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Shin (also spelled Šin (') or Sheen) is the twenty-first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Shin , Hebrew Shin , Aramaic Shin , Syriac Shin ܫ, and Arabic Shin (in abjadi order, 13th in modern order). Its sound value is a
voiceless sibilant Sibilants are fricative consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words ''sip'', ''zip'', ''ship'', and ...
, or . The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek
Sigma Sigma (; uppercase Σ, lowercase σ, lowercase in word-final position ς; grc-gre, σίγμα) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 200. In general mathematics, uppercase Σ is used as ...
() (which in turn gave Latin and Cyrillic С), and the letter '' Sha'' in the Glagolitic and
Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...
scripts (, ). The South Arabian and Ethiopian letter '' Śawt'' is also cognate.


Origins

The Proto-Sinaitic glyph, according to William Albright, was based on a "tooth" and with the phonemic value š "corresponds etymologically (in part, at least) to original Semitic ''ṯ'' (th), which was pronounced ''s'' in South Canaanite". The Phoenician letter expressed the continuants of two Proto-Semitic phonemes, and may have been based on a pictogram of a tooth (in modern Hebrew ''shen''). The Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1972, records that it originally represented a composite bow. The history of the letters expressing sibilants in the various Semitic alphabets is somewhat complicated, due to different mergers between Proto-Semitic phonemes. As usually reconstructed, there are seven Proto-Semitic coronal voiceless fricative phonemes that evolved into the various voiceless sibilants of its daughter languages, as follows: } , , rowspan="2" , s , rowspan="3" , , , rowspan="3" , s , - ! š , rowspan="3" , š , rowspan="3" , , , rowspan="3" , š , rowspan="2" , , , rowspan="2" , š , , , š , - ! ṯ , , later , , *ṯ, t , ar, ث, label=none , , ṯ , - ! ś , , , ś , , later , , *ś, s , ar, ش, label=none , , š , , , ś , - ! colspan="12" , Emphatic consonants , - ! Proto-Semitic ! Akkadian ! colspan="2" , Phoenician ! colspan="2" , Hebrew ! colspan="2" , Aramaic ! colspan="2" , Arabic ! colspan="2" , Ge'ez , - ! ṣ , rowspan="3" , ṣ , rowspan="3" , , , rowspan="3" , ṣ , rowspan="3" , , , rowspan="3" , ṣ , , , ṣ , ar, ص, label=none , , ṣ , rowspan="2" , , , rowspan="2" , ṣ , - ! ṱ , , later , , *ṱ, ṭ , ar, ظ, label=none , , ẓ , - ! ṣ́ , , later , , *ṣ́, ʿ , ar, ض, label=none , , ḍ , , , ṣ́ , -


Aramaic Shin/Sin

In Aramaic, where the use of ''shin'' is well-determined, the orthography of ''sin'' was never fully resolved. To express an etymological /ś/, a number of dialects chose either ''sin'' or ''samek'' exclusively, where other dialects switch freely between them (often 'leaning' more often towards one or the other). For example: Regardless of how it is written, /ś/ in spoken Aramaic seems to have universally resolved to /s/.


Hebrew Shin / Sin

Hebrew spelling: The Hebrew version according to the reconstruction shown above is descended from Proto-Semitic *, a phoneme thought to correspond to a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative , similar to Welsh ''Ll'' in "Llandudno". See also Hebrew phonology, Śawt.


