Tsade
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| Ṣādē | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | Syriac | Hebrew | Aramaic | Phoenician |
|
ﺻ,ﺹ |
ܨ | צ,ץ |  |
 |
| Phonemic representation (IPA): | sˁ | |||
| Position in alphabet: | 18 | |||
| Gematria/Abjad value: | 90 | |||
Tsade (also spelled Ṣādē or Tzadi or Sadhe) is the eighteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew צ and Arabic alphabet ṣād ﺹ. Its oldest sound value is probably IPA: [sˁ], although there is a variety of pronunciation in different modern Semitic languages and their dialects. It represents the coalescence of three Proto-Semitic "emphatic consonants" in Canaanite. Arabic, which kept the phonemes separate, introduced variants of ṣād and ṭāʼ to express the three (see ḍād, ẓāʼ). In Aramaic, these emphatic consonants coalesced instead with ʻayin and ṭēt, respectively, thus Hebrew ereẓ ארץ (earth) is arʻāʼ ארעא in Aramaic.
The Phoenician letter is continued in the Greek Sampi Ϡ and San Ϻ and in Etruscan 𐌑 Ś. It may have inspired the form of the letter Tse in the Glagolitic alphabet.
The corresponding letter of the Ugaritic alphabet is 𐎕 ṣade.
Hebrew speakers may also call this letter Tsadiq (meaning "righteous person"; see Tzadik), though this use probably originated from a fast recitation of the alphabet (i.e., "tsadi, qoph" -> "tsadiq, qoph").
Contents |
[edit] Origins
The origin of Tsade is unclear. It may have come from a Middle Bronze Age glyph based on a pictogram of a plant, perhaps a papyrus plant, or a fish hook (in Modern Hebrew, "tsayad" means "hunt", and Arabic "sad" means "to fish" or "to hunt").
[edit] Hebrew tsade
| Hebrew alphabet | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| א ב ג ד ה ו | |||||
| ז ח ט י כך | |||||
| ל מם נן ס ע פף | |||||
| צץ ק ר ש ת | |||||
| History · Transliteration Niqqud · Dagesh · Gematria Cantillation · Numeration |
|||||
| Arabic alphabet | ||||||
| ﺍ || ﺏ || ﺕ || ﺙ || ﺝ || ﺡ || ﺥ | ||||||
| ﺩ || ﺫ || ﺭ || ﺯ || ﺱ || ﺵ ||
ﺹ |
||||||
| ﺽ || ﻁ || ﻅ || ﻉ || ﻍ || ﻑ || ﻕ | ||||||
| ﻙ || ﻝ || ﻡ || ﻥ || هـ || ﻭ || ﻱ | ||||||
| History · Transliteration Diacritics · hamza ء Numerals · Numeration |
||||||
| Syriac alphabet | |||||
| ܐ | ܒ | ܓ | ܕ | ||
| ܗ | ܘ | ܙ | ܚ | ܛ | ܝ |
| ܟܟ | ܠ | ܡܡ | ܢܢ | ܣ | ܥ |
| ܦ | ܨ | ܩ | ܪ | ܫ | ܬ |
[edit] Name
Other spellings of the name include ṣāḏê, şādhê, çādhê, s`àdhê, tzadi, tzadik, tsodi, and tsodik. See Hebrew alphabet for a more detailed list of its various transliterations and pronunciations.
[edit] Pronunciation
In modern Hebrew, tzade represents a voiceless alveolar affricate (IPA: [ʦ]). This is the same in Yiddish language. Historically, it likely represented a pharyngealized /sˤ/; Yemenite Jews still pronounce it this way.
[edit] Variations
Tzade, like Kaph, Mem, Pe, and Nun, has a final form, used at the end of words. Its shape changes from this: צ to this: ץ. The pronunciation is not changed.
[edit] Significance
In gematria, Tzade represents the number 90. Its final form represents 900 but this is rarely used, Tav, Tav, and Qoph (400+400+100) being used instead.
A geresh can also be placed after it ('צ), giving it the IPA sound /ʧ/. This is most commonly seen in the Hebrew צ'יפּסים, meaning chips. Scholars also use this rendering of the letter to unambiguously represent the Arabic and proto-Semitic ḍād.
As an abbreviation, it stands for tzafon, North.
Tzade is also one of the seven letters which receive a special crown (called a tagin) when written in a Sefer Torah. See Shin, Ayin, Teth, Nun, Zayin, and Gimmel.
