Hebrew Diacritics
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Hebrew orthography Hebrew spelling refers to the way words are spelled in the Hebrew language. The Hebrew alphabet contains 22 letters, all of which are primarily consonants. This is because the Hebrew script is an abjad, that is, its letters indicate consonants, not ...
includes three types of
diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
s: * ''
Niqqud In Hebrew orthography, niqqud or nikud ( or ) is a system of diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Several such diacritical systems were developed in the ...
'' in Hebrew is the way to indicate
vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...
s, which are omitted in modern orthography, using a set of ancillary glyphs. Since the vowels can be understood from surrounding, context can help readers read the correct pronunciations of several letters of the
Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet ( he, אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is an abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewi ...
(the
rafe In Hebrew orthography the rafe or raphe ( he, רָפֶה, , meaning "weak, limp") is a diacritic (), a subtle horizontal overbar placed above certain letters to indicate that they are to be pronounced as fricatives. It originated with the Ti ...
sign and other rare glyphs are also listed as part of the ''niqqud'' system but are not in common use); * ''
geresh Geresh ( in Hebrew: ‎ or ‎ , or medieval ) is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings. #An apostrophe-like sign (also known colloquially as a ''chupchik'') placed after a letter: #* as a diacritic that modifies the pronunciation ...
'' and '' gershayim,'' two diacritics that are not considered a part of ''niqqud'', each of which has several functions (e.g. to denote Hebrew numerals); * and ''
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 ...
,'' "accents" which are used exclusively to indicate how Biblical passages should be chanted and may possess a punctuating function. Several diacritical systems were developed in the
Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
. The most widespread system, and the only one still used to a significant degree today, was created by the
Masoretes The Masoretes ( he, בַּעֲלֵי הַמָּסוֹרָה, Baʿălēy Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Masters of the Tradition') were groups of Jewish scribe-scholars who worked from around the end of the 5th through 10th centuries CE, based primarily in ...
of
Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...
in the second half of the first millennium in the Land of Israel (see
Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...
,
Tiberian Hebrew Tiberian Hebrew is the canonical pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) committed to writing by Masoretic scholars living in the Jewish community of Tiberias in ancient Galilee under the Abbasid Caliphate. They wrote in the form of Tiberian ...
). The Niqqud signs and cantillation marks developed by the Masoretes are small in size compared to consonants, so they could be added to the consonantal texts without retranscribing them.


Pointing ''(niqqud)''

In modern Israeli orthography, vowel and consonant pointing is seldom used, except in specialised texts such as dictionaries, poetry, or texts for children or for new immigrants. Israeli Hebrew has five vowel phonemes—, , , and —but many more written symbols for them. ''Niqqud'' distinguish the following vowels and consonants; for more detail, see the main article. Note 1: The symbol "ס" represents whatever Hebrew letter is used.
Note 2: The letter " ש" is used since it can only be represented by that letter.
Note 3: The ''
dagesh The dagesh () is a diacritic used in the Hebrew alphabet. It was added to the Hebrew orthography at the same time as the Masoretic system of niqqud (vowel points). It takes the form of a dot placed inside a Hebrew letter and has the effect of modi ...
'', ''
mappiq The mappiq (, also ''mapiq'', ''mapik'', ''mappik'', lit. "causing to go out") is a diacritic used in the Hebrew alphabet. It is part of the Masoretes' system of niqqud (vowel points), and was added to Hebrew orthography at the same time. It takes ...
'', and ''shuruk'' are different, however, they look the same and are inputted in the same manner. Also, they are represented by the same
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, wh ...
character.
Note 4: The letter " ו" is used since it can only be represented by that letter.


Vowel comparison table

Notes: * /sup> : These vowels lengths are not manifested in Modern Hebrew. * /sup> : Adding two vertical dots (
sh'va Shva or, in Biblical Hebrew, shĕwa ( he, שְׁוָא) is a Hebrew niqqud vowel sign written as two vertical dots () beneath a letter. It indicates either the phoneme (shva na', mobile shva) or the complete absence of a vowel (/ Ø/) (shva n ...
) to the "short-vowel" diacritic produces the diacritic for "very short vowel" ( he, חטף '). * /sup> : The short and long are represented by the same diacritic. * /sup> : The short is usually promoted to a long ( holam male, vav with dot above) in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. * /sup> : The short is usually promoted to a long (
shuruk Kubutz or qubbutz (modern he, קֻבּוּץ; , formerly , ''qībūṣ'') and shuruk ( he, שׁוּרוּק, ) are two Hebrew niqqud vowel signs that represent the sound . In an alternative, Ashkenazi naming, the kubutz (three diagona ...
, vav with middle dot) in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation.


