Geresh

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Geresh ("׳", Hebrew: גֵרֵשׁ, [ɡe̞ˈʁe̞ʃ] or medieval [ɡeːɾeːʃ]) is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.

  1. 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.
  2. Today it usually refers to an apostrophe-like sign (also informally Chupchik[citation needed] (['ʧupʧik]) placed after a letter. It may used:

Contents

[edit] Usage

[edit] Diacritic

As a diacritic, the Geresh is written after (i.e. to the left of) the letter whose pronunciation it modifies:

Loanwords, Slang, Foreign Names, and Transliteration of Foreign Languages
Without Geresh With Geresh
Symbol Name Translit. IPA Example Symbol Name Translit. IPA Example
ג gimel g [ɡ] gap ג׳ gimel with a geresh j (or g) [ʤ] jupiter, George
ז zayin z [z] zoo ז׳ zayin with a gresh g, j [ʒ] (French soft g) Jacques, beige, vision
צ tsadi ts [ʦ] tsunami צ׳ tsadi with a geresh ch [ʧ] chip
Distinction when Transcribing Foreign Names[1]
Without Geresh With Geresh
Symbol Name Translit. IPA Example Symbol Name Translit. IPA Example
ד dalet d [d] door ד׳ dalet with a geresh English voiced th [ð] then
ח chet kh, h, or ch [χ] Scottish loch
chanukah		 ח׳ chet with a geresh Dutch g [χ]
ת tav t [t] tail ת׳ tav with a geresh English voiceless th [θ] thing
ו vav v [v] vote וו or ו׳ vav with a geresh
or double vav		 w [w] (non standard)[2] William

There are 6 additional letters in the Arabic alphabet. They are ṯāʼ, ḫāʼ, ḏāl, ḍād, ẓāʼ, and ġayn.


Distinction when Transcribing Arabic[3]
Without Geresh With Geresh
Symbol Name Translit. Arabic letter IPA Example Symbol Name Arabic letter IPA Example Comment
ד dalet d dāl (د) [d] door ד׳ dalet with a geresh ḏāl (ذ) [ð] Dhu al-Hijjah (ذو الحجة)
  • Also used for English voiced th.
  • Often a simple Dalet (ד) is written.
ח chet kh, h, or ch ḥa (ح) [χ] Scottish loch
chanukah		 ח׳ chet with a geresh ḫāʼ (ﺥ) [χ] Sheikh (شيخ)‎
  • Also used for Dutch letter g.
ת tav t tā (ت) [t] tail ת׳ tav with a geresh ṯāʼ (ث) [θ]
  • Also used for English voiceless th.
ס samech s none [s] sun ס׳ samech with a geresh ṣad (ص) [sˤ]
ר reish r rāʼ (ر) [r] rain ר׳ reish with a geresh ġayn (غ) [ʁ] Ghaja'r
ע ayin

unrelated
 ע׳ ayin with a geresh ġayn (غ) [ʁ] Ghaja'r
ט tet ט׳ tet with a geresh ẓāʼ (ظ) [ðˁ] Tanzim (تنظيم)‎
  • In scientific and professional writing.
  • Transliterated as a regular Zayin (ז) in colloquial writing.
צ tsadi צ׳ tsadi with a geresh ḍād (ض) [dˁ] Ramaḍān
  • In scientific and professional writing.
  • Transliterated as a regular Dalet (ד) in colloquial writing (רמדאן).

[edit] Punctuation mark

To denote initialisms, the Geresh is written after the last letter of the initialism (e.g. "Ms.": "׳בג").[4].

[edit] Denoting a numeral

A Geresh is sometime appended after (to the left of) a single letter to indicate that the letter represents a number. This is used in the case where a number is represented by a single Hebrew numeral (e.g., 100 → ‫ק׳‬), whereas a number represented by a sequence of two or more Hebrew letters is indicated by Gershayim ("״").

[edit] Cantillation mark

As a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, the Geresh is printed above the accented letter: ב֜. 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: ב֝.

[edit] Computer encoding

Appearance Code Points Name
׳ U+05F3 HEBREW PUNCTUATION GERESH
֜ U+059C HEBREW ACCENT GERESH
֝ U+059D HEBREW ACCENT GERESH MUQDAM

Since most keyboards do not have a Geresh key, often an apostrophe ( ', Unicode U+0027) is used to denote a Geresh.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rules for the transcription of foreign names into Hebrew, pp. 5–6 (Academy of the Hebrew Language).
  2. ^ Transliteration Rules. issued by the Academy of the Hebrew Language states that both [v] and [w] be indistinguishably represented in Hebrew using the letter Vav. Sometimes the Vav is indeed doubled, however not to denote [w] as opposed to [v] but rather, when spelling without niqqud, to denote the phoneme /v/ 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 /u/ or /o/. To pronounce foreign words and loanwords containing the sound [w], Hebrew readers must therefore rely on former knowledge and context, see also pronunciation of Hebrew Vav.
  3. ^ Rules for the transcription of Arabic into Hebrew, pp. 5–6 (Academy of the Hebrew Language).
  4. ^ Hebrew Punctuation (Academy of the Hebrew Language).
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