Ayin
О |
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Ayin (also ayn or ain; transliterated ⟨
The letter represents a voiced pharyngeal fricative (/ʕ/) or a similarly articulated consonant. In some Semitic languages and dialects, the phonetic value of the letter has changed, or the phoneme has been lost altogether (thus, in the revived Modern Hebrew it is reduced to a glottal stop or is omitted entirely in part due to European influence).
The Phoenician letter is the origin of the Greek, Latin and Cyrillic letters O, O and O.
The Arabic character is the origin of the Latin-script letter Ƹ.
Origins
The letter name is derived from
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Ο, Latin O, and Cyrillic О, all representing vowels.
The sound represented by ayin is common to much of the Afroasiatic language family, such as in the Egyptian language, the Cushitic languages and the Semitic languages.
Transliteration
In Semitic philology, there is a long-standing tradition of rendering Semitic ayin with the Greek rough breathing mark ⟨῾⟩ (e.g. ῾arab عَرَب Arabs). Depending on typography, this could look similar to either an articulate single opening quotation mark ⟨ʻ⟩ (e.g. ʻarab عَرَب). or as a raised semi-circle open to the right ⟨ʿ⟩ (e.g. ʿarab عَرَب).[note 2]
This is by analogy to the transliteration of
The shape of the "raised semi-circle" for ayin ⟨ʿ⟩ and alef ⟨ʾ⟩ was adopted by the
The symbols for the corresponding phonemes in the
.In anglicized Arabic or Hebrew names or in loanwords, ayin is often omitted entirely:
suʿūdī سعودي , etc.; Afula עֲפוּלָה, Arad עֲרָד, etc.Unicode
In
There are a number of alternative Unicode characters in use, some of which are easily confused or even considered equivalent in practice:[4]
- U+1FFE ῾ GREEK DASIA, the character used to represent Greek rough breathing,
- U+02BD ʽ MODIFIER LETTER REVERSED COMMA,
- U+2018 ‘ LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK,[note 4]
- U+02BB ʻ MODIFIER LETTER TURNED COMMA,
- U+0060 ` GRAVE ACCENT, from its use as single opening quotation mark in ASCII environments, used for ayin in ArabTeX.
Letters used to represent ayin:
- a superscript "c" (U+1D9C ᶜ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL C),
- the IPA symbol for pharyngealization (U+02C1 ˁ MODIFIER LETTER REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP or U+02E4 ˤ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP)[note 5] or ʕ, a superscript U+0295 ʕ LATIN LETTER PHARYNGEAL VOICED FRICATIVE, the IPA symbol for voiced pharyngeal fricative,
It is worth noting that the phonemes corresponding to alef and ayin in
Arabic ʿayn
The Arabic letter ﻉ (called ﻋَﻴْﻦْ ʿayn) is the eighteenth letter of the alphabet. It is written in one of several ways depending on its position in the word:
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) |
ع | ـع | ـعـ | عـ |
Pronunciation
Arabic ʿayn is one of the most common letters in Arabic. Depending on the region, it ranges from a
In the Persian language and other languages using the Persian alphabet, it is pronounced as /ʔ/ (glottal stop), and rarely as /ʁ/ in some languages.
As in Hebrew, the letter originally stood for two sounds, /
Because the sound is difficult for most non-Arabs to pronounce, it is often used as a
Hebrew ayin
Various print fonts | Cursive Hebrew |
Rashi script | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced
| ||
ע | ע | ע |
Hebrew spelling: עַיִן
Phonetic representation
In some historical Sephardi and Ashkenazi pronunciations, ʿayin represented a
Ayin is also one of the three letters that can take a furtive patach (patach ganuv).
In Hebrew loanwords in Greek and Latin, ʿayin is sometimes reflected as /g/, since the biblical phonemes / from the original /ʁazza/ (ʿaza) (cf. Arabic غزة Ġazzah, IPA: [ˈɣazza].)
In Yiddish, the ʿayin is used to write the vowel e when it is not part of the diphthong ey.
Significance
In gematria, ʿayin represents the number 70.
