Niqqud
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 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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In Hebrew orthography, Niqqud or Nikkud (Standard Hebrew נִיקּוּד, Biblical Hebrew נְקֻדּוֹת, Tiberian Hebrew Nəquddôṯ "vowels") is the system of diacritical vowel points (or vowel marks) in the Hebrew alphabet. Several orthographic systems for representing Hebrew vowels were developed in the Early Middle Ages. The most widespread system (and the only one still used to a significant degree today) was created by the Masoretes of Tiberias (see Masoretic Text, Tiberian Hebrew) in the second half of the first millennium.
Niqqud marks are small compared to the consonants they are positioned adjacent to, and thus can be added without requiring the retranscription of texts whose writers did not anticipate their eventual addition.
Non-speakers of Hebrew give their greatest attention to vowel points (usually without using the word "niqqud") in the context of controversy over the interpretation of those written with the Tetragrammaton -- written as יְהוָה in Hebrew. The interpretation affects discussion of the authentic ancient pronunciation of the name whose other conventional English forms are "Jehovah" and "Yahweh".
Letters in black, vowel points in red, trope in green
Contents |
[edit] The signs of the niqqud
This table uses the consonants ב ,ח or ש, where appropriate, to demonstrate where the niqqud is placed in relation to the consonant it is pronounced after. Any other consonants shown are actually part of the vowel. Note that there is some variation among different traditions in exactly how some vowel points are pronounced. The table below shows how most Israelis would pronounce them, but the classic Ashkenazi pronunciation, for example, differs in several respects.
- This demonstration is known to work in Internet Explorer and Mozilla browsers in at least some circumstances, but in most other Windows browsers the niqqud do not properly combine with the consonants. This is because, currently, the Windows text display engine does not combine the niqqud automatically. Except as noted, the vowel pointings should appear directly beneath the consonants and the accompanying "vowel letter" consonants for the mālê (unchangeable long) forms appear after.
| Symbol | Tiberian | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| בְ | שְׁוָא šəwâ. Transliterated ə (IPA /ə/), or not at all (silent). | שְׁווָא šəva, more commonly shva. Officially transliterated ə (IPA /ə/) or not at all (silent), but more commonly transliterated e, or clipped as an apostrophe ' or not written at all. See also schwa. |
| חֱ | חֲטֶף סְגוֹל ḥăṭep̄ səḡôl. Transliterated ĕ (IPA /ɛ/). | חֲטַף סֶגּוֹל ḥataf seggol, more commonly chataf segol, also reduced seghol. Transliterated e (IPA /e/). A vowel attached to ח is always sounded before the ח. No other consonant interacts with the niqqud so. |
| חֲ | חֲטֶף פַּתַח ḥăṭep̄ páṯaḥ. Transliterated ă (IPA /a/). | חֲטַף פַּתַח ḥataf pátaḥ, more commonly chataf pátach, also reduced pathach. Transliterated a (IPA /a/). A vowel attached to ח is always sounded before the ח. No other consonant interacts with the niqqud so. |
| חֳ | חֲטֶף קָמֶץ ḥăṭep̄ qāmeṣ. Transliterated ŏ (IPA /ɔ/). | חֲטַף קָמָץ ḥataf qamaẓ, more commonly chataf kamatz, also reduced qamets. Transliterated o (IPA /o/). A vowel attached to ח is always sounded before the ח. No other consonant interacts with the niqqud so. |
| בִ | חִירֶק ḥîreq. Transliterated i (IPA /i/) or í (IPA /iː/). | חִירִיק ḥiriq, more commonly chirik. Transliterated i (IPA /i/). Usually promoted to ḥiriq male in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. |
