| '''Segol''' |
| | ֶ
|
| IPA | |
| Transliteration | e |
| English example | b ed |
| Same sound | tzere |
| Example |
| | שֶׁל |
| | Hebrew language]], ''shel''. The triangular array of three dots under the letter Shin form the segol.
|
| Other [[Niqqud]]
|
| [[Shva]][[Hiriq]][[Tzere]]Segol[[Patach]][[Kamatz]][[Holam]][[Dagesh]][[Mappiq]]Kubutz and Shuruk[[Rafe]]Sin/Shin Dot |
Segol (modern , ; formerly ,
səḡôl) is a
Hebrew alphabet niqqud vowel sign that is represented by three dots forming an upside down equilateral triangle "ֶ ". As such, it resembles an upside down
therefore sign (a
because sign) underneath a letter. In
modern Hebrew, it indicates the
phoneme which is similar to "e" in the English word sound in
s ell and is transliterated as an
e.
In Modern Hebrew segol makes the same sound as tzere, as does the Hataf Segol ( , "Reduced Segol"). The reduced (or ħataf) niqqud exist for segol, patah, and kamatz which contain a shva next to it.
Etymology
The
segol name comes from the
Aramaic word סְגוֹל (
segol) meaning 'cluster of grapes',
because the vowel's sign, three dots forming an upside down triangle "
ֶ ", resembles a cluster of grapes.
Pronunciation
The following table contains the
pronunciation and
transliteration of the different segols in reconstructed historical forms and
using the
International Phonetic Alphabet.
The letters Bet and Het used in this table are only for demonstration; any letter can be used.
|
|
|
|
| | Segol | |
| | Segol Male | |
| | Hataf Segol | |
|
In addition, a letter with a segol or tzere with a succeeding yodh often makes the "ei" (also spelled "ey") sound such as in th ey or t ape.
Vowel length comparison
By adding two vertical dots (
shva), the vowel can be made very short. However, the vowels lengths are not manifested in Modern Hebrew.
|
|
|
|
| | | | | e | t emp |
| Tzere | Segol | Reduced Segol |
Unicode encoding
|
| ֶ | U+05B6 | SEGOL |
| ֱ | U+05B1 | HATAF SEGOL |
