Heth

Heth, sometimes written Chet, but more accurately Ḥet, is the eighth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ḥēt 𐤇, Hebrew ḥēt ח, Aramaic ḥēṯ 𐡇, Syriac ḥēṯ ܚ, and Arabic ḥāʾ ح.

Heth
PhoenicianHeth
Hebrew
ח
AramaicHeth
Syriac
ܚ
Arabic
ح
Phonemic representationχ, x, ħ
Position in alphabet8
Numerical value8
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
GreekΗ
LatinH
CyrillicИ

Heth originally represented a voiceless fricative, either pharyngeal /ħ/, or velar /x/. In Arabic, two corresponding letters were created for both phonemic sounds: unmodified ḥāʾ ح represents /ħ/, while ḫāʾ خ represents /x/.

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek eta Η, Etruscan H, Latin H, and Cyrillic И. While H is a consonant in the Latin alphabet, the Greek and Cyrillic equivalents represent vowel sounds, though the letter was originally a consonant in Greek and this usage later evolved into the rough breathing character.[1]

Origins

The shape of the letter Ḥet ultimately goes back either to the Egyptian hieroglyph for 'courtyard' (ḥwt):

O6

(compare Hebrew חָצֵר ḥatser of identical meaning, which begins with Ḥet) or to the one for 'thread, wick' representing a wick of twisted flax: ()[2][3]

V28

(compare Hebrew חוּט ḥut of identical meaning, which begins with Ḥet).

Possibly named ḥasir in the Proto-Sinaitic script.

The corresponding South Arabian letters are ḥ ḥ and ḫ ḫ, corresponding to the Ge'ez letters Ḥawṭ ሐ and Ḫarm ኀ.

This letter is usually transcribed as , h with a dot underneath. In some romanization systems, a (capital) Ch is also used. The latter method has the advantage of being easy to type on a computer.

Arabic Ḥāʾ

The letter is named حَاءْ ḥāʾ and is the sixth letter of the alphabet. Its shape varies depending on its position in the word:

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)
ح ـح ـحـ حـ

This form is used to denote two letters, the second being خ ḫāʾ.

Pronunciation

In Arabic, ḥāʾ is similar to the English [h], but it is much "raspier",[4] IPA: [ħ]~[ʜ]. (Pharyngeal H)

In Persian, it is [h], like ه and the English h.

Hebrew Chet

Orthographic variants
Various print fonts Cursive
Hebrew
Rashi
script
SerifSans-serifMonospaced
ח ח ח

Hebrew spelling: חֵית

Pronunciation

In Modern Israeli Hebrew (and Ashkenazi Hebrew, although not under strict pronunciation), the letter Ḥet (חֵית) usually has the sound value of a voiceless uvular fricative (/χ/), as the historical phonemes of the letters Ḥet ח (/ħ/) and Khaf כ (/x/) merged, both becoming the voiceless uvular fricative (/χ/). In more rare Ashkenazi phonologies, it is pronounced as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative (/ħ/).

The (/ħ/) pronunciation is still common among Israeli Arabs and Mizrahi Jews (particularly among the older generation and popular Mizrahi singers, especially Yemenites), in accordance with oriental Jewish traditions (see, e.g., Mizrahi Hebrew and Yemenite Hebrew).

The ability to pronounce the Arabic letter ḥāʾ (ح) correctly as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/ is often used as a shibboleth to distinguish Arabic-speakers from non-Arabic-speakers; in particular, pronunciation of the letter as /x/ is seen as a hallmark of Ashkenazi and Greek Jews.

Ḥet is one of the few Hebrew consonants that can take a vowel at the end of a word. This occurs when patach gnuva comes under the Ḥet at the end of the word. The combination is then pronounced /-aħ/ rather than /-ħa/. For example: פָּתוּחַ (/ˌpaˈtuaħ/), and תַּפּוּחַ (/ˌtaˈpuaħ/).

Variations

Ḥet, along with Aleph, Ayin, Resh, and He, cannot receive a dagesh. As pharyngeal fricatives are difficult for most English speakers to pronounce, loanwords are usually Anglicized to have /h/. Thus challah (חלה), pronounced by native Hebrew speakers as /χala/ or /ħala/ is pronounced /halə/ by most English speakers, who cannot often perceive the difference between [h] and [ħ].

Significance

In gematria, Ḥet represents the number eight.

In chat rooms, online forums, and social networking the letter Ḥet repeated (חחחחחחחחחח) denotes laughter, just as in English, in the saying 'Haha'.

Character encodings

Character information
Previewחحܚ
Unicode name HEBREW LETTER HET ARABIC LETTER HAH SYRIAC LETTER HETH SAMARITAN LETTER IT
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode1495U+05D71581U+062D1818U+071A2055U+0807
UTF-8215 151D7 97216 173D8 AD220 154DC 9A224 160 135E0 A0 87
Numeric character referenceחחححܚܚࠇࠇ
Character information
Preview𐎈𐡇𐤇
Unicode name UGARITIC LETTER HOTA IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER HETH PHOENICIAN LETTER HET
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechex
Unicode66440U+1038867655U+1084767847U+10907
UTF-8240 144 142 136F0 90 8E 88240 144 161 135F0 90 A1 87240 144 164 135F0 90 A4 87
UTF-1655296 57224D800 DF8855298 56391D802 DC4755298 56583D802 DD07
Numeric character reference𐎈𐎈𐡇𐡇𐤇𐤇

See also

References

  1. "Herbert Weir Smyth, Greek Grammar".
  2. "𓎛 - Wiktionary".
  3. "Rosette V-1.3 (6/11/05)".
  4. Bouchentouf, Amine (2006). Arabic for Dummies. Wiley Publishing, Inc. p. 15.
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