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Bension Kohen
Rabbi Bension Kohen or haKohen (; born in Djerba, Tunisia, died 1999 in Jerusalem) was a writer of literature on Hebrew grammar and literature. He was the author of ''Sfath Emeth'', a work on the pronunciation of the Hebrew alphabet. Lineage In the introduction to his work, Kohen provides a purported lineage going back over a dozen generations of kohanim born at Djerba. Among his claimed patrilineal ancestors are Rabbi (d. 1848), himself an author of multiple works on Hebrew grammar. Citing a similar lineage table from ''Heritage of Yehoyada HaKohen'' (), Kohen claims to trace the family back to Yitzchak HaKohen the Elder, who had emigrated from Israel to Djerba at the Second Temple Destruction. Sfath Emeth Kohen's flagship work, the ''Sfath Emeth'', was first printed in Jerusalem in 1987. The work purports to present the "authentic" pronunciation of the 22 Hebrew letters based on Geonic ''Geonim'' ( he, גאונים; ; also transliterated Gaonim, singular Gaon) were t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Djerba
Djerba (; ar, جربة, Jirba, ; it, Meninge, Girba), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. It had a population of 139,544 at the 2004 census, which rose to 163,726 at the 2014 census. Citing the long and unique history of its Jewish minority in Djerba, Tunisia has sought UNESCO World Heritage status protections for the island. History Legend has it that Djerba was the island of the lotus-eaters where Odysseus was stranded on his voyage through the Mediterranean Sea. The island was called ''Meninx'' ( grc, Μῆνιγξ) until the third century AD. Strabo writes that there was an altar of Odysseus. The island was controlled twice by the Norman Kingdom of Sicily: in 1135–1158 and in 1284–1333. During the second of these periods it was organised as a feudal lordship, with the following Lords of Jerba: * 1284–1305: Roger I * 1305–1307, and 1307–1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashkenazim
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singular: , Modern Hebrew: are a Jewish diaspora population who coalesced in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. Their traditional diaspora language is Yiddish (a West Germanic language with Jewish linguistic elements, including the Hebrew alphabet), which developed during the Middle Ages after they had moved from Germany and France into Northern Europe and Eastern Europe. For centuries, Ashkenazim in Europe used Hebrew only as a sacred language until the revival of Hebrew as a common language in 20th-century Israel. Throughout their numerous centuries living in Europe, Ashkenazim have made many important contributions to its philosophy, scholarship, literature, art, music, and science. The rabbinical term ''A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samech
Samekh (Phoenician ''sāmek'' ; Hebrew ''samekh'' , Syriac ''semkaṯ'') is the fifteenth Letter (alphabet), letter of the Semitic abjads, including the Hebrew alphabet. Samekh represents a voiceless alveolar fricative . Unlike most Semitic consonants, the pronunciation of remains constant between vowels and before voiced consonants. In the Hebrew language, the samekh generally shares a similar pronunciation as the left-dotted Shin (letter)#Hebrew Shin / Sin, shin. The gematria, numerical value of samekh is 60. History The Phoenician letter may continue a glyph from the Middle Bronze Age alphabets, either based on a Egyptian hieroglyphs, hieroglyph for a tent peg or support, possibly the ''djed'' "pillar" hieroglyph (c.f. Hebrew root סמך s-m-kh 'support', סֶמֶךְ semekh 'support, rest', סוֹמֵךְ somekh 'support peg, post', סוֹמְכָה somkha 'armrest', סָמוֹכָה smokha 'stake, support', indirectly ''Semikhah, s'mikhah'' ; Aramaic סַמְכָא sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamedh
