The Hebrew language is a very old language that has, in its development, been studied in many different disciplines. This manual of style should guide you with Hebrew usage in Wikipedia articles.
General rules
editIn titles and in general article mention, the most common English language form of the name takes precedence. Some of these transliterations may seem arbitrary, but they are based on traditional use in English. Examples include Acre, Beersheba, Bethlehem, Israel, James, Jared, Jericho, Jerusalem, Jesus, Kabbalah, Masada, Nazareth, Safed, Sephiroth, Solomon, Tiberias.
If the term is too obscure in English, then precedence is given to the most common used English language transliteration used by those most closely associated with the subject. For example, if a city in Israel has no commonly used English transliteration, but its inhabitants frequently use a single preferred transliteration in English, then that transliteration takes precedence. If many different popular transliterations exist, then the single most common one takes precedence over the others. Examples include Chabad, Haifa, Likud, Petah Tikva.
If an individual has a name typically written in the Hebrew alphabet with one most commonly used spelling or a spelling they specifically choose, then that spelling takes precedence. Examples include Ehud Barak, David Ben-Gurion, Ofra Haza, Moshe Katsav, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ahinoam Nini, Yitzhak Rabin.
For different specific topics, one transliteration might be more appropriate than another more common one, for example if a topic is mentioned in an article dealing with politics (Israeli, Mideast conflict, American, interfaith, etc.), secular Jewish culture (Israeli, American, French, international, etc.), religious Jewish culture (Israeli, American, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi, Temani, etc.), religious studies and culture (ancient Israel, Samaritan, Jewish, Christian, Islamic, etc.), or linguistics studies (Canaanite, ancient Hebrew, Moabite, Samaritan, Tiberian Masoretes, modern dialects, Standard Hebrew, common Israeli Hebrew, etc.), and so on. Which transliteration to use in which circumstance can be reached by academic concensus, or can vary between multiple transliterations if concensus permits it.
Linguistic data
editWikipedia articles need to be acceptable clear to the average reader, but articles can also contain rich linguistic data for the usefulness of more highly disciplined researchers of various academic disciplines. This data can be neatly organized where linguistic data is typically kept—in parentheses following the word's first mention in the article. For example:
- Beersheba, also Be'er Sheva (Hebrew: בְּאֶר שֶׁבַע; Standard transliteration: Bəʼer Šévaʻ; Tiberian transliteration: Bəʼer Šéḇaʻ; Arabic: بئر السبع, romanized: Biʼr as-Sabʻ), ...
Notice that it begins with the common English form, followed by a popular local transliteration, then the linguistic information follows in parentheses. The Hebrew form includes niqqud (if available) for vowels, followed by Standard transliteration for modern political use, Tiberian transliteration for religious use, and then additional relevant forms (in this case, the name in Arabic is relevant to Arab Israelis and to Palestinian refugees).
It is recognized that these different kinds of information are relevant to different relevant academic disciplines, and that many editors will not be familiar with all the disciplines involved. Editors are encouraged to contribute where they can, and to move on when they can add no more. Disputes between editors of different or potentially conflicting linguistic disciplines can be discussed in talk pages until a concensus or compromise is reached that addresses the different disciplines.
Hebrew alphabet and niqqud
editEditors are encouraged to add the Hebrew spellings, and additionally the niqqud for each, if they know them. Because of certain operating system bugs that can mangle the niqqud display in Wikipedia articles, editors can use HTML escape sequences or special templates for each letter and niqqud in sequence so that they will display properly. The templates are particularly useful because they are readable even in the editing area.
Letters
edit| Letter | Name | HTML Escape |
|---|---|---|
| א | alef, aleph | א |
| ב | bet, beth | ב |
| ג | gimel | ג |
| ד | dalet, daleth | ד |
| ה | he | ה |
| ו | vav, waw | ו |
| ז | zayin | ז |
| ח | het, heth | ח |
| ט | tet, teth | ט |
| י | yod, yodh | י |
| ך | kaf sofit, kaph sophith | ך |
| כ | kaf, kaph | כ |
| ל | lamed, lamedh | ל |
| ם | mem sofit, mem sophith | ם |
| מ | mem | מ |
| ן | nun sofit, nun sophith | ן |
| נ | nun | נ |
| ס | samekh | ס |
| ע | ayin | ע |
| ף | pe sofit, pe sophith | ף |
| פ | pe | פ |
| ץ | sadhe sophith, zadi sofit | ץ |
| צ | sadhe, zadi | צ |
| ק | qof, qoph | ק |
| ר | resh | ר |
| ש | shin | ש |
| ת | tav, taw | ת |
Dagesh and mappiq
edit| Niqqud | Name | HTML Escape | Template |
|---|---|---|---|
| ּ | dagesh, daghesh | ּ | {{hbrdagesh}} |
| ּ | mappiq | ּ | {{hbrmappiq}} |
Dagesh and mappiq have different uses, but appear (and exist in Unicode) as the same character. Some letters (such as heth, ayin and some of the sofit letters) cannot be combined with dagesh/mappiq in most displays.
