Gimel (letter)
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- For the music group Gimmel, see Gimmel (music group).
| Gīmel | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | Syriac | Hebrew | Aramaic | Phoenician |
|
ﺟ,ﺝ |
ܓ | ג |  |
 |
| Phonemic representation (IPA): | g, ɣ | |||
| Position in alphabet: | 3 | |||
| Gematria/Abjad value: | 3 | |||
Gimel is the third letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ג, Syriac ܓ and Arabic ǧīm ﺟ (in abjadi order; 5th in higa'i order). Its sound value is a voiced velar plosive IPA: [g].
The word is most likely derived from the Phoenician word for "camel".
In its Proto-Canaanite form, the letter was likely named after a "throwing stick, boomerang," ultimately deriving from a Proto-Sinaitic glyph based on the hieroglyph below:
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The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek gamma (Γ) and the Latin C and G and Cyrillic Г.
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[edit] Hebrew Gimel
| 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 |
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| Arabic alphabet | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ﺍ ﺏ ﺕ ﺙ
ﺝ ﺡ |
|||||
| ﺥ ﺩ ﺫ ﺭ ﺯ | |||||
| ﺵ ﺹ ﺽ ﻁ ﻅ ﻉ | |||||
| ﻍ ﻑ ﻕ ﻙ ﻝ | |||||
| ﻡ ﻥ هـ ﻭ ﻱ | |||||
| History · Transliteration Diacritics · Hamza ء Numerals · Numeration |
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[edit] Variations
The letter gimel is one of the six letters which can receive a Dagesh Kal. The six are Bet, Gimel, Daled, Kaph, Pe, and Taf. Three of them (Bet, Kaph, and Pe) have their sound value changed in modern Hebrew from the fricative to the plosive by adding a dagesh. The other three represent the same pronunciation in modern Hebrew, but have had alternate pronunciations at other times and places. Gimel represents, in some Sephardi areas, /g/ or /ʒ/ when with a dagesh, and /ɣ/ without a dagesh.
See Bet, Daled, Kaph, Pe, and Taf.
[edit] Significance
In gematria, Gimel represents the number three.
It is written like a vav with a yud as a 'foot', and it resembles a person in motion; symbolically, a rich man running after a poor man to give him charity: Gimmel directly precedes dalet in the Hebrew alphabet, and this which signifies a poor/lowly man, from the Hebrew word dal.
The word gimel is related to gemul, which means justified repayment, or the giving of reward and punishment.
Gimmel 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 Tzadi.
[edit] Syriac Gomal/Gamal
| Syriac alphabet | |||||
| ܐ | ܒ | ܓ | ܕ | ||
| ܗ | ܘ | ܙ | ܚ | ܛ | ܝ |
| ܟܟ | ܠ | ܡܡ | ܢܢ | ܣ | ܥ |
| ܦ | ܨ | ܩ | ܪ | ܫ | ܬ |
In the Syriac alphabet, the third letter is ܓ — Gomal in western pronunciation, Gamal in eastern pronunciation (ܓܡܠ). It is one of six letters that represents two associated sounds (the others are Bet, Dalet, Kaph, Pe and Taw). When Gomal/Gamal has a hard pronunciation (qûššāyâ) it is a [ɡ]. When Gomal/Gamal has a soft pronunciation (rûkkāḵâ) it is traditionally pronounced as a [ɣ]. The letter, renamed Jomal/Jamal, is written with a tilde/tie either below or within it to represent the borrowed phoneme [dʒ], which is used in Garshuni and some Neo-Aramaic languages.
