Darga (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: ) is a

cantillation Cantillation is the ritual chanting of prayers and responses. It often specifically refers to Jewish Hebrew cantillation. Cantillation sometimes refers to diacritics used in texts that are to be chanted in liturgy. Cantillation includes: * Chant ...

mark commonly found in the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

Haftarah The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', he, הפטרה) "parting," "taking leave", (plural form: ''haftarot'' or ''haftoros'') is a series of selections from the books of ''Nevi'im'' ("Pro ...

, and other books. The symbol for the darga resembles a backwards Z. The darga is usually followed by a

Tevir Tevir (Hebrew: , with variant English spellings including ''T'vir'' and ''Tebir'') is a cantillation mark commonly found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other Hebrew biblical books. It can be found independently or it can follow any number of other can ...

. It is most often found in places where a Tevir clause has two words that are closely related. The Hebrew word דַּרְגָּא translates into English as ''step''. With the Hebrew word ''tevir'' meaning "broken," the combination of darga tevir means ''"broken step."'' Darga can also be followed by a

Munach The Munach (Hebrew: , also spelled ''Munah'' or ''Munakh''), translating to English as ''"to rest,"'' is a common cantillation sound. In Sephardi and Oriental traditions it is often called Shofar holekh. It is marked with a right angle below the c ...

Rivia The Rivia (, []) is a Hebrew cantillation, cantillation mark commonly found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other biblical texts. The Aram word ) has its Hebrew counter part Rivi'i, with other variant English spellings. Its meaning is 'the fourth'. ...

, and can (rarely) be followed by a Mercha Kefula, an altogether rare trope.

Total occurrences

Melody

The Ashkenazic darga is recited in a fast, downward slope, as follows: The Sefardic darga is ascending, and the Moroccan darga is descending with a waver in the middle.

References

Cantillation marks {{Hebrew-Bible-stub