Information about Hebrew Alphabet
| class="infobox bordered" style="width:23em; font-size:95%;"
!colspan="3" style="background:white; padding:0.4em 0.4em; text-align:center; font-size:125%;"| Hebrew alphabet
|style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" | Type
|style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" colspan="2"| Abjad (sometimes used as an alphabet)
|style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" | Languages |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em; line-height:12pt;" colspan="2"| Hebrew language Jewish language |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" | Time period |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" colspan="2"| 1000 BCE to the present |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" | Sister systems |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em; line-height:12pt;" colspan="2"| Nabataean
Syriac
Palmyrenean
Mandaic
Brāhmī
Pahlavi
Sogdian |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" | Unicode range |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" colspan="2"| U+0590 to U+05FF,
U+FB1D to U+FB40 |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em; white-space:nowrap;"| ISO 15924 |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" colspan="2" | Hebr |colspan="3" class="boilerplate metadata" style="line-height:10pt; padding:0.5em;"| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. |}
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 אלפבית (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.
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).
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.
The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad: vowels are normally not indicated. Where they are, it is because a weak consonant such as א alef, א hey, ה vav or ו 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 (י; 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.
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.
The following table contains the pronunciation of the Hebrew letters in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet.
|style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" | Languages |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em; line-height:12pt;" colspan="2"| Hebrew language Jewish language |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" | Time period |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" colspan="2"| 1000 BCE to the present |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" | Sister systems |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em; line-height:12pt;" colspan="2"| Nabataean
Syriac
Palmyrenean
Mandaic
Brāhmī
Pahlavi
Sogdian |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" | Unicode range |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" colspan="2"| U+0590 to U+05FF,
U+FB1D to U+FB40 |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em; white-space:nowrap;"| ISO 15924 |style="padding:0.3em 0.5em;" colspan="2" | Hebr |colspan="3" class="boilerplate metadata" style="line-height:10pt; padding:0.5em;"| 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 |
This article is mainly about Hebrew letters. For Hebrew diacritical marks, see niqqud (for the vowel points) and cantillation.
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 אלפבית (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.
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).
History
)
A page from a 16th century Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary by Elijah Levita
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | ||||||||||
| Lamed | Mem | Nun | Samech | Ayin | Pe/Fe | Tsadi | Kuf | Resh | Shin/Sin | Tav |
| ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | ? | ? | ? |
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, א hey, ה vav or ו 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 (י; 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 | |||||||||
| ? | alef | alef | alef | - (1) | 1 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | bet, vet | beis, veis | bet | b, v | 2 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | gimel | gimmel | gimel | g | 3 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=small} | ||||||
| ? | dalet | doles | dalet | d | 4 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | he | hei | he | h (2) | 5 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | vav | vov/vof | vav | v | 6 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | zayin | zayin | zayin | z | 7 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | khet | ches | het | kh (or ch/h) (3) | 8 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | tet | tes | tet | t | 9 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | yod | yud | yod | y (4) | 10 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | ? | kaf, khaf | kof, chof | kaf | k, kh (or ch) | 20 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | |||||
| ? | lamed | lomed | lamed | l | 30 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | ? | mem | mem | mem | m | 40 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | |||||
| ? | ? | nun | nun | nun | n | 50 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | |||||
| ? | samekh | somech | samekh | s | 60 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | ayin | ayin/oyin | ayin | - (5) | 70 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | ? | pe, fe | pei, fei | pe | p, f | 80 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | |||||
| ? | ? | tsadi | tsodi/tsodik | tsadi | ts (or tz/z) | 90 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} , | |||||
| ? | kuf | kuf | qof | k (or q) | 100 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | resh | reish | resh | r | 200 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | shin, sin | shin, sin | shin | sh, s | 300 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
| ? | tav | tov/tof, sov/sof | tav | t | 400 | ){kind=small} | ){kind=spacer} | ||||||
- 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 ? [ʔ] [ - ] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ, -] [ʔ] ? [b, v] [b, v~v̥] [b, b~β~v] [b] [b, v] [b, β] [b] ? [g] [g~g̊] [g, g~ɣ] [ʤ, ɣ] [ɡ, ɣ] [ɡ, ɣ] [ɡ] ד [d] [d~d̥] [d̪~g] [d̪, g] [d̪, g] [d̪, g] [d̪] ? [h~ʔ, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h, -] [h] ? [v] [v~v̥] [v] [w] [w] [w] [w] ? [z] [z~z̥] [z] [z] [z] [z] [dz] ? [χ~ħ] [x] [ħ] [ħ] [ħ] [ħ, x] [ħ, x] ? [t] [t] [t̪] [t̴̪] (1) [t̴̪] [t̪ˁ] (2) [t̪ʼ] (3) ? [j] [j] [j] }|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|}|} References
1. ^ "Alef-bet" is commonly written in Israeli Hebrew without the maqaf (מקף, hyphen), אלפבית עברי, as opposed to with the hyphen, אלף־בית עברי
2. ^ 10th century BCE script
3. ^ 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.
4. ^ 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.