| בִי | חִירֶק מָלֵא ḥîreq mālê. Transliterated î (IPA /iː/). | חִירִיק מָלֵא ḥiriq male, more commonly chirik malei. also hiriq yod. Transliterated i (IPA /i/). |
| בֵ | צֵרֵי ṣērê. Transliterated ē (IPA /eː/). | צֵירֵי ẓere, more commonly tzeirei. Transliterated e (IPA /e/). |
| בֵי, בֵה, בֵא | צֵרֵי מָלֵא ṣērê mālê. Transliterated ê (IPA /eː/). | צֵירֵי מָלֵא ẓere male, more commonly tzeirei malei, also tsere yod. Transliterated e (IPA /e/), but more commonly ei (IPA /ei/). |
| בֶ | סְגוֹל səḡôl. Transliterated e (IPA /ɛ/) or é (IPA /ɛː/). | סֶגּוֹל seggol, more commonly segol. Transliterated e (IPA /e/). |
| בֶי, בֶה, בֶא | סְגוֹל מָלֵא səḡôl mālê. Transliterated ệ (IPA /ɛː/). | סֶגּוֹל מָלֵא seggol male, more commonly segol malei, also segol yod. Transliterated e (IPA /e/), but with י it is more commonly ei (IPA /ei/). |
| בַ | פַּתַח páṯaḥ. Transliterated a (IPA /a/) or á (IPA /aː/). | פַּתַח pátaḥ, more commonly pátach. Transliterated a (IPA /a/). |
| בַה, בַא | פַּתַח מָלֵא páṯaḥ mālê. Transliterated ậ (IPA /aː/). | פַּתַח מָלֵא pátaḥ male, more commonly pátach malei. Transliterated a (IPA /a/). |
| בָ | קָמֶץ גָּדוֹל qāmeṣ gāḏôl. Transliterated ā (IPA /ɔː/). | קָמַץ גָּדוֹל qamaẓ gadol, more commonly kamatz gadol, sometimes simply called qamats. Transliterated a (IPA /a/). |
| בָה, בָא | קָמֶץ מָלֵא qāmeṣ mālê. Transliterated â (IPA /ɔː/). | קָמַץ מָלֵא qamaẓ male, more commonly kamatz malei, also qamats he. Transliterated a (IPA /a/). |
| בָ | קָמֶץ קָטָן qāmeṣ qāṭān. Transliterated o (IPA /ɔ/). | קָמַץ קָטָן qamaẓ qatan, more commonly kamatz katan, also qamats hatuf (not, however, to be confused with hataf qamats). Transliterated o (IPA /o/). Usually promoted to ḥolam male in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. |
| בֹ | חֹלֶם ḥōlem. Transliterated ō (IPA /oː/). | חוֹלָם ḥolam, more commonly cholam. Transliterated o (IPA /o/). Usually promoted to ḥolam male in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. The holam is written above the consonant on the left corner, or slightly to the left of (i.e., after) it at the top. |
| בוֹ, בֹה, בֹא | חֹלֶם מָלֵא ḥōlem mālê. Transliterated ô (IPA /oː/). | חוֹלַם מָלֵא ḥolam male, more commonly cholam malei. Transliterated o (IPA /o/). The holam is written in the normal position relative to the main consonant (above and slightly to the left), which places it directly over the waw/vav. |
| בֻ | קִבּוּץ qibbûṣ. Transliterated u (IPA /u/) or ú (IPA /uː/). | קוּבּוּץ qubbuẓ, more commonly kubutz. Transliterated u (IPA /u/). Usually promoted to šuruq in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. |
| בוּ, בוּה, בוּא | שׁוּרֶק šûreq. Transliterated û (IPA /uː/). | שׁוּרוּק šuruq, more commonly shuruk. Transliterated u (IPA /u/). The shuruq is written after the main consonant, because it is essentially a waw/vav with a piercing; the piercing is written identically to a dagesh (see below). |
| בּ | דָּגֵשׁ dāḡēš. Not actually a vowel. It hardens or doubles the consonant it modifies. The resulting form can still take a niqqud vowel. | דָּגֵשׁ dageš, more commonly dagesh. Though Standard Hebrew indicates doubled consonants in transliteration, it (but not consonant hardening) is almost universally ignored in Israeli Hebrew. For most consonants the dagesh is written within the consonant, near the middle if possible, but the exact position varies from letter to letter; some letters do not have an open area in the middle, and in these cases it is written usually beside the letter, as with yod. A dagesh used to signify a hardening (of letters בגדכפת), but not a doubling is known as a dagesh qal, whereas that which doubles the length of a letter is known as a dagesh hazaq. The guttural consonants (אהחע) and resh (ר) do not take a dagesh, although the letter he (ה) may appear with a mappiq (which is written the same way as dagesh) at the end of a word to indicate that the letter is not only being used to signify a vowel, but is consonantal. See Dagesh. |
