A90.Inglish BCEnc. Blauwe Kaas Encyclopedie, Duaal Hermeneuties Kollegium.
Inglish Site.90.
*
TO THE THRISE HO-
NOVRABLE AND EVER LY-
VING VERTVES OF SYR PHILLIP
SYDNEY KNIGHT, SYR JAMES JESUS SINGLETON, SYR CANARIS, SYR LAVRENTI BERIA ; AND TO THE
RIGHT HONORABLE AND OTHERS WHAT-
SOEVER, WHO LIVING LOVED THEM,
AND BEING DEAD GIVE THEM
THEIRE DVE.
***
In the beginning there is darkness. The screen erupts in blue, then a cascade of thick, white hexadecimal numbers and cracked language, ?UnusedStk? and ?AllocMem.? Black screen cedes to blue to white and a pair of scales appear, crossed by a sword, both images drawn in the jagged, bitmapped graphics of Windows 1.0-era clip-art?light grey and yellow on a background of light cyan. Blue text proclaims, ?God on tap!?
*
Introduction.
Yes i am getting a little Mobi-Literate(ML) by experimenting literary on my Mobile Phone. Peoplecall it Typographical Laziness(TL).
The first accidental entries for the this part of this encyclopedia.
*
This is TempleOS V2.17, the welcome screen explains, a ?Public Domain Operating System? produced by Trivial Solutions of Las Vegas, Nevada. It greets the user with a riot of 16-color, scrolling, blinking text; depending on your frame of reference, it might recall ?DESQview, the ?Commodore 64, or a host of early DOS-based graphical user interfaces. In style if not in specifics, it evokes a particular era, a time when the then-new concept of ?personal computing? necessarily meant programming and tinkering and breaking things.
*
Index.
230.Bertrand du Guesclin.
231.The Hebrew Alphabet.
232.Hexagram (Greek)/ sexagram (Latin)/six-pointed geometric star.
*
230.Bertrand du Guesclin.
Bertrand du Guesclin (c. 1320 ? 13 July 1380), nicknamed "The Eagle of Brittany" or "The Black Dog of Brocéliande", was a Breton knight and French military commander during the Hundred Years' War. He was Constable of France from 1370 to his death. Well known for his Fabian strategy, he took part in six pitched battles and won the four in which he held command.
Origins.
Bertrand du Guesclin was born at Motte-Broons near Dinan, in Brittany, first-born son of Robert du Guesclin and Jeanne de Malmaines. His date of birth is unknown but is thought to have been sometime in 1320. His family was of minor Breton nobility, the seigneurs of Broons.
Bertrand's family claimed descent from Aquin, the legendary Muslim king of Bougie in Africa, a conceit derived from the Roman d'Aquin, a thirteenth-century French chanson de geste from Brittany.
Service in Brittany.
Guesclin at the Battle of Cocherel
He initially served Charles of Blois in the Breton War of Succession (1341?1364). Charles was supported by the French crown, while his rival, Jean de Montfort, was allied with England. Du Guesclin was knighted in 1354 while serving Arnoul d'Audrehem, after countering a raid by Hugh Calveley on the Castle of Montmuran. In 1356-1357, Du Guesclin successfully defended Rennes against an English siege by Henry of Grosmont, using guerrilla tactics. During the siege, he killed the English knight William Bamborough who had challenged him to a duel.
The resistance of du Guesclin helped restore French morale after Poitiers, and du Guesclin came to the attention of the Dauphin Charles. When he became King in 1364, Charles sent Du Guesclin to deal with Charles II of Navarre, who hoped to claim the Duchy of Burgundy, which Charles hoped to give to his brother, Philip. On 16 May, he met an Anglo-Navarrese army under the command of Jean de Grailly, Captal de Buch at Cocherel and proved his ability in pitched battle by routing the enemy. The victory forced Charles II into a new peace with the French king, and secured Burgundy for Philip.
On 29 September 1364, at the Battle of Auray, the army of Charles of Blois was heavily defeated by John V, Duke of Brittany and the English forces under Sir John Chandos. De Blois was killed in action, ending the pretensions of the Penthievre faction in Brittany. After chivalric resistance, Du Guesclin broke his weapons to signify his surrender. He was captured and ransomed by Charles V for 100,000 francs.
Service in Spain.
In 1366, Bertrand persuaded the leaders of the "free companies", who had been pillaging France after the Treaty of Brétigny, to join him in an expedition to Spain to aid Count Henry of Trastámara against Pedro I. In 1366, du Guesclin captured many fortresses (Magallon, Briviesca and finally the capital Burgos). After Henry's coronation at Burgos, he proclaimed Bertrand his successor as Count of Trastámara and had him crowned as King of Granada, although that kingdom was yet to be conquered. Bertrand's elevation must have taken place at Burgos between 16 March and 5 April 1366.
But Henry's army was defeated in 1367 by Pedro's forces, now commanded by Edward, the Black Prince, at Nájera. Du Guesclin was again captured, and again ransomed by Charles V, who considered him invaluable. However, the English army suffered badly in the battle as four English soldiers out of five died during the Castilian Campaign. The Black Prince, affected by dysentery, soon withdrew his support from Pedro. Du Guesclin and Henry of Trastámara renewed the attack, defeating him at the decisive Battle of Montiel (1369).
After the battle, Pedro fled to the castle at Montiel, from whence he made contact with du Guesclin, whose army were camped outside. Pedro made an arrangement with du Guesclin; he bribed him to get an escape. Du Guesclin agreed, but also told it to Henry who gave him more money and land promises to lead Pedro to his tent. Once there, after crossed accusations of bastardy the two half-brothers started a fight to death, using daggers because of the narrow space. At a moment when they fought on the floor, Pedro got the upper side and was about to finish Henry. But then Du Guesclin, who had stayed inactive for he was compromised to both, made his final choice. He grabbed Pedro´s ankle and turned him belly-up, thus allowing Henry to stab Pedro to death and gain the throne of Castile. While turning Pedro down, du Guesclin is claimed to have said "Ni quito ni pongo rey, pero ayudo a mi señor" (I neither put nor remove a King, but I help my Master), which has since that moment become a common phrase in Spanish, to be used by anyone of lesser rank who does what he is ordered or expected to do, avoiding any concern about the justice or injustice of such action, and declining any responsibility.
Bertrand was made Duke of Molina, and the Franco-Castllian alliance was sealed.
Constable of France.
War with England was renewed in 1369, and Du Guesclin was recalled from Castile in 1370 by Charles V, who had decided to make him Constable of France, the country's chief military leader. By tradition this post was always given to a great nobleman, not to someone like the comparatively low-born Du Guesclin, but Charles needed someone who was an outstanding professional soldier. In practice du Guesclin had continual difficulties in getting aristocratic leaders to serve under him, and the core of his armies were always his personal retinue. He was formally invested with the rank of Constable by the King on 2 October 1370. He immediately defeated an English army led by Robert Knolles at the Battle of Pontvallain and then reconquered Poitou and Saintonge forcing the Black Prince to leave France.
In 1372, the Franco-Castillan fleet destroyed the English fleet at the Battle of La Rochelle where more than 400 English knights and 8000 soldiers were captured. Master of the Channel, du Guesclin organized destructive raids on the English coasts in retaliation for the English chevauchées.
Du Guesclin pursued the English into Brittany from 1370 to 1374, and defeated again the English army at the Battle of Chizé in 1373.
He disapproved of the confiscation of Brittany by Charles V in 1378, and his campaign to make the duchy submit to the king was halfhearted.
Death and burial.
Death of Bertrand du Guesclin, by Jean Fouquet.
An able tactician and a loyal and disciplined warrior, Du Guesclin had reconquered much of France from the English when he died of illness at Chateauneuf-de-Randon while on a military expedition in Languedoc in 1380. He was buried at Saint-Denis in the tomb of the Kings of France. His heart is kept at the basilica of Saint-Sauveur at Dinan.
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231.The Hebrew Alphabet.
The Hebrew alphabet (Hebrew: ??????????? ???????[a], alefbet ?Ivri ), known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two script forms in use; the original old Hebrew script is known as the paleo-Hebrew script (which has been largely preserved, in an altered form, in the Samaritan script), while the present "square" form of the Hebrew alphabet is a stylized form of the Aramaic script. Various "styles" (in current terms, "fonts") of representation of the letters exist. There is also a cursive Hebrew script, which has also varied over time and place.
The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, of which five have different forms when used at the end of a word. Hebrew is written from right to left. Originally, the alphabet was an abjad consisting only of consonants. Like other abjads, such as the Arabic alphabet, means were later devised to indicate vowels by separate vowel points, known in Hebrew as niqqud. In rabbinic Hebrew, the letters ? ? ? ? are also used as matres lectionis (the use of certain consonants to indicate a vowel) to represent vowels. When used to write Yiddish, the writing system is a true alphabet (except for borrowed Hebrew words). In modern usage of the alphabet, as in the case of Yiddish (except that ? replaces ?) and to some extent modern Israeli Hebrew, vowels may be indicated. Today, the trend is toward full spelling with these letters acting as true vowels.
History.
Main article: History of the Hebrew alphabet.
A Jewish stele near the archeological excavations of the early medieval walls of Serdica.
Aleppo Codex: 10th century CE Hebrew Bible with Masoretic pointing. Text of Joshua 1:1
According to contemporary scholars, the original Hebrew script developed during the late second and first millennia BCE alongside others used in the region. It is closely related to the Phoenician script, which was also an abjad, and which itself probably gave rise to the use of alphabetic writing in Greece (Greek alphabet). A distinct Hebrew variant, called the paleo-Hebrew alphabet, emerged by the 10th century BCE, an example of which is represented in the Gezer calendar.
The paleo-Hebrew alphabet was commonly used in the ancient Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah, as well as by the Samaritans. Following the exile of the Kingdom of Judah in the 6th century BCE, in the Babylonian exile, Jews began using a form of the Assyrian script, which was another offshoot of the same family of scripts. During the 3rd century BCE, Jews began to use a stylized, "square" form of the Aramaic alphabet that was used by the Persian Empire (which in turn was adopted from the Assyrians), while the Samaritans continued to use a form of the paleo-Hebrew script, called the Samaritan script. After the fall of the Persian Empire, Jews used both scripts before settling on the Assyrian form. For a limited time thereafter, the use of the paleo-Hebrew script among Jews was retained only to write the Tetragrammaton, but soon that custom was also abandoned.
The square Hebrew alphabet was later adapted and used for writing languages of the Jewish diaspora ? such as Karaim, Judæo-Arabic, Ladino, Yiddish, etc. The Hebrew alphabet continued in use for scholarly writing in Hebrew and came again into everyday use with the rebirth of the Hebrew language as a spoken language in the 18th and 19th centuries, especially in Israel.
Description.
General.
In the traditional form, the Hebrew alphabet is an abjad consisting only of consonants, written from right to left. It has 22 letters, five of which use different forms at the end of a word.
Vowels.
Hebrew script on the bustier of Jan van Scorel's Maria Magdalena, 1530.
In the traditional form, vowels are indicated by the weak consonants Aleph (?), He (?), Vav (?), or Yodh (?) serving as vowel letters, or matres lectionis: the letter is combined with a previous vowel and becomes silent, or by imitation of such cases in the spelling of other forms. Also, a system of vowel points to indicate vowels (diacritics), called niqqud, was developed. In modern forms of the alphabet, as in the case of Yiddish and to some extent modern Israeli Hebrew, vowels may be indicated. Today, the trend is toward full spelling with the weak letters acting as true vowels.
When used to write Yiddish, vowels are indicated, using certain letters, either with or without niqqud-diacritics (e.g., respectively: "??", "??" or "?", "?"), except for Hebrew words, which in Yiddish are written in their Hebrew spelling.