Shin and sin dot
edit| Niqqud | Name | HTML Escape | Template |
|---|---|---|---|
| ׁ | shin dot | ׁ | {{hbrshindot}} |
| ׂ | sin dot | ׂ | {{hbrsindot}} |
Vowels
edit| Niqqud | Name | HTML Escape | Template |
|---|---|---|---|
| ְ | schwa, sheva, shewa | ְ | {{hbrsheva}} |
| ֱ | hataf seggol, hateph seghol | ֱ | {{hbrhseggol}} |
| ֲ | hataf patah, hateph pathah | ֲ | {{hbrhatafpatah}}, {{hbrhpatah}} |
| ֳ | hataf qamaz, hateph qames | ֳ | {{hbrhqamaz}} |
| ִ | hiriq, hireq | ִ | {{hbrhiriq}} |
| ֵ | zere, sere | ֵ | {{hbrzere}} |
| ֶ | seggol, seghol | ֶ | {{hbrseggol}} |
| ַ | patah, pathah | ַ | {{hbrpatah}} |
| ָ | qamaz, qames | ָ | {{hbrqamaz}} |
| ֹ | holam, holem | ֹ | {{hbrholam}} |
| ֻ | qubbuz, qibbus | ֻ | {{hbrqubbuz}} |
Combining letters and niqqud
editLetters and niqqud are combined in a specific order for them to appear as one united glyph. First, the letter must be written, followed by the dagesh (or mappiq) if applicable, followed by the shin dot (or sin dot) if applicable, followed by the vowel if applicable. Following any other order may cause the letter and different niqqud to fail to combine in display, complicating its readability.
For example, take the name Issachar, which in Hebrew with niqqud is spelled יִשָּׂשׁכָר. The second letter is שָּׂ, which is encoded as ש shin, then ּ dagesh, then ׂ sin dot, then ָ qamaz. If the order of encoding were changed, for example shin-qamaz-sindot-dagesh, the result שָּׂ will appear mangled in many displays, so improper orders such as these should be avoided.
Academic transliteration
editIn practice, there are two widely accepted academic standards for transliterating the Hebrew language. Both make regular use of non-English characters, which is why they are frequently confined to special linguistic mention in parentheses or in indented examples and such. Both standards are based on linguistic transliteration principles also shared with academic transliterations of languages such as Akkadian, Arabic, Aramaic and Amharic.
One such standard is based on Tiberian vocalization as standardized by the Masoretes in medieval Tiberias. This standard transliterates the Hebrew spellings from the time the niqqud as they are used today were first standardized. It also has the benefit of representing a common neutral transliteration for all the different dialects of Hebrew used in conjunction with the Masoretic Text, which includes almost the entire Rabbinical and Karaite Jewish religious world.
Another standard is based on Standard Hebrew as drafted in the 19th century by Eliezer Ben Yehuda, which is the official language of the State of Israel and preferred today by many Jewish groups worldwide. Like the Tiberian standard, Standard Hebrew is also a dry standard, intentionally preserving relatively conservative phonology features of the Hebrew language, though it is not nearly as conservative as the Tiberian standard. These phonological distinctions are rarely spoken on the streets in Israel, but are still widely used in international maps, gazetteers, and in functions such as certain Hebrew language tutorials for the sake of enunciation.
Wikipedia editors can add these transliterations where and when they are relevant. For example, Tiberian transliteration will be extremely relevant in articles about Biblical studies. However, Tiberian may not be appropriate for article with a purely modern scope. For example, Tel Aviv is one of the most important cities in Israel, but it did not exist in ancient times, as it was only formally founded in 1909 (as Ahuzzat Bayit). However, Tiberian transliteration is relevant to Telabib, the Biblical reference from which modern Tel Aviv was named.
If an article name or a name's frequent mention in the article uses a spelling based on either of these transliteration standards, editors are encouraged to strip the spelling of diacritics and make regular mention of the word using only English letters. For example, in Standard Hebrew, Jerusalem is academically transliterated Yərušaláyim. However, when not mentioned academically, Yerushalayim is more appropriate. (In any case, Jerusalem is still most preferred in common mention of the name, especially when and where there is no need to emphasize the name in another language.)