Abjad is a term suggested by Peter T. Daniels [1] to replace the common terms consonantary or consonantal alphabet or syllabary to refer to the family of scripts called West Semitic, a type of writing system in which each symbol stands for a
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An alphabet is a standardized set of letters
..... Read more.Hebrew
Writing system: Alefbet Ivri abjad
Official status
Official language of: Israel
Regulated by: Academy of the Hebrew Language
..... Read more.The Jewish languages are a set of languages that developed in various Jewish communities around the world, more notably in Europe, West Asia, and North Africa. The usual course of development for these languages was through the addition of Hebrew words and phrases, used to express
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..... Read more.Nabataean
Child systems Arabic alphabet
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
The Nabatean alphabet is a consonantal alphabet (abjad) that was used by the Nabateans in the 2nd century BC.
..... Read more.Syriac alphabet
Child systems Sogdian →Orkhon (Turkic)
→Old Hungarian
→Uyghur
→Mongolian
Nabataean
→ Arabic
Georgian (disputed)
..... Read more.Palmyrenean was a West Aramaic dialect spoken in the city of Palmyra, Syria in the early centuries AD. The development of cursive versions of Aramaic led to the creation of the Palmyrenean alphabets.
Other West Aramaic dialects include Nabataean and Judeo-Aramaic.
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The Mandaic alphabet is based on the Aramaic alphabet, and is used for writing the Mandaic language.
The Mandaic name for the script is Abagada or Abaga
..... Read more.Sogdian
Child systems Mongolian
Orkhon script
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
The Sogdian alphabet, also called the Old Uyghur alphabet is derived from Syriac, the descendant script of the Aramaic alphabet.
..... Read more.Unicode’s Universal Character Set potentially supports over 1 million (1,114,112 = 220 + 216 or 17 × 216, hexadecimal 110000) code points.
As of Unicode 5.0.0, 102,012 (9.
..... Read more.ISO 15924, Codes for the representation of names of scripts, defines two sets of codes for a number of writing systems (scripts). Each script is given both a four-letter code and a numeric one.
..... Read more.International Phonetic Alphabet
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
The International
Phonetic Alphabet
History
Nonstandard symbols
Extended IPA
Naming conventions
IPA for English The
..... Read more.Unicode is an industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in any of the world's writing systems. Developed in tandem with the Universal Character Set standard and published in book form as The Unicode Standard
..... Read more.The history of the alphabet begins in Ancient Egypt, more than a millennium into the history of writing. The first pure alphabet emerged around 2000 BCE to represent the language of Semitic workers in Egypt (see Middle Bronze Age alphabets), and was derived from the
..... Read more.Middle Bronze Age alphabets are two similar undeciphered scripts, dated to be from the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500 BCE), and believed to be ancestral to nearly all modern alphabets:- the Proto-Sinaitic
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The Ugaritic alphabet is a cuneiform abjad (alphabet without vowels), used from around 1500 BC for the Ugaritic language, an extinct Canaanite language discovered in Ugarit, Syria. It has 31 distinct letters.
..... Read more.Proto-Canaanite alphabet
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The Proto-Canaanite alphabet is an abjad of twenty-plus acrophonic glyphs, found in Levantine texts of the Late Bronze Age (from ca.
..... Read more.Phoenician alphabet
Child systems Paleo-Hebrew alphabet
Aramaic alphabet
Greek alphabet
Many hypothesized others
Sister systems South Arabian alphabet
Unicode range U+10900 to U+1091F
ISO 15924 Phnx
Note
..... Read more.Paleo-Hebrew alphabet
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The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet also know as Ktav Ivri is an offshoot of the Phoenician alphabet used to write the Hebrew language from about the 10th century BCE until it began to
..... Read more.Aramaic alphabet
Child systems Hebrew
Nabataean
Syriac
Palmyrenean
Mandaic
Brāhmī
Pahlavi
Sogdian
Kharoṣṭhī
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..... Read more.History of the alphabet
Middle Bronze Age 18–15th c. BC- Ugaritic 15th c. BC
- Proto-Canaanite 14th c. BC
- Phoenician 11th c. BC
- Paleo-Hebrew 10th c.
..... Read more.Tibetan
ISO 15924 Tibt
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.The Tibetan script
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Child systems Thai
Lao
Sister systems Old Mon (Burmese)
ISO 15924 Khmr
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Sister systems Balinese
Batak
Baybayin
Buhid
Hanunó'o
Rejang
Tagbanwa
ISO 15924 Java
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..... Read more.Syriac alphabet
Child systems Sogdian →Orkhon (Turkic)
→Old Hungarian
→Uyghur
→Mongolian
Nabataean
→ Arabic
Georgian (disputed)
..... Read more.Nabataean
Child systems Arabic alphabet
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
The Nabatean alphabet is a consonantal alphabet (abjad) that was used by the Nabateans in the 2nd century BC.
..... Read more.Arabic abjad
Unicode range U+0600 to U+06FF
U+0750 to U+077F
U+FB50 to U+FDFF
U+FE70 to U+FEFF
ISO 15924 Arab (#160)
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..... Read more.Avestan
ISO 15924 Avst
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The Avestan alphabet is a writing system developed during the Sassanid era (226-651) to render the Avestan language.
..... Read more.Greek alphabet
Child systems Gothic
Glagolitic
Cyrillic
Coptic
Old Italic alphabet
Latin alphabet
ISO 15924 Grek
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