| '''''Holam''''' |
| | |
| IPA | or |
| Transliteration | o |
| English example | sh ore |
| Similar sound | Kamatz |
| '''' Example |
| | |
| | Hebrew language]]. The first vowel (over Nun, the dot above) is the ''''.
|
| '''' Example |
| | |
| | Hebrew language]]. The letter vav with the dot above it is the '''' itself.
|
| Other [[Niqqud]]
|
| Shin dot]] |
Holam or
cholam (modern , , formerly ,
) is a
Hebrew alphabet niqqud vowel sign represented by a dot above the upper left corner of the consonant letter. For example, here the holam appears after the letter
mem :
. In
modern Hebrew, it indicates the mid back rounded vowel, , and is transliterated as an
o.
The mater lectionis letter which is usually employed with holam is vav, although in a few words, the letters or are used instead of . When it is used with a mater lectionis, the holam is called holam male (, , "full holam"), and without it the holam is called holam haser (, , "deficient holam").
Appearance
If a holam is used without a following
mater lectionis (vav, alef or he), as in (, "here"), it is written as a dot above at the upper-left corner of the letter after which it is pronounced.
Letter-spacing is not supposed to be affected by it, although some buggy computer fonts may add an unneeded space before the next letter.
If vav is used as a mater lectionis, the holam appears above the vav. If the mater lectionis is alef, as in (, "no"), it is supposed to appear above the 's right hand, although this is not implemented in all computer fonts, and does not always appear even in professionally typeset modern books. This means a holam with may, in fact, appear in the same place as a regular holam haser. If the alef itself is not a mater lectionis, but a consonant, the holam appears in its regular place above the upper-left corner of the previous letter, as in (, "epithet").
If a holam haser is written after , as in (, "to agonize"), it may appear above the , or slightly farther to the left; this varies between different fonts. In some fonts, a holam merges with the shin dot (which appears on the upper-right corner of its letter seat), in words such as ( ḥṓšeḵ, , 'darkness') or with the sin dot, as in (, 'satiation'). (These dots may or may not appear merged on your screen, as that depends on your device's Hebrew font.)
Usage
Holam male is, in general, the most common way to write the sound in modern spelling with niqqud. If a word has
Holam male in spelling with niqqud, the
mater lectionis letter
is without any exception retained in spelling without niqqud, both according to the spelling rules of the Academy of the Hebrew Language and in common practice.
The use of holam haser is restricted to certain word patterns, although many common words appear in them. In most cases the Academy's spelling rules mandate that the will be written even when the spelling with niqqud does not have it. The normative exceptions from this rule are listed below. The Academy's standard is not followed perfectly by all speakers, and common deviations from it are also noted below.
In Biblical Hebrew the above rules are not followed consistently, and sometimes the is omitted or added.[ Academy Decisions: Grammar, 2nd edition, §1.3; ]
For further complications involving Kamatz katan and Hataf kamatz, see the article Kamatz.
Holam haser which is written as in text without niqqud
-
In words in which the penultimate syllable has the vowel and is stressed (sometimes called segolate):
-
קֹטֶר ('diameter')
-
זֹהַר ('radiance', Zohar),
-
נֹגַהּ ('brightness', Nogah),
-
דֹּאַר ('mail'), or .
- Some people tend to spell some of these words without the , e.g. דאר instead of דואר, although the Academy mandates דואר. The tendency is especially strong when the words can be used as personal names.
-
When Kubutz is changed to holam before guttural letters in the passive binyan Pual due to tashlum dagesh (a vowel-change due to the inability of guttural letters to carry a dagesh):
-
מְפֹאָר ('fancy'), . Without niqqud: מפואר.
-
פֹּרַשׁ ('was explained'), . Without niqqud: פורש.
-
In words which have the pattern /CaCoC/ in the singular and become /CəCuCCim/ with Kubutz in the plural, especially names of colors:
-
כָּתֹם ('orange'), , pl. כְּתֻמִּים
-
עָגֹל ('round'), , pl. עֲגֻלִּים .
-
When the last letter of the Semitic root is guttural, holam haser is preserved due to tashlum dagesh:
-
שָׁחֹר ('black'), , pl. שְׁחֹרִים .
-
: Without niqqud: כתום, כתומים, עגול, עגולים, שחור, שחורים.
-
A similar pattern, in which the last letter of the root is not doubled in declension, has holam male in the base form, which is preserved in declension:
-
sg. גָּדוֹל ('big'), , pl. גְּדוֹלִים .
-
In three words, a holam male is changed to a shuruk in declension:
-
מָגוֹר ('place of living'), , pl. מְגוּרִים
[Rarely used in the singular in Modern Hebrew.]
-
מָנוֹס ('escape'), , pl. מְנוּסִים ;
[Rarely used in the plural in Modern Hebrew.]
-
מָתוֹק ('sweet'), , pl. מְתוּקִים .
[ Academy Decisions: Grammar, 2nd edition, §1.3.]
