Shin/Sin provides us with some surprises again. Based on its modern form people assume that it depicts two teeth and that the name is a form of the word “shen” meaning a tooth. However the first temple era form of the letter looked like a … Continue reading Origins of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (Part 21, Shin/Sin)
With resh things are as expected. The name resh is recognizable as a northern dialect form of the word rosh meaning head and the earliest examples of the letter are based on the Egyptian sign depicting a head. In Egyptian this was used for the … Continue reading Origins of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (Part 20, Resh)
The name of the letter quph resembles the word qoph meaning “monkey” and the letter seems to have a long tail, both in its modern form as well as its first temple era form. In ancient inscriptions we find a sign looking like a fat … Continue reading Origins of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (Part 19, Quph)
Where does the Tsadi come from? Based on its first temple era appearance and the meaning of the root “ts-y-d” as hunting but more specifically fishing (as in the name of the port of Tsidon) it was thought that perhaps tsadi represented a type of … Continue reading Origins of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (Part 18, Tsadi)
With pe’ we again have a surprise. Based on its modern shape many assume it depicts a face with a mouth and some spell the name of the letter as peh (pe’-he’ meaning mouth) or pey (pe’-yud which can be understood as mouth of). Now … Continue reading Origins of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (Part 17, Pe’)
Part 5 – Tekufat Bayit Rishon (The First Temple Period): Previously we looked at the Pharoahs who were active during the time of the Judges. We end off looking at the Pharaohs during the First Temple Period. The New Kingdom was over and Egypt was … Continue reading The Pharaohs of Jewish history according to the historians of antiquity
The meaning of the letter name ayin is clear – an eye, however as was the case with zayin and chet, we find that in the earliest forms of the Hebrew alphabet there were in fact two different letters where later Hebrew has the ayin … Continue reading Origins of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (Part 16, Ayin)
With samekh we have a few surprises. The shape of the letter has evolved quite radically and although it is roughly circular in modern script, in the first temple era it consisted of three horizontal strokes crossed by a vertical line. As the word samak … Continue reading Origins of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (Part 15, Samekh)
Part 4 – The period of the Shoftim (Judges): Previously we looked at the Pharoahs during the period of the Oppression and Exodus. Amenhotep II would have continued to rule during the Israelite wandering in the wilderness after his father Thutmose III died c. 1425 … Continue reading The Pharaohs of Jewish history according to the historians of antiquity
The earliest examples of nun depict a snake. Typically it looked like the Egyptian sign for a resting cobra which in Egyptian was used for the sound usually transcribed as “dj” by scholars and which was probably pronounced similar to the way Ethiopian Jews pronounce … Continue reading Origins of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (Part 14, Nun)
Ivri Anochi 