רנוביל
Vav with a geresh or double Vav	Template:Hebrew or Template:Hebrew	[w]	w	William	ו׳יליאם	non standard
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.
Tav 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)	Ramaḍān	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.

A geresh is also used to denote initialisms, to denote a Hebrew numeral and as a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah.

Unicode and HTML

Main article: Unicode and HTML for the Hebrew alphabet

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.

Literary and cultural references

• 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

• Mater lectionis
• History of the Hebrew language
• Syriac alphabet
• Niqqud
• Dagesh
• Gershayim
• Hebrew braille
• Cursive Hebrew
• Rashi script
• Ashuri alphabet
• Hebrew keyboard
• Romanization of Hebrew
• International Phonetic Alphabet for Hebrew
• Hebrew phonology
• Help:Hebrew

Bibliography

Roots of the Hebrew Alphabet

• Hoffman, Joel M. 2004. In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language. New York: New York University Press.
• Saenz-Badillos, Angel. 1993. A History of the Hebrew Language. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
• Steinberg, David. History of the Hebrew Language.
• Mathers table
• Aleph-Beth Quick Study Chart. February 28 2005. Qumran Bet Community. Retrieved January 5 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 (transliteration with niqqud)
• Mikledet.com - for typing Hebrew with an English keyboard (Hebrew layout and phonetic layout)