Samekh

Samekh is the fifteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician sāmek 𐤎, Hebrew sāmeḵ ס, Aramaic samek 𐡎, and Syriac semkaṯ ܣ.

Samekh
PhoenicianSamekh
Hebrew
ס
AramaicSamekh
Syriac
ܣ
Arabic
-
Phonemic representations
Position in alphabet15
Numerical value60
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
GreekΞ
Latin-
CyrillicѮ

Samekh represents a voiceless alveolar fricative /s/. In the Hebrew language, the samekh has the same pronunciation as the left-dotted shin.

The numerical value of samekh is 60.

Origin

The Phoenician letter may continue a glyph from the Middle Bronze Age alphabets, either based on a hieroglyph for a tent peg or support, possibly the djed "pillar" hieroglyph[1] (c.f. Hebrew root סמך s-m-kh 'support', סֶמֶךְ semekh 'support, rest', סוֹמֵךְ somekh 'support peg, post', סוֹמְכָה somkha 'armrest', סָמוֹכָה smokha 'stake, support', indirectly s'mikhah סמיכה; Aramaic סַמְכָא samkha 'socket, base', סְמַךְ smakh 'support, help'; Syriac ܣܡܟܐ semkha 'support').

The shape of samek undergoes complicated developments. In archaic scripts, the vertical stroke can be drawn either across or below the three horizontal strokes. The closed form of Hebrew samek is developed only in the Hasmonean period.[2]

Phoenician/Paleo-Hebrew
(c. 800 BC)		 Samaritan
(c. 400 BC)		 Imperial Aramaic
(c. 400 BC)		 Hebrew
(from ca. 50 BC)
ࠎ‎


The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek xi (Ξ),[3] whereas its name may also be reflected in the name of the otherwise unrelated Greek letter sigma.[4]

The archaic "grid" shape of Western Greek xi () was adopted in the early Etruscan alphabet (𐌎 esh), but was never included in the Latin alphabet.

Syriac Semkat

The Syriac letter semkaṯ ܣܡܟܬ develops from the Imperial Aramaic "hook" shape 𐡎 into a rounded form by the 1st century. The Old Syriac form further develops into a connected cursive both in the Eastern and Western script variants.

Aramaic Old Syriac Eastern Western

Hebrew Samekh

Hebrew Samekh develops a closed cursive form in the middle Hasmonean period (1st century BC). This becomes the standard form in early Herodian hands.[2]

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

Talmudic legend

In Talmudic legend, samekh is said to have been a miracle of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 32:15 records that the tablets "were written on both their sides." The Jerusalem Talmud interprets this as meaning that the inscription went through the full thickness of the tablets. The stone in the center parts of the letters ayin and teth should have fallen out, as these letters are closed in the ktav ivri script and would not be connected to the rest of the tablet, but miraculously remained in place. The Babylonian Talmud (tractate Shabbat 104a) also cites the opinion that these closed letters included samekh, attributed to Rav Chisda (d. ca. 320).[5]


Arabic Sīn/Ṣād & Nabataean Simkath

Samekh has no surviving descendant in the Arabic alphabet, so it was replaced by either ص Ṣād (ultimately from Ṣādē 𐤑) or س Sīn (ultimately from Šīn 𐤔).

In the Maghrebian abjad sequence (quoted in apparently earliest authorities and considered older):[6]

  • ص Ṣād replaces Samekh at 15th position and acquires the numerical value of 60;
    • ض Ḍād, a variant of ص ṣād, is at the 18th position and has the numerical value of 90;
  • س Sīn is still at its original 21st position and retains the numerical value of 300.
Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)		 ص‎ ـص‎ ـصـ‎ صـ‎

In the Mashriqi abjad sequence:[6]

  • س Sīn replaces Samekh at 15th position and acquires the numerical value of 60;
    • ش Shīn, a variant of س sīn, is at the 21st position and has the numerical value of 300;
  • ص Sād is still at its original 18th position and retains the numerical value of 90.
Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)		 س‎ ـس‎ ـسـ‎ سـ‎

The Nabataean alphabet, however, which is the immediate predecessor to the Arabic alphabet, contains the letter Simkath .

Character encodings
Character information
Previewסܣܤࠎ
Unicode name HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH SYRIAC LETTER SEMKATH SYRIAC LETTER FINAL SEMKATH SAMARITAN LETTER SINGAAT
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode1505U+05E11827U+07231828U+07242062U+080E
UTF-8215 161D7 A1220 163DC A3220 164DC A4224 160 142E0 A0 8E
Numeric character referenceססܣܣܤܤࠎࠎ
Character information
Preview𐎒𐡎𐤎
Unicode name UGARITIC LETTER SAMKA IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER SAMEKH PHOENICIAN LETTER SEMKA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechex
Unicode66450U+1039267662U+1084E67854U+1090E
UTF-8240 144 142 146F0 90 8E 92240 144 161 142F0 90 A1 8E240 144 164 142F0 90 A4 8E
UTF-1655296 57234D800 DF9255298 56398D802 DC4E55298 56590D802 DD0E
Numeric character reference𐎒𐎒𐡎𐡎𐤎𐤎
Character information
Preview𐢖س
Unicode name NABATAEAN LETTER SAMEKH ARABIC LETTER SEEN
Encodingsdecimalhexdechex
Unicode67734U+108961587U+0633
UTF-8240 144 162 150F0 90 A2 96216 179D8 B3
UTF-1655298 56470D802 DC9615870633
Numeric character reference𐢖𐢖سس

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Samekh (letter).
  1. Betro, M. C. (1996). Hieroglyphics. Abbeyville Press, NY, p. 209.
  2. Frank Moore Cross, Leaves from an Epigrapher's Notebook: Collected Papers in Hebrew and West Semitic Palaeography and Epigraphy (2018), p. 30.
  3. Muss-Arnolt, W. (1892). On Semitic Words in Greek and Latin. Transactions of the American Philological Association v. 23, p. 35-156. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
  4. Jeffery, Lilian H. (1961). The local scripts of archaic Greece. Oxford: Clarendon. pp. 25–27.
  5. The William Davidson Talmud , Shabbat 104a.
  6. Macdonald, Michael C. A. (1986). "ABCs and letter order in Ancient North Arabian". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies (16)., p. 117. 130, 149
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