Hebraization of English
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The Hebraization[1] of English (or Hebraicization[2] of English) is the use of the Hebrew alphabet to transliterate English words.
For example, the English name spelled "Timothy" in the English alphabet can be Hebraized as "טימותי" in the Hebrew alphabet.
Hebraization includes any use of the Hebrew alphabet to transliterate English words. Usually it is to identify an English word in the Hebrew language. The term transliteration means using an alphabet to represent the letters and sounds of a word spelled in another alphabet, whereas the term transcription means using an alphabet to represent the sounds only. Hebraicization can do both.
The table below concisely shows the most common way in which transliteration is applied using the Modern/Israeli Hebrew pronunciation.
Also see Romanization of Hebrew for the method for going from Hebrew to a Latin or English script.
Because vowels are not consistent in English, they are in their own table at the end.
Contents |
[edit] Table
[edit] Consonants
| Single letters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letter | Variations | Hebrew | English Examples | IPA |
| a |
|
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| b | none | בּ (Bet) | but, web | b |
| c | Hard C | ק (Kuf), כּ ךּ (Kaph) (kaph not normally used for transliterations) |
cat, kill, skin, thick | k |
| Soft C | ס (Samekh), שׂ (Sin) (sin not normally used for transliterations) |
see, city, pass | s | |
| d | none | ד (Dalet) | do, odd | d |
| e |
|
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| f | none | פ ף (Fe) | fool, enough, leaf, phone | f |
| g | Hard G | ג (Gimel) | go, get, beg | ɡ |
| Soft G | ג׳ (Gimel with geresh) | gin, joy, edge | dʒ | |
| French soft G | ז׳ (Zayin with geresh) | beige, massage, pleasure, vision | ʒ | |
| h | none | ה (He) | hen | h |
| j | Normal J | ג׳ (Gimel with geresh) | joy, gin, edge | dʒ |
| French J | ז׳ (Zayin with geresh) | Jacques, beige, pleasure, vision | ʒ | |
| k | none | ק (Kuf), כּ ךּ (Kaph) (kaph not normally used for transliterations) |
cat, kill, skin, thick | k |
| l | none | ל (Lamed) | left, bell | l |
| m | none | מ ם (Mem) | man, tam | m |
| n | none | נ ן (Nun) | no, tin, know | n |
| o |
|
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| p | none | פּ ףּ (Pe) | pen, spin, tip | p |
| q | Q followed by U | קי (Kuf-Yud) | quick, quite | kw |
| Q not followed by U | ק (Kuf), כּ ךּ (Kaph) (kaph not normally used for transliterations) |
qwerty, cat, kill, skin, thick | k | |
| r | none | ר (Reish) | (guttural R) (closest to letter "r") ex. run |
ʁ |
| s | Normal S | ס (Samekh), שׂ (Sin) (sin not normally used for transliterations) |
see, city, pass | s |
| French soft G | ז׳ (Zayin with geresh) | pleasure, vision, beige, massage, | ʒ | |
| Z sound | ז (Zayin) | rose, catches, monkeys, Moses, zoo, xylophone |
z | |
| t | none | ט (Tet), ת (Tav) (tav not normally used for transliterations) |
two, sting, bet | t |
| u |
|
|||
| v | none | ו (Vav) (at beginning of a word or in the middle, when not next to a vav acting as a vowel [/o/ or /u/]), ב (Vet) (at end of a word or in the middle, when next to a vav acting as a vowel [/o/ or /u/]) |
voice, have | v |
| w | none | ו (Vav) (transliterated as a 'v' sound, but often pronounced with 'w' sound though prior knowledge), ו׳ (Vav with geresh) (non-standard (indicates 'w' sound), and not used in general transliterations) |
we | w |
| y | Consonant | י (Yud) | yes, yellow | j |
| Vowel |
|
|||
| x | Z sound | ז (Zayin) | zoo, xylophone, rose | z |
| KS sound | קס (Kuf-Samekh) | chicken pox, text, marks, socks | ks | |
| EX sound | איקס (Aleph-Yud-Kuf-Samekh), or אקס (Aleph-Kuf-Samekh) |
exhaust, Xmas | eks | |
| z | none | ז (Zayin) | zoo, xylophone, rose | z |
| Multiple letters | ||||
| Letters | Variations | Hebrew | English Examples | IPA |
| ng | none | נג (Nun-Gimel), | ringer, sing, drink | ŋ |
| ch | Normal CH | צ׳ (Tsadi with geresh) | chair, nature, teach | tʃ |
| K sound | כ ך (Chaph) (transliterated as an /x/ sound (like German CH below), because a 'ch' making a 'k' sound is from the Greek letter Chi which also makes the /x/ sound.), ק (Kuf) (indicates 'k' sound, only used for a direct transliteration) |
chaos, character, psychology | k | |
| German CH | ח (Het), כ ך (Chaph) (chaph not normally used for transliterations) |
Scottish loch, chanukah | x | |
| th | Voiceless dental fricative |
ת (Tav) (transliterated as a 't' sound), ת׳ (Tav with geresh) (more accurate (indicates 'th' sound), but not used in general transliterations) |
thing, teeth | θ |
| Voiced dental fricative |
ד (Dalet) (transliterated as a 'd' sound), ד׳ (Dalet with geresh) (more accurate (indicates 'th' sound), but not used in general transliterations) |
this, breathe, father | ð | |
| sh | none | שׁ (Shin) | she, sure, emotion, leash, schmaltz |
ʃ |
| ts | none | צ ץ (Tsadi), תס (Tav-Samekh) (tav-samekh not normally used for transliterations) תשׂ (Tav-Sin) (tav-sin not normally used for transliterations) |
tsunami, tsar, pizza | ʦ |
[edit] Final letters
Five letters in Hebrew, Nun, Samekh, Tsadi, Pe/Fe, and Kaf, all have final or sofit (Hebrew: סוֹפִית sofit) forms. That means, that the letter's appearances change when they are at the end of words from כ, פ, צ, מ, נ to ך, ף, ץ, ם, ן respectively. These final forms are almost never used in transliterations.
