Tsade

Ṣade (also spelled Ṣādē, Tsade, Ṣaddi, Ṣad, Tzadi, Sadhe, Tzaddik) is the eighteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Çādē , Hebrew ˈṢādi צ, Aramaic Ṣādhē , Syriac Ṣāḏē ܨ, and Arabic Ṣād ص. Its oldest sound value is probably /sˤ/, although there is a variety of pronunciation in different modern Semitic languages and their dialects. It represents the coalescence of three Proto-Semitic "emphatic consonants" in Canaanite. Arabic, which kept the phonemes separate, introduced variants of ṣād and ṭāʾ to express the three (see ḍād, ẓāʾ). In Aramaic, these emphatic consonants coalesced instead with ʿayin and ṭēt, respectively, thus Hebrew ereẓ ארץ (earth) is araʿ ארע in Aramaic.

The Phoenician letter is continued in the Greek San (Ϻ) and possibly Sampi (Ϡ), and in Etruscan 𐌑 Ś. It may have inspired the form of the letter Tse in the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet.

The corresponding letter of the Ugaritic alphabet is 𐎕 ṣade.

The letter is known as "tsadik" in Yiddish, and Hebrew speakers often give it that name as well. This name for the letter probably originated from a fast recitation of the alphabet (i.e., "tsadi, qoph" -> "tsadiq, qoph"), influenced by the Hebrew word tzadik, meaning 'righteous person'.^[1]

Origins

The origin of Ṣade is unclear. It may have come from a Middle Bronze Age glyph based on a pictogram of a plant, perhaps a papyrus plant, or a fish hook (in Modern Hebrew, צד tsad means "[he] hunt[ed]", and in Arabic صاد ṣād means "[he] hunted").

Hebrew Tsadi

Orthographic variants
position in word	Various print fonts			Ashkenazi Cursive Hebrew	Rashi script
	Serif	Sans-serif	Monospaced
non final	צ	צ	צ
final	ץ	ץ	ץ

Hebrew spelling: צָדִי

Name

In modern Hebrew, the letter Tsadi is also named Ṣadi, though this is regarded by many speakers as incorrect. In transliteration, it may also be transliterated as "ts" instead of "ṣ", as Tsadi instead of Ṣadi.

Variations

Ṣadi, like Kaph, Mem, Pe, and Nun, has a final form, used at the end of words. Its shape changes from this: צ to ץ.

Pronunciation

In Modern Israeli Hebrew, Ṣadi represents a voiceless alveolar affricate /t͡s/. This is the same in Yiddish language. Historically, it likely represented a pharyngealized /t͡sˤ/; which became [t͡s] in Ashkenazi pronunciation and is preserved as [sˤ] amongst Yemenite Jews and other Jews from the Middle East.

A geresh can also be placed after it (צ׳  ץ׳), giving it the sound [t͡ʃ], e.g. צ׳יפּס čips, meaning "chips".

Significance

In gematria, Ṣadi represents the number 90. Its final form represents 900 but this is rarely used, Taw, Taw, and Qof (400+400+100) being used instead.

As an abbreviation, it stands for ṣafon, North.

Ṣadi is also one of the seven letters which receive a special crown (called tagin) when written in a Sefer Torah. See Shin, ‘Ayin, Ṭet, Nun, Zayin, and Gimmel.

Arabic Ṣād

The letter is named ṣād ; Modern Standard Arabic pronunciation: /sˤ/. In Persian, Turkish, and Urdu, its pronunciation is not distinguishable from س or ث, all are pronounced [s].

It is written in several ways depending in its position in the word:

In the Qur'an, chapter 38 is named after this letter, سورة ص.

Character encodings

See also

• Ṣ
• Z → Usage
• Tse (Cyrillic)

Notes

1. ↑ "The Letter Tsade: Righteousness and Modesty" (in Hebrew). Retrieved 5 December 2010. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to צ.