Hebrew alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet (in Hebrew, אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי‎, alefbet ivri), also known in an academic context as square script or square Aramaic and popularly as alef-bet, is the alphabet used for writing Hebrew and other Jewish languages, especially Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Persian. It is a consonantal type alphabet and originated as an adaptation of the Imperial Aramaic alphabet, an alphabet that flourished during the Achaemenid Empire derived from the Phoenician alphabet.

Before the Babylonian captivity, Hebrew was written with a variant of the Phoenician alphabet called the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, which has largely been preserved as the Samaritan alphabet. The modern 'square' Hebrew script, by contrast, is a stylized form of the Aramaic alphabet and was known to Jewish sages as ashurit (or ktab ashuri, literally "Assyrian script"), as its origins are claimed to be Assyrian.

There are also various "styles" (in today's terms, "fonts" or typefaces) of representation of letters, including a variety of cursive Hebrew styles. In the rest of this article, the term "Hebrew alphabet" refers to square script unless otherwise noted.

The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, like other Semitic alphabets. It is unicameral, that is, without differentiation between upper and lower case. Five of its letters have different forms when used at the end of a word (sofit). It is written from right to left. Originally, the alphabet was purely consonantal, but like other consonantal alphabets, such as Arabic, scribes over the centuries devised means of indicating vowel sounds either by separate vowel points (niqqud) or by reusing the consonants י ו ה א to indicate vowels (mater lectionis). There is a trend in modern Hebrew towards the use of matres lectionis to indicate vowels that were not traditionally written, a practice known as "full spelling".

The Yiddish alphabet, which is an extended version of the Hebrew alphabet used to write the Yiddish language, is a fully vocalized alphabet, with all vowels represented in the spelling, except for inherited Hebrew words, which normally retain its consonant-only Hebrew spelling.

The Arabic and Hebrew alphabets have similarities in that they are both derived from the Aramaic alphabet, which in turn is derived from the Phoenician alphabet, which stems from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet used in ancient times to write the various Canaanite languages (including Hebrew, Moabite, Phoenician, Punic, etc.).

History

Siloé registration in paleohebreo

The Canaanite dialects were largely indistinguishable before 1000 B.C. For example, one of the earliest Semitic inscriptions from the area is the Gezer calendar (X century BCE.) on which scholars are divided as to whether its language is Hebrew or Phoenician and whether the script is Proto-Canaanite or Paleo-Hebrew.

A Hebrew variant of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, paleo-Hebrew by scholars, began to emerge around 800 BCE. An example is the Siloam Inscription (c. 700 BCE).

The paleo-Hebrew alphabet was used in the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. After the exile of the Kingdom of Judah in the VI century B.C. C. (the Babylonian captivity), the Jews began to use a form of the Imperial Aramaic alphabet, another branch of the same family of scripts, which flourished during the Achaemenid Empire. The Samaritans, who remained in the Land of Israel, continued to use the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. During the III century B.C. C., the Jews began to use a stylized and "square" from the Aramaic alphabet used by the Persian Empire (and which in turn had been adopted from the Assyrians), while the Samaritans continued to use a form of paleo-Hebrew script called the Samaritan alphabet. After the fall of the Persian Empire in 330 B.C. C., the Jews used both scripts before settling on the Assyrian square form.

Although Jews then no longer spoke the Hebrew language, which was dead except in ritual settings, the square Hebrew alphabet was later adapted and used to write languages of the Jewish diaspora, such as Karaim, the Judeo-Arabic languages, Judeo-Spanish and Yiddish. The Hebrew alphabet continued in use for academic writing in Hebrew and eventually returned to everyday use with the revival of the Hebrew language as a spoken language in the XVIII and XIX, especially in Palestine and after the establishment of the State of Israel. It is also used informally in Israel to write Levantine Arabic, especially among Druze.

Fellowship
Aramaic
Hebrew	Русский	!	♫	Русский	ה	.		.	▪	.	.	▪	.	..	.	.	.	tz	.	.	.	Jesus

Letters

The most common form of writing in Hebrew, including in print and prose, is without punctuation. In turn, as in Spanish, there are different styles of letters: mold, printing, and cursive or handwritten style. Below are the 22 letters that make up the alef-beit, including the five letters used exclusively at the end of words called sofit:

Final letters

There are 5 Hebrew letters that are graphically replaced by others with the same sound and name when they appear at the end of a word, called sofit.

Alphabet with Punctuation

It is mainly used as a method of teaching the Hebrew language and in poetry. It is always used when writing in Yiddish.

Italic shapes

Hebrew text italics on the Israeli Barrier of the West Bank with a biblical quote from Malachi 2:10: "Have we not one father? Hasn't one God created us? Why does each of us act with deceit, each against his own brother, to desecrate the covenant of our ancestors? "

Handwritten Hebrew

It's an easier way to write Hebrew. Equivalent to our cursive letter.

Hebrew italics
Hebrew	Русский	!	♫	Русский	ה	.		.	▪	.	
Hebrew italics
Hebrew	▪	Time	.	.	.	.		.	.	.	Jesus

Hebrew Rashi

This is semicursive Hebrew.

Semi-cursive Hebrew
Hebrew	Русский	!	♫	Русский	ה	.		.	▪	.
Semi-cursive Hebrew
Hebrew	▪	.	municated	.	.	.	ك أ م و م م م ا م ك ك ك ك م ا ك ك ك ك ك م ك ك ك م ك ك ك ك ك ك ك ك ك ك م ك ك م ك ك ك ك ك ك ك	.	.	.	Jesus

Punctuation Marks (Niqud)

Hebrew numerals

In Hebrew, all letters have a numerical value, as shown in the following table:

Hebrew Characters in Art

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  Jewish art. Amsterdam synagogue clock, centuryXVIII.

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  Francis of Goya, "The Name of God", YHWH (ה), detail of the Hebrew tetragrámaton in triangle. The Glory1772. Basilica of the Pilar, Zaragoza.

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  The main source of the Hebrew acquis is the Torah, preserved in this lilien print by the The Queen of the Shabbatin whose dress are the characters employed by the Hebrew language.

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  Four Hebrew letters suggesting the word "love" in Hebrew. Robert Indiana, Ahavá1977. Museum of Israel, Jerusalem.