Hebrew spelling
Encyclopedia
There are several systems of Hebrew spelling that are used. The Hebrew alphabet
contains 22 letters, all of which are primarily consonants. This is because the Hebrew script is an abjad
, that is, its letters indicate consonant, not vowels, nor syllables. An early system to overcome this, still used today, is matres lectionis, where four of these letters, Alef
, He
, Vav
and Yud
also serve as vowel letters.
Even later, a system of vowel points to indicate vowels (diacritics), called niqqud, was developed.
Throughout history, there have been two main systems of Hebrew spelling. One being vocalized spelling, also called 'defective' spelling, and the other being unvocalized spelling, also called 'plene' spelling.
In vocalized spelling (ktiv menukad), all of the vowels are indicated by vowel points (called niqqud). In unvocalized spelling (ktiv male
), the vowel points are omitted, but some of them are substituted by additional vowel letters (Vav
and Yud
). This system is the spelling system commonly used in Israel today.
Vowel points are always optional in Hebrew. They can be used fully, partially or not used at all. The recommended approach endorsed today by the Hebrew Language Academy and other Israeli educational institutions is to use the 'plene' spelling when not adding vowel dots (which is the usual case), and place a vocalization sign on a letter only when ambiguity cannot be resolved otherwise. The 'defective' spelling is recommended for fully vocalized text, hence its use is becoming rare. Texts older than 50-60 years may be written in an unvocalized 'defective' spelling (for example, the word ħamiším "fifty", was written חמשים on banknotes issued by the British Mandate for Palestine or the Bank of Israel in its early days. Today, the common spelling is חמישים). A vocalized 'plene' spelling system is common in children books, when it is better to accustom the children to the more popular 'plene' spelling, while still letting them benefit from the vowel dots as a reading aid in early learning stages.
A third system that was endorsed in the past by the Hebrew Language Academy as an optimal system, but abandoned due to low popularity, calls for the use of ħolám (וֹ), šurúq (וּ), dagéš in Bet, Kaf and Pe (בּ, כּ, פּ vs. ב, כ, פ), Šin Smalít (שׂ) and mappíq (הּ), while abandoning all other vowel dots (in everyday writing). According to this system, matres lectionis are still introduced to mark vowels, but the letter Vav is used only as a consonant, while its variants ħolám and šurúq serve as vowel letters. This system also makes clear distinction between final He used as a vowel marker (e.g. ילדה yaldá "a girl" ) and as a consonant (e.g. ילדהּyaldah "her child"). This system was never extensively used, and the Hebrew Academy Language finally abandoned it in 1992, when new rules were published not assuming any use of vowel dots.
Rules for unvocalized spelling were first issued by the Hebrew Language Committee in 1890 (which became the Academy of the Hebrew Language
in 1953), was formally standardised in 1996. Even though the rules are established, some of the rules and specific spellings are disputed by writers and publishers, who often create their own in-house spelling system. Also, because having two spelling systems within the same language is confusing, some would like to reform it. In 2004, Mordechai Mishor , one of the academy's linguists, proposed in a session of the Academy of the Hebrew Language a modest reform.
is vowelized. This clarifies that the vowel is an "o" and not "u" . In addition, 3 letters (historically 6), can take a different sound depending on if there is a dot (called a dagesh) in the middle of the letter (a bet
, kaf
, and pei
). In full spelling, the dot is not included, regardless if it is making one sound or the other. An example when a mixture of systems would be used is to clarify when the letter is taking a dagesh. An example of this, is in the picture to the right, where for the word kosher (Hebrew: כָּשֵׁר (with niqqud), כשר (full spelling), kasher) may be written as כּשר (a mixture of the two systems) to be unambiguous that it is the letter כּ k and not כ χ. Words may be written in ktiv haser ("missing spelling") if it is unambiguous and clear enough (ex. חנכה (Hanukah) instead of the "full" form חנוכה). In this case, the reader deciphers the word mostly by its context.