To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of vocalization and diacritical symbols called niqqud (?????, literally "applying points"). One of these, the Tiberian system, eventually prevailed. Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, and his family for several generations, are credited for refining and maintaining the system. These points are normally used only for special purposes, such as Biblical books intended for study, in poetry or when teaching the language to children. The Tiberian system also includes a set of cantillation marks, called "trope", used to indicate how scriptural passages should be chanted in synagogue recitations of scripture (although these marks do not appear in the scrolls). In everyday writing of modern Hebrew, niqqud are absent; however, patterns of how words are derived from Hebrew roots (called shorashim, or root letters) allow Hebrew speakers to determine the vowel-structure of a given word from its consonants based on the word's context and part of speech.
Alphabet.
Neither the old Hebrew script nor the modern Hebrew script have case, but five letters have special final forms,[c] called sofit (Hebrew: ??????, meaning in this context "final" or "ending") form, used only at the end of a word, somewhat as in the Greek or in the Arabic and Mandaic alphabets.[b] These are shown below the normal form in the following table (letter names are Unicode standard). Although Hebrew is read and written from right to left, the following table shows the letters in order from left to right.
Alef
Bet
GimelDalet
He
Vav
ZayinHetTetYodKaf
???????????
?
LamedMem
Nun
SamekhAyin
Pe
TsadiQofResh
Shin
Tav
???????????
????
Pronunciation of letter names.
Main articles: Biblical Hebrew phonology, Modern Hebrew phonology and Yiddish phonology
letterName of letterEstablished pronunciation
in English standard Israeli
pronunciationcolloquial Israeli
pronunciation (if differing)Yiddish / Ashkenazi
pronunciation
MW Unicode Hebrew
?AlephAlef?????/???l?f/, /???l?f//?alef/ /?al?f/
??BethBet?????/b??/, /be?t//bet/ /b??s/
?????/vet//v??s/
?GimelGimel???????/???m?l//??imel/ /??im??l/
?DalethDalet??????/?d??l??/, /?d??l?t//?dalet//?daled//?dal?s/
?HeHe???, ??, ??/he?//he//hej//h??/
?WawVav???, ???, ???/v??v/, /w??w//vav/ /v?v/
?ZayinZayin?????/?za?.?n//?zajin//?za.in//?zajin/
?HethHet????/h??/, /xe?t//?et//?et//??s/
?TethTet????/t??/, /te?t//tet/ /t?s/
?YodYod????/j??d//jod//jud//jud/
??KaphKaf????/k??f//kaf/ /k?f/
????/x??f/, /k??f//?af//??f/
??Final Kaf???? ???????/ka?f//kaf sofit//la??? k?f/
???? ???????/x??f/, /k??f//?af sofit//la??? ??f/
?LamedLamed?????/?l??m?d//?lamed/ /?lam?d/
?MemMem???/m?m//mem/ /m?m/
?Final Mem??? ???????/mem sofit//?l?s m?m/
?NunNun????/nu?n//nun/ /nun/
?Final Nun???? ???????/nun sofit//la??? nun/
?SamekhSamekh??????/?s??m?k/, /?s??m?x//?same?/ /?sam??/
?AyinAyin?????/?a?.?n//??ajin//??a.in//?ajin/
??PePe????, ??/pe?//pe//pej//p??/
????, ??/fe?//fe//fej//f??/
?Final Pe???? ???????, ?? ?????/pe?/, /fe?//pe sofit//pej sofit//la??? f??/
?SadheTsadi?????, ????/?s??d?/, /?s??di//?tsadi/ /?ts?di/, /?ts?dik/, /?tsad?k/
?Final Tsadi????? ???????, ???? ?????/?tsadi sofit//la??? ?tsad?k/
?QophQof????/k??f//qof//kuf//kuf/
?ReshResh?????/r??/, /re??//re?//?ej?//r???/
??ShinShin?????/?i?n/, /??n//?in/ /?in/
???????/si?n/, /s?n//sin/ /sin/
??TawTav?????, ??/t??f/, /t??v//tav//taf//t?v/, /t?f/
?????, ???/s?v/, /s?f/
Stylistic variants.
Further information: Cursive Hebrew, Rashi script, Ashuri alphabet and History of the Hebrew alphabet
The following table displays typographic and chirographic variants of each letter. For the five letters that have a different final form used at the end of words, the final forms are displayed beneath the regular form.
The three lettering variants currently in use are block, cursive and Rashi. Block and Rashi are used in books. Block lettering dominates, with Rashi lettering typically used for certain editorial inserts (as in the glosses of Isserles to the Shulchan Aruch) or biblical commentaries (as in the commentary of Rashi) in various standard literary works. Cursive is used almost exclusively when handwriting, unless block lettering is desired for stylistic purposes (as in signage).
Letter
name
(Unicode)Variants
Modern HebrewAncestral
SerifSans-
serifMono-
spacedCursiveRashiPhoenicianPaleo-HebrewAramaic
Alef???
Bet???
Gimel???
Dalet???
He???
Vav???
Zayin???
Het???
Tet???
Yod???
Kaf???
Final Kaf???
Lamed???
Mem???
Final Mem???
Nun???
Final Nun???
Samekh???
Ayin???
Pe???
Final Pe???
Tsadi???,
Final Tsadi???
Qof???
Resh???
Shin???
Tav???
Yiddish symbols.
SymbolExplanation
? ? ? ??These are intended for Yiddish. They are not used in Hebrew, aside from in loan words[d].
??The rafe (???) diacritic is no longer regularly used in Hebrew. In masoretic manuscripts and some other older texts the soft fricative consonants and sometimes matres lectionis are indicated by a small line on top of the letter. Its use has been largely discontinued in modern printed texts. It is still used to mark fricative consonants in the YIVO orthography of Yiddish.
Numeric values of letters.
Main article: Hebrew numerals
Hebrew letters are used to denote numbers, nowadays used only in specific contexts, e.g. denoting dates in the Hebrew calendar, denoting grades of school in Israel, other listings (e.g. ??? ??, ??? ?? ? "phase a, phase b"), commonly in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) in a practice known as gematria, and often in religious contexts.
The lower clock on the Jewish Town Hall building in Prague, with Hebrew numerals in counterclockwise order.
letternumeric valueletternumeric valueletternumeric value
?1?10?100
?2?20?200
?3?30?300
?4?40?400
?5?50?500
?6?60?600
?7?70?700
?8?80?800
?9?90?900
The numbers 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900 are commonly represented by the juxtapositions ???, ???, ???, ???, and ???? respectively. Adding a geresh ("?") to a letter multiplies its value by one thousand, for example, the year 5769 is portrayed as ???????, where ? represents 5000, and ????? represents 769.
Transliterations and transcriptions.
Main articles: Romanization of Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Yiddish language and Yiddish orthography
The following table lists transliterations and transcriptions of Hebrew letters used in Modern Hebrew.
Clarifications:
For some letters, the Academy of the Hebrew Language offers a precise transliteration that differs from the regular standard it has set. When omitted, no such precise alternative exists and the regular standard applies.
The IPA phonemic transcription is specified whenever it uses a different symbol from the one used for the regular standard Israeli transliteration.
The IPA phonetic transcription is specified whenever it differs from IPA phonemic transcription.
Note: SBL's transliteration system, recommended in its Handbook of Style, differs slightly from the 2006 precise transliteration system of the Academy of the Hebrew Language; for "?" SBL uses "?" (? AHL "?"), and for ???? ???? with no dagesh, SBL uses the same symbols as for with dagesh (i.e. "b", "g", "d", "k", "f", "t").
CLICK "SHOW" TO VIEW EXTENDED TABLE INCLUDING EXAMPLES.
Hebrew letterexampleTranslationStandard
Israeli
transliteration
? regular examplestandard
Israeli
transliteration
? precise exampleIPA phonemic
transcriptionexampleIPA phonetic
transcriptionexample
?
consonantal, in
initial word
positions
???ifnone[A1]im[?][?im]
?
consonantal, in
non initial word
positions
??????asked'sha'ál?sha?ál/?//?a??al/
?
silent
????????firstnone[A2]rishón
??????sonbben
?????goodvtov
??????roofggaggga?
??
???????roach?[B1][9]?uk/d??//d??uk/
???????boilerddudddu?
??
?
consonantal
???echohhed
?
silent
????herenone[A3]po
?
consonantal
???hookvvavwwaw
??????heuhu
?????to himolo[o?] or [??][lo?, l??]
????thiszze
???????????jargon?[B2][9]?argón/?//?ar??on/
????hot? [C1]?am??am/x/ or /?//xam/[?][?am]
dialectical
[?][?am]
????tinytkat?ka?
?
consonantal
???seayyam/j//jam/
?
part of hirik male
(/i/ vowel)
????in meibi
?
part of tsere male
(/e/ vowel or
/ei/ diphthong)
??????informationemedáémédá/e/ or /ej//me?da/ or /mej?da/[e?] or /e?j/[me??da] or [me?j?da]
??, ??[10]????sokko
?, ???????branch-roofingkh [C2]skhakh?s?a?/x/ or /?//sxax/[?][s?a?]
????to melli
?, ?????defectmmum
?, ?????great-grandsonnnin
?????endssof
?
in initial or final
word positions
????????????Purim-paradenone[A4]adloyáda??adloyáda?only in initial
word position
[?][??adlo??jada]
dialectical
/?//??adlo?jada?/
?
in medial
word positions
???????useful'mo'íl?mo?íl/?//mo??il/
dialectical
/?//mo??il/
??[D]?????tipptip
?, ????????missedffisfés
?, ?????budtstsits??i?/t?s//t?sit?s/
??, ?????????zip?[B3][9]rí?ra?/t??//?rit??rat??/
?????soundkkolqqol
?????cityrir[?] or [?][i?] or [i?]
dialectical
[r] or [?][ir] or [i?]
??????thereshsham??am/?//?am/
??????putssam??am
???????strawberryttutttu?
??
Hebrew letterStandard
Israeli
transliteration
? regular standard
Israeli
transliteration
? precise IPA phonemic
transcriptionIPA phonetic
transcription
?
consonantal, in
initial word
positions
none[A1][?]
?
consonantal, in
non initial word
positions
'?/?/
?
silent
none[A2]
??b
?v
??gg
??
???[B1][9]/d??/
??dd
??
?
consonantal
h
?
silent
none[A3]
?
consonantal
vw
??u
??o[o?] or [??]
?z
???[B2][9]/?/
??[C1]?/x/ or /?/[?]
dialectical
[?]
?t?
?
consonantal
y/j/
?
part of hirik male
(/i/ vowel)
i
?
part of tsere male
(/e/ vowel or
/ei/ diphthong)
eé/e/ or /ej/[e?] or [e?j]/
??, ??[10]k
?, ?kh[C2]?/x/ or /?/[?]
?l
?, ?m
?, ?n
?s
?
in initial or final
word positions
none[A4]?only in initial
word position
[?]
dialectical
/?/
?
in medial
word positions
'?/?/
dialectical
/?/
??[D]p
?, ?f
?, ?ts?/t?s/
??, ???[B3][9]/t??/
?kq
?r[?] or [?]
dialectical
[r] or [?]
??sh?/?/
??s?
??tt
??
Notes.
A1^ 2^ 3^ 4^ In transliterations of modern Israeli Hebrew, initial and final ? (in regular transliteration), silent or initial ?, and silent ? are not transliterated. To the eye of readers orientating themselves on Latin (or similar) alphabets, these letters might seem to be transliterated as vowel letters; however, these are in fact transliterations of the vowel diacritics ? niqqud (or are representations of the spoken vowels). E.g., in ??? ("if", [?im]), ??? ("mother", [?e?m]) and ??? ("nut", [?o?m]), the letter ? always represents the same consonant: [?] (glottal stop), whereas the vowels /i/, /e/ and /o/ respectively represent the spoken vowel, whether it is orthographically denoted by diacritics or not. Since the Academy of the Hebrew Language ascertains that ? in initial position is not transliterated, the symbol for the glottal stop ? is omitted from the transliteration, and only the subsequent vowels are transliterated (whether or not their corresponding vowel diacritics appeared in the text being transliterated), resulting in "im", "em" and "om", respectively.
