Geresh Information
Geresh ("׳", Hebrew: גֶּרֶשׁ[1] or גֵּרֶשׁ[2] [ˈɡeʁeʃ], or medieval [ˈɡeːɾeːʃ]) is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.
1. An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter (also known colloquially as a chupchik). :
-
-
- as a diacritic that modifies the pronunciation of some letters (in modern Hebrew),
- as a punctuation mark to denote initialisms or abbreviations, or
- to denote a Hebrew numeral.
-
2. A note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah and other Biblical books, taking the form of a curved diagonal stroke placed above a letter.
Contents |
Diacritic
As a diacritic, the Geresh is written immediately after (left of) the letter it modifies. It indicates three sounds native to speakers of Modern Hebrew that are common in loan words and slang: [dʒ] as in judge, [ʒ] as in measure and [tʃ] as in church. In transliteration of Arabic, it indicates Arabic phonemes which are usually allophones in Modern Hebrew: [ɣ] is distinguished from [r] and [ħ] is distinguished from [χ]. Finally, it indicates other sounds foreign to the phonology Modern Hebrew speakers and used exclusively for the transliteration of foreign words: [ð] as in then, [θ] as in thin, [sˤ]; and, in some transliteration systems, also [tˤ], [dˤ] and [ðˤ].
Loanwords, slang, foreign names and transliterations
| Loanwords, Slang, Foreign Names, and Transliteration of Foreign Languages | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Without Geresh | With Geresh | ||||||||
| Symbol | Name | Translit. | IPA | Example | Symbol | Name | Translit. | IPA | Example |
| ג | gimel | g | [ɡ] | gap | ג׳ | gimel with a geresh | j (or g) | [dʒ] | jupiter, George |
| ז | zayin | z | [z] | zoo | ז׳ | zayin with a geresh | g, j | [ʒ] | Jacques, beige, vision |
| צ | tsadi | ts | [ts] | tsunami, cats | צ׳ | tsadi with a geresh | ch | [tʃ] | chip |
Transcriptions of Arabic
There are six additional letters in the Arabic alphabet. They are ṯāʼ, ḫāʼ, ḏāl, ḍād, ẓāʼ, and ġayn.
| Distinction when Transcribing Arabic[3] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Without Geresh | With Geresh | ||||||||||||
| Symbol | Name | Translit. | Arabic letter | IPA | Example | Symbol | Name | Arabic letter | IPA | Example | Comment | ||
| ד | dalet | d | dāl (د) | [d] | door | ד׳ | dalet with a geresh | ḏāl (ذ) | [ð] | Dhu al-Hijjah (ذو الحجة) |
|
||
| ח | chet | ẖ / h, ḥ, or h | ḥa (ح) | [ħ] | non existent in English, pronounced like an "h" while contracting the pharynx | ח׳ | chet with a geresh | ḫāʼ (ﺥ) | [χ] | Sheikh (شيخ) | |||
| ת | tav | t | tā (ت) | [t] | tail | ת׳ | tav with a geresh | ṯāʼ (ث) | [θ] |
|
|||
| ס | samech | s | sīn (س) | [s] | sun | ס׳ | samech with a geresh | ṣad (ص) |
|
||||
| ר | reish | r | rāʼ (ر) | [r] | ר׳ | reish with a geresh | ġayn (غ) | [ɣ] | Ghajar | both ר׳ and ע׳ are alternatingly used to transcribe ġayn (غ), however ר׳ is the standard prescribed by the Academy of the Hebrew Language for simplified transcription (the standard prescribed for precise transcription is גֿ; in some cases of established usage a ג with no diacritics is used). | |||
| Comment to the pronunciation: When transcribing Arabic, a "ר" with no geresh designates only the "rolled r" as in Scottish English (Alveolar trill or tap), in distinction to the Voiced velar [ɣ] or uvular [ʁ] fricatives, whereas in normal Hebrew writing "ר" can be pronounced [r], [ɾ] [ɣ] or [ʁ]: all are allophones of the phoneme /r/. | |||||||||||||
| ע | ayin | ’ | ʿayn (ع) |
|
ע׳ | ayin with a geresh | |||||||
Transliteration of foreign names
| Distinction when Transcribing Foreign Names[4] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Without Geresh | With Geresh | ||||||||
| Symbol | Name | Translit. | IPA | Example | Symbol | Name | Translit. | IPA | Example |
| ד | dalet | d | [d] | door | ד׳ | dalet with a geresh | English voiced th | [ð] | then |
| ת | tav | t | [t] | tail | ת׳ | tav with a geresh | English voiceless th | [θ] | thing |
| ו | vav | v | [v] | vote | וו or ו׳ (non-standard[*]) | vav with a geresh or double vav | w | [w] | William |
Punctuation mark
The geresh is used as a punctuation mark in initialisms and to denote numerals.
Indicating initialisms
In initialisms, the Geresh is written after the last letter of the initialism. For example: the title גְּבֶרֶת (literally "lady") is abbreviated גב׳, equivalent to English "Mrs" and "Ms".[6]
Denoting a numeral
A Geresh can be appended after (left of) a single letter to indicate that the letter represents a Hebrew numeral. For example: ק׳ represents 100. A multi-digit Hebrew numeral is indicated by the Gershayim ‹ ״ ›.
Cantillation mark
Main article: Geresh (trope)As a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, the Geresh is printed above the accented letter: ב֜. The Geresh Muqdam (lit. "a Geresh made earlier"), a variant cantillation mark, is also printed above the accented letter, but slightly before (i.e. more to the right of) the position of the normal Geresh: ב֝. As a cantillation mark it is also called Ṭères (טֶרֶס).[1]
Computer encoding
| Appearance | Code Points | Name |
|---|---|---|
| ׳ | U+05F3 | HEBREW PUNCTUATION GERESH |
| ֜ | U+059C | HEBREW ACCENT GERESH |
| ֝ | U+059D | HEBREW ACCENT GERESH MUQDAM |
Since most keyboards do not have a Geresh key, often an apostrophe ( ', Unicode U+0027) is used to denote a Geresh.
See also
References
- ^ a b Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, §15f
- ^ Even-Shoshan Dictionary, 2003; Shoshana Bahat and Mordechay Mishor, Dictionary of Contemporary Hebrew, 2007.
- ^ Rules for the transcription of Arabic into Hebrew, pp. 5–6 "(Academy of the Hebrew Language)". http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/PDF/taatiq2007.pdf Rules for the transcription of Arabic into Hebrew, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Rules for the transcription of foreign names into Hebrew, pp. 5–6 "(Academy of the Hebrew Language)". http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/PDF/LAT-HEB.pdf Rules for the transcription of foreign names into Hebrew, pp. 5–6.
- ^ "Transliteration Rules". http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/PDF/taatiq2007.pdf. issued by the Academy of the Hebrew Language states that both [v] and [w] be indistinguishably represented in Hebrew using the letter Vav. Sometimes the Vav is indeed doubled, however not to denote [w] as opposed to [v] but rather, when spelling without niqqud, to denote the phoneme /v/ at a non-initial and non-final position in the word, whereas a single Vav at a non-initial and non-final position in the word in spelling without niqqud denotes one of the phonemes /u/ or /o/. To pronounce foreign words and loanwords containing the sound [w], Hebrew readers must therefore rely on former knowledge and context, see also pronunciation of Hebrew Vav.
- ^ Hebrew Punctuation "( Academy of the Hebrew Language)". http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/decision5.html Hebrew Punctuation.
Categories: Hebrew diacritics | Hebrew alphabet | Punctuation
|