Also, some words are almost always written in the "missing" form (ktiv haser) in everyday life: לא ("lo", no), אמא ("ima", mother), אם ("im", if), and כנרת ("Kinneret").
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
contains 22 letters, all of which are primarily consonants. This is because the Hebrew script is an abjad
Abjad
An abjad is a type of writing system in which each symbol always or usually stands for a consonant; the reader must supply the appropriate vowel....
, that is, its letters indicate consonant, not vowels, nor syllables. An early system to overcome this, still used today, is matres lectionis, where four of these letters, Alef
Aleph
* Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers...
, He
He (letter)
He is the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician , Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic . Its sound value is a voiceless glottal fricative ....
, Vav
Waw (letter)
Waw is the sixth letter of the Northwest Semitic family of scripts, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic ....
and Yud
Yodh
Yodh is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Yud , Syriac and Arabic...
also serve as vowel letters.
Even later, a system of vowel points to indicate vowels (diacritics), called niqqud, was developed.
Throughout history, there have been two main systems of Hebrew spelling. One being vocalized spelling, also called 'defective' spelling, and the other being unvocalized spelling, also called 'plene' spelling.
In vocalized spelling (ktiv menukad), all of the vowels are indicated by vowel points (called niqqud). In unvocalized spelling (ktiv male
Ktiv male
Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words...
), the vowel points are omitted, but some of them are substituted by additional vowel letters (Vav
Waw (letter)
Waw is the sixth letter of the Northwest Semitic family of scripts, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic ....
and Yud
Yodh
Yodh is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Yud , Syriac and Arabic...
). This system is the spelling system commonly used in Israel today.
Vowel points are always optional in Hebrew. They can be used fully, partially or not used at all. The recommended approach endorsed today by the Hebrew Language Academy and other Israeli educational institutions is to use the 'plene' spelling when not adding vowel dots (which is the usual case), and place a vocalization sign on a letter only when ambiguity cannot be resolved otherwise. The 'defective' spelling is recommended for fully vocalized text, hence its use is becoming rare. Texts older than 50-60 years may be written in an unvocalized 'defective' spelling (for example, the word ħamiším "fifty", was written חמשים on banknotes issued by the British Mandate for Palestine or the Bank of Israel in its early days. Today, the common spelling is חמישים). A vocalized 'plene' spelling system is common in children books, when it is better to accustom the children to the more popular 'plene' spelling, while still letting them benefit from the vowel dots as a reading aid in early learning stages.
A third system that was endorsed in the past by the Hebrew Language Academy as an optimal system, but abandoned due to low popularity, calls for the use of ħolám (וֹ), šurúq (וּ), dagéš in Bet, Kaf and Pe (בּ, כּ, פּ vs. ב, כ, פ), Šin Smalít (שׂ) and mappíq (הּ), while abandoning all other vowel dots (in everyday writing). According to this system, matres lectionis are still introduced to mark vowels, but the letter Vav is used only as a consonant, while its variants ħolám and šurúq serve as vowel letters. This system also makes clear distinction between final He used as a vowel marker (e.g. ילדה yaldá "a girl" ) and as a consonant (e.g. ילדהּyaldah "her child"). This system was never extensively used, and the Hebrew Academy Language finally abandoned it in 1992, when new rules were published not assuming any use of vowel dots.
Rules for unvocalized spelling were first issued by the Hebrew Language Committee in 1890 (which became the Academy of the Hebrew Language
Academy of the Hebrew Language
The Academy of the Hebrew Language was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on the Hebrew language."-History:...
in 1953), was formally standardised in 1996. Even though the rules are established, some of the rules and specific spellings are disputed by writers and publishers, who often create their own in-house spelling system. Also, because having two spelling systems within the same language is confusing, some would like to reform it. In 2004, Mordechai Mishor , one of the academy's linguists, proposed in a session of the Academy of the Hebrew Language a modest reform.
Usage today
Today, there are three systems of spelling used in Hebrew.- "Ktiv haserKtiv maleKtiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words...