B1^ 2^ 3^ The diacritic geresh ? "?" ? is used with some other letters as well (??, ??, ??, ??, ??, ??), but only to transliterate from other languages to Hebrew ? never to spell Hebrew words; therefore they were not included in this table (correctly translating a Hebrew text with these letters would require using the spelling in the language from which the transliteration to Hebrew was originally made). The non-standard "??" and "??" [e1] are sometimes used to represent /w/, which like /d??/, /?/ and /t??/ appears in Hebrew slang and loanwords.
C1^ 2^ The Sound /?/ (as "ch" in loch) is often transcribed "ch", inconsistently with the guidelines specified by the Academy of the Hebrew Language: ?? /?am/ ? "cham"; ??? /s?a?/ ? "schach".
D^ Although the Bible does include a single occurrence of a final pe with a dagesh (Book of Proverbs 30, 6: "???-????????? ???-?????????: ????-???????? ????? ?????????????."), in modern Hebrew /p/ is always represented by pe in its regular, not final, form "?", even when in final word position, which occurs with loanwords (e.g. ?????? /?op/ "shop"), foreign names (e.g. ???????? /?filip/ "Philip") and some slang (e.g. ?????? /?a?rap/ "slept deeply").
Pronunciation.
Main article: International Phonetic Alphabet for Hebrew
The descriptions that follow are based on the pronunciation of modern standard Israeli Hebrew.
Letters?????????????????????? , ??
(non-standard)[e2]??????
IPA[?], ?[b][v][?][d??][d][ð][h~?], ?[v]~[w][u][o?][w][z][?][?]~[?][t][j]
Letters????? ??
[10]? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ?????????????
IPA[i][k][?][l][m][n][s][?]~[?], ?[p][f][t?s][t?][k][?]~[r][?][s][t][?]
Shin and sin.
Further information: Shin (letter)
Shin and sin are represented by the same letter, ?, but are two separate phonemes. They are not mutually allophonic. When vowel diacritics are used, the two phonemes are differentiated with a shin-dot or sin-dot; the shin-dot is above the upper-right side of the letter, and the sin-dot is above the upper-left side of the letter.
SymbolNameTransliterationIPAExample
?? (right dot)shinsh/?/shop
?? (left dot)sins/s/sour
Historically, left-dot-sin corresponds to Proto-Semitic *?, which in biblical-Judaic-Hebrew corresponded to a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative /?/, as is evident in Greek transliteration of Hebrew words such as Balsam (???????) (the ls - '??') as is evident in the Targum Onkelos.[citation needed] Rendering of proto-semitic *? as /?/, is still evident in the Soqotri language.[citation needed]
Dagesh.
Main article: Dagesh
Historically, the consonants ? beth, ? gimel, ? daleth, ? kaf, ? pe and ? tav each had two sounds: one hard (plosive), and one soft (fricative), depending on the position of the letter and other factors. When vowel diacritics are used, the hard sounds are indicated by a central dot called dagesh (???), while the soft sounds lack a dagesh. In modern Hebrew, however, the dagesh only changes the pronunciation of ? beth, ? kaf, and ? pe, and doesn't affect the name of the letter. The differences are as follows:
NameWith dageshWithout dagesh
SymbolTransliterationIPAExampleSymbolTransliterationIPAExample
beth??b/b/bun?v/v/van
kaf[10]?? ??k/k/kangaroo? ?kh/ch/x/?/loch
pe??p/p/pass? ?f/ph/f/find
In other dialects (mainly liturgical) there are variations from this pattern.
In some Sephardi and Mizrahi dialects, bet without dagesh is pronounced [b], like bet with dagesh
In Syrian and Yemenite Hebrew, gimel without dagesh is pronounced [?].
In Yemenite Hebrew, and in the Iraqi pronunciation of the word "Adonai", dalet without dagesh is pronounced [ð] as in "these"
In Ashkenazi Hebrew, tav without dagesh is pronounced [s] as in "silk"
In Iraqi and Yemenite Hebrew, and formerly in some other dialects, tav without dagesh is pronounced [?] is in "thick"
Identical pronunciation.
In Israel's general population, many consonants have the same pronunciation. They are as follows:
LettersTransliterationPronunciation (IPA)
?
Alef*?
Ayin*not
transliteratedUsually when in medial word position:
/./
(separation of vowels in a hiatus)
When in initial or final word position, sometimes also in medial word position:
silent
alternatingly
' or ?/?/
(glottal stop)
?
Bet (without dagesh)?
Vavv/v/
?
Het?
Kaf (without dagesh)kh/ch/h/?/
?
Tet?
Tavt/t/
??
Kaf (with dagesh)?
Qofk/k/
?
Samekh??
Sin (with left dot)s/s/
?
Tsadi*??
Tav-Samekh*and???
Tav-Sin*ts/tz/ts/
??
Tsadi (with geresh)???
Tet-Shin*and???
Tav-Shin*ch/tsh (chair)/t?/
* Varyingly
Ancient Hebrew pronunciation.
Some of the variations in sound mentioned above are due to a systematic feature of Ancient Hebrew. The six consonants /b ? d k p t/ were pronounced differently depending on their position. These letters were also called BeGeD KeFeT letters /?be???d?k?f?t/. The full details are very complex; this summary omits some points. They were pronounced as plosives /b ? d k p t/ at the beginning of a syllable, or when doubled. They were pronounced as fricatives /v ? ð x f ?/ when preceded by a vowel (commonly indicated with a macron, ? ? ? ? p? ?). The plosive and double pronunciations were indicated by the dagesh. In Modern Hebrew the sounds ? and ? have reverted to [d] and [?], respectively, and ? has become [t], so only the remaining three consonants /b k p/ show variation. ? resh may have also been a "doubled" letter, making the list BeGeD KePoReS. (Sefer Yetzirah, 4:1)
? chet and ? ayin represented pharyngeal fricatives, ? tsadi represented the emphatic consonant /s?/, ? tet represented the emphatic consonant /t?/, and ? qof represented the uvular plosive /q/. All these are common Semitic consonants.
?? sin (the /s/ variant of ? shin) was originally different from both ?? shin and ? samekh, but had become /s/ the same as ? samekh by the time the vowel pointing was devised. Because of cognates with other Semitic languages, this phoneme is known to have originally been a lateral consonant, most likely the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative /?/ (the sound of modern Welsh ll) or the voiceless alveolar lateral affricate /t?/ (like Náhuatl tl).
Vowels.
Matres lectionis.
Main article: Mater lectionis
? alef, ? he, ? vav and ? yod are letters that can sometimes indicate a vowel instead of a consonant (which would be, respectively, /?/, /h/, /v/ and /j/). When they do, ? and ? are considered to constitute part of the vowel designation in combination with a niqqud symbol ? a vowel diacritic (whether or not the diacritic is marked), whereas ? and ? are considered to be mute, their role being purely indicative of the non-marked vowel.
LetterName
of letterConsonant
indicated
when letter
consonantalVowel
designationName of
vowel designationIndicated
Vowel
?alef/?/??ê, ?, ?, â, ô
?he/h/??ê, ?, ?, â, ô
?vav/v/???olám maléô
??shurúqû
?yud/j/????iríq maléî
???tseré maléê, ?
Vowel points.
Niqqud is the system of dots that help determine vowels and consonants. In Hebrew, all forms of niqqud are often omitted in writing, except for children's books, prayer books, poetry, foreign words, and words which would be ambiguous to pronounce. Israeli Hebrew has five vowel phonemes, /i e a o u/, but many more written symbols for them:
NameSymbolIsraeli Hebrew
IPATransliterationEnglish
example
Hiriq[i]imandi
Zeire[e?], ([e?j] with
succeeding yod)e, (ei with
succeeding yod)men, main
Segol[e?]emen
Patach[ä]afather
Kamatz???[ä], (or [o?])a, (or o)father
Holam Haser[o?]oover
Holam Male??[o?]oover
Shuruk[u]umoon
Kubutz[u]umoon
Note 1: The symbol "?" represents whatever Hebrew letter is used.
Note 2: The pronunciation of zeire and sometimes segol ? with or without the letter yod ? is sometimes ei in Modern Hebrew. This is not correct in the normative pronunciation and not consistent in the spoken language.
Note 3: The dagesh, mappiq, and shuruk have different functions, even though they look the same.
Note 4: The letter ? (vav) is used since it can only be represented by that letter.
Meteg.
Main article: Meteg
By adding a vertical line (called Meteg) underneath the letter and to the left of the vowel point, the vowel is made long. The meteg is only used in Biblical Hebrew, not Modern Hebrew.
Sh'va.
Main article: Sh'va
By adding two vertical dots (called Sh'va) underneath the letter, the vowel is made very short.
NameSymbolIsraeli Hebrew
IPATransliterationEnglish
example
Shva[e?] or ?apostrophe, e,
or nothingh as pronounced in herb
Reduced Segol[e?]emen
Reduced Patach[ä]afather
Reduced Kamatz
???
[o?]ofather
Comparison tableEdit
Vowel comparison table
Vowel Length
(phonetically not manifested in Israeli Hebrew)IPATransliterationEnglish
example
LongShortVery Short
???[ä]aspa
???[e?]etemp
???
[dubious ]?
[dubious ][o?]oCongo
???n/a[u]usoon
????[i]iski
Note I:By adding two vertical dots (sh'va) ?
the vowel is made very short.
Note II:The short o and long a have the same niqqud.
Note III:The short o is usually promoted to a long o
in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation
Note IV:The short u is usually promoted to a long u
in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation
Gershayim.
Main article: Gershayim
The symbol ? is called a gershayim and is a punctuation mark used in the Hebrew language to denote acronyms. It is written before the last letter in the acronym, e.g. ???. Gershayim is also the name of a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, printed above the accented letter, e.g. ??.
Sounds represented with diacritic gereshEdit
Main articles: Geresh and Hebraization of English
The sounds [t??], [d??], [?], written "??", "??", "??", and [w], non-standardly sometimes transliterated ?? or ??[e3], are often found in slang and loanwords that are part of the everyday Hebrew colloquial vocabulary. The apostrophe-looking symbol after the Hebrew letter modifies the pronunciation of the letter and is called a geresh. (As mentioned above, while still done, using ?? to represent [w] is non-standard; standard spelling rules allow no usage of ?? whatsoever[e4]).
Hebrew slang and loanwords
NameSymbolIPATransliterationExample
Gimel with a geresh??[d??]?[9]?á?nun[?d??a?nun]??????????
Zayin with a geresh??[?]?[9]kolá?[ko?la?]????????
Tsadi with a geresh??[t??]?[9]?upár (treat)[t??u?par]????????
Vav with a geresh
or double Vav?? or ??(non standard)[e5][w]wawánta (boastful act)[a?wanta]??????????
The pronunciation of the following letters can also be modified with the geresh diacritic, the represented sounds are however foreign to Hebrew phonology, i.e., these symbols only represent sounds in foreign words or names when transliterated with the Hebrew alphabet, and never loanwords.
Transliteration of non-native sounds
NameSymbolIPAArabic letterExampleComment
Dalet with a geresh??[ð]Dh?l (?)
Voiced thDh? al-?ijjah (?? ?????)???? ??-?????* Also used for English voiced th
* Often a simple ? is written.
Tav with a geresh??[?]Th?? (?)