Meteg

''Meteg'' is a vertical bar placed below a character next to the niqqud for various purposes, including marking vowel length and secondary stress. Its shape is identical to the cantillation mark ''sof pasuq''.


Geresh

''Geresh'' is a mark, that may be used as a
diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
, as a
punctuation mark Punctuation (or sometimes interpunction) is the use of spacing, conventional signs (called punctuation marks), and certain typographical devices as aids to the understanding and correct reading of written text, whether read silently or aloud. A ...
for initialisms, or as a marker of Hebrew numerals. It is also used in cantillation. As a diacritic, the ''geresh'' is combined with the following consonants:


Cantillation

Cantillation has a more limited use than vowel pointing, as it is only used for reciting the Tanakh, and is not found in children's books or dictionaries.


Gershayim

''Gershayim'' between the penultimate and last letters (   e.g. ) marks acronyms, alphabetic numerals, names of Hebrew letters, linguistic
roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...
and, in older texts, transcriptions of foreign words. Placed above a letter (  e.g. ) it is one of the cantillation marks.


Disputes among Protestant Christians

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
literalists who believe that the Hebrew text of the Old Testament is the inspired Word of God are divided on the question of whether or not the vowel points should be considered an inspired part of the Old Testament. In 1624,
Louis Cappel Louis Cappel (15 October 1585 – 18 June 1658) was a French Protestant churchman and scholar. A Huguenot, he was born at St Elier, near Sedan. He studied theology at the Academy of Sedan and the Academy of Saumur, and Arabic at the University ...
, a French
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
scholar at Saumur, published a work in which he concluded that the vowel points were a later addition to the biblical text and that the vowel points were added not earlier than the fifth century AD. This assertion was hotly contested by Swiss theologian
Johannes Buxtorf II Johannes Buxtorf the Younger, (13 August 1599 – 16 August 1664) was son of the scholar Johannes Buxtorf, and a Protestant Christian Hebraist. Life Buxtorf was born in Basel, where he also died. Before the age of thirteen he matriculated at ...
in 1648. Brian Walton's 1657 polyglot bible followed Cappel in revising the vowel points. In 1675, the 2nd and 3rd canons of the so-called Helvetic Consensus of the Swiss Reformed Church confirmed Buxtorf's view as orthodox and affirmed that the vowel points were inspired. Torah scrolls in Jewish synagogues do not have any diacritical marks whatsoever, only the letters themselves. It is expected of anyone reading out-loud to know the correct intonations.


See also

*
Arabic diacritics The Arabic script has numerous diacritics, which include: consonant pointing known as (), and supplementary diacritics known as (). The latter include the vowel marks termed (; singular: , '). The Arabic script is a modified abjad, where s ...
*
Q're perpetuum Qere and Ketiv, from the Aramaic ''qere'' or ''q're'', ("hat isread") and ''ketiv'', or ''ketib'', ''kethib'', ''kethibh'', ''kethiv'', ("hat iswritten"), also known as "q're uchsiv" or "q're uchtiv," refers to a system for marking differences b ...
*
Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet ( he, אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is an abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewi ...
* Hebrew spelling


Notes

:* The
rafe In Hebrew orthography the rafe or raphe ( he, רָפֶה, , meaning "weak, limp") is a diacritic (), a subtle horizontal overbar placed above certain letters to indicate that they are to be pronounced as fricatives. It originated with the Ti ...
sign (, ) which is used to mark fricative consonants in the
YIVO YIVO (Yiddish: , ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. (The word '' ...
orthography of
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
; is no longer used in modern printed Hebrew. Rafe may appear in
masoretic The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...
manuscripts as well as other older texts where the soft fricative consonants and sometimes matres lectionis are indicated by this sign.


References


External links


A free online course to learn the Hebrew Vowel System
- a simplified version of the Rules, published on the Academy of the Hebrew Language website. * for usage of Geresh in abbreviations; , , , for vowel signs; , , for Dagesh, Mappiq and Rafe; , for the cantillation signs and Maqqeph.
Hebrew tutorial on how to use diacritics in Word
{{Navbox diacritical marks