Lamedh or Lamed is the twelfth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Hebrew Lāmed , Aramaic Lāmadh , Syriac Lāmaḏ ܠ, Arabic , and Phoenician Lāmed . Its sound value is . The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Lambda (Λ), Latin L, and Cyrillic El (Л). Origin The letter is usually considered to have originated from the representation of a goad, i.e. a cattle prod, or a shepherd's crook, i.e. a pastoral staff. Hebrew Lamed Hebrew spelling: Pronunciation Lamed transcribes as an alveolar lateral approximant . Significance Lamed in gematria represents the number 30. With the letter Vav it refers to the Lamedvavniks, the 36 righteous people who save the world from destruction. As an abbreviation, it can stand for litre. Also, a sign on a car with a Lamed on it means that the driver is a student of driving (the Lamed stands for ', learner). It is also used as the Electoral symbol for the Yisrael Beiteinu party. As a prefix, it can have two purposes: * I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaph
Kaph (also spelled kaf) is the eleventh letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician kāp , Hebrew kāf , Aramaic kāp , Syriac kāp̄ , and Arabic kāf (in abjadi order). The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek kappa (Κ), Latin K, and Cyrillic К. Origin of kaph Kaph is thought to be derived from a pictogram of a hand (in both modern Arabic and modern Hebrew, kaph כף means "palm" or "grip"), though in Arabic the ''a'' in the name of the letter (كاف) is pronounced longer than the ''a'' in the word meaning "palm" (كَف). D46 Hebrew kaf Hebrew spelling: Hebrew pronunciation The letter kaf is one of the six letters that can receive a dagesh kal. The other five are bet, gimel, daleth, pe, and tav (see Hebrew alphabet for more about these letters). There are two orthographic variants of this letter that alter the pronunciation: Kaf with the dagesh When the kaph has a "dot" in its center, known as a dagesh, it represents a voiceless velar plosive ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yodh
Yodh (also spelled jodh, yod, or jod) is the tenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Yōd /𐤉, Hebrew Yōd , Aramaic Yod , Syriac Yōḏ ܝ, and Arabic . Its sound value is in all languages for which it is used; in many languages, it also serves as a long vowel, representing . The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Iota (Ι), Latin I and J, Cyrillic І, Coptic (Ⲓ) and Gothic eis . The term yod is often used to refer to the speech sound , a palatal approximant, even in discussions of languages not written in Semitic abjads, as in phonological phenomena such as English "yod-dropping". Origins Yod originated from a hieroglyphic “hand”, or *yad. Hebrew Yod Hebrew spelling: colloquial ;The letter appears with or without a hook on different sans-serif fonts, for example: * Arial, DejaVu Sans, Arimo, Open Sans: * Tahoma, Alef, Heebo: Pronunciation In both Biblical and modern Hebrew, Yod represents a palatal approximant (). As a mate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teth
Teth, also written as or Tet, is the ninth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Ṭēt , Hebrew Tēt , Aramaic Ṭēth , Syriac Ṭēṯ ܛ, and Arabic . It is the 16th letter of the modern Arabic alphabet. The Persian ṭa is pronounced as a hard "t" sound and is the 19th letter in the modern Persian alphabet. The Phoenician letter also gave rise to the Greek theta (), originally an aspirated voiceless dental stop but now used for the voiceless dental fricative. The Arabic letter (ط) is sometimes transliterated as ''tah'' in English, for example in Arabic script in Unicode. The sound value of Teth is , one of the Semitic emphatic consonants. Origins The Phoenician letter name may mean "spinning wheel" pictured as (compare Hebrew root ט-ו-י meaning 'spinning' (a thread) which begins with Teth). According to another hypothesis (Brian Colless), the letter possibly continues a Middle Bronze Age glyph named 'good', Aramaic טַב 'tav', Hebrew 'tov', Syri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heth
Heth, sometimes written Chet, but more accurately Ḥet, is the eighth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Ḥēt 𐤇 , Hebrew Ḥēth , Aramaic Ḥēth , Syriac Ḥēṯ ܚ, Arabic Ḥā' , and Maltese Ħ, ħ. Heth originally represented a voiceless fricative, either pharyngeal , or velar . In Arabic, two corresponding letters were created for both phonemic sounds: unmodified ' represents , while ' represents . The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek eta , Etruscan , Latin H, and Cyrillic И. While H is a consonant in the Latin alphabet, the Greek and Cyrillic equivalents represent vowel sounds, though the letter was originally a consonant in Greek and this usage later evolved into the rough breathing character. Origins The shape of the letter Ḥet ultimately goes back either to the Egyptian hieroglyph for 'courtyard': O6 (compare Hebrew חָצֵר ḥatser of identical meaning, which begins with Ḥet) or to the one for 'thread, wick' represe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zayin