Voiceless thThurston???????
?et with a geresh??[?]Kh?? (?)Sheikh (???)??????* Unlike the other sounds in this table, the sound [?] represented by ?? is indeed a native sound in Hebrew; the geresh is however used only when transliteration must distinguish between [?] and [?], in which case ?? transliterates the former and ? the latter, whereas in everyday usage ? without geresh is pronounced [?] only dialectically but [?] commonly.
Resh with a geresh?? or ??[?]Ghayn (?)Ghajar (???)?????Sometimes an ?ayin with a geresh (??) is used to transliterate ? ? inconsistently with the guidelines specified by the Academy of the Hebrew Language
A geresh is also used to denote acronyms pronounced as a string of letters, and to denote a Hebrew numeral. Geresh also is the name of one of the notes of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, but its appearance and function is different.
Religious use.
The letters of the Hebrew alphabet have played varied roles in Jewish religious literature over the centuries, primarily in mystical texts. Some sources in classical rabbinical literature seem to acknowledge the historical provenance of the currently used Hebrew alphabet and deal with them as a mundane subject (the Jerusalem Talmud, for example, records that "the Israelites took for themselves square calligraphy", and that the letters "came with the Israelites from Ashur [Assyria]"); others attribute mystical significance to the letters, connecting them with the process of creation or the redemption. In mystical conceptions, the alphabet is considered eternal, pre-existent to the Earth, and the letters themselves are seen as having holiness and power, sometimes to such an extent that several stories from the Talmud illustrate the idea that they cannot be destroyed.
The idea of the letters' creative power finds its greatest vehicle in the Sefer Yezirah, or Book of Creation, a mystical text of uncertain origin which describes a story of creation highly divergent from that in the Book of Genesis, largely through exposition on the powers of the letters of the alphabet. The supposed creative powers of the letters are also referenced in the Talmud and Zohar.
The four-pronged Shin.
Another book, the 13th-century Kabbalistic text Sefer HaTemunah, holds that a single letter of unknown pronunciation, held by some to be the four-pronged shin on one side of the teffilin box, is missing from the current alphabet. The world's flaws, the book teaches, are related to the absence of this letter, the eventual revelation of which will repair the universe. Another example of messianic significance attached to the letters is the teaching of Rabbi Eliezer that the five letters of the alphabet with final forms hold the "secret of redemption".
In addition, the letters occasionally feature in aggadic portions of non-mystical rabbinic literature. In such aggada the letters are often given anthropomorphic qualities and depicted as speaking to God. Commonly their shapes are used in parables to illustrate points of ethics or theology. An example from the Babylonian Talmud (a parable intended to discourage speculation about the universe before creation):
Why does the story of creation begin with bet?... In the same manner that the letter bet is closed on all sides and only open in front, similarly you are not permitted to inquire into what is before or what was behind, but only from the actual time of Creation.
Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Hagigah, 77c
Extensive instructions about the proper methods of forming the letters are found in Mishnat Soferim, within Mishna Berura of Yisrael Meir Kagan.
Mathematical use.
See aleph number and beth number and gimel function.
In set theory, , pronounced aleph-naught or aleph-zero, is used to mark the cardinal number of an infinite countable set, such as , the set of all integers. More generally, the (aleph) notation marks the ordered sequence of all distinct infinite cardinal numbers.
Less frequently used, the (beth) notation is used for the iterated power sets of . The 2nd element is the cardinality of the continuum. Very occasionally, gimel is used in cardinal notation.
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232.Hexagram (Greek)/ sexagram (Latin)/six-pointed geometric star.
A hexagram (Greek) or sexagram (Latin) is a six-pointed geometric star figure with the Schläfli symbol {6/2}, 2{3}, or {{3}}. It is the compound of two equilateral triangles. The intersection is a regular hexagon.
It is used in historical, religious and cultural contexts, for example in Hanafism, Raelianism, Jewish identity, Hinduism and occultism.
Group theory.
In mathematics, the root system for the simple Lie group G2 is in the form of a hexagram.
Construction by compass and a straight edgeEdit
A six-pointed star, like a hexagon, can be created using a compass and a straight edge:
Make a circle of any size with the compass.
Without changing the radius of the compass, set its pivot on the circle's circumference, and find one of the two points where a new circle would intersect the first circle.
With the pivot on the last point found, similarly find a third point on the circumference, and repeat until six such points have been marked.
With a straight edge, join alternate points on the circumference to form two overlapping equilateral triangles.
Origins and shape.
It is possible that as a simple geometric shape, like for example the triangle, circle, or square, the hexagram has been created by various peoples with no connection to one another.
The hexagram is a mandala symbol called satkona yantra or sadkona yantra found on ancient South Indian Hindu temples. It symbolizes the nara-narayana, or perfect meditative state of balance achieved between Man and God, and if maintained, results in "moksha," or "nirvana" (release from the bounds of the earthly world and its material trappings).
Another theory, though apparently not very substantiated, about the origin of the shape is that it is simply 2 of the 3 letters in the name David: in its Hebrew spelling, David is transliterated as "D-V-D." In Biblical Hebrew, the letter "D" (Dalet) was written in a form like an upside-down and backwards "L," but when seen in the Greek, the letter "Delta" (?) is a triangle. The symbol may have been a simple family crest formed by flipping and juxtaposing the two most prominent letters in the name. The letter "W" in this case could reference the compositing operation of the two Deltas.
Some researchers have theorized that the hexagram represents the astrological chart at the time of David's birth or anointment as king. The hexagram is also known as the "King's Star" in astrological circles.
In antique papyri, pentagrams, together with stars and other signs, are frequently found on amulets bearing the Jewish names of God, and used to guard against fever and other diseases. Curiously the hexagram is not found among these signs. In the Greek Magical Papyri (Wessely, l.c. pp. 31, 112) at Paris and London there are twenty-two signs side by side, and a circle with twelve signs, but neither a pentagram nor a hexagram.
Usage by Hinduism and Eastern religions.
Diagram showing the two mystic syllables Om and Hrim
Six pointed stars have also been found in cosmological diagrams in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The reasons behind this symbol's common appearance in Indic religions and the West are unknown. One possibility is that they have a common origin. The other possibility is that artists and religious people from several cultures independently created the hexagram shape, which is a relatively simple geometric design.
Within Indic lore, the shape is generally understood to consist of two triangles?one pointed up and the other down?locked in harmonious embrace. The two components are called "Om" and the "Hrim" in Sanskrit, and symbolize man's position between earth and sky. The downward triangle symbolizes Shakti, the sacred embodiment of femininity, and the upward triangle symbolizes Shiva, or Agni Tattva, representing the focused aspects of masculinity. The mystical union of the two triangles represents Creation, occurring through the divine union of male and female. The two locked triangles are also known as 'Shanmukha'?the six-faced, representing the six faces of Shiva & Shakti's progeny Kartikeya. This symbol is also a part of several yantras and has deep significance in Hindu ritual worship and history.
In Buddhism, some old versions of the Bardo Thodol, also known as The "Tibetan Book of the Dead", contain a hexagram with a Swastika inside. It was made up by the publishers for this particular publication. In Tibetan, it is called the "origin of phenomenon" (chos-kyi 'byung-gnas). It is especially connected with Vajrayogini, and forms the center part of Her mandala. In reality, it is in three dimensions, not two, although it may be portrayed either way.
In the endocrine system, Anahata is associated with the thymus gland, located in the chest. This gland produces T-cells, that combat disease, and bring equilibrium to the body. The functioning of the thymus is greatest before puberty and is impaired by the appearance of sex hormones in the blood stream from puberty onwards.
Many Western occultists associate this central chakra with the central sephirah, Tiphereth, in the kabbalistic tree of life. Christian kabbalists in particular associate this sephirah with love, healing and Jesus Christ as God the Son.
The Shatkona is a symbol used in Hindu yantra that represents the union of both the male and feminine form. More specifically it is supposed to represent Purusha (the supreme being), and Prakriti (mother nature, or causal matter). Often this is represented as Shiva - Shakti.
The Shatkona is a hexagram and looks exactly like the Star of David in Semitic lore.
Anahata: The Heart Chakra.
Anahata (also known as Anahata-puri, or Padma-sundara) is related to the thymus, located in the chest. The thymus is an element of the immune system as well as being part of the endocrine system. It is the site of maturation of the T cells responsible for fending off disease and may be adversely affected by stress. Anahata is symbolized by a lotus flower with twelve petals. (See also heartmind). Anahata is related to the colors green or pink. Key issues involving Anahata involve complex emotions, compassion, tenderness, unconditional love, equilibrium, rejection and well-being. Physically Anahata governs circulation, emotionally it governs unconditional love for the self and others, mentally it governs passion, and spiritually it governs devotion.
Usage by the Abrahamic religionsEdit
Usage by JewsEdit
Main article: Star of David
The Star of David in the oldest surviving complete copy of the Masoretic text, the Leningrad Codex, dated 1008.
The Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Judaism and Jewish identity and is also known colloquially as the Jewish Star or "Star of David." Its usage as a sign of Jewish identity began in the Middle Ages, though its religious usage began earlier, with the current earliest archeological evidence being a stone bearing the shield from the arch of a 3?4th century synagogue in the Galilee. A more enduring symbol of Judaism, the menorah, has been in use since BC.
Usage by Christians.
Jesus in a hexagram ? painting in the Saint Nikola church in Krusevo, Macedonia
Marian Star, a slightly modified hexagram
The hexagram may be found in some Churches and stained-glass windows. An example of this is one embedded in the ceiling of the Washington National Cathedral. In Christianity it is often called the star of creation.
In Orthodox Christian churches, for example in Balkan countries, hexagrams can be found more often than in Roman Catholic churches.
Latter-day Saints (Mormons).
Star of David on the Salt Lake Assembly Hall
Main article: Mormonism and Judaism
The Star of David is also used less prominently by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the temples and in architecture. It symbolizes God reaching down to man and man reaching up to God, the union of Heaven and earth. It may also symbolize the Tribes of Israel and friendship and their affinity towards the Jewish people. Additionally, it is sometimes used to symbolize the quorum of the twelve apostles, as in Revelation 12, wherein the Church of God is symbolized by a woman wearing a crown of twelve stars. It is also sometimes used to symbolize the Big Dipper, which points to the North Star, a symbol of Jesus Christ.
Rastafari.
A black star of David is used to identify the black population, in Africa or otherwise, with one of the Tribes of Israel.
Usage by Muslims.
Hexagram at Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, India
Hexagram in Islamic stonework at the Qutb complex, Delhi, India
Hexagram on obverse of Moroccan 4 Falus coin (1873)
Hexagram on the Minaret of Arasta Mosque (Prizren)
Hexagram on the flag of Hayreddin Barbarossa
Use in a Quran
Use in a Dirham
The symbol is known in Arabic as ???? ?????, Najmat D?w?d (Star of David) or ???? ?????? Kh?tem Sulaym?n (Seal of Solomon), but "Seal of Solomon" may also refer to a pentagram or a species of plant.
In various places in the Qur'an, it is written that David and King Solomon (Arabic, Suliman or Sulayman) were prophets and kings and therefore they are revered figures by Muslims. The Medieval pre-Ottoman Hanafi Anatolian beyliks of the Karamanids and Jandarids used the star on their flag. The symbol also used on Hayreddin Barbarossa flag. Even today, the star can be found in mosques and on other Arabic and Islamic artifacts.
Professor Gershom Sholem theorizes that the "Star of David" originates in the writings of Aristotle, who used triangles in different positions to indicate the different basic elements. The superposed triangles thus represented combinations of those elements. From Aristotle's writings those symbols made their ways into early, pre-Muslim Arab literature.
Usage in heraldry.