-
Similar to the above is the pattern /CəCaCCoC/, with reduplication of the second and third letters of the Semitic root:
-
פְּתַלְתֹּל ('crooked'), , pl. פְּתַלְתֻּלִּים . Without niqqud: פתלתול, פתלתולים.
-
In the future, infinitive and imperative forms of most verbs in binyan Qal:
-
אֶסְגֹּר ('I shall close'), , לִסְגֹּר ('to close'), , סְגֹר ('close!'), . Without niqqud: אסגור, לסגור, סגור.
-
In words, whose Semitic root' second and third letter are the same, in which case in declension the holam changes to Kubutz after which there will be a dagesh:
-
כֹּל all, , decl. כֻּלּהּ ('all of her'), root כ־ל־ל
[This word becomes כָּל־ in construct state, which is very common, so as another exception it is written without in spelling without niqqud: כל־האנשים ('all the people'), but היא יודעת הכול ('she knows all').]
-
רֹב ('most'), , decl. רֻבּוֹ ('most of him'), root ר־ב־ב
-
תֹּף ('drum'), , pl. תֻּפִּים , root ת־פ־פ
-
מָעֹז ('stronghold'), , pl. מָעֻזִּים , root ע־ז־ז
- The standard spelling without niqqud for all of them except כָּל־ in construct state is with : כול, כולה, רוב, רובו, תוף, תופים, מעוז, מעוזים. Despite this, some people occasionally omit the in some of those words and spell רב, תף etc.
-
Several common words are spelled with a holam haser in the Bible, but the Academy mandates that they be spelled with holam male in modern Hebrew, among them:
-
כֹּחַ/כּוֹחַ ('force'),
-
מֹחַ/מוֹחַ ('brain'),
-
יַהֲלֹם/יַהֲלוֹם ('a precious stone', in modern Hebrew 'diamond'),
-
מְאֹד/מְאוֹד ('very'),
-
פִּתְאֹם/פִּתְאוֹם ('suddenly'),
-
: Some people still spell them without , but the standard spelling is with .
[The full list appears at Academy Decisions: Grammar, 2nd edition, §1.3.]
-
The participle of most verbs in binyan Qal is often written with holam haser in the Bible, but always with holam male in modern Hebrew.
-
For example, in the Bible appear both חֹזֶה and חוֹזֶה ('seer'), , but in modern Hebrew only חוֹזֶה.
Holam with other matres lectionis
-
The most common occasion for not writing the sound as a in text without niqqud is when in text with niqqud the mater lectionis is Aleph (א) or He (ה) instead of . In the Bible some words are irregularly and inconsistently spelled with ה as a mater lectionis:
-
זֹה alongside זוֹ, e.g. בֵּיתֹה alongside בֵּיתוֹ, etc.
-
: but the number of these irregularities was brought to minimum in modern Hebrew.
-
In the future forms of several verbs whose Semitic root' first letter is Aleph:
-
תֹּאכַל ('you shall eat'), , root א־כ־ל, without niqqud תאכל.
-
The prefix of the first person singular is itself Alef and in spelling with niqqud only one Alef is written: אֹמַר ('I shall say'), , root א־מ־ר, and in spelling without niqqud a is added: אומר. This always happens in the roots א־ב־ד ('perish'), א־ב־י ('wish'),
[Rare in modern Hebrew.] א־כ־ל ('eat'), א־מ־ר ('say'), א־פ־י ('bake') and less consistently in the roots א־ה־ב ('love'), א־ח־ז ('hold'), א־ס־ף ('collect'), א־ת־י ('come').
-
לוֹמַר .
[; the Even-Shoshan Dictionary for the modern forms.]
-
In the infinitive form of a small number of verbs whose Semitic root' last letter is Aleph: בִּמְלֹאת ('upon becoming full'), , root מ־ל־א.
[ Academy Decisions: Grammar, 2nd edition, §3.5.]
-
In the following words the mater lectionis is always Alef (א):
-
זֹאת ('this' fem.),
-
לֹא ('no'),
[This word is written לוֹא several times in the Bible, but such spelling never occurs in modern Hebrew. With the particle הֲ־ and only when it is used as a synonym of הִנֵּה ('here') it may be written both as הלוא and as הלא ( Academy Decisions: Grammar, 2nd edition, §2.4.4), but this usage is rare in modern Hebrew.]
-
מֹאזְנַיִם ('scales'), , without niqqud מאזניים
-
נֹאד ('wineskin'),
[The word נוֹד is pronounced identically and means "wandering". It appears in the Bible and is rare in modern Hebrew. The Even-Shoshan dictionary also notes that it is an incorrect spelling for נֹאד.]
-
צֹאן ('sheep' or 'goats'),
-
רֹאשׁ ('head'),
-
שְׂמֹאל ('left'),
[This word is actually spelled as שמאול several times in the Bible, but never in modern Hebrew. However, the intentionally wrong spelling סמול is often used as a disparaging term for the political left and is documented in Uri Orbach's lexicon of Religious Zionist slang.]
