Geresh

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Geresh ("׳", Hebrew: גֶּרֶשׁ, [ˈɡe̞ʁe̞ʃ] or medieval [ɡeːɾeːʃ]) is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.

1. An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter (also known colloquially as a chupchik). It is used:

• as a diacritic which modifies the pronunciation of some letters,
• as a punctuation mark to denote initialisms or abbreviations, or
• to denote a Hebrew numeral.

2. A note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah and other Biblical books, taking the form of a curved diagonal stroke placed above a letter.

Contents 1 Usage 1.1 Diacritic 1.1.1 In loanwords, slang, foreign names & transliterations 1.1.2 In transcriptions of Arabic 1.1.3 In transcriptions of foreign names 1.2 Punctuation mark 1.3 Denoting a numeral 1.4 Cantillation mark 2 Computer encoding 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Usage

[edit] Diacritic

As a diacritic, the Geresh is written after (i.e. to the left of) the letter whose pronunciation it modifies:

[edit] In loanwords, slang, foreign names & transliterations

Loanwords, Slang, Foreign Names, and Transliteration of Foreign Languages
Without Geresh					With Geresh
Symbol	Name	Translit.	IPA	Example	Symbol	Name	Translit.	IPA	Example
ג	gimel	g	[ɡ]	gap	ג׳	gimel with a geresh	j (or g)	[ʤ]	jupiter, George
ז	zayin	z	[z]	zoo	ז׳	zayin with a geresh	g, j	[ʒ] (French soft g)	Jacques, beige, vision
צ	tsadi	ts	[ts]	tsunami	צ׳	tsadi with a geresh	ch	[tʃ]	chip

[edit] In transcriptions of Arabic

There are 6 additional letters in the Arabic alphabet. They are ṯāʼ, ḫāʼ, ḏāl, ḍād, ẓāʼ, and ġayn.

Distinction when Transcribing Arabic[1]
Without Geresh						With Geresh
Symbol	Name	Translit.	Arabic letter	IPA	Example	Symbol	Name	Arabic letter	IPA	Example	Comment
ד	dalet	d	dāl (د)	[d]	door	ד׳	dalet with a geresh	ḏāl (ذ)	[ð]	Dhu al-Hijjah (ذو الحجة)	Also used for English voiced th. Often a simple Dalet (ד) is written.
ח	chet	ẖ / h, ḥ or h	ḥa (ح)	[ħ]	non existent in English, pronounced like an "h" while contracting the pharynx	ח׳	chet with a geresh	ḫāʼ (ﺥ)	[χ]	Sheikh (شيخ)‎
ת	tav	t	tā (ت)	[t]	tail	ת׳	tav with a geresh	ṯāʼ (ث)	[θ]		Also used for English voiceless th.
ס	samech	s	sīn (س)	[s]	sun	ס׳	samech with a geresh	ṣad (ص)	[sˤ] pharyngealized [s]);; approximate pronuciation by prounoucing a voiceless "s" while constricting the pharynx or the larynx
ר	reish	r	rāʼ (ر)	[r]		ר׳	reish with a geresh	ġayn (غ)	[ɣ]	Ghaja'r	both ר׳ and ע׳ are alternatingly used to transcribe ġayn (غ), however ר׳ is the standard prescribed by the Academy of the Hebrew Language for simplified transcription (the standard prescribed for precise transcription is גֿ; in some cases of established usage a ג with no diacritics is used).
Comment to the pronunciation: When transcribing Arabic, a "ר" with no geresh designates only the "rolled r" as in Scottish English (Alveolar trill or tap), in distiction to the Voiced velar [ɣ] or uvular [ʁ] fricatives, whereas in normal Hebrew writing "ר" can be pronounced [r], [ɾ] [ɣ] or [ʁ], since all are allophones of the phoneme /r/.
ע	ayin	’	ʿayn (ع)	[ʕ] ←→ [ʢ], sometimes [ʡ] or [ʔˤ] ranges from pharyngeal fricative [ʕ] to epiglottal fricative [ʢ], sometimes an epiglottal stop [ʡ] or a pharyngealized glottal stop [ʔˤ]; approximate pronuciation by constricting the pharynx or the larynx		ע׳	ayin with a geresh

[edit] In transcriptions of foreign names

Distinction when Transcribing Foreign Names[2]
Without Geresh					With Geresh
Symbol	Name	Translit.	IPA	Example	Symbol	Name	Translit.	IPA	Example
ד	dalet	d	[d]	door	ד׳	dalet with a geresh	English voiced th	[ð]	then
ת	tav	t	[t]	tail	ת׳	tav with a geresh	English voiceless th	[θ]	thing
ו	vav	v	[v]	vote	וו or ו׳ (both double-vav and vav with geresh are non standard and their usage is therefore inconsistent[3])	vav with a geresh or double vav	w	[w]	William

[edit] Punctuation mark

To denote initialisms, the Geresh is written after the last letter of the initialism (e.g. "Ms.": "׳בג").^[4].

[edit] Denoting a numeral

A Geresh is sometime appended after (to the left of) a single letter to indicate that the letter represents a number. This is used in the case where a number is represented by a single Hebrew numeral (e.g., 100 → ‫ק׳‬), whereas a number represented by a sequence of two or more Hebrew letters is indicated by Gershayim ("״").

[edit] Cantillation mark

As a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, the Geresh is printed above the accented letter: ב֜. The Geresh Muqdam (lit. "a Geresh made earlier"), a variant cantillation mark, is also printed above the accented letter, but slightly before (i.e. more to the right of) the position of the normal Geresh: ב֝.

[edit] Computer encoding

Appearance	Code Points	Name
׳	U+05F3	HEBREW PUNCTUATION GERESH
֜	U+059C	HEBREW ACCENT GERESH
֝	U+059D	HEBREW ACCENT GERESH MUQDAM

Since most keyboards do not have a Geresh key, often an apostrophe ( ', Unicode U+0027) is used to denote a Geresh.

[edit] See also

• Hebrew alphabet
• Gershayim
• Hebraization of English
• Hebrew numerals

[edit] References

1. ^ "Rules for the transcription of Arabic into Hebrew, pp. 5–6 (Academy of the Hebrew Language)". http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/PDF/taatiq2007.pdf Rules for the transcription of Arabic into Hebrew, pp. 5–6. 
2. ^ "Rules for the transcription of foreign names into Hebrew, pp. 5–6 (Academy of the Hebrew Language)". http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/PDF/LAT-HEB.pdf Rules for the transcription of foreign names into Hebrew, pp. 5–6. 
3. ^ "Transliteration Rules". http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/PDF/taatiq2007.pdf.  issued by the Academy of the Hebrew Language states that both [v] and [w] be indistinguishably represented in Hebrew using the letter Vav. Sometimes the Vav is indeed doubled, however not to denote [w] as opposed to [v] but rather, when spelling without niqqud, to denote the phoneme /v/ at a non-initial and non-final position in the word, whereas a single Vav at a non-initial and non-final position in the word in spelling without niqqud denotes one of the phonemes /u/ or /o/. To pronounce foreign words and loanwords containing the sound [w], Hebrew readers must therefore rely on former knowledge and context, see also pronunciation of Hebrew Vav.
4. ^ "Hebrew Punctuation (Academy of the Hebrew Language)". http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/decision5.html Hebrew Punctuation. 

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