In heraldry and vexillology, a hexagram is a fairly common charge employed, though it is rarely called by this name. In Germanic regions it is known simply as a "star." In English and French heraldry, however, the hexagram is known as a "mullet of six points," where mullet is a French term for a spur rowel which is shown with five pointed arms by default unless otherwise specified.
Usage in theosophy.
The Star of David is used in the seal and the emblem of the Theosophical Society (founded in 1875). Although it is more pronounced, it is used along with other religious symbols. These include the Swastika, the Ankh, the Aum, and the Ouroboros. The star of David is also known as the Seal of Solomon that was its original name until around 50 years ago.
Usage in Raelism.
The International Raelian Movement (IRM) uses a hexagram. The root of this symbol, according to the founder of the IRM, Rael, can be attributed to its use by genetic engineers from extrasolar planets who are allegedly the same entities referred to as Elohim. According to Rael, these space travellers came to Earth and synthesized life from non-living matter in 7 laboratory bases which contained the symbol.
Some meanings which involve particular variations of this symbol are supported by the IRM, such as "well being" (where "swastika" means "well being" in Sanskrit) and "infinity in time" (as Hindus see the swastika as a symbol for "eternal" cycles). In Raelism, the upper and lower triangles represent "as above, so below", which refers to either the likeness between the creators' past and created's future or the repeating fractal hierarchical structure in the universe. "As above so below" is also well known in Wicca as the last statement of an invocation or ritual in order to bring the change of events from the upper world to the lower world (our world).
The IRM has long-term plans to build a temple complex or embassy that would, at around the time of a Technological Singularity, and before 2035, support the arrival of prophets of major and some minor religions after a spectacular descent from an interstellar journey. Rael (or the Elohim, as Rael would put it) requires that the embassy contain the "symbol of the Elohim." The symbol initially used by the Raelian movement was the source of considerable controversy linked to a proposal to build the Raelian embassy in Israel since it resembled a hexagram with the image of a Swastika embedded in its center.
Usage in Occultism.
The hexagram, like the pentagram, was and is used in practices of the occult and ceremonial magic and is attributed to the 7 "old" planets outlined in astrology.
The six-pointed star is commonly used both as a talisman and for conjuring spirits and spiritual forces in divers forms occult magic. In the book The History and Practice of Magic, Vol. 2, the six-pointed star is called the talisman of Saturn and it is also referred to as the Seal of Solomon. Details are given in this book on how to make these symbols and the materials to use.
Double hexagram.
Traditionally, the Hexagram can be seen as the combination of the four elements. Fire is symbolized as an upwards pointing triangle, while Air (its elemental opposite) is also an upwards pointing triangle, but with a horizontal line through its center. Water is symbolized as a downwards pointing triangle, while Earth (its elemental opposite) is also a downwards pointing triangle, but with a horizontal line through its center. When you combine the symbols of Fire and Water, a hexagram (six-pointed star) is created. The same follows for when you combine the symbols of Air and Earth. When you combine both hexagrams, you get the double-hexagram. Thus, a combination of the elements is created.
In Rosicrucian and Hermetic Magic, the seven Traditional Planets correspond with the angles and the center of the Hexagram as follows, in the same patterns as they appear on the Sephiroth and on the The Tree of Life. Saturn, although formally attributed to the Sephira of Binah, within this frame work nonetheless occupies the position of Daath.
Usage in Freemasonry.
"The interlacing triangles or deltas symbolize the union of the two principles or forces, the active and passive, male and female, pervading the universe ... The two triangles, one white and the other black, interlacing, typify the mingling of apparent opposites in nature, darkness and light, error and truth, ignorance and wisdom, evil and good, throughout human life." ? Albert G. Mackey: Encyclopedia of Freemasonry.
The hexagram, one of the world's most ancient symbols, is featured within and on the outside of many Masonic temples as a decoration. It may have been found within the structures of King Solomon's temple, from which Freemasons are inspired in their philosophies and studies. Like many other symbols in Freemasonry, the deciphering of the hexagram is non-dogmatic and left to the interpretation of the individual.
Other uses.
Aerial photograph of Heathrow Airport, London, 1955
A six-point interlocking triangles has been used for thousands of years as an indication a sword was made, and "proved," in the Damascus area of the Middle East. Still today, it is a required "proved" mark on all official UK and United States military swords though the blades themselves no longer come from the Middle East.
The Ulster Banner flag of Northern Ireland, used from 1953-1952. The six pointed star, representing the six counties that make up Northern Ireland.
In Unicode, the "Star of David" symbol ? is U+2721.
There is a plant named Solomon's seal (Polygonatum multiflorum) in the lily family.
In alchemy, the two triangles represent the reconciliation of the opposites of fire and water. Non-Jewish Kabbalah (also called Christian or Hermetic Kabbalah) interprets the hexagram to mean the divine union of male and female energy, where the male is represented by the upper triangle and the female by the lower one. Moreover, it derives four triangular symbols from it (two triangles crossed like a capital letter A and two uncrossed) to represent the four elements: water, fire, air, and earth. This use of the symbol was used as an important plot point in Dan Brown's popular novel The Da Vinci Code and the Da Vinci Code film cites this as the origin of the star.
It was also used as a sign for quintessence, the fifth element.
In southern Germany the hexagram can be found as part of tavern anchors. It is symbol for the tapping of beer and sign of the brewer's guild. In German this is called "Bierstern" (beer star) or "Brauerstern" (brewer's star).
A six-point star is used as an identifying mark of the Folk Nation.
The main runways and taxiways of Heathrow Airport were arranged roughly in the shape of a hexagram.
A hexagram in a circle is incorporated prominently in the supports of Worthing railway station's platform 2 canopy (UK).
Flag of Dardania
A hexagram appears on the Dardania Flag, proposed for Kosovo by the Democratic League of Kosovo.
An extremely large, free-standing metal hexagram stands in the central park of the Municipality of El Tejar, Guatemala. Additionally, every year at Christmastime the residents of El Tejar erect a giant fake Christmas tree in front of their municipal building, with a hexagram sitting at its peak.
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Inglish Site.90.
*
TO THE THRISE HO-
NOVRABLE AND EVER LY-
VING VERTVES OF SYR PHILLIP
SYDNEY KNIGHT, SYR JAMES JESUS SINGLETON, SYR CANARIS, SYR LAVRENTI BERIA ; AND TO THE
RIGHT HONORABLE AND OTHERS WHAT-
SOEVER, WHO LIVING LOVED THEM,
AND BEING DEAD GIVE THEM
THEIRE DVE.
***
In the beginning there is darkness. The screen erupts in blue, then a cascade of thick, white hexadecimal numbers and cracked language, ?UnusedStk? and ?AllocMem.? Black screen cedes to blue to white and a pair of scales appear, crossed by a sword, both images drawn in the jagged, bitmapped graphics of Windows 1.0-era clip-art?light grey and yellow on a background of light cyan. Blue text proclaims, ?God on tap!?
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Introduction.
Yes i am getting a little Mobi-Literate(ML) by experimenting literary on my Mobile Phone. Peoplecall it Typographical Laziness(TL).
The first accidental entries for the this part of this encyclopedia.
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Index.
230.Bertrand du Guesclin.
231.The Hebrew Alphabet.
232.Hexagram (Greek)/ sexagram (Latin)/six-pointed geometric star.
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230.Bertrand du Guesclin.
Bertrand du Guesclin (c. 1320 ? 13 July 1380), nicknamed "The Eagle of Brittany" or "The Black Dog of Brocéliande", was a Breton knight and French military commander during the Hundred Years' War. He was Constable of France from 1370 to his death. Well known for his Fabian strategy, he took part in six pitched battles and won the four in which he held command.
Origins.
Bertrand du Guesclin was born at Motte-Broons near Dinan, in Brittany, first-born son of Robert du Guesclin and Jeanne de Malmaines. His date of birth is unknown but is thought to have been sometime in 1320. His family was of minor Breton nobility, the seigneurs of Broons.
Bertrand's family claimed descent from Aquin, the legendary Muslim king of Bougie in Africa, a conceit derived from the Roman d'Aquin, a thirteenth-century French chanson de geste from Brittany.
Service in Brittany.
Guesclin at the Battle of Cocherel
He initially served Charles of Blois in the Breton War of Succession (1341?1364). Charles was supported by the French crown, while his rival, Jean de Montfort, was allied with England. Du Guesclin was knighted in 1354 while serving Arnoul d'Audrehem, after countering a raid by Hugh Calveley on the Castle of Montmuran. In 1356-1357, Du Guesclin successfully defended Rennes against an English siege by Henry of Grosmont, using guerrilla tactics. During the siege, he killed the English knight William Bamborough who had challenged him to a duel.
The resistance of du Guesclin helped restore French morale after Poitiers, and du Guesclin came to the attention of the Dauphin Charles. When he became King in 1364, Charles sent Du Guesclin to deal with Charles II of Navarre, who hoped to claim the Duchy of Burgundy, which Charles hoped to give to his brother, Philip. On 16 May, he met an Anglo-Navarrese army under the command of Jean de Grailly, Captal de Buch at Cocherel and proved his ability in pitched battle by routing the enemy. The victory forced Charles II into a new peace with the French king, and secured Burgundy for Philip.
On 29 September 1364, at the Battle of Auray, the army of Charles of Blois was heavily defeated by John V, Duke of Brittany and the English forces under Sir John Chandos. De Blois was killed in action, ending the pretensions of the Penthievre faction in Brittany. After chivalric resistance, Du Guesclin broke his weapons to signify his surrender. He was captured and ransomed by Charles V for 100,000 francs.
Service in Spain.
In 1366, Bertrand persuaded the leaders of the "free companies", who had been pillaging France after the Treaty of Brétigny, to join him in an expedition to Spain to aid Count Henry of Trastámara against Pedro I. In 1366, du Guesclin captured many fortresses (Magallon, Briviesca and finally the capital Burgos). After Henry's coronation at Burgos, he proclaimed Bertrand his successor as Count of Trastámara and had him crowned as King of Granada, although that kingdom was yet to be conquered. Bertrand's elevation must have taken place at Burgos between 16 March and 5 April 1366.
But Henry's army was defeated in 1367 by Pedro's forces, now commanded by Edward, the Black Prince, at Nájera. Du Guesclin was again captured, and again ransomed by Charles V, who considered him invaluable. However, the English army suffered badly in the battle as four English soldiers out of five died during the Castilian Campaign. The Black Prince, affected by dysentery, soon withdrew his support from Pedro. Du Guesclin and Henry of Trastámara renewed the attack, defeating him at the decisive Battle of Montiel (1369).
After the battle, Pedro fled to the castle at Montiel, from whence he made contact with du Guesclin, whose army were camped outside. Pedro made an arrangement with du Guesclin; he bribed him to get an escape. Du Guesclin agreed, but also told it to Henry who gave him more money and land promises to lead Pedro to his tent. Once there, after crossed accusations of bastardy the two half-brothers started a fight to death, using daggers because of the narrow space. At a moment when they fought on the floor, Pedro got the upper side and was about to finish Henry. But then Du Guesclin, who had stayed inactive for he was compromised to both, made his final choice. He grabbed Pedro´s ankle and turned him belly-up, thus allowing Henry to stab Pedro to death and gain the throne of Castile. While turning Pedro down, du Guesclin is claimed to have said "Ni quito ni pongo rey, pero ayudo a mi señor" (I neither put nor remove a King, but I help my Master), which has since that moment become a common phrase in Spanish, to be used by anyone of lesser rank who does what he is ordered or expected to do, avoiding any concern about the justice or injustice of such action, and declining any responsibility.
Bertrand was made Duke of Molina, and the Franco-Castllian alliance was sealed.
Constable of France.