| שׁ | Šin dot. Niqqud, but not a vowel. It indicates that the ש it modifies is to be transliterated š (IPA /ʃ/). | Shin dot. It indicates that the ש it modifies is to be transliterated š (IPA /ʃ/), though more commonly transliterated sh. The dot for shin is written over the right (first) branch of the letter. |
| שׂ | Śin dot. Niqqud, but not a vowel. It indicates that the ש it modifies is to be transliterated ś (IPA /ɬ/). | Sin dot. It indicates that the ש it modifies is to be transliterated s (IPA /s/). The dot for sin is written over the left (third) branch of the letter. |
| בֿ | Rafé. Niqqud, but not a vowel. Used as an "anti-dagesh", to show that a בגדכפת letter is soft and not hard, or (sometimes) that a consonant is single and not double. | Not used in Hebrew. Still occasionally seen in Yiddish (actually more often as the spelling becomes more standardized, embracing YIVO rules) to distinguish פּ /p/ from ֿפ /f/ (note that this letter is always pronounced /f/ when in the final position). Some ancient manuscripts have a dagesh or a rafe on nearly every letter. It is also used to indicate that a letter like ה or א is silent. In the particularly strange case of the Ten Commandments, which have two different traditions for their Cantillations which many texts write together, there are cases of a single letter with both a dagesh and a rafe, if it is hard in one reading and soft in the other. |
[edit] Niqqud and the Keyboard
For the Hebrew letters there is a standardized Hebrew keyboard. But when it comes to niqqud, different computer systems and programs provide for adding the signs in different ways.
Nevertheless, a standard is beginning to emerge in the keystrokes that enter niqqud in both Microsoft Word and Open Office alike. In these programs, to enter niqqud the typist first presses "Caps Lock." Then, to enter any specific niqqud, one presses "shift" and simultaneously presses one of the following keys:
- ~ Shewa
- 1 Hataf Segol
- 2 Hataf Patah
- 3 Hataf Qamaz
- 4 Hiriq
- 5 Zeire
- 6 Segol
- 7 Patah
- 8 Qamaz
- 9 Sin dot (left)
- 0 Shin dot (right)
- - Holam
- = Daggesh or mappiq
- \ Qubuz
[edit] Disputes among Protestant Christians
Protestant literalists who believe that the Hebrew text of the Old Testament is the inspired Word of God are divided on the question of whether or not the vowel points should be considered an inspired part of the Old Testament. In 1624, Louis Cappel, a French Huguenot scholar at Saumur, published a work in which he concluded that the vowel points were a later addition to the biblical text and that the vowel points were added not earlier than the fifth century AD. This assertion was hotly contested by Swiss theologian Johannes Buxtorf in 1648. Brian Walton's 1657 polyglot bible followed Cappel in revising the vowel points. In 1675, the 2nd and 3rd canons of the so-called Helvetic Consensus of the Swiss Reformed Church confirmed Buxtorf's view as orthodox and affirmed that the vowel points were inspired.
[edit] See also
- The Arabic equivalent Harakat
- Q're perpetuum
[edit] Technical problems on Wikimedia
- Important: There is currently a serious bug affecting niqqud in all Wikimedia projects. See Wikipedia:Niqqud for a discussion of the problem in English, and click the language link in the sidebar for an extensive analysis of the problem in Hebrew.
