Hebrew and Aramaic alphabet
8.4. Hebrew and Aramaic alphabet
It might be helpful to learn the Hebrew and Aramaic alphabet. You will then be able to recognize Hebrew and Aramaic characters. It will also be helpful when you read commentaries that are based on these languages. You do not have to analyse or translate in your own the words and sentences that you are reading. TW and ES will help you do that.
8.4.1. Alphabet
In the current editions of the bible, Hebrew and Aramaic have the same alphabet. At first this alphabet consisted of twenty-two consonants. The text of the Old Testament was originally written as a consonantal text, without vowels. Vowels were added to the text at a later stage. The Hebrew and Aramaic texts in ES and TW present some challenges. The fonts are not always displayed properly. The transliterated text missed some of the characters. This is understandable, because English does not have all the characters necessary to express the Hebrew and Aramaic consonants. It is therefore important to have a working knowledge of the alphabet. In this section there is first a table with the alphabet, followed by an explanation of three important issues concerning the consonants.
The following table gives the 22 consonants and the five final forms. The sound section should serve as a guide to pronouncing the letters. Hebrew and Aramaic are written from right to left!
Hebrew and Aramaic alphabet with academic transliteration|
Consonants|Name|Transliteration|Sound|
א|Aleph|˒|-|
ב|Bet|b|B as in Bravo, V as in Victor|
ג|Gimel|g|G as in Golf|
ד|Dalet|d|D as in Delta|
ה|He|h|H as in Hotel|
ו|Waw|w|V as in Victor|
ז|Zayin|z|Z as in Zulu|
ח|Ḥet|ḥ, ch|CH as in BaCH|
ט|Ṭet|ṭ|T as in Tango|
י|Yod|y|Y as in You|
כ, ך|Kaph, final kaph|k|K as in Kilo, CH as in BaCH|
ל|Lamed|l|L as in Lima|
מ, ם|Mem, final mem|m|M as in Mama|
נ, ן|Nun, Final Nun|n|N as in November|
ס|Samek|s|S as in See|
ע|Ayin|˓|-|
פ, ף|Pe, Final Pe|p, ph |P as in Papa,
F as in Fan|
צ, ץ|Ṣade, Final Ṣade|ṣ, ts|TS as in CaTS|
ק|Qoph|q|K as in Kilo|
ר|Reš|r|R as in Romeo|
שׂ, שׁ|Śin, Šin|ś, š, sh|S as in See, SH as in SHe|
ת|Taw|t|T as in Tango|
Did you realise that there were two consonants where the transliteration was not a known letter (‘) (’)? As indicated above, some letters do not have corresponding sounds in English. They are gutturals.
There are three important things to be said about the consonants.
· Five of them have an alternate form at the end of a word (see final K, M, N, S, Ts).
· Six of them (B, G, D, K, P/Ph, T) can appear with a ‘dot’, called dagesh qal. They can be easily remembered by the mnemonic BeGaDKePhaT.
· Four consonants are gutturals (’, h, ‘, ch). The name is derived from the Latin guttur = throat.
Can you recognise these letters without help? Even though they seem to be strange, our alphabet was derived from an earlier version of this alphabet. Even the name ‘alphabet’ came from the first two letters here: alef and bet.
8.4.2. Vowels
In the past, the Jews read the consonantal texts, the text without vowels. This is still done in synagogues. However, as other languages replaced Hebrew as the spoken language of the Jews, it was necessary to add vowels to the text in order to preserve the correct pronunciation. The text was also written without spaces between words. As you have seen in the alphabet table there are neither capitals nor small letters in Hebrew.
The scholars who worked on this are called the Masoretes. Their name is derived from the Hebrew word Masora, meaning ‘what was handed down’. The text of the Hebrew bible on which they worked is called the Masoretic Text. The main text that is used by scholars today, is the one produced by the Ben Asher family, around AD 900. Chapter 10 will say more about the Masoretes.
The Masoretes added five long vowels, five short vowels, three half vowels and a sound called shewa to the consonantal text. The work of these scholars is greatly appreciated. In order to help you realise the value of their work, here is a verse from the bible without the vowels and with no spaces between the words. Do you know which verse this is?
frgdslvdthwrldththgvhsnlbgttnsnthtwhsvrblvthnhmshldntprshbthvvrlstnglf.
If you have not been able to work this out, here it is:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The following table is a list of the Masoretic vowels.
Vowel Length|Sound|
Long|Short|Half||
ָkamets|ַpatach|ֲchataf patach|a|
ֵ tsere|ֶsegol|ֱchataf sego|e|
וֹcholem|ָkamets|ֳchataf kamets|o|
וּshureq|ֻkibuts||u|
ִיchirek yod|ִchirek||i|
The shewa sign was: ְtransliterated as ‘e’.
Vowel signs with academic transliteration and sounds|
Vowels|Name|Transliteration|Sounds|
ַ|pataḥ|a|a as in what|
ָ|qameṣ|ā|a as in father|
ֶ|segol|e|e as in echo|
ֵ|ṣere|ē|ey as in hey|
ִ|hireq|i|i as in machine|
ֻ|qibbûṣ|u|u as in rule|
י ֶ|segol yod|ê|ey as in hey|
י ֵ|ṣere yod|ê|ey as in hey|
י ִ|hireq yod|ı̂|i as in machine|
ֹ|ḥolem|ō|o as in snow|
ו ֹ|ḥolem waw|ô|o as in snow|
וּ|šûreq|û|u as in rule|
ֳ|hatep-patah|ŏ|o as in odd|
ֲ|hatep-qames|ă|a as in what|
ֱ|hatep-segol|ĕ|e as in echo|
Hebrew and Aramaic share the same alphabet. Learning the alphabet that is given in this chapter will allow you to read the original text of the Old Testament. It will also make it possible for you to read Hebrew and Aramaic words in technical commentaries on the Old Testament. The next chapter gives a brief survey of Hebrew and Aramaic grammar.