Sin and Shin dot

The Hebrew letter represents two different phonemes: a
sibilant Sibilants are fricative consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words ''sip'', ''zip'', ''ship'', and ...
, like English sour, and a , like English shoe. Prior to the advent and ascendancy of
Tiberian Tiberian may refer to: * Tiberian vocalization, an oral tradition within the Hebrew language * Tiberian Hebrew, the variety of Hebrew based on Tiberian vocalization * Tiberias, a city in Lower Galilee, Israel * Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesa ...
orthography, the two were distinguished by a superscript
samekh Samekh (Phoenician ''sāmek'' ; Hebrew ''samekh'' , Syriac ''semkaṯ'') is the fifteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including the Hebrew alphabet. Samekh represents a voiceless alveolar fricative . Unlike most Semitic consonants, the pro ...
, i.e. ש vs. שס, which later developed into the dot. The two are distinguished by a dot above the left-hand side of the letter for and above the right-hand side for . In the biblical name Issachar ( he, יִשָּׂשכָר) only, the second sin/shin letter is always written without any dot, even in fully vocalized texts. This is because the second sin/shin is always silent.


Unicode encoding


Significance

In gematria, Shin represents the number 300. The breakdown of its namesake, Shin 00- Yodh 0- Nunh 0gives the
geometrical Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ca ...
meaningful number
360 360 may refer to: * 360 (number) * 360 AD, a year * 360 BC, a year * 360 degrees, a circle Businesses and organizations * 360 Architecture, an American architectural design firm * Ngong Ping 360, a tourism project in Lantau Island, Hong Kong * Q ...
, which encompasses the fullness of the degrees of circles. Shin as a
prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...
commonly used in the Hebrew language carries similar meaning as specificity faring relative pronouns in English– "that (..)", "which (..)" and "who (..)". When used in this way, it is pronounced like 'sh' and 'eh'. In colloquial Hebrew,
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), Lati ...
and Shin together have the meaning of "when". This is a contraction of , ''ka'asher'' (as, when). Shin is also one of the seven letters which receive special crowns (called '' tagin'') when written in a
Sefer Torah A ( he, סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה; "Book of Torah"; plural: ) or Torah scroll is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first books of the Hebrew Bible). The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Tora ...
. See
Gimmel Gimel is the third letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Gīml , Hebrew Gimel , Aramaic Gāmal , Syriac Gāmal , and Arabic (in alphabetical order; fifth in spelling order). Its sound value in the original Phoenician and in all d ...
, Ayin, Teth, Nun, Zayin, and
Tzadi Tsade (also spelled , , , , tzadi, sadhe, tzaddik) is the eighteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ṣādē , Hebrew ṣādi , Aramaic ṣāḏē , Syriac ṣāḏē ܨ, Ge'ez ṣädäy ጸ, and Arabic . Its oldest phoneti ...
. According to
Judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...
12:6, the tribe of
Ephraim Ephraim (; he, ''ʾEp̄rayīm'', in pausa: ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath. Asenath was an Ancient Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife, and the daughte ...
could not differentiate between Shin and
Samekh Samekh (Phoenician ''sāmek'' ; Hebrew ''samekh'' , Syriac ''semkaṯ'') is the fifteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including the Hebrew alphabet. Samekh represents a voiceless alveolar fricative . Unlike most Semitic consonants, the pro ...
; when the Gileadites were at war with the
Ephraimite Ephraimite may refer to : * a member of the Tribe of Ephraim According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Ephraim ( he, אֶפְרַיִם, ''ʾEp̄rayīm,'' in pausa: אֶפְרָיִם, ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was one of the tribes of Israel. The ...
s, they would ask suspected Ephraimites to say the word ''shibolet''; an Ephraimite would say ''sibolet'' and thus be exposed. From this episode we get the English word shibboleth.


