Heth

Origins

The shape of the letter Ḥet probably goes back either to the Egyptian hieroglyph for 'courtyard' (ḥwt): O6 (compare of identical meaning, which begins with Ḥet). or to the one for 'thread, wick' representing a wick of twisted flax: (ḥ) V28 (compare of identical meaning, which begins with Ḥet). Possibly named sem in the Proto-Sinaitic script.

The corresponding South Arabian letters are [[File:himjar ha2.PNG|class=skin-invert-image|14px|ḥ]] ḥ and [[File:himjar kha.PNG|class=skin-invert-image|14px|ḫ]] ḫ, corresponding to the Ge'ez letters sem ሐ and sem ኀ.

This letter is usually transcribed as ḥ, h with a dot underneath. In some romanization systems, a (capital) Ch is also used.

Arabic ḥāʾ

This form is used to denote three letters, the other two being خ ḫāʾ and ج ǧīm. In Maltese, the corresponding letter to ح is ħ.

Pronunciation

In Arabic, ar is similar to the English , but it is much "raspier", IPA: ~. (Pharyngeal H)

In Persian, it is , like and the English h.

Hebrew het

Pronunciation

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

The () 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 ar (ح) correctly as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative is often used as a shibboleth to distinguish Arabic-speakers from non-Arabic-speakers; in particular, pronunciation of the letter as 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 rather than . For example: פָּתוּחַ (), and תַּפּוּחַ ().

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 . Thus challah (חלה), pronounced by native Hebrew speakers as or is pronounced by most English speakers, who cannot often perceive the difference between and .

Significance

In gematria, Ḥet represents the number eight.

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

Syriac cheth

Character encodings

|05D7|name1=Hebrew Letter Het |062D|name2=Arabic Letter Hah |071A|name3=Syriac Letter Heth |0807|name4=Samaritan Letter It

|10388|name1=Ugaritic Letter Hota |10847|name2=Imperial Aramaic Letter Heth |10907|name3=Phoenician Letter Het

References

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.