" ("missing spelling"): This system of spelling that may be found in the Torah scroll that is read in synagogueSynagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
(the Sefer TorahSefer TorahA Sefer Torah of Torah” or “Torah scroll”) is a handwritten copy of the Torah or Pentateuch, the holiest book within Judaism. It must meet extremely strict standards of production. The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Torah reading during Jewish services...
). It is sometimes considered to be anachronistic in everyday life, although it is still sometimes found in newspapers and published books. This is the original Hebrew spelling. It is called the "missing spelling" because it does not use niqqud. - "Ktiv menukad" ("dotted spelling" or "vowelized spelling"): This system of spelling is called "vowelized spelling" and "dotted spelling" because unlike "missing spelling," this system shows exactly how the vowels are in addition to using the dots system ("nekudot"). It is rarely used in everyday life. However, it is used wherever someone wants their writings to be clear and unambiguous, such as children books, poetry, language instruction for newcomers, or ambiguous or foreign terms. However, it is very cumbersome and inconvenient in everyday life.
- "Ktiv maleKtiv maleKtiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words...
" ("full spelling" or "spelling lacking niqqud"): This is the dominant system of spelling in Israel, personal correspondence, movie subtitles, etc. Ktiv Male is created to be a niqqud-less spelling that uses the mater lectionisMater lectionisIn the spelling of Hebrew and some other Semitic languages, matres lectionis , refers to the use of certain consonants to indicate a vowel. The letters that do this in Hebrew are aleph, he, waw and yod...
(consonant that are also used as vowels: AlefAleph* Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers...
, HeHe (letter)He is the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician , Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic . Its sound value is a voiceless glottal fricative ....
, Vav, YudYodhYodh is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Yud , Syriac and Arabic...
) instead of the vowel pointers).
Examples
| Word | Ktiv haser Ktiv haser Ktiv haser is Hebrew writing whose consonants match those generally used in voweled text, but without the actual niqqud. For example, the words 'שֻׁלְחָן'and 'דִּבֵּר' written in ktiv haser are 'שלחן'and 'דבר'... |
Ktiv menukad | Ktiv male Ktiv male Ktiv hasar niqqud , are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel pointers , often replacing them with matres lectionis . To avoid confusion, consonantal ו and י are doubled in the middle of words... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Transliteration | |||
| courage | ometz | |||
| air | avir | |||
| distribution | haluka | |||
| two | shnayim | |||
Usage of multiple systems
In practice, many times two or more spelling systems are used in one text. The most common example of this is a word may be vowelized (using niqqud, the "dots") partially, for instance with אוֹמץ, where only the vavWaw (letter)
Waw is the sixth letter of the Northwest Semitic family of scripts, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic ....
is vowelized. This clarifies that the vowel is an "o" and not "u" . In addition, 3 letters (historically 6), can take a different sound depending on if there is a dot (called a dagesh) in the middle of the letter (a bet
Bet (letter)
Bet, Beth, Beh, or Vet is the second letter of many Semitic abjads, including Arabic alphabet , Aramaic, Hebrew , Phoenician and Syriac...
, kaf
Kaph
Kaph is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Kaf , Arabic alphabet , Persian alphabet...
, and pei
Pe (letter)
Pe is the seventeenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Pei and Persian, Arabic ....
). In full spelling, the dot is not included, regardless if it is making one sound or the other. An example when a mixture of systems would be used is to clarify when the letter is taking a dagesh. An example of this, is in the picture to the right, where for the word kosher (Hebrew: כָּשֵׁר (with niqqud), כשר (full spelling), kasher) may be written as כּשר (a mixture of the two systems) to be unambiguous that it is the letter כּ k and not כ χ. Words may be written in ktiv haser ("missing spelling") if it is unambiguous and clear enough (ex. חנכה (Hanukah) instead of the "full" form חנוכה). In this case, the reader deciphers the word mostly by its context.
Also, some words are almost always written in the "missing" form (ktiv haser) in everyday life: לא ("lo", no), אמא ("ima", mother), אם ("im", if), and כנרת ("Kinneret").