Where editors academically transliterate words or phrases, they are encouraged to surround the transliterated block with the {{Unicode}} template, for example {{Unicode|Lašon ʻIvrit}}, so that any possibly-occurring non-English letters are more likely to display in Wikipedia, provided that users' operating environments have the means to display these characters at all. Editors are discouraged from improperly simplifying academic transliterations just because of the unavailability of the proper fonts on a person's computer.
Transliterating consonants
edit| Hebrew | Tiberian | Standard | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academic | English | |||
| Academic | English | |||
| א | nothing finally, /ʼ/ as a consonant | nothing finally, /'/ as a consonant | nothing initially or finally, /ʼ/ elsewhere as a consonant | nothing initially or finally, /'/ elsewhere as a consonant |
| ב | /ḇ/ | /bh/ | /v/ | /v/ |
| בּ | /b/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /bb/ elsewhere | /b/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /bb/ elsewhere | /b/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /bb/ elsewhere | /b/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /bb/ elsewhere |
| ג | /ḡ/ | /gh/ | /g/ | /g/ |
| גּ | /g/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /gg/ elsewhere | /g/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /gg/ elsewhere | /g/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /gg/ elsewhere | /g/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /gg/ elsewhere |
| ד | /ḏ/ | /dh/ | /d/ | /d/ |
| דּ | /d/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /dd/ elsewhere | /d/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /dd/ elsewhere | /d/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /dd/ elsewhere | /d/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /dd/ elsewhere |
| ה | /h/ | /h/ | nothing finally, /h/ elsewhere | nothing finally, /h/ elsewhere |
| הּ | /hh/ | /hh/ | /h/ always | /h/ always |
| ו | /w/ as a consonant | /w/ as a consonant | /v/ as a consonant | /v/ as a consonant |
| וּ | /ww/ as a consonant | /ww/ as a consonant | /vv/ as a consonant | /vv/ as a consonant |
| ז | /z/ | /z/ | /z/ | /z/ |
| זּ | /zz/ | /zz/ | /zz/ | /zz/ |
| ח | /ḥ/ always for post-Tiberian, sometimes /ḫ/ for certain pre-Tiberian contexts (e.g. "Rāḫēl") | /h/ always for post-Tiberian, sometimes /kh/ for certain pre-Tiberian contexts (e.g. "Rakhel") | /ḥ/ always | /h/ always |
| ט | /ṭ/ | /t/ | /t/ | /t/ |
| טּ | /ṭṭ/ | /tt/ | /tt/ | /tt/ |
| י | /y/ as a consonant | /y/ as a consonant | /y/ as a consonant | /y/ as a consonant |
| יּ | /yy/ always | /yy/ always | /yy/ always | /yy/ always |
| כ, ך | /ḵ/ | /kh/ | /ḫ/ | /kh/ |
| כּ, ךּ | /k/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /kk/ elsewhere | /k/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /kk/ elsewhere | /k/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /kk/ elsewhere | /k/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /kk/ elsewhere |
| ל | /l/ | /l/ | /l/ | /l/ |
| לּ | /ll/ | /ll/ | /ll/ | /ll/ |
| מ, ם | /m/ | /m/ | /m/ | /m/ |
| מּ | /mm/ | /mm/ | /mm/ | /mm/ |
| נ, ן | /n/ | /n/ | /n/ | /n/ |
| נּ | /nn/ | /nn/ | /nn/ | /nn/ |
| ס | /s/ | /s/ | /s/ | /s/ |
| סּ | /ss/ | /ss/ | /ss/ | /ss/ |
| ע | /ʻ/ always for post-Tiberian, sometimes /ġ/ for certain pre-Tiberian contexts (e.g. "Ġămôrāh") | /ʻ/ always for post-Tiberian, sometimes /gh/ for certain pre-Tiberian contexts (e.g. "Ghamorah") | /ʻ/ always | /'/ always |
| פ, ף | /p̄/ | /ph/ | /f/ | /f/ |
| פּ, ףּ | /p/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /pp/ elsewhere | /p/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /pp/ elsewhere | /p/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /pp/ elsewhere | /p/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /pp/ elsewhere |
| צ, ץ | /ṣ/ | /s/ | /ẓ/ | /z/ |
| צּ | /ṣṣ/ | /ss/ | /ẓẓ/ | /zz/ |
| ק | /q/ | /q/ | /q/ | /q/ |
| קּ | /qq/ | /qq/ | /qq/ | /qq/ |
| ר | /r/ | /r/ | /r/ | /r/ |
| שׁ | /š/ | /sh/ | /š/ | /sh/ |
| שּׁ | /šš/ | /ssh/ | /šš/ | /ssh/ |
| שׂ | /ś/ | /s/ | /s/ | /s/ |
| שּׂ | /śś/ | /ss/ | /ss/ | /ss/ |
| ת | /ṯ/ | /th/ | /t/ | /t/ |
| תּ | /t/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /tt/ elsewhere | /t/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /tt/ elsewhere | /t/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /tt/ elsewhere | /t/ initially and after consonants and hataf vowels, /tt/ elsewhere |
Transliterating vowels
editThe vowel-consonant combinations below only apply if they exist immediately before another Hebrew letter or at the end of a Hebrew word, in each case without any additional niqqud inbetween.
