Geresh ( in Hebrew language:
-
An apostrophe-like sign (also known colloquially as a chupchik)
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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.
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
and
slang: as in
j udg e , as in meas ure and as in chur ch . In transliteration of Arabic, it indicates Arabic phonemes which are usually allophones in modern Hebrew: is distinguished from and is distinguished from . Finally, it indicates other sounds foreign to the phonology of modern Hebrew speakers and used exclusively for the transliteration of foreign words: as in then, as in
thin, ; and, in some transliteration systems, also , and . It may be compared to the usage of a following
h in various Latin digraphs to form other consonant sounds not supported by the basic Latin alphabet, such as "sh", "th", etc.
Loanwords, slang, foreign names and transliterations
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|
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| | gimel | g | | gap | | gimel with a geresh | j (or g) | | Jupiter, George |
| | zayin | z | | zoo | | zayin with a geresh | g, j | | Jacques, bei ge, vi sion |
| | tsadi | ts | | tsunami, ca ts | | tsadi with a geresh | ch | | chip |
|
Transcriptions of Arabic
There are six additional letters in the
Arabic alphabet. They are Ṯāʾ, Ḫāʾ, Ḏāl, Ḍād, Ẓāʾ, and
Ghayn. Also, some letters have different sounds in
Arabic phonology and modern Hebrew phonology, such as Jīm.
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| | gimel | g | Arabic phonology Jīm (ج) | | good | | gimel with a geresh | Jīm (ج) | | Al- Jazeera (الجزيرة) |
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Also used with other loan words and transliterations for /dʒ/
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| | dalet | d | Dalet | | door | | dalet with a geresh | Ḏāl (ذ) | | Dhu al-Hijjah (ذو الحجة) |
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Also used for English voiced th
-
Often a simple Dalet is written
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| | heth | ẖ / h, ḥ, or h | Heth | | Non existent in English, pronounced like an "h" while contracting the pharynx | | heth with a geresh | Ḫāʾ (ﺥ) | | Shei kh (شيخ) | |
| | Taw | t | Taw | | tail | | Taw with a geresh | ṯāʾ (ث) | | ʿu thman (عثمان) | |
| | samekh | s | Sīn (س) | | sun | | samekh with a geresh | tsade | {class="collapsible collapsed"
!style="font-weight:normal" | |
| pharyngealized s; approximate pronunciation by pronouncing a voiceless "s" while constricting the pharynx or the larynx |
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May also be transcribed with the corresponding Hebrew letter צ
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resh
| r
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Resh
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| french r
|rowspan=2 align="center" dir="rtl"|
|rowspan=2|
resh with a geresh
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Ghayn
|rowspan=3|
|rowspan=3| Abu
Ghosh (أَبُو غوش)
|rowspan=3| Standard simplified: and ; however, is proscribed by the Academy of the Hebrew Language.
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|colspan=6| The predominant pronunciation is
uvular consonant , therefore
resh is spelled without geresh for that pronunciation. Other accentual variants include an alveolar pronunciation .
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ayin
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Apostrophe
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Ayin
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ayin with a geresh
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Transliteration of foreign names
- Note
- * Both double-vav and vav with geresh are non-standard and inconsistently used.
[ issued by the Academy of the Hebrew Language state that both and be indistinguishably represented in Hebrew using the letter Vav. Sometimes the Vav is indeed doubled, however not to denote as opposed to but rather, when Ktiv male, to denote the phoneme 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 or . To pronounce foreign words and containing the sound , Hebrew readers must therefore rely on former knowledge and context, see also pronunciation of Hebrew Vav.]
Yiddish origin
Some words or suffixes of
Yiddish origin or pronunciation are marked with a geresh, e.g. the
diminutive suffix לֶ׳ה – -le, e.g. יענקל׳ה – Yankale (as in
Yaakov Bodo), or the words חבר׳ה – , 'guys' (which is the Yiddish pronunciation of Hebrew חבורה 'company'), or תכל׳ס – , 'in the end' or 'to conclude', from Hebrew תכלית , 'ending'.
Punctuation mark
The geresh is used as a punctuation mark in
and to denote
Numerical digit.
Indicating initialisms
In
, 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".
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
As a note of cantillation in the reading of the
Torah, the Geresh is printed above the accented letter: . 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: . As a cantillation mark it is also called Ṭères (טֶרֶס).
Computer encoding
Most keyboards do not have a key for the geresh. As a result, an
apostrophe ( ',
Unicode U+0027) is often substituted for it.
|
| ׳ | U+05F3 | HEBREW PUNCTUATION GERESH |
| ֜ | U+059C | HEBREW ACCENT GERESH |
| ֝ | U+059D | HEBREW ACCENT GERESH MUQDAM |
See also