-
In the following words the mater lectionis is always He (ה):
-
כֹּה ('such'),
-
פֹּה ('here'),
-
אֵיפֹה ('where?'),
[The Even-Shoshan Dictionary also registers the modern Hebrew word אֵיפֹשֶׁהוּ ('somewhere'), , which is based on אֵיפֹה and ־שֶׁהוּ, the ending of the indefinite pronouns משהו, כלשהו, ('some'). The Academy has not decided on a standard spelling of this word.]
-
In the absolute infinitive form of verbs which end in He: הָיֹה ( 'to be'). This form is common in the Bible, but in modern Hebrew it is not productive and it is preserved only in fossilized sayings. For example, a common opening for fairy tales, הָיֹה הָיָה ('there once was'), is written היה היה without niqqud.
Holam without vav in personal names
Some examples of usage of holam without
in personal names:
-
The names Pharaoh (פַּרְעֹה, ), Moshe (מֹשֶׁה)
[The related participle מוֹשֶׁה ('pulling out of water') is written with in modern Hebrew. Modern diminutive forms of Moshe, such as Moshiko (מושיקו) are written with .] and Shlomo (שְׁלֹמֹה)[A common modern diminutive version of this name is regularly spelled שלומי ( Shlomi).] are never written with . Shilo (שִׁילֹה) is sometimes written with in the Bible, but always with He in modern Hebrew. The adjectives פַּרְעוֹנִי, שִׁילוֹנִי are written with and with a nun in the suffix.
-
The name Aharon (אַהֲרֹן) is spelled with holam haser in the Bible. In modern Hebrew both אהרן and אהרון are used.
-
The name Noah (נֹחַ) is spelled with holam haser in the Bible, but it is sometimes written with the in the Mishna
[For example, in Pirkei Avot 5:2 in the Kaufmann manuscript.] and in modern Hebrew.
-
Several other names of places and people are spelled with holam and Alef in the Bible include Yoshiyahu (יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ, Josiah), Tel Dor (דֹּאר, in modern Hebrew דּוֹר) and No Amon (נֹא אָמוֹן, the Hebrew name of Thebes).
-
The word כֹּהֵן ('priest'), is spelled with holam haser in the Bible. It is a common Jewish last name, Cohen. The Academy mandates holam male for the noun כּוֹהֵן, but allows the omission of for spelling the personal name.
[ Academy Decisions: Grammar, 2nd edition, §1.3 fn. 55.]
-
Some personal names, such as Ohad (אֹהַד), Zohar (זֹהַר) and Nogah (נֹגַהּ), are sometimes spelled without in modern writing without niqqud, although this varies from person to person.
-
God's name Adonai (אֲדֹנָי) is written with holam haser to distinguish it from the word "Lord" (אָדוֹן) used for humans.
[According to The Brown–Driver–Briggs Hebrew Lexicon.] When the Tetragrammaton is written with niqqud, it follows that of Adonai, so it is written with holam haser, too. For religious reasons writing Adonai and the Tetragrammaton is avoided in modern religious texts except in direct quotes from the Bible. They rarely appear in secular modern Hebrew texts and their spelling there is inconsistent.
-
The name Elohim (אֱלֹהִים) is written with holam haser in the Bible, although its singular form Eloah (אֱלוֹהַּ) is usually written with holam male. In modern Hebrew Elohim is a common word for "God" and it is usually spelled with the , which is also the Academy's recommendation.
Pronunciation
The following table contains the
pronunciation and
transliteration of the different
holams in reconstructed historical forms and
using the
International Phonetic Alphabet.
The letters Pe and Tsade are used in this table only for demonstration. Any letter can be used.
Vowel length comparison
These vowel lengths are not manifested in modern Hebrew. In addition, the short
o is usually promoted to a long
o in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. As well, the short
o () and long
a () have the same
niqqud. As a result, a
is usually promoted to
Holam male in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation.
Computer encoding
|
| | U+05B9 | HEBREW POINT HOLAM |
| | U+05BA | HEBREW POINT HOLAM HASER FOR VAV |
| | U+FB4B | HEBREW LETTER VAV WITH HOLAM |
|
In Unicode there are two ways to distinguish the vowel and the consonant-vowel combination + . For example, in the pair (, the plural of , ) and (, the plural of ):[This is the Biblical spelling in (actually ). The standard modern Hebrew spelling, with niqqud, is with ]: .
-
By using the zero-width non-joiner after the and before the holam:
-
By using the Unicode character U+05BA HEBREW POINT HOLAM HASER FOR VAV: .
The precomposed character,[Also known as a presentation form in Unicode.] U+FB4B (HTML Entity (decimal) וֹ) stands for a + , and there is no precomposed character for the + combination.
See also
-
Niqqud
-
Combining Grapheme Joiner