| Hebrew | Tiberian | Standard | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academic | English | |||
| Academic | English | |||
| ־ְ | not written finally or after a consonant which is after a shut vowel, /ə/ otherwise | not written finally or after a consonant which is after a shut vowel, /e/ otherwise | not written finally or after a consonant which is after a shut vowel, /ə/ otherwise | not written finally or after a consonant which is after a shut vowel, /e/ otherwise |
| ־ֱ | /ĕ/ | /e/ | /e/ | /e/ |
| ־ַ | /ă/ | /a/ | /a/ | /a/ |
| ־ָ | /ŏ/ | /o/ | /o/ | /o/ |
| ־ִ | /í/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /i/ as a shut vowel, /ī/ as an open vowel | /i/ | /í/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /i/ elsewhere | /i/ |
| ־ִא, ־ִו, ־ִי | /î/ | /i/ | /í/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /i/ elsewhere | /i/ |
| ־ֵ | /ḗ/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /ē/ elsewhere | /e/ | /é/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /e/ elsewhere | /e/ |
| ־ֵא, ־ֵי | /ê/ | /e/ | /é/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /e/ elsewhere | /e/ |
| ־ֶ | /é/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /e/ elsewhere | /e/ | /é/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /e/ elsewhere | /e/ |
| ־ֶא, ־ֶי | /ệ/ | /e/ | /é/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /e/ elsewhere | /e/ |
| ־ַ | /á/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /a/ elsewhere | /a/ | /á/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /a/ elsewhere | /a/ |
| ־ַא | /ậ/ | /a/ | /á/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /a/ elsewhere | /a/ |
| ־ָ | /ā/ as an open vowel or stressed vowel, /o/ as a shut vowel | /a/ as an open or stressed vowel, /o/ as a shut vowel | /a/ as an open vowel, /á/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /o/ as a shut vowel | /a/ as an open or stressed vowel, /o/ as a shut vowel |
| ־ָא | /â/ | /a/ | /á/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /a/ elsewhere | /a/ |
| ־ָאֲ | /āʼă/ | /a'a/ | /aʼa/ | /a'a/ |
| ־ָהֲ | /āhă/ | /aha/ | /aha/ | /aha/ |
| ־ָחֲ | /āḥă/ | /aha/ | /aḥa/ | /aha/ |
| ־ָעֲ | /āʻă/ | /a'a/ | /aʻa/ | /a'a/ |
| ־ָאֳ | /oʼŏ/ | /o'o/ | /oʼo/ | /o'o/ |
| ־ָהֳ | /ohŏ/ | /oho/ | /oho/ | /oho/ |
| ־ָחֳ | /oḥŏ/ | /oho/ | /oḥo/ | /oho/ |
| ־ָעֳ | /oʻŏ/ | /o'o/ | /oʻo/ | /o'o/ |
| ־ֹ | /ṓ/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /ē/ elsewhere | /o/ | /ó/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /o/ elsewhere | /o/ |
| ־ֹא, ־וֹ, | /ô/ | /o/ | /ó/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /o/ elsewhere | /o/ |
| ־ֻ | /ú/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /u/ as a shut vowel, /ū/ as an open vowel | /u/ | /ú/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /u/ elsewhere | /u/ |
| ־וּ (not after a vowel), ־ֻא | /û/ | /u/ | /ú/ as an irregularly stressed vowel, /u/ elsewhere | /u/ |
Whether a vowel is open, shut or even stressed largely depends on the grammatical context and also on the source text. There are additional niqqud not shown here that are part of the Masoretic Text, but are still difficult and often impractical to combine in most computer Hebrew displays. With both the Hebrew spellings with simple niqqud and the academic transliterations for Hebrew words, the researcher can glean its complete phonology.