Hebrew alphabet

Hebrew alphabet
Name	Hebrew alphabet
Type	Abjad
Languages	Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic
Time	2nd–1st century BCE to present
Fam1	Egyptian hieroglyphs
Fam2	Proto-Sinaitic script
Fam3	Phoenician alphabet
Fam4	Aramaic alphabet
Sisters	Nabataean alphabet, Syriac alphabet
Children	Yiddish alphabet, Ladino alphabet
Unicode	U+0590 to U+05FF, U+FB1D to U+FB4F
Iso15924	Hebr
Caption	The modern Hebrew alphabet

Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet, known natively as the Aleph-Bet, is a consonantal writing system used for the Hebrew language and several other Jewish languages. It evolved from the Aramaic alphabet during the Second Temple period, replacing the earlier Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. The script is written from right to left and consists of 22 letters, all of which are consonants, though some are also used to represent vowels.

History and development

The earliest known ancestor is the Proto-Sinaitic script, which emerged in the Levant and was derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs. This script developed into the Phoenician alphabet, which was widely adopted across the Mediterranean. The Israelite kingdoms initially used a derivative known as the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, attested on artifacts like the Gezer calendar and the Mesha Stele. Following the Babylonian captivity, the Aramaic alphabet, the official script of the Achaemenid Empire, gradually supplanted the older form. By the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the square script, the direct precursor to the modern form, was standard. Key developments occurred during the Mishnaic period, and the script was preserved and standardized by Masoretes in Tiberias and Jerusalem.

Letters and pronunciation

The modern system contains 22 basic letters. Five letters—Kaph, Mem, Nun, Pe, and Tsade—have distinct final forms used when they appear at the end of a word. The letters Aleph and Ayin are generally silent in modern Israeli Hebrew but represented specific pharyngeal sounds historically. The letter Bet has both a hard plosive and a soft fricative pronunciation, a feature shared with Kaph, and Pe. The pronunciation of Resh varies among communities, notably between Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardi Jews. The letter Shin is distinguished by a dot placed above its right or left branch to indicate different sounds. The traditional order is recorded in religious texts like Psalm 119 and the ancient paleo-Hebrew sequence is known from the Lachish letters.

Vowel representation

The system is primarily an Abjad, meaning vowels are not fully represented by letters. To indicate precise pronunciation, especially for Biblical Hebrew, a system of diacritical marks called Niqqud was created by the Masoretes between the 5th and 10th centuries. These marks include symbols like the Pataḥ and Qamatz for different 'a' sounds, and the Shva to indicate the absence of a vowel. In modern writing, known as Ktiv male or "full spelling", certain letters—specifically He, Vav, and Yodh—are used as Mater lectionis to represent vowel sounds. This practice has its roots in the orthography of the Dead Sea Scrolls and was further developed for languages like Yiddish.

Script styles and calligraphy

Several distinct styles have been used throughout history. The standard printed form is a Square script derived from the Aramaic alphabet. For handwritten communication, a cursive style developed, which is the dominant form in Israel today. A notable semi-cursive style used for Sifrei Kodesh is known as Rashi script, named after the medieval commentator Rashi, though he did not use this script himself. The ancient Paleo-Hebrew alphabet continued to be used on coins during the Bar Kokhba revolt and by the Samaritans for their Samaritan Pentateuch. Specialized calligraphic traditions exist for writing Torah scrolls, Tefillin, and mezuzot, governed by strict rules known as Halakha.

Numeric values and gematria

Each letter possesses a specific numeric value, a system known as Gematria. The first ten letters represent units one through ten, the next eight represent multiples of ten up to ninety, and the final four represent hundreds. For example, Aleph equals one, Yodh equals ten, and Qoph equals one hundred. This system is employed in Jewish mysticism, particularly within the Kabbalah, for exegetical purposes. It appears in classical texts like the Mishnah and is used to find hidden meanings, such as the connection between the word for "life" and the number 18. The practice is also evident in the structuring of certain calendar calculations and in the works of scholars like the Vilna Gaon.

Usage in other languages

Beyond Hebrew, the script has been adapted to write various Jewish languages. For Yiddish, a Germanic language, additional consonant combinations and the full use of Mater lectionis were developed. The Judeo-Spanish language, or Ladino, used it extensively following the Alhambra Decree and the Expulsion of Jews from Spain. Judeo-Arabic dialects employed it with necessary modifications to represent sounds from the Arabic alphabet. Historically, it was also used for Aramaic portions of the Talmud and Targumim, and by communities like the Karaites for their liturgical texts. In modern times, it was used to transcribe languages in Jewish communities from Bukhara to Beta Israel in Ethiopia.

Category:Writing systems Category:Hebrew language Category:Abjads