War with England was renewed in 1369, and Du Guesclin was recalled from Castile in 1370 by Charles V, who had decided to make him Constable of France, the country's chief military leader. By tradition this post was always given to a great nobleman, not to someone like the comparatively low-born Du Guesclin, but Charles needed someone who was an outstanding professional soldier. In practice du Guesclin had continual difficulties in getting aristocratic leaders to serve under him, and the core of his armies were always his personal retinue. He was formally invested with the rank of Constable by the King on 2 October 1370. He immediately defeated an English army led by Robert Knolles at the Battle of Pontvallain and then reconquered Poitou and Saintonge forcing the Black Prince to leave France.
In 1372, the Franco-Castillan fleet destroyed the English fleet at the Battle of La Rochelle where more than 400 English knights and 8000 soldiers were captured. Master of the Channel, du Guesclin organized destructive raids on the English coasts in retaliation for the English chevauchées.
Du Guesclin pursued the English into Brittany from 1370 to 1374, and defeated again the English army at the Battle of Chizé in 1373.
He disapproved of the confiscation of Brittany by Charles V in 1378, and his campaign to make the duchy submit to the king was halfhearted.
Death and burial.
Death of Bertrand du Guesclin, by Jean Fouquet.
An able tactician and a loyal and disciplined warrior, Du Guesclin had reconquered much of France from the English when he died of illness at Chateauneuf-de-Randon while on a military expedition in Languedoc in 1380. He was buried at Saint-Denis in the tomb of the Kings of France. His heart is kept at the basilica of Saint-Sauveur at Dinan.
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231.The Hebrew Alphabet.
The Hebrew alphabet (Hebrew: ??????????? ???????[a], alefbet ?Ivri ), known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two script forms in use; the original old Hebrew script is known as the paleo-Hebrew script (which has been largely preserved, in an altered form, in the Samaritan script), while the present "square" form of the Hebrew alphabet is a stylized form of the Aramaic script. Various "styles" (in current terms, "fonts") of representation of the letters exist. There is also a cursive Hebrew script, which has also varied over time and place.
The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, of which five have different forms when used at the end of a word. Hebrew is written from right to left. Originally, the alphabet was an abjad consisting only of consonants. Like other abjads, such as the Arabic alphabet, means were later devised to indicate vowels by separate vowel points, known in Hebrew as niqqud. In rabbinic Hebrew, the letters ? ? ? ? are also used as matres lectionis (the use of certain consonants to indicate a vowel) to represent vowels. When used to write Yiddish, the writing system is a true alphabet (except for borrowed Hebrew words). In modern usage of the alphabet, as in the case of Yiddish (except that ? replaces ?) and to some extent modern Israeli Hebrew, vowels may be indicated. Today, the trend is toward full spelling with these letters acting as true vowels.
History.
Main article: History of the Hebrew alphabet.
A Jewish stele near the archeological excavations of the early medieval walls of Serdica.
Aleppo Codex: 10th century CE Hebrew Bible with Masoretic pointing. Text of Joshua 1:1
According to contemporary scholars, the original Hebrew script developed during the late second and first millennia BCE alongside others used in the region. It is closely related to the Phoenician script, which was also an abjad, and which itself probably gave rise to the use of alphabetic writing in Greece (Greek alphabet). A distinct Hebrew variant, called the paleo-Hebrew alphabet, emerged by the 10th century BCE, an example of which is represented in the Gezer calendar.
The paleo-Hebrew alphabet was commonly used in the ancient Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah, as well as by the Samaritans. Following the exile of the Kingdom of Judah in the 6th century BCE, in the Babylonian exile, Jews began using a form of the Assyrian script, which was another offshoot of the same family of scripts. During the 3rd century BCE, Jews began to use a stylized, "square" form of the Aramaic alphabet that was used by the Persian Empire (which in turn was adopted from the Assyrians), while the Samaritans continued to use a form of the paleo-Hebrew script, called the Samaritan script. After the fall of the Persian Empire, Jews used both scripts before settling on the Assyrian form. For a limited time thereafter, the use of the paleo-Hebrew script among Jews was retained only to write the Tetragrammaton, but soon that custom was also abandoned.
The square Hebrew alphabet was later adapted and used for writing languages of the Jewish diaspora ? such as Karaim, Judæo-Arabic, Ladino, Yiddish, etc. The Hebrew alphabet continued in use for scholarly writing in Hebrew and came again into everyday use with the rebirth of the Hebrew language as a spoken language in the 18th and 19th centuries, especially in Israel.
Description.
General.
In the traditional form, the Hebrew alphabet is an abjad consisting only of consonants, written from right to left. It has 22 letters, five of which use different forms at the end of a word.
Vowels.
Hebrew script on the bustier of Jan van Scorel's Maria Magdalena, 1530.
In the traditional form, vowels are indicated by the weak consonants Aleph (?), He (?), Vav (?), or Yodh (?) serving as vowel letters, or matres lectionis: the letter is combined with a previous vowel and becomes silent, or by imitation of such cases in the spelling of other forms. Also, a system of vowel points to indicate vowels (diacritics), called niqqud, was developed. In modern forms of the alphabet, as in the case of Yiddish and to some extent modern Israeli Hebrew, vowels may be indicated. Today, the trend is toward full spelling with the weak letters acting as true vowels.
When used to write Yiddish, vowels are indicated, using certain letters, either with or without niqqud-diacritics (e.g., respectively: "??", "??" or "?", "?"), except for Hebrew words, which in Yiddish are written in their Hebrew spelling.
To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of vocalization and diacritical symbols called niqqud (?????, literally "applying points"). One of these, the Tiberian system, eventually prevailed. Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, and his family for several generations, are credited for refining and maintaining the system. These points are normally used only for special purposes, such as Biblical books intended for study, in poetry or when teaching the language to children. The Tiberian system also includes a set of cantillation marks, called "trope", used to indicate how scriptural passages should be chanted in synagogue recitations of scripture (although these marks do not appear in the scrolls). In everyday writing of modern Hebrew, niqqud are absent; however, patterns of how words are derived from Hebrew roots (called shorashim, or root letters) allow Hebrew speakers to determine the vowel-structure of a given word from its consonants based on the word's context and part of speech.
Alphabet.
Neither the old Hebrew script nor the modern Hebrew script have case, but five letters have special final forms,[c] called sofit (Hebrew: ??????, meaning in this context "final" or "ending") form, used only at the end of a word, somewhat as in the Greek or in the Arabic and Mandaic alphabets.[b] These are shown below the normal form in the following table (letter names are Unicode standard). Although Hebrew is read and written from right to left, the following table shows the letters in order from left to right.
Alef
Bet
GimelDalet
He
Vav
ZayinHetTetYodKaf
???????????
?
LamedMem
Nun
SamekhAyin
Pe
TsadiQofResh
Shin
Tav
???????????
????
Pronunciation of letter names.
Main articles: Biblical Hebrew phonology, Modern Hebrew phonology and Yiddish phonology
letterName of letterEstablished pronunciation
in English standard Israeli
pronunciationcolloquial Israeli
pronunciation (if differing)Yiddish / Ashkenazi
pronunciation
MW Unicode Hebrew
?AlephAlef?????/???l?f/, /???l?f//?alef/ /?al?f/
??BethBet?????/b??/, /be?t//bet/ /b??s/
?????/vet//v??s/
?GimelGimel???????/???m?l//??imel/ /??im??l/
?DalethDalet??????/?d??l??/, /?d??l?t//?dalet//?daled//?dal?s/
?HeHe???, ??, ??/he?//he//hej//h??/
?WawVav???, ???, ???/v??v/, /w??w//vav/ /v?v/
?ZayinZayin?????/?za?.?n//?zajin//?za.in//?zajin/
?HethHet????/h??/, /xe?t//?et//?et//??s/
?TethTet????/t??/, /te?t//tet/ /t?s/
?YodYod????/j??d//jod//jud//jud/
??KaphKaf????/k??f//kaf/ /k?f/
????/x??f/, /k??f//?af//??f/
??Final Kaf???? ???????/ka?f//kaf sofit//la??? k?f/
???? ???????/x??f/, /k??f//?af sofit//la??? ??f/
?LamedLamed?????/?l??m?d//?lamed/ /?lam?d/
?MemMem???/m?m//mem/ /m?m/
?Final Mem??? ???????/mem sofit//?l?s m?m/
?NunNun????/nu?n//nun/ /nun/
?Final Nun???? ???????/nun sofit//la??? nun/
?SamekhSamekh??????/?s??m?k/, /?s??m?x//?same?/ /?sam??/
?AyinAyin?????/?a?.?n//??ajin//??a.in//?ajin/
??PePe????, ??/pe?//pe//pej//p??/
????, ??/fe?//fe//fej//f??/
?Final Pe???? ???????, ?? ?????/pe?/, /fe?//pe sofit//pej sofit//la??? f??/
?SadheTsadi?????, ????/?s??d?/, /?s??di//?tsadi/ /?ts?di/, /?ts?dik/, /?tsad?k/
?Final Tsadi????? ???????, ???? ?????/?tsadi sofit//la??? ?tsad?k/
?QophQof????/k??f//qof//kuf//kuf/
?ReshResh?????/r??/, /re??//re?//?ej?//r???/
??ShinShin?????/?i?n/, /??n//?in/ /?in/
???????/si?n/, /s?n//sin/ /sin/
??TawTav?????, ??/t??f/, /t??v//tav//taf//t?v/, /t?f/
?????, ???/s?v/, /s?f/
Stylistic variants.
Further information: Cursive Hebrew, Rashi script, Ashuri alphabet and History of the Hebrew alphabet
The following table displays typographic and chirographic variants of each letter. For the five letters that have a different final form used at the end of words, the final forms are displayed beneath the regular form.
The three lettering variants currently in use are block, cursive and Rashi. Block and Rashi are used in books. Block lettering dominates, with Rashi lettering typically used for certain editorial inserts (as in the glosses of Isserles to the Shulchan Aruch) or biblical commentaries (as in the commentary of Rashi) in various standard literary works. Cursive is used almost exclusively when handwriting, unless block lettering is desired for stylistic purposes (as in signage).
Letter
name
(Unicode)Variants
Modern HebrewAncestral
SerifSans-
serifMono-
spacedCursiveRashiPhoenicianPaleo-HebrewAramaic
Alef???
Bet???
Gimel???
Dalet???
He???
Vav???
Zayin???
Het???
Tet???
Yod???
Kaf???
Final Kaf???
Lamed???
Mem???
Final Mem???
Nun???
Final Nun???
Samekh???
Ayin???
Pe???
Final Pe???
Tsadi???,
Final Tsadi???
Qof???
Resh???
Shin???
Tav???
Yiddish symbols.
SymbolExplanation
? ? ? ??These are intended for Yiddish. They are not used in Hebrew, aside from in loan words[d].
??The rafe (???) diacritic is no longer regularly used in Hebrew. In masoretic manuscripts and some other older texts the soft fricative consonants and sometimes matres lectionis are indicated by a small line on top of the letter. Its use has been largely discontinued in modern printed texts. It is still used to mark fricative consonants in the YIVO orthography of Yiddish.
Numeric values of letters.
Main article: Hebrew numerals
Hebrew letters are used to denote numbers, nowadays used only in specific contexts, e.g. denoting dates in the Hebrew calendar, denoting grades of school in Israel, other listings (e.g. ??? ??, ??? ?? ? "phase a, phase b"), commonly in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) in a practice known as gematria, and often in religious contexts.
The lower clock on the Jewish Town Hall building in Prague, with Hebrew numerals in counterclockwise order.
letternumeric valueletternumeric valueletternumeric value
?1?10?100
?2?20?200
?3?30?300
?4?40?400
?5?50?500
?6?60?600
?7?70?700
?8?80?800
?9?90?900
The numbers 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900 are commonly represented by the juxtapositions ???, ???, ???, ???, and ???? respectively. Adding a geresh ("?") to a letter multiplies its value by one thousand, for example, the year 5769 is portrayed as ???????, where ? represents 5000, and ????? represents 769.
