Heth: Difference between revisions
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The letter shape ultimately goes back to a [[hieroglyph]] for "courtyard", <hiero>O6</hiero> |
The letter shape ultimately goes back to a [[hieroglyph]] for "courtyard", <hiero>O6</hiero> |
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(possibly named {{Semxlit| |
(possibly named {{Semxlit|ḥasir}} in the [[Middle Bronze Age alphabets]], while the name goes rather back to {{Semxlit|ḫayt}}, the name reconstructed for a letter derived from a hieroglyph for "thread", <hiero>V28</hiero> |
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The Phoenician letter gave rise to the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] [[Eta]] (Η), [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] [[H]] and [[Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic]] [[I (Cyrillic)|И]]. While H is still a consonant in the Latin alphabet, whereas the Greek and Cyrillic equivalents have come to represent [[vowel]] sounds. |
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] [[Eta]] (Η), [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] [[H]] and [[Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic]] [[I (Cyrillic)|И]]. While H is still a consonant in the Latin alphabet, whereas the Greek and Cyrillic equivalents have come to represent [[vowel]] sounds. |
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Revision as of 12:08, 10 January 2006
Kheth or Het is the eighth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician 
, Hebrew Template:Ivrit, Aramaic ܚ and Arabic Template:ArabDIN Template:Ar (in abjadi order).
Heth originally represented a voiceless fricative, either pharyngeal [ħ], or velar ([x]) (the two Proto-Semitic phonemes having merged in Canaanite and Hebrew). In Arabic, the letter was split in two: unmodified Template:ArabDIN Template:Ar represents [ħ], while ḫāʼ Template:Ar represents [x].
The letter shape ultimately goes back to a hieroglyph for "courtyard",
|
(possibly named Template:Semxlit in the Middle Bronze Age alphabets, while the name goes rather back to Template:Semxlit, the name reconstructed for a letter derived from a hieroglyph for "thread",
|
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Eta (Η), Latin H and Cyrillic И. While H is still a consonant in the Latin alphabet, whereas the Greek and Cyrillic equivalents have come to represent vowel sounds.