Geresh ("׳", Hebrew: גֶּרֶשׁ, [ˈɡeʁeʃ], or medieval [ˈɡeːɾeːʃ]) is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.
1. An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter (also known colloquially as a chupchik). :
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- as a diacritic which modifies the pronunciation of some letters (in modern Hebrew),
- as a punctuation mark to denote initialisms or abbreviations, or
- to denote a Hebrew numeral.
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2. 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.
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Usage
Diacritic
As a diacritic, the Geresh is written after (i.e. to the left of) the letter whose pronunciation it modifies. It is used to denote three sounds native to speakers of Modern Hebrew which are common in loan words and slang ([dʒ͡], [ʒ] and [tʃ͡] pronounced respectively as in English ledge, leisure and latch), when transliterating Arabic with Hebrew letters for distinguishing between sounds which in Modern Hebrew are usually allophones but in Arabic are distinct phonemes ([ɣ] ≠ [r] and [ħ] ≠ [χ]) and finally to represent a number of additional sounds completely foreign to the phonology of speakers of Modern Hebrew and used solely for the purpose of transliterating words in foreign languages ([ð], [θ], [sˤ] and in some transliteration systems also [tˤ], [dˤ] and [ðˤ]).
In loanwords, slang, foreign names & transliterations
| 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) | [d͡ʒ] | jupiter, George |
| ז | zayin | z | [z] | zoo | ז׳ | zayin with a geresh | g, j | [ʒ] (French soft g) | Jacques, beige, vision |
| צ | tsadi | ts | [ts] | tsunami | צ׳ | tsadi with a geresh | ch | [tʃ] | chip |
In transcriptions of Arabic
There are 6 additional letters in the Arabic alphabet. They are ṯāʼ, ḫāʼ, ḏāl, ḍād, ẓāʼ, and ġayn.
| Distinction when Transcribing Arabic[1] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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) |
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| ח | chet | ẖ / h, ḥ, or h | ḥa (ح) | [ħ] | non existent in English, pronounced like an "h" while contracting the pharynx | ח׳ | chet with a geresh | ḫāʼ (ﺥ) | [χ] | Sheikh (شيخ) | |||
| ת | tav | t | tā (ت) | [t] | tail | ת׳ | tav with a geresh | ṯāʼ (ث) | [θ] |
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| ס | samech | s | sīn (س) | [s] | sun | ס׳ | samech with a geresh | ṣad (ص) |
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| ר | reish | r | rāʼ (ر) | [r] | ר׳ | reish with a geresh | ġayn (غ) | [ɣ] | Ghaja'r | both ר׳ and ע׳ are alternatingly used to transcribe ġayn (غ), however ר׳ is the standard prescribed by the Academy of the Hebrew Language for simplified transcription (the standard prescribed for precise transcription is גֿ; in some cases of established usage a ג with no diacritics is used). | |||
| Comment to the pronunciation: When transcribing Arabic, a "ר" with no geresh designates only the "rolled r" as in Scottish English (Alveolar trill or tap), in distinction to the Voiced velar [ɣ] or uvular [ʁ] fricatives, whereas in normal Hebrew writing "ר" can be pronounced [r], [ɾ] [ɣ] or [ʁ], since all are allophones of the phoneme /r/. | |||||||||||||
| ע | ayin | ’ | ʿayn (ع) |
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ע׳ | ayin with a geresh | |||||||
In transcriptions of foreign names
| Distinction when Transcribing Foreign Names[2] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| ת | tav | t | [t] | tail | ת׳ | tav with a geresh | English voiceless th | [θ] | thing |
| ו | vav | v | [v] | vote | וו or ו׳ (both double-vav and vav with geresh are non standard and their usage is therefore inconsistent[3]) | vav with a geresh or double vav |
w | [w] | William |
Punctuation mark
To denote initialisms, the Geresh is written after the last letter of the initialism (e.g. "Ms.": "׳בג").[4].
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 ("״").
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.
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.
See also
References
- ^ "Rules for the transcription of Arabic into Hebrew, pp. 5–6 (Academy of the Hebrew Language)". http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/PDF/taatiq2007.pdf Rules for the transcription of Arabic into Hebrew, pp. 5–6.
- ^ "Rules for the transcription of foreign names into Hebrew, pp. 5–6 (Academy of the Hebrew Language)". http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/PDF/LAT-HEB.pdf Rules for the transcription of foreign names into Hebrew, pp. 5–6.
- ^ "Transliteration Rules". http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/PDF/taatiq2007.pdf. 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.
- ^ "Hebrew Punctuation (Academy of the Hebrew Language)". http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/decision5.html Hebrew Punctuation.
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