Zayin (also spelled zain or zayn or simply zay) is the seventh letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Zayin , Hebrew Zayin , Yiddish Zoyen , Aramaic Zain , Syriac Zayn ܙ, and Arabic Zayn or Zāy . It represents the sound . The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek zeta (Ζ), Etruscan ''z'' , Latin Z, and Cyrillic Ze З. Meaning The Proto-Sinaitic glyph may have been called , based on a hieroglyph depicting a "manacle". The Phoenician letter appears to be named after a sword or other weapon. In Mishnaic Hebrew, ' () means "sword", and the verb ' () means "to arm". In Modern Hebrew slang, ' () means "penis" and ' () is a vulgar term which generally means to perform sexual intercourse, although the older meaning survives in ' ("armed struggle") (), ' ("armed forces") (), and ' () ("armed, i.e., reinforced concrete"). Arabic zāy The letter is named . It has two forms, depending on its position in the word: The similarity to ' is likely a function o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waw (letter)
Waw/Vav ( "hook") is the sixth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ''wāw'' , Aramaic ''waw'' , Hebrew '' waw/vav'' , Syriac ''waw'' ܘ and Arabic '' wāw'' (sixth in abjadi order; 27th in modern Arabic order). It represents the consonant in classical Hebrew, and in modern Hebrew, as well as the vowels and . In text with niqqud, a dot is added to the left or on top of the letter to indicate, respectively, the two vowel pronunciations. It is the origin of Greek Ϝ (digamma) and Υ (upsilon), Cyrillic У, Latin F and U and later Y, and the derived Latin- or Roman-alphabet letters V, and W. Origin The letter likely originated with an Egyptian hieroglyph which represented the word ''mace'' (transliterated as ḥ(dj)): T3 In Modern Hebrew, the word ''vav'' is used to mean both "hook" and the letter's name (the name is also written ), while in Syriac and Arabic, ''waw'' to mean hook has fallen out of usage. Arabic wāw The Arabic letter is name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
He (letter)
He is the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Hē , Hebrew Hē , Aramaic Hē , Syriac Hē , and Arabic . Its sound value is the voiceless glottal fricative (). The proto-Canaanite letter gave rise to the Greek Epsilon Ε ε, Etruscan 𐌄, Latin E, Ë and Ɛ, and Cyrillic Е, Ё, Є, Э, and Ҩ. ''He'', like all Phoenician letters, represented a consonant, but the Latin, Greek and Cyrillic equivalents have all come to represent vowel sounds. Origins In Proto-Northwest Semitic there were still three voiceless fricatives: uvular , glottal , and pharyngeal . In the Wadi el-Hol script, these appear to be expressed by derivatives of the following Egyptian hieroglyphs V28' " thread", A28 ' " jubilation", compare South Arabian , , , Ge'ez , , , and O6 ' "court". In the Phoenician alphabet, ' and ' are merged into Heth "fence", while ' is replaced by ''He'' "window". Arabic hāʾ The letter is named '. It is written in several ways depending ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dalet
Dalet (, also spelled Daleth or Daled) is the fourth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Dālet 𐤃, Hebrew Dālet , Aramaic Dālath , Syriac Dālaṯ , and Arabic (in abjadi order; 8th in modern order). Its sound value is the voiced alveolar plosive (). The letter is based on a glyph of the Proto-Sinaitic script, probably called ''dalt'' "door" (''door'' in Modern Hebrew is delet), ultimately based on a hieroglyph depicting a door: O31 Phoenician The Phoenician dālet gave rise to the Greek delta (Δ), Latin D, and the Cyrillic letter Д. Aramaic Hebrew Hebrew spelling: The letter is ''dalet'' in the modern Israeli Hebrew pronunciation (see Tav (letter). ''Dales'' is still used by many Ashkenazi Jews and ''daleth'' by some Jews of Middle-Eastern background, especially in the Jewish diaspora. In some academic circles, it is called ''daleth'', following the Tiberian Hebrew pronunciation. It is also called ''daled''. The ד like the English D r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
