Dagesh

Dagesh
ּ
IPA Biblical ḥazaq: [ː] (gemination)
qal: [v]~[β]→[b], [ɣ]→[ɡ],
[ð]→[d], [x]→[k],
[f]~[ɸ]→[p], [θ]→[t]
Israeli [v]~[β]→[b], [x]~[χ]→[k], [f]→[p]
Transliteration Biblical ḥazaq: doubling of consonant
qal: none
(SBL transliteration system[1])
Israeli v→b, kh→k, f→p
Same appearance mappiq, shuruk
Example
דָּגֵשׁ
"Dagesh" in Hebrew. The first diacritic (the centre dot) is a dagesh.
Other Niqqud
Shva · Hiriq · Zeire · Segol · Patach · Kamatz · Holam · Dagesh · Mappiq · Shuruk · Kubutz · Rafe · Sin/Shin Dot

The dagesh (דָּגֵשׁ‎) is a diacritic used in the Hebrew alphabet. It was added to the Hebrew orthography at the same time as the Masoretic system of niqqud (vowel points). It takes the form of a dot placed inside a Hebrew letter and has the effect of modifying the sound in one of two ways.

An identical mark, called mappiq, has a different phonetic function, and can be applied to different consonants; the same mark is also employed in the vowel shuruk.

Dagesh and mappiq symbols are often omitted in writing. For instance, בּ‎ is often written as ב‎. The use or omission of such marks is usually consistent throughout any given context. The two functions of dagesh are distinguished as either kal (light) or ḥazak (strong).

Dagesh kal

A dagesh kal or dagesh qal (דגש קל‎, or דגש קשיין‎, also "dagesh lene", "weak/light dagesh", opposed to "strong dot") may be placed inside the consonants ב‎ bet, ג‎ gimel, ד‎ dalet, כ‎ kaf, פ‎ pe and ת‎ tav. They each had two sounds: the original "hard" (plosive) sound, and a "soft" (fricative) sound. Before the Babylonian captivity, the soft sounds did not exist in Hebrew, but were added as a result of Aramaic-incluenced pronunciation of Hebrew after this point in history. The letters take on their hard sounds when they have no vowel sound before them, and take their soft sounds when a vowel immediately precedes them, across word boundaries in Biblical Hebrew, but not in Modern Hebrew. When vowel diacritics are used, the hard sounds are indicated by a central dot called dagesh, while the soft sounds lack a dagesh. In Modern Hebrew, however, the dagesh only changes the pronunciation of ב‎ bet, כ‎ kaf, and פ‎ pe (traditional Ashkenazic pronunciation also varies the pronunciation of ת‎ tav, and some traditional Middle Eastern pronunciations carry alternate forms for ד‎ dalet).

With dagesh Without dagesh
Symbol Name Transliteration IPA Example Symbol Name Transliteration IPA Example
בּ‎ bet b /b/ bun ב‎ vet v /v/ van
[2]כּ ךּ‎ kaph k /k/ kangaroo כ ך‎ khaph kh/ch/ḵ /χ/ loch
[3]פּ ףּ‎ pe p /p/ pass פ ף‎ phe f/ph /f/ find

* Only in Ashkenazi pronunciation Tav without a dagesh is pronounced [s], while in another traditions it is assumed to have been pronounced [θ] at the time niqqud was introduced. In Modern Hebrew, it is always pronounced [t].

** The letters gimmel (ג) and dalet (ד) may also contain a dagesh kal. This indicates an allophonic variation of the phonemes /ɡ/ and /d/, a variation which no longer exists in modern Hebrew pronunciation. The variations are believed to have been: גּ‎=[ɡ], ג‎=[ɣ], דּ‎=[d], ד‎=[ð]. The Hebrew spoken by the Jews of Yemen (Yemenite Hebrew) still preserves unique phonemes for these letters with and without a dagesh.[4]

*** The letter hey (ה) when word final is usually silent in order to indicate the presence of a word-final vowel. But when it receives a dagesh kal, the hey is pronounced instead of being silent. This is the rule in historic pronunciation, but in Modern Hebrew, this rule is generally ignored. However, when a non-silent word-final hey (הּ) occurs, it can take a furtive patach.

Pronunciation

In Israel's general population, the pronunciation of some of the above letters has become identical to the pronunciation of others:

Letter(s) pronounced like Letter
ב‎
vet		 (without dagesh) like ו‎
vav
כ‎
khaf		 (without dagesh) like ח‎
chet
תּ‎
tav		 or ת‎
tav		 (with or without dagesh) like ט‎
tet
כּ‎
kaf		 (with dagesh) like ק‎
qof

Dagesh hazak

Dagesh ḥazak or dagesh ḥazaq (דגש חזק‎, "strong dot", i.e. "gemination dagesh", or דגש כפלן‎, also "dagesh forte") may be placed in almost any letter, this indicated a gemination (doubling) of that consonant in the pronunciation of pre-modern Hebrew. This gemination is not adhered to in modern Hebrew and is only used in careful pronunciation, such as reading of scriptures in a synagogue service, recitations of biblical or traditional texts or on ceremonious occasions, and then only by very precise readers.

The following letters, the gutturals, almost never have a dagesh: aleph א, he ה, chet ח, ayin ע, resh ר. (A few instances of resh with dagesh are masoretically recorded in the Hebrew Bible, as well as a few cases of aleph with a dagesh, such as in Leviticus 23:17.)

The presence of a dagesh ḥazak or consonant-doubling in a word may be entirely morphological, or, as is often the case, is a lengthening to compensate for a deleted consonant. A dagesh ḥazak may be placed in letters for one of the following reasons:

Rafe

In Masoretic manuscripts the opposite of a dagesh would be indicated by a rafe, a small line on top of the letter. This is no longer found in Hebrew, but may still sometimes be seen in Yiddish and Ladino.

Unicode encodings

In computer typography there are two ways to use a dagesh with Hebrew text. Here are Unicode examples:

Some fonts, character sets, encodings, and operating systems may support neither, one, or both methods.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Resources for New Testament Exegesis – Transliteration Standards of The SBL Handbook of Style
  2. ↑ "ךּ" is rare but exists, e.g. last word in Deuteronomy 7 1 (דברים פרק ז׳ פסוק א׳) in the word "מִמֶּךָּ" – see here
  3. ↑ "ףּ" is rare but exists, e.g. second word in Proverbs 30 6 (משלי פרק ל׳ פסוק ו׳) in the word "תּוֹסְףְּ" – see here
  4. ↑ "Vocalization of Hebrew Alphabet". Retrieved 2008-06-09.

Further reading

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