In Judaism

Shin also stands for the word Shaddai, a name for God. Because of this, a kohen (priest) forms the letter Shin with his hands as he recites the Priestly Blessing. In the mid-1960s, actor Leonard Nimoy used a single-handed version of this gesture to create the Vulcan hand salute for his character,
Mr. Spock Spock is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He first appeared in the original ''Star Trek'' series serving aboard the starship USS ''Enterprise'' as science officer and first officer (and Kirk's Second-in-command) and ...
, on ''
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
''. The letter Shin is often inscribed on the case containing a mezuzah, a scroll of parchment with Biblical text written on it. The text contained in the mezuzah is the Shema Yisrael prayer, which calls the Israelites to love their God with all their heart, soul, and strength. The mezuzah is situated upon all the doorframes in a home or establishment. Sometimes the whole word ''Shaddai'' will be written. The Shema Yisrael prayer also commands the Israelites to write God's commandments on their hearts (Deut. 6:6); the shape of the letter Shin mimics the structure of the human heart: the lower, larger left ventricle (which supplies the full body) and the smaller right ventricle (which supplies the lungs) are positioned like the lines of the letter Shin. A religious significance has been applied to the fact that there are three valleys that comprise the city of Jerusalem's geography: the Valley of Ben Hinnom, Tyropoeon Valley, and Kidron Valley, and that these valleys converge to also form the shape of the letter shin, and that the Temple in Jerusalem is located where the dagesh (horizontal line) is. This is seen as a fulfillment of passages such as that instructs Jews to celebrate the Pasach at "the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for his Name" (NIV). In the
Sefer Yetzirah ''Sefer Yetzirah'' ( ''Sēp̄er Yəṣīrā'', ''Book of Formation'', or ''Book of Creation'') is the title of a book on Jewish mysticism, although some early commentators treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory as opposed ...
the letter Shin is King over Fire, Formed Heaven in the Universe, Hot in the Year, and the Head in the Soul. The 13th-century Kabbalistic text Sefer HaTemunah, holds that a single letter of unknown pronunciation, held by some to be the four-pronged shin on one side of the teffilin box, is missing from the current alphabet. The world's flaws, the book teaches, are related to the absence of this letter, the eventual revelation of which will repair the universe.


In Russian

The corresponding letter for the sound in Russian is nearly identical in shape to the Hebrew ''shin''. Given that the Cyrillic script includes borrowed letters from a variety of different alphabets such as Greek and Latin, it is often suggested that the letter '' sha'' is directly borrowed from the Hebrew letter ''shin'' (other hypothesized sources include
Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...
and Samaritan).


Sayings with Shin

The Shin- Bet was an old acronym for the Israeli Department of Internal General Security, and name of the service is still usually translated as such in English. In Israeli Hebrew and Palestinian Arabic, the security service is known as the “Shabak ”. A Shin-Shin Clash is
Israeli military The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branc ...
parlance for a battle between two tank divisions ("armour" in Hebrew is שִׁרְיוֹן - ''shiryon''). Sh'at haShin (the Shin hour) is the last possible moment for any action, usually military. Corresponds to the English expression ''the eleventh hour''.


Arabic šīn/sīn

In the Arabic alphabet, ' is at the original (21st) position in Abjadi order. ' represents , and is the 13th letter of the modern alphabet order and is written thus: A letter variant ' takes the place of
Samekh Samekh (Phoenician ''sāmek'' ; Hebrew ''samekh'' , Syriac ''semkaṯ'') is the fifteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including the Hebrew alphabet. Samekh represents a voiceless alveolar fricative . Unlike most Semitic consonants, the pro ...
at 15th position. The Arabic letter ''šīn'' was an acronym for "something" ( ''šayʾ(un)'' ) meaning the unknown in algebraic equations. In the transcription into Spanish, the Greek letter ''chi'' (χ) was used which was later transcribed into Latin ''x''. According to some sources, this is the origin of ''x'' used for the unknown in the equations. However, according to other sources, there is no historical evidence for this. In
Modern Arabic mathematical notation Modern Arabic mathematical notation is a mathematical notation based on the Arabic script, used especially at pre-university levels of education. Its form is mostly derived from Western notation, but has some notable features that set it apart from ...
, ''sīn'', i.e. ''šīn'' without its dots, often corresponds to Latin ''x''. In Moroccan Arabic, the letter , ''šīn'' with an additional three dots below, is used to transliterate the sound in foreign loan words. In Unicode, this is .


Character encodings


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shin (Letter) Phoenician alphabet Arabic letters Hebrew letterss