ʿayin is also one of the seven letters which receive special crowns (called
Character encodings
Preview | ע | ﬠ | ܥ | ࠏ | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | HEBREW LETTER AYIN | HEBREW LETTER ALTERNATIVE AYIN |
SYRIAC LETTER E | SAMARITAN LETTER IN | ||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 1506 | U+05E2 | 64288 | U+FB20 | 1829 | U+0725 | 2063 | U+080F |
UTF-8 | 215 162 | D7 A2 | 239 172 160 | EF AC A0 | 220 165 | DC A5 | 224 160 143 | E0 A0 8F |
Numeric character reference | ע |
ע |
ﬠ |
ﬠ |
ܥ |
ܥ |
ࠏ |
ࠏ |
Preview | ع | ࣖ | ݝ | ݟ | ڠ | ݞ | ࢳ | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER AIN | ARABIC SMALL HIGH AIN | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH TWO DOTS ABOVE |
ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH TWO DOTS VERTICALLY ABOVE |
ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS ABOVE |
ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS POINTING DOWNWARDS ABOVE |
ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS BELOW | |||||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 1593 | U+0639 | 2262 | U+08D6 | 1885 | U+075D | 1887 | U+075F | 1696 | U+06A0 | 1886 | U+075E | 2227 | U+08B3 |
UTF-8 | 216 185 | D8 B9 | 224 163 150 | E0 A3 96 | 221 157 | DD 9D | 221 159 | DD 9F | 218 160 | DA A0 | 221 158 | DD 9E | 224 162 179 | E0 A2 B3 |
Numeric character reference | ع |
ع |
ࣖ |
ࣖ |
ݝ |
ݝ |
ݟ |
ݟ |
ڠ |
ڠ |
ݞ |
ݞ |
ࢳ |
ࢳ |
Preview | ᴥ | ᵜ | Ꜥ | ꜥ | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | LATIN LETTER AIN | MODIFIER LETTER SMALL AIN | LATIN CAPITAL LETTER EGYPTOLOGICAL AIN |
LATIN SMALL LETTER EGYPTOLOGICAL AIN | ||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 7461 | U+1D25 | 7516 | U+1D5C | 42788 | U+A724 | 42789 | U+A725 |
UTF-8 | 225 180 165 | E1 B4 A5 | 225 181 156 | E1 B5 9C | 234 156 164 | EA 9C A4 | 234 156 165 | EA 9C A5 |
Numeric character reference | ᴥ |
ᴥ |
ᵜ |
ᵜ |
Ꜥ |
Ꜥ |
ꜥ |
ꜥ |
Preview | 𐎓 | 𐡏 | 𐤏 | Ⲵ | ⲵ | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | UGARITIC LETTER AIN |
IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER AYIN |
PHOENICIAN LETTER AIN |
COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER OLD COPTIC AIN |
COPTIC SMALL LETTER OLD COPTIC AIN | |||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 66451 | U+10393 | 67663 | U+1084F | 67855 | U+1090F | 11444 | U+2CB4 | 11445 | U+2CB5 |
UTF-8 | 240 144 142 147 | F0 90 8E 93 | 240 144 161 143 | F0 90 A1 8F | 240 144 164 143 | F0 90 A4 8F | 226 178 180 | E2 B2 B4 | 226 178 181 | E2 B2 B5 |
UTF-16 | 55296 57235 | D800 DF93 | 55298 56399 | D802 DC4F | 55298 56591 | D802 DD0F | 11444 | 2CB4 | 11445 | 2CB5 |
Numeric character reference | 𐎓 |
𐎓 |
𐡏 |
𐡏 |
𐤏 |
𐤏 |
Ⲵ |
Ⲵ |
ⲵ |
ⲵ |
Preview | 𐭏 | 𐭥 | 𐮅 | ჺ | Ჺ | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | INSCRIPTIONAL PARTHIAN LETTER AYIN |
INSCRIPTIONAL PAHLAVI LETTER WAW-AYIN-RESH |
PSALTER PAHLAVI LETTER WAW-AYIN-RESH |
GEORGIAN LETTER AIN | GEORGIAN MTAVRULI CAPITAL LETTER AIN | |||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 68431 | U+10B4F | 68453 | U+10B65 | 68485 | U+10B85 | 4346 | U+10FA | 7354 | U+1CBA |
UTF-8 | 240 144 173 143 | F0 90 AD 8F | 240 144 173 165 | F0 90 AD A5 | 240 144 174 133 | F0 90 AE 85 | 225 131 186 | E1 83 BA | 225 178 186 | E1 B2 BA |
UTF-16 | 55298 57167 | D802 DF4F | 55298 57189 | D802 DF65 | 55298 57221 | D802 DF85 | 4346 | 10FA | 7354 | 1CBA |
Numeric character reference | 𐭏 |
𐭏 |
𐭥 |
𐭥 |
𐮅 |
𐮅 |
ჺ |
ჺ |
Ჺ |
Ჺ |
Preview | 𐫙 | ࡘ | 𐢗 | 𐪒 | 𐡰 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | MANICHAEAN LETTER AYIN | MANDAIC LETTER AIN | NABATAEAN LETTER AYIN | OLD NORTH ARABIAN LETTER AIN | PALMYRENE LETTER AYIN | |||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 68313 | U+10AD9 | 2136 | U+0858 | 67735 | U+10897 | 68242 | U+10A92 | 67696 | U+10870 |
UTF-8 | 240 144 171 153 | F0 90 AB 99 | 224 161 152 | E0 A1 98 | 240 144 162 151 | F0 90 A2 97 | 240 144 170 146 | F0 90 AA 92 | 240 144 161 176 | F0 90 A1 B0 |
UTF-16 | 55298 57049 | D802 DED9 | 2136 | 0858 | 55298 56471 | D802 DC97 | 55298 56978 | D802 DE92 | 55298 56432 | D802 DC70 |
Numeric character reference | 𐫙 |
𐫙 |
ࡘ |
ࡘ |
𐢗 |
𐢗 |
𐪒 |
𐪒 |
𐡰 |
𐡰 |
Preview | 𐼒 | 𐼓 | 𐼘 | 𐼽 | 𐽀 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | OLD SOGDIAN LETTER AYIN | OLD SOGDIAN LETTER ALTERNATE AYIN |
OLD SOGDIAN LETTER RESH-AYIN-DALETH |
SOGDIAN LETTER AYIN | SOGDIAN LETTER RESH-AYIN | |||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 69394 | U+10F12 | 69395 | U+10F13 | 69400 | U+10F18 | 69437 | U+10F3D | 69440 | U+10F40 |
UTF-8 | 240 144 188 146 | F0 90 BC 92 | 240 144 188 147 | F0 90 BC 93 | 240 144 188 152 | F0 90 BC 98 | 240 144 188 189 | F0 90 BC BD | 240 144 189 128 | F0 90 BD 80 |
UTF-16 | 55299 57106 | D803 DF12 | 55299 57107 | D803 DF13 | 55299 57112 | D803 DF18 | 55299 57149 | D803 DF3D | 55299 57152 | D803 DF40 |
Numeric character reference | 𐼒 |
𐼒 |
𐼓 |
𐼓 |
𐼘 |
𐼘 |
𐼽 |
𐼽 |
𐽀 |
𐽀 |
Preview | 𐿯 | 𐿀 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | ELYMAIC LETTER AYIN | CHORASMIAN LETTER AYIN | ||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 69615 | U+10FEF | 69568 | U+10FC0 |
UTF-8 | 240 144 191 175 | F0 90 BF AF | 240 144 191 128 | F0 90 BF 80 |
UTF-16 | 55299 57327 | D803 DFEF | 55299 57280 | D803 DFC0 |
Numeric character reference | 𐿯 |
𐿯 |
𐿀 |
𐿀 |
See also
Notes
- ^ ﻉ comes eighteenth in the hijaʾi order of Arabic and twenty‐first in the Persian alphabet.
- ^ Sometimes rendered as the Greek diacritic in a serif font (as ⟨ ̔ ⟩), e.g. Carl Brockelmann's Grundriss Der Vergleichenden Grammatik der semitischen Sprachen, 1908; Friedrich Delitzsch, Paul Haupt (eds.), Beiträge zur assyriologie und semitischen sprachwissenschaft (1890) (1968 reprint); sometimes rendered as a semi-circle open to the right with constant line thickness (as ⟨ʿ⟩), e.g. Theodor Nöldeke, Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft (1904).
- ^ Both characters U+02BE ʾ MODIFIER LETTER RIGHT HALF RING and U+02BF ʿ MODIFIER LETTER LEFT HALF RING have been present since Unicode version 1.0.0 (1991). The relevant code chart specifies the purpose of U+02BF as "transliteration of Arabic ain (voiced pharyngeal fricative); transliteration of Hebrew ayin".
- ^ recommended by the Library of Congress (loc.gov); deprecated by The European Register of Microform Masters
- ^ deprecated by The European Register of Microform Masters.
References
- ^ Simons, F., "Proto-Sinaitic – Progenitor of the Alphabet" Rosetta 9 (2011), 16–40 (here: 38–40). See also: Goldwasser, Orly (Mar–Apr 2010). "How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs". Biblical Archaeology Review. Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society. 36 (1), following William F. Albright, The Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions and their Decipherment (1966), "Schematic Table of Proto-Sinaitic Characters" (fig. 1).
- ^ "IJMES Translation and Transliteration guide". Cambridge University Press. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022.
- ^ "ALA-LC Romanization Tables". Library of Congress. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ "Various small, raised hook- or comma-shaped characters are often substituted for a glottal stop—for instance, U+02BC ʼ MODIFIER LETTER APOSTROPHE, U+02BB ʻ MODIFIER LETTER TURNED COMMA, U+02C0 ˀ MODIFIER LETTER GLOTTAL STOP, or U+02BE ʾ MODIFIER LETTER RIGHT HALF RING. U+02BB, in particular, is used in Hawaiian orthography as the ʻokina." The Unicode Standard Version 7.0: chapter 7.1 "Latin", p. 294.
- ^ ISBN 0-631-19814-8
- ISBN 9780801427640
- ProQuest 873832382.
External links
- Media related to Ayin (letter) at Wikimedia Commons