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Table of letters

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Letter Name[1] Meaning Phoneme Origin Corresponding letter in
Image Text Variant Samaritan Hebrew
  𐤀   ʾālep head of cattle (אלף) ʾ [ʔ] 𓃾 א
  𐤁   bēt house (בית) b [b] 𓉐 ב
  𐤂   gīml throwing stick (?) g [ɡ] 𓌙 ג
  𐤃   dālet door (דלת) d [d] 𓇯 ד
  𐤄   jubilation/window[2] h [h] 𓀠? ה
  𐤅   wāw hook (וו) w [w] 𓏲 ו
  𐤆   zayin weapon (זין) z [z] 𓏭 ז
  𐤇   ḥēt(?) courtyard/thread[2] [ħ] 𓉗/𓈈? ח
  𐤈   ṭēt wheel (?)[3] [] ? ט
  𐤉   yōd arm, hand (יד) y [j] 𓂝 י
  𐤊   kāp palm of a hand (כף) k [k] 𓂧 כך
  𐤋   lāmed goad (למד)[4] l [l] 𓌅 ל
  𐤌   mēm water (מים) m [m] 𓈖 מם
  𐤍   nūn fish (נון)[5] n [n] 𓆓 נן
  𐤎   sāmek pillar, support (סמך[6]) s [s] 𓊽 ס
  𐤏   ʿayin eye (עין) ʿ [ʕ] 𓁹 ע
  𐤐   mouth (פה) p [p] 𓂋 פף
  𐤑   ṣādē ?[7] [] ? צץ
  𐤒   qōp ?[8] q [q] ? ק
  𐤓   rēš head (ריש) r [r] 𓁶 ר
  𐤔   šīn tooth (שין) š [ʃ] 𓌓 ש
  𐤕   tāw mark, sign (תו) t [t] 𓏴 ת
  1. ^ after Fischer, Steven R. (2001). A History of Writing. London: Reaction Books. p. 126.
  2. ^ a b The letters he and ḥēt continue three Proto-Sinaitic letters, ḥasir "courtyard", hillul "jubilation" and ḫayt "thread". The shape of ḥēt continues ḥasir "courtyard", but the name continues ḫayt "thread". The shape of he continues hillul "jubilation" but the name means "window".[citation needed] see: He (letter)#Origins.
  3. ^ The glyph was taken to represent a wheel, but it possibly derives from the hieroglyph nefer hieroglyph 𓄤 and would originally have been called tab טוב "good".
  4. ^ The root l-m-d mainly means "to teach", from an original meaning "to goad". H3925 in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979.
  5. ^ the letter name nūn is a word for "fish", but the glyph is presumably from the depiction of a snake, which would point to an original name נחש "snake".
  6. ^ H5564 in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979.
  7. ^ the letter name may be from צד "to hunt".
  8. ^ "The old explanation, which has again been revived by Halévy, is that it denotes an 'ape,' the character Q being taken to represent an ape with its tail hanging down. It may also be referred to a Talmudic root which would signify an 'aperture' of some kind, as the 'eye of a needle,' [...] Lenormant adopts the more usual explanation that the word means a 'knot'." Isaac Taylor, History of the Alphabet: Semitic Alphabets, Part 1, 2003.