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Yodh
Yodh (also spelled '''Yud''' or '''Yod''') is the tenth letter of many Semitic History of the alphabet|alphabets, including Phoenician language|Phoenician, Aramaic language|Aramaic, Hebrew language|Hebrew '''Yud''' , Syriac alphabet|Syriac and Arabic alphabet|Arabic (in abjadi order, 28th in modern order). Its sound value is in all languages for which it is used; in many languages, it also serves as a vowel length|long vowel, representing .
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek alphabet|Greek Iota (Ι), Latin alphabet|Latin I, Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic І, Coptic alphabet|Coptic iauda () and Gothic alphabet|Gothic eis ().
Origins
Hebrew Yud
Pronunciation
In both Biblical and modern Hebrew language|Hebrew, Yud represents a palatal approximant ().
Variations
Yud is a mater lectionis, like Aleph, He (letter)|He, and Waw (letter)|Vav. At the end of words with a vowel, it represents the formation of a diphthong, such as , , or .
Significance
In gematria, Yud represents the number ten.
As a Prefix (linguistics)|prefix, it designates the third person singular (or plural, with a Waw (letter)|Vav as a suffix) in the future tense.
As a suffix, it indicates first person singular possessive; ''av'' (father) becomes ''avi'' (my father).
In Judaism
Two Yuds in a row designate the name of God Names of God in Judaism#Adonai|Adonai and in pointed texts are written with the vowels of Adonai; this is done as well with the Tetragrammaton.
As Yud is the smallest letter, much Kabbalah|kabbalistic and mystical significance is attached to it. According to the Gospel of Matthew Jesus mentioned it during the Antithesis of the Law when he says: "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Jot, or iota, refers to the letter Yud; it was often overlooked by scribes because of its size and position as a mater lectionis. In modern Hebrew, the phrase "tip of the Yud" refers to a small and insignificant thing, and someone who "worries about the tip of a Yud" is someone who is picky and meticulous about small details.
Much Kabbalah|kabbalistic and mystical significance is also attached to it because of its gematria value as ten, which is an important number in Judaism, and its place in the name of God. See The Mystical Significance of the Hebrew Letters - Yud
Arabic yāʼ
The letter '''ﻱ''' is named ''yāʼ'' ('''ياء'''), and is written is several ways depending in its position in the word:
Yāʼ is pronounced in three ways.
- As a consonant, it is pronounced as a palatal approximant , typically at the beginnings of words in front of short or long vowels.
- In the middle and end of words, the yāʼ usually (though not always) becomes a vowel length|long close front unrounded vowel . In this case it has no diacritic, but could be marked with a sukūn in some traditions.
- A diphthong, . In this case it has no diacritic, but could be marked with a sukun in some traditions. The preceding consonant could either have no diacritic or have Fatha|fatḥa sign, hinting to the first vowel in the diphthong, i.e. . In some dialects, the diphthong may be reduced to the long monophthong
As a vowel, yāʼ can serve as the "seat" of the hamza: ئ.
Yāʼ serves several functions in the Arabic language. Yāʼ with a shadda is particularly used to turn a noun into an adjective,called نسبة. For instance مصر ''Miṣr'' (Egypt) → مصري ''Miṣriyy'' (Egyptian). The transformation can be more abstract; for instance, موضوع ''mawdū`'' (matter, object) → موضوعي ''mawdū`iyy'' (objectivity|objective). Still other uses of this function can be a bit further from the root: إشتراك ''ishtirāk'' (cooperation) → إشتراكي ''ishtirākiyy'' (socialism|socialist); this is often used for creation of native terms for political philosophies: ''ḥurr'' (free) becomes ''ḥurriyy'' (liberalism|liberal); ''muḥāfaẓa'' (guarding, preservation) becomes ''muḥāfaẓiyy'' (conservatism|conservative).
A form similar to but distinguished from yāʼ is the ''ʾalif maqṣūra'' ('''الألف المقصورة''') (broken aleph|alif), with the form '''ى'''. It indicates a final long open front unrounded vowel .
Typically, Egyptians do not use dots under final yāʼ (i.e. write the form '''ى''' where it should be '''ي'''), both in handwriting and in print, resulting in substantial confusion with ''ʾalif maqṣūra'' to those not accustomed to the practice
Persian ye
In the Persian alphabet "Yodh" is written and pronounced a bit different from Arabic and has a different code in Unicode. ''Yodh'' in Persian language|Persian is called ''ye''; in its final form, the letter does not have dots ('''ی'''), similar to but distinguished from the Arabic ''Alif maqsura|ʾalif maqṣūra''.
Category:Phoenician alphabet
Category:Arabic letters
Category:Hebrew alphabet
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