[edit] Vowels and diphthongs
Since vowels are not consistent in English, they are more difficult to transliterate into other languages. Sometimes they are just transliterated by the actual English letter, and other times by its actual pronunciation (which also varies). For the most accurate transliteration, below is a table describing the different vowel sounds and their corresponding letters.
Hebrew has only 5 vowels sounds, with lack of discrimination in Hebrew between long and short vowels. In comparison, English which has 12 vowel sounds (5 long, 7 short). As a result, words such as sit/seat (aprox. /sɪt/ and /sit/), hat/hut (aprox. /hæt/ and /hat/), and cop/cope (aprox. /kɒp/ and /kope/) are transliterated to seat (/sit/), hut (/hat/), and cope (/kope/). The English pronunciation can be known through prior context.
Vowels will sometimes be put into Hebrew by their letters, and not by their sounds, even though it is less accurate phonetically. For example, any sort of "a" sound written with the letter "o", (ex. mom, monitor, soft), will often be transliterated as an "o" vowel, that is, with a vav (ו). The same is the case for an -or ending (pronounced -er), it will also often be transliterated with a vav as well. If the word written with an a, or ah, as in spa, or spawn, it will be treated as an "a".
If there is an "ah" sound at the end of the word, (ex. cola), a He (ה) is used for that letter a.
The picture of the "O" represents whatever Hebrew letter is used.
| Vowels | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letter | Hebrew | English Examples | IPA | IPA after trans. |
| a |  (letter with kamatz),  (letter with patah) |
run, enough | a/ʌ | a |
| Note for below: This sound (æ) (ex. hat) does not exist in Hebrew. As a result, it is always transliterated as if it were an (a) sound (ex. hut). |
mat, hat | æ | ||
| (letter with kamatz), (letter with patah) |
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| Note for below: These sounds (ɑ/ɒ) (ex. pawn) do not exist in Hebrew. As a result, it is transliterated as if it were an (a) sound (ex. pun). |
spa, pawn | ɑ/ɒ | ||
| (letter with kamatz), (letter with patah) |
||||
| e |  (letter with segol),  (letter with zeire) (more ambiguous) |
bed, lead, said | e | e |
| i | יִ (Yud with hirik) (letter with hirik) (not used in full spelling) |
city, see, ski, leaf | i | i |
| Note for below: This sound (ɪ) (ex. mitt) does not exist in Hebrew. As a result, it is always transliterated as if it were an (i) sound (ex. meet). |
skid, mitt | ɪ | ||
| יִ (Yud with hirik) (letter with hirik) (not used in full spelling) |
||||
| o | וֹ (Vav with holam),  (letter with cholom) (not used in full spelling) |
no, tow, moan, toll | o/əʊ | o |
| Note for below: These sounds (ɑ/ɒ) (ex. cop) do not exist in Modern Hebrew. As a result, it is transliterated as if it were an (o) sound (ex. cope). |
mop, hot | ɑ/ɒ | ||
| וֹ (Vav with holam), (letter with cholom) (not used in full spelling) |
||||
| u | וּ (Vav with shuruk),  (letter with kubutz) (not used in full spelling) |
tube, soon, through | u | u |
| Note for below: This sound (ʊ) (ex. look) does not exist in Hebrew. As a result, it is always transliterated as if it were an (u) sound (ex. luke). |
look, put, book | ʊ | ||
| וּ (Vav with shuruk), (letter with kubutz) (not used in full spelling) |
||||
| Diphthongs | ||||
| ei | י (letter with segol-Yud), (letter with zeire) (more ambiguous) |
day, pain, table | ej | ej |
| ai | י (letter with kamatz-Yud), י (letter with patah-Yud) |
fine, why | aj | aj |
| oi | וֹי (Vav with holam male-Yud) | loin, boy | oj | oj |
| ui | וּאי (Vav with shuruk-Alef-Yud (generally transliterated as this & technically correct), וּיִ (Vav with shuruk-Yud with hirik) (mostly not transliterated as this) |
chop suey, phooey | uj | uj |
| ao | או (Alef-Vav) | town, mouse, pout | aʊ | aʊ |
| yu | יוּ (Yud-Vav with shuruk) | cute, beauty , circular | ju | ju |
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- International Phonetic Alphabet
- Help:IPA for Hebrew
- Hebrew phonology
- Hebrew alphabet
- Romanization of Hebrew
[edit] External links
- The International Phonetic Alphabet (revised to 2005) Symbols for all languages are shown on this one-page chart.
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