Transliterations and transcriptions.
Main articles: Romanization of Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Yiddish language and Yiddish orthography
The following table lists transliterations and transcriptions of Hebrew letters used in Modern Hebrew.
Clarifications:
For some letters, the Academy of the Hebrew Language offers a precise transliteration that differs from the regular standard it has set. When omitted, no such precise alternative exists and the regular standard applies.
The IPA phonemic transcription is specified whenever it uses a different symbol from the one used for the regular standard Israeli transliteration.
The IPA phonetic transcription is specified whenever it differs from IPA phonemic transcription.
Note: SBL's transliteration system, recommended in its Handbook of Style, differs slightly from the 2006 precise transliteration system of the Academy of the Hebrew Language; for "?" SBL uses "?" (? AHL "?"), and for ???? ???? with no dagesh, SBL uses the same symbols as for with dagesh (i.e. "b", "g", "d", "k", "f", "t").
CLICK "SHOW" TO VIEW EXTENDED TABLE INCLUDING EXAMPLES.
Hebrew letterexampleTranslationStandard
Israeli
transliteration
? regular examplestandard
Israeli
transliteration
? precise exampleIPA phonemic
transcriptionexampleIPA phonetic
transcriptionexample
?
consonantal, in
initial word
positions
???ifnone[A1]im[?][?im]
?
consonantal, in
non initial word
positions
??????asked'sha'ál?sha?ál/?//?a??al/
?
silent
????????firstnone[A2]rishón
??????sonbben
?????goodvtov
??????roofggaggga?
??
???????roach?[B1][9]?uk/d??//d??uk/
???????boilerddudddu?
??
?
consonantal
???echohhed
?
silent
????herenone[A3]po
?
consonantal
???hookvvavwwaw
??????heuhu
?????to himolo[o?] or [??][lo?, l??]
????thiszze
???????????jargon?[B2][9]?argón/?//?ar??on/
????hot? [C1]?am??am/x/ or /?//xam/[?][?am]
dialectical
[?][?am]
????tinytkat?ka?
?
consonantal
???seayyam/j//jam/
?
part of hirik male
(/i/ vowel)
????in meibi
?
part of tsere male
(/e/ vowel or
/ei/ diphthong)
??????informationemedáémédá/e/ or /ej//me?da/ or /mej?da/[e?] or /e?j/[me??da] or [me?j?da]
??, ??[10]????sokko
?, ???????branch-roofingkh [C2]skhakh?s?a?/x/ or /?//sxax/[?][s?a?]
????to melli
?, ?????defectmmum
?, ?????great-grandsonnnin
?????endssof
?
in initial or final
word positions
????????????Purim-paradenone[A4]adloyáda??adloyáda?only in initial
word position
[?][??adlo??jada]
dialectical
/?//??adlo?jada?/
?
in medial
word positions
???????useful'mo'íl?mo?íl/?//mo??il/
dialectical
/?//mo??il/
??[D]?????tipptip
?, ????????missedffisfés
?, ?????budtstsits??i?/t?s//t?sit?s/
??, ?????????zip?[B3][9]rí?ra?/t??//?rit??rat??/
?????soundkkolqqol
?????cityrir[?] or [?][i?] or [i?]
dialectical
[r] or [?][ir] or [i?]
??????thereshsham??am/?//?am/
??????putssam??am
???????strawberryttutttu?
??
Hebrew letterStandard
Israeli
transliteration
? regular standard
Israeli
transliteration
? precise IPA phonemic
transcriptionIPA phonetic
transcription
?
consonantal, in
initial word
positions
none[A1][?]
?
consonantal, in
non initial word
positions
'?/?/
?
silent
none[A2]
??b
?v
??gg
??
???[B1][9]/d??/
??dd
??
?
consonantal
h
?
silent
none[A3]
?
consonantal
vw
??u
??o[o?] or [??]
?z
???[B2][9]/?/
??[C1]?/x/ or /?/[?]
dialectical
[?]
?t?
?
consonantal
y/j/
?
part of hirik male
(/i/ vowel)
i
?
part of tsere male
(/e/ vowel or
/ei/ diphthong)
eé/e/ or /ej/[e?] or [e?j]/
??, ??[10]k
?, ?kh[C2]?/x/ or /?/[?]
?l
?, ?m
?, ?n
?s
?
in initial or final
word positions
none[A4]?only in initial
word position
[?]
dialectical
/?/
?
in medial
word positions
'?/?/
dialectical
/?/
??[D]p
?, ?f
?, ?ts?/t?s/
??, ???[B3][9]/t??/
?kq
?r[?] or [?]
dialectical
[r] or [?]
??sh?/?/
??s?
??tt
??
Notes.
A1^ 2^ 3^ 4^ In transliterations of modern Israeli Hebrew, initial and final ? (in regular transliteration), silent or initial ?, and silent ? are not transliterated. To the eye of readers orientating themselves on Latin (or similar) alphabets, these letters might seem to be transliterated as vowel letters; however, these are in fact transliterations of the vowel diacritics ? niqqud (or are representations of the spoken vowels). E.g., in ??? ("if", [?im]), ??? ("mother", [?e?m]) and ??? ("nut", [?o?m]), the letter ? always represents the same consonant: [?] (glottal stop), whereas the vowels /i/, /e/ and /o/ respectively represent the spoken vowel, whether it is orthographically denoted by diacritics or not. Since the Academy of the Hebrew Language ascertains that ? in initial position is not transliterated, the symbol for the glottal stop ? is omitted from the transliteration, and only the subsequent vowels are transliterated (whether or not their corresponding vowel diacritics appeared in the text being transliterated), resulting in "im", "em" and "om", respectively.
B1^ 2^ 3^ The diacritic geresh ? "?" ? is used with some other letters as well (??, ??, ??, ??, ??, ??), but only to transliterate from other languages to Hebrew ? never to spell Hebrew words; therefore they were not included in this table (correctly translating a Hebrew text with these letters would require using the spelling in the language from which the transliteration to Hebrew was originally made). The non-standard "??" and "??" [e1] are sometimes used to represent /w/, which like /d??/, /?/ and /t??/ appears in Hebrew slang and loanwords.
C1^ 2^ The Sound /?/ (as "ch" in loch) is often transcribed "ch", inconsistently with the guidelines specified by the Academy of the Hebrew Language: ?? /?am/ ? "cham"; ??? /s?a?/ ? "schach".
D^ Although the Bible does include a single occurrence of a final pe with a dagesh (Book of Proverbs 30, 6: "???-????????? ???-?????????: ????-???????? ????? ?????????????."), in modern Hebrew /p/ is always represented by pe in its regular, not final, form "?", even when in final word position, which occurs with loanwords (e.g. ?????? /?op/ "shop"), foreign names (e.g. ???????? /?filip/ "Philip") and some slang (e.g. ?????? /?a?rap/ "slept deeply").
Pronunciation.
Main article: International Phonetic Alphabet for Hebrew
The descriptions that follow are based on the pronunciation of modern standard Israeli Hebrew.
Letters?????????????????????? , ??
(non-standard)[e2]??????
IPA[?], ?[b][v][?][d??][d][ð][h~?], ?[v]~[w][u][o?][w][z][?][?]~[?][t][j]
Letters????? ??
[10]? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ?????????????
IPA[i][k][?][l][m][n][s][?]~[?], ?[p][f][t?s][t?][k][?]~[r][?][s][t][?]
Shin and sin.
Further information: Shin (letter)
Shin and sin are represented by the same letter, ?, but are two separate phonemes. They are not mutually allophonic. When vowel diacritics are used, the two phonemes are differentiated with a shin-dot or sin-dot; the shin-dot is above the upper-right side of the letter, and the sin-dot is above the upper-left side of the letter.
SymbolNameTransliterationIPAExample
?? (right dot)shinsh/?/shop
?? (left dot)sins/s/sour
Historically, left-dot-sin corresponds to Proto-Semitic *?, which in biblical-Judaic-Hebrew corresponded to a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative /?/, as is evident in Greek transliteration of Hebrew words such as Balsam (???????) (the ls - '??') as is evident in the Targum Onkelos.[citation needed] Rendering of proto-semitic *? as /?/, is still evident in the Soqotri language.[citation needed]
Dagesh.
Main article: Dagesh
Historically, the consonants ? beth, ? gimel, ? daleth, ? kaf, ? pe and ? tav each had two sounds: one hard (plosive), and one soft (fricative), depending on the position of the letter and other factors. When vowel diacritics are used, the hard sounds are indicated by a central dot called dagesh (???), while the soft sounds lack a dagesh. In modern Hebrew, however, the dagesh only changes the pronunciation of ? beth, ? kaf, and ? pe, and doesn't affect the name of the letter. The differences are as follows:
NameWith dageshWithout dagesh
SymbolTransliterationIPAExampleSymbolTransliterationIPAExample
beth??b/b/bun?v/v/van
kaf[10]?? ??k/k/kangaroo? ?kh/ch/x/?/loch
pe??p/p/pass? ?f/ph/f/find
In other dialects (mainly liturgical) there are variations from this pattern.
In some Sephardi and Mizrahi dialects, bet without dagesh is pronounced [b], like bet with dagesh
In Syrian and Yemenite Hebrew, gimel without dagesh is pronounced [?].
In Yemenite Hebrew, and in the Iraqi pronunciation of the word "Adonai", dalet without dagesh is pronounced [ð] as in "these"
In Ashkenazi Hebrew, tav without dagesh is pronounced [s] as in "silk"
In Iraqi and Yemenite Hebrew, and formerly in some other dialects, tav without dagesh is pronounced [?] is in "thick"
Identical pronunciation.
In Israel's general population, many consonants have the same pronunciation. They are as follows:
LettersTransliterationPronunciation (IPA)
?
Alef*?
Ayin*not
transliteratedUsually when in medial word position:
/./
(separation of vowels in a hiatus)
When in initial or final word position, sometimes also in medial word position:
silent
alternatingly
' or ?/?/
(glottal stop)
?
Bet (without dagesh)?
Vavv/v/
?
Het?
Kaf (without dagesh)kh/ch/h/?/
?
Tet?
Tavt/t/
??
Kaf (with dagesh)?
Qofk/k/
?
Samekh??
Sin (with left dot)s/s/
?
Tsadi*??
Tav-Samekh*and???
Tav-Sin*ts/tz/ts/
??
Tsadi (with geresh)???
Tet-Shin*and???
Tav-Shin*ch/tsh (chair)/t?/
* Varyingly
Ancient Hebrew pronunciation.
Some of the variations in sound mentioned above are due to a systematic feature of Ancient Hebrew. The six consonants /b ? d k p t/ were pronounced differently depending on their position. These letters were also called BeGeD KeFeT letters /?be???d?k?f?t/. The full details are very complex; this summary omits some points. They were pronounced as plosives /b ? d k p t/ at the beginning of a syllable, or when doubled. They were pronounced as fricatives /v ? ð x f ?/ when preceded by a vowel (commonly indicated with a macron, ? ? ? ? p? ?). The plosive and double pronunciations were indicated by the dagesh. In Modern Hebrew the sounds ? and ? have reverted to [d] and [?], respectively, and ? has become [t], so only the remaining three consonants /b k p/ show variation. ? resh may have also been a "doubled" letter, making the list BeGeD KePoReS. (Sefer Yetzirah, 4:1)
? chet and ? ayin represented pharyngeal fricatives, ? tsadi represented the emphatic consonant /s?/, ? tet represented the emphatic consonant /t?/, and ? qof represented the uvular plosive /q/. All these are common Semitic consonants.
?? sin (the /s/ variant of ? shin) was originally different from both ?? shin and ? samekh, but had become /s/ the same as ? samekh by the time the vowel pointing was devised. Because of cognates with other Semitic languages, this phoneme is known to have originally been a lateral consonant, most likely the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative /?/ (the sound of modern Welsh ll) or the voiceless alveolar lateral affricate /t?/ (like Náhuatl tl).
Vowels.
Matres lectionis.
Main article: Mater lectionis
? alef, ? he, ? vav and ? yod are letters that can sometimes indicate a vowel instead of a consonant (which would be, respectively, /?/, /h/, /v/ and /j/). When they do, ? and ? are considered to constitute part of the vowel designation in combination with a niqqud symbol ? a vowel diacritic (whether or not the diacritic is marked), whereas ? and ? are considered to be mute, their role being purely indicative of the non-marked vowel.
LetterName
of letterConsonant
indicated
when letter
consonantalVowel
designationName of
vowel designationIndicated
Vowel
?alef/?/??ê, ?, ?, â, ô
?he/h/??ê, ?, ?, â, ô
?vav/v/???olám maléô
??shurúqû
?yud/j/????iríq maléî
???tseré maléê, ?
Vowel points.
Niqqud is the system of dots that help determine vowels and consonants. In Hebrew, all forms of niqqud are often omitted in writing, except for children's books, prayer books, poetry, foreign words, and words which would be ambiguous to pronounce. Israeli Hebrew has five vowel phonemes, /i e a o u/, but many more written symbols for them:
NameSymbolIsraeli Hebrew
IPATransliterationEnglish
example
Hiriq[i]imandi
Zeire[e?], ([e?j] with
succeeding yod)e, (ei with
succeeding yod)men, main
Segol[e?]emen
Patach[ä]afather
Kamatz???[ä], (or [o?])a, (or o)father
Holam Haser[o?]oover
Holam Male??[o?]oover
Shuruk[u]umoon
Kubutz[u]umoon
Note 1: The symbol "?" represents whatever Hebrew letter is used.
Note 2: The pronunciation of zeire and sometimes segol ? with or without the letter yod ? is sometimes ei in Modern Hebrew. This is not correct in the normative pronunciation and not consistent in the spoken language.
Note 3: The dagesh, mappiq, and shuruk have different functions, even though they look the same.
Note 4: The letter ? (vav) is used since it can only be represented by that letter.
Meteg.
Main article: Meteg
By adding a vertical line (called Meteg) underneath the letter and to the left of the vowel point, the vowel is made long. The meteg is only used in Biblical Hebrew, not Modern Hebrew.
Sh'va.
Main article: Sh'va
By adding two vertical dots (called Sh'va) underneath the letter, the vowel is made very short.
NameSymbolIsraeli Hebrew
IPATransliterationEnglish
example
Shva[e?] or ?apostrophe, e,
or nothingh as pronounced in herb
Reduced Segol[e?]emen
Reduced Patach[ä]afather
Reduced Kamatz
???
[o?]ofather
Comparison tableEdit
Vowel comparison table
Vowel Length
(phonetically not manifested in Israeli Hebrew)IPATransliterationEnglish
example
LongShortVery Short
???[ä]aspa
???[e?]etemp
???
[dubious ]?
[dubious ][o?]oCongo
???n/a[u]usoon
????[i]iski
Note I:By adding two vertical dots (sh'va) ?
the vowel is made very short.
Note II:The short o and long a have the same niqqud.
Note III:The short o is usually promoted to a long o
in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation
Note IV:The short u is usually promoted to a long u
in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation
Gershayim.
Main article: Gershayim
The symbol ? is called a gershayim and is a punctuation mark used in the Hebrew language to denote acronyms. It is written before the last letter in the acronym, e.g. ???. Gershayim is also the name of a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, printed above the accented letter, e.g. ??.
Sounds represented with diacritic gereshEdit
Main articles: Geresh and Hebraization of English
The sounds [t??], [d??], [?], written "??", "??", "??", and [w], non-standardly sometimes transliterated ?? or ??[e3], are often found in slang and loanwords that are part of the everyday Hebrew colloquial vocabulary. The apostrophe-looking symbol after the Hebrew letter modifies the pronunciation of the letter and is called a geresh. (As mentioned above, while still done, using ?? to represent [w] is non-standard; standard spelling rules allow no usage of ?? whatsoever[e4]).
Hebrew slang and loanwords
NameSymbolIPATransliterationExample
Gimel with a geresh??[d??]?[9]?á?nun[?d??a?nun]??????????
Zayin with a geresh??[?]?[9]kolá?[ko?la?]????????
Tsadi with a geresh??[t??]?[9]?upár (treat)[t??u?par]????????
Vav with a geresh
or double Vav?? or ??(non standard)[e5][w]wawánta (boastful act)[a?wanta]??????????
The pronunciation of the following letters can also be modified with the geresh diacritic, the represented sounds are however foreign to Hebrew phonology, i.e., these symbols only represent sounds in foreign words or names when transliterated with the Hebrew alphabet, and never loanwords.
Transliteration of non-native sounds
NameSymbolIPAArabic letterExampleComment
Dalet with a geresh??[ð]Dh?l (?)
Voiced thDh? al-?ijjah (?? ?????)???? ??-?????* Also used for English voiced th
* Often a simple ? is written.
Tav with a geresh??[?]Th?? (?)
Voiceless thThurston???????
?et with a geresh??[?]Kh?? (?)Sheikh (???)??????* Unlike the other sounds in this table, the sound [?] represented by ?? is indeed a native sound in Hebrew; the geresh is however used only when transliteration must distinguish between [?] and [?], in which case ?? transliterates the former and ? the latter, whereas in everyday usage ? without geresh is pronounced [?] only dialectically but [?] commonly.
Resh with a geresh?? or ??[?]Ghayn (?)Ghajar (???)?????Sometimes an ?ayin with a geresh (??) is used to transliterate ? ? inconsistently with the guidelines specified by the Academy of the Hebrew Language
A geresh is also used to denote acronyms pronounced as a string of letters, and to denote a Hebrew numeral. Geresh also is the name of one of the notes of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, but its appearance and function is different.
Religious use.
The letters of the Hebrew alphabet have played varied roles in Jewish religious literature over the centuries, primarily in mystical texts. Some sources in classical rabbinical literature seem to acknowledge the historical provenance of the currently used Hebrew alphabet and deal with them as a mundane subject (the Jerusalem Talmud, for example, records that "the Israelites took for themselves square calligraphy", and that the letters "came with the Israelites from Ashur [Assyria]"); others attribute mystical significance to the letters, connecting them with the process of creation or the redemption. In mystical conceptions, the alphabet is considered eternal, pre-existent to the Earth, and the letters themselves are seen as having holiness and power, sometimes to such an extent that several stories from the Talmud illustrate the idea that they cannot be destroyed.
The idea of the letters' creative power finds its greatest vehicle in the Sefer Yezirah, or Book of Creation, a mystical text of uncertain origin which describes a story of creation highly divergent from that in the Book of Genesis, largely through exposition on the powers of the letters of the alphabet. The supposed creative powers of the letters are also referenced in the Talmud and Zohar.
The four-pronged Shin.
Another book, the 13th-century Kabbalistic text Sefer HaTemunah, holds that a single letter of unknown pronunciation, held by some to be the four-pronged shin on one side of the teffilin box, is missing from the current alphabet. The world's flaws, the book teaches, are related to the absence of this letter, the eventual revelation of which will repair the universe. Another example of messianic significance attached to the letters is the teaching of Rabbi Eliezer that the five letters of the alphabet with final forms hold the "secret of redemption".
In addition, the letters occasionally feature in aggadic portions of non-mystical rabbinic literature. In such aggada the letters are often given anthropomorphic qualities and depicted as speaking to God. Commonly their shapes are used in parables to illustrate points of ethics or theology. An example from the Babylonian Talmud (a parable intended to discourage speculation about the universe before creation):
Why does the story of creation begin with bet?... In the same manner that the letter bet is closed on all sides and only open in front, similarly you are not permitted to inquire into what is before or what was behind, but only from the actual time of Creation.
Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Hagigah, 77c
Extensive instructions about the proper methods of forming the letters are found in Mishnat Soferim, within Mishna Berura of Yisrael Meir Kagan.
Mathematical use.
See aleph number and beth number and gimel function.
In set theory, , pronounced aleph-naught or aleph-zero, is used to mark the cardinal number of an infinite countable set, such as , the set of all integers. More generally, the (aleph) notation marks the ordered sequence of all distinct infinite cardinal numbers.
Less frequently used, the (beth) notation is used for the iterated power sets of . The 2nd element is the cardinality of the continuum. Very occasionally, gimel is used in cardinal notation.
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232.Hexagram (Greek)/ sexagram (Latin)/six-pointed geometric star.
A hexagram (Greek) or sexagram (Latin) is a six-pointed geometric star figure with the Schläfli symbol {6/2}, 2{3}, or {{3}}. It is the compound of two equilateral triangles. The intersection is a regular hexagon.
It is used in historical, religious and cultural contexts, for example in Hanafism, Raelianism, Jewish identity, Hinduism and occultism.
Group theory.
In mathematics, the root system for the simple Lie group G2 is in the form of a hexagram.
Construction by compass and a straight edgeEdit
A six-pointed star, like a hexagon, can be created using a compass and a straight edge:
Make a circle of any size with the compass.
Without changing the radius of the compass, set its pivot on the circle's circumference, and find one of the two points where a new circle would intersect the first circle.
With the pivot on the last point found, similarly find a third point on the circumference, and repeat until six such points have been marked.
With a straight edge, join alternate points on the circumference to form two overlapping equilateral triangles.
Origins and shape.
It is possible that as a simple geometric shape, like for example the triangle, circle, or square, the hexagram has been created by various peoples with no connection to one another.
The hexagram is a mandala symbol called satkona yantra or sadkona yantra found on ancient South Indian Hindu temples. It symbolizes the nara-narayana, or perfect meditative state of balance achieved between Man and God, and if maintained, results in "moksha," or "nirvana" (release from the bounds of the earthly world and its material trappings).
Another theory, though apparently not very substantiated, about the origin of the shape is that it is simply 2 of the 3 letters in the name David: in its Hebrew spelling, David is transliterated as "D-V-D." In Biblical Hebrew, the letter "D" (Dalet) was written in a form like an upside-down and backwards "L," but when seen in the Greek, the letter "Delta" (?) is a triangle. The symbol may have been a simple family crest formed by flipping and juxtaposing the two most prominent letters in the name. The letter "W" in this case could reference the compositing operation of the two Deltas.
Some researchers have theorized that the hexagram represents the astrological chart at the time of David's birth or anointment as king. The hexagram is also known as the "King's Star" in astrological circles.
In antique papyri, pentagrams, together with stars and other signs, are frequently found on amulets bearing the Jewish names of God, and used to guard against fever and other diseases. Curiously the hexagram is not found among these signs. In the Greek Magical Papyri (Wessely, l.c. pp. 31, 112) at Paris and London there are twenty-two signs side by side, and a circle with twelve signs, but neither a pentagram nor a hexagram.
Usage by Hinduism and Eastern religions.
Diagram showing the two mystic syllables Om and Hrim
Six pointed stars have also been found in cosmological diagrams in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The reasons behind this symbol's common appearance in Indic religions and the West are unknown. One possibility is that they have a common origin. The other possibility is that artists and religious people from several cultures independently created the hexagram shape, which is a relatively simple geometric design.
Within Indic lore, the shape is generally understood to consist of two triangles?one pointed up and the other down?locked in harmonious embrace. The two components are called "Om" and the "Hrim" in Sanskrit, and symbolize man's position between earth and sky. The downward triangle symbolizes Shakti