Waw (letter)
Ѵ |
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Waw (wāw "hook") is the sixth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician wāw 𐤅, Aramaic waw 𐡅, Hebrew vav ו, Syriac waw ܘ and
It represents the consonant [, a dot is added to the left or on top of the letter to indicate, respectively, the two vowel pronunciations.
is the origin of Greek
.Origin
The letter likely originated with an
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In Modern Hebrew, the word וָו vav is used to mean both "hook" and the letter's name (the name is also written וי״ו), while in Syriac and Arabic, waw to mean "hook" has fallen out of use.
Arabic wāw
wāw | |
---|---|
و | |
Usage | |
Writing system | Arabic language |
Phonetic usage | /w/, /uː/, /oː/ |
Alphabetical position | 27 |
History | |
Development |
|
Other | |
Writing direction | Right-to-left |
The
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) |
و | ـو | ـو | و |
Wāw is used to represent four distinct phonetic features:[2]: I §§1-8
- A consonant, pronounced as a voiced labial-velar approximant/w/, which is the case whenever it is at the beginning of a word, and sometimes elsewhere.
- A damma, to aid in the pronunciation by hinting to the following long vowel.
- A long /oː/ in many dialects, as a result of the monophthongization that the diphthong /aw/ underwent in most of words.
- Part of the sequence /aw/. In this case it has no diacritic, but could be marked with a fatḥasign, hinting to the first vowel /a/ in the diphthong.
As a vowel, wāw can serve as the carrier of a hamza: ؤ.
Wāw is the sole letter of the common Arabic word wa, the primary
Derived letters
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) |
ۋ | ـۋ | ـۋ | ۋ |
With an additional triple dot diacritic above waw, the letter then named ve is used to represent distinctively the consonant /w/ in Arabic-based Uyghur,[3] Kazakh and Kyrgyz.[4]
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) |
ۆ | ـۆ | ـۆ | ۆ |
/o/ in Kurdish,[5][6] Beja,[7] and Kashmiri;[8] /v/ in Arabic-based Kazakh;[9] /ø/ in Uyghur.[3]
Thirty-fourth letter of the Azerbaijani Arabic script, represents ü /y/.
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) |
ۉ | ـۉ | ـۉ | ۉ |
A variant of Kurdish û وو, ۇ /uː/; historically for Serbo-Croatian /o/.
Also used in Kyrgyz for Үү /y/.
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) |
ۈ | ـۈ | ـۈ | ۈ |
//, in modern spelling صلاة.
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) |
ۊ | ـۊ | ـۊ | ۊ |
/ʉː/ in Southern Kurdish.[5]
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) |
ۏ | ـۏ | ـۏ | ۏ |
In Jawi script for /v/.[10] Also used in Balochi for /ɯ/ and /oː/.[11]
Other letters
Hebrew waw/vav
Orthographic variants | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Various print fonts | Cursive Hebrew |
Rashi script | ||
Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced
| ||
ו | ו | ו |
Hebrew spelling: וָו or וָאו or וָיו.
- The letter appears with or without a hook on different sans-serif fonts, for example
- Arial, DejaVu Sans, Arimo, Open Sans: ו
- Tahoma, Alef, Heebo: ו
Pronunciation in Modern Hebrew
Vav has three orthographic variants, each with a different phonemic value and phonetic realisation:
Variant (with Niqqud) | Without Niqqud |
Name | Phonemic value | Phonetic realisation | English example |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ו |
as initial letter:ו |
Consonantal Vav (Hebrew: Vav Itsurit ו׳ עיצורית) |
/v/, /w/ | [v], [w] | vote wall |
as middle letter:וו | |||||
as final letter:ו or יו | |||||
וּ |
ו |
Vav Shruka ([väv ʃruˈkä] / ו׳ שרוקה) or Shuruq ([ʃuˈruk] / שׁוּרוּק) |
/u/ | [u] | glue |
וֹ |
ו |
Vav Chaluma ([väv χäluˈmä] / ו׳ חלומה) or Holam Male ([χo̞ˈläm maˈle̞] / חוֹלָם מָלֵא) |
/o/ | [o̞] | no, noh |
In modern Hebrew, the frequency of the usage of vav, out of all the letters, is one of the highest, about 10.00%.
Vav as consonant
Consonantal vav (ו) generally represents a
In modern Israeli Hebrew, some
– /ˈvadi/).Modern Hebrew has no standardized way to distinguish orthographically between [v] and [w]. The pronunciation is determined by prior knowledge or must be derived through context.
Some non standard spellings of the sound [w] are sometimes found in modern Hebrew texts, such as word-initial double-vav: וואללה – /ˈwala/ (word-medial double-vav is both standard and common for both /v/ and /w/, see table above) or, rarely, vav with a geresh: ו׳יליאם – /ˈwiljam/.
Vav with a dot on top
Vav can be used as a
The distinction is normally ignored, and the HEBREW POINT HOLAM (U+05B9) is used in all cases.
The vowel can be denoted without the vav, as just the dot placed above and to the left of the letter it points, and it is then called
Compare the three:
- The vav with the combining character HEBREW POINT HOLAM: מִצְוֹת
- The vav with the combining character HEBREW POINT HOLAM HASER FOR VAV: מִצְוֺת
- The precomposed character: מִצְוֹת
Vav with a dot in the middle
Vav can also be used as a mater lectionis for [
When a vav with a dot in the middle comes at the start of a word without a vowel attributed to it, it is a vav conjunctive (see below) that comes before
Numerical value
Vav in gematria represents the number six, and when used at the beginning of Hebrew years, it means 6000 (i.e. ותשנד in numbers would be the date 6754.)
Words written as vav
Vav at the beginning of the word has several possible meanings:
- Hataf's Niqqud before a letter with a Hataf (for example, וַ before אֲנִי, וָ before חֳדָשִׁים, וֶ before אֱמֶת), וָ sometimes before a stressand וְ in any other case. This is the most common usage.
- vav consecutive(Vav Hahipuch, literally "the Vav of Reversal" — hipuch means "inversion"), mainly biblical, is commonly mistaken for the previous type of vav; it indicates consequence of actions and reverses the tense of the verb following it:
- when placed in front of a verb in the imperfect tense, it changes the verb to the perfect tense. For example, yomar means 'he will say' and vayomar means 'he said';
- when placed in front of a verb in the perfect, it changes the verb to the imperfect tense. For example, ahavtah means 'you loved', and ve'ahavtah means 'you will love'.
(Note: Older Hebrew did not have "tense" in a temporal sense, "perfect," and "imperfect" instead denoting aspect of completed or continuing action. Modern Hebrew verbal tenses have developed closer to their Indo-European counterparts, mostly having a temporal quality rather than denoting aspect. As a rule, Modern Hebrew does not use the "Vav Consecutive" form.)
Yiddish
In Yiddish,[13] the letter (known as vov) is used for several orthographic purposes in native words:
- Alone, a single vov ו represents the vowel [u] in Northern Yiddish (Litvish) or [i] in Southern Yiddish (Poylish and Galitzish).[citation needed]
- The digraph וו, "tsvey vovn" ('two vovs'), represents the consonant [v].
- The digraph וי, consisting of a vov followed by a yud, represents the diphthong [oj] or [ɛɪ].[citation needed]
The single vov may be written with a dot on the left when necessary to avoid ambiguity and distinguish it from other functions of the letter. For example, the word vu 'where' is spelled וווּ, as tsvey vovn followed by a single vov; the single vov indicating [u] is marked with a dot in order to distinguish which of the three vovs represents the vowel. Some texts instead separate the digraph from the single vov with a silent aleph.
Loanwords from Hebrew or Aramaic in Yiddish are spelled as they are in their language of origin.
Syriac waw
Waw |
---|
Madnḫaya Waw |
Esṭrangela Waw |
Serṭo Waw |
In the Syriac alphabet, the sixth letter is ܘ. Waw (ܘܐܘ) is pronounced [w]. When it is used as a mater lectionis, a waw with a dot above the letter is pronounced [o], and a waw with a dot under the letter is pronounced [u]. Waw has an alphabetic-numeral value of 6.
Character encodings
Preview | ו | و | ܘ | ࠅ | וּ | וֹ | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | HEBREW LETTER VAV | ARABIC LETTER WAW | SYRIAC LETTER WAW | SAMARITAN LETTER BAA | HEBREW LETTER VAV WITH DAGESH | HEBREW LETTER VAV WITH HOLAM | ||||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 1493 | U+05D5 | 1608 | U+0648 | 1816 | U+0718 | 2053 | U+0805 | 64309 | U+FB35 | 64331 | U+FB4B |
UTF-8 | 215 149 | D7 95 | 217 136 | D9 88 | 220 152 | DC 98 | 224 160 133 | E0 A0 85 | 239 172 181 | EF AC B5 | 239 173 139 | EF AD 8B |
Numeric character reference | ו |
ו |
و |
و |
ܘ |
ܘ |
ࠅ |
ࠅ |
וּ |
וּ |
וֹ |
וֹ |
Preview | 𐎆 | 𐡅 | 𐤅 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | UGARITIC LETTER WO | IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER WAW | PHOENICIAN LETTER WAU | |||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 66438 | U+10386 | 67653 | U+10845 | 67845 | U+10905 |
UTF-8 | 240 144 142 134 | F0 90 8E 86 | 240 144 161 133 | F0 90 A1 85 | 240 144 164 133 | F0 90 A4 85 |
UTF-16 | 55296 57222 | D800 DF86 | 55298 56389 | D802 DC45 | 55298 56581 | D802 DD05 |
Numeric character reference | 𐎆 |
𐎆 |
𐡅 |
𐡅 |
𐤅 |
𐤅 |
References
- ^ Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar, T3
- ^ a b c d e W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Translated from the German Tongue and Edited with Numerous Additions and Corrections, 3rd edn by W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje, 2 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1933 [repr. Beirut: Librairie de Liban, 1996]).
- ^ ISBN 978-0-203-06610-2– via Google Books.
- ^ "Kyrgyz alphabet, language and pronunciation". omniglot.com. Retrieved 2021-08-09.
- ^ a b Hussein Ali Fattah. "Ordlista på sydkurdiska Wişename we Kurdî xwarîn" (PDF). p. V. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
- ^ Unicode Team of KRG-IT. "Kurdish Keyboard". unicode.ekrg.org. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
- ^ Wedekind, Klaus; Wedekind, Charlotte; Musa, Abuzeinab (2004–2005). Beja Pedagogical Grammar (PDF). Aswan and Asmara. p. 7. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Koul, O. N., Raina, S. N., & Bhat, R. (2000). Kashmiri-English Dictionary for Second Language Learners. Central Institute of Indian Languages.
- ISBN 3-11-017896-6 – via Google Books.
- ^ Daftar Kata Bahasa Melayu Rumi-Sebutan-Jawi, Dewan Bahasa Pustaka, 5th printing, 2006.
- ^ "Balochi Standarded Alphabet". BalochiAcademy.ir. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
- ^ "List of fonts that support U+05BA at". Fileformat.info. Retrieved 2013-04-11.
- ^ Weinreich, Uriel (1992). College Yiddish. New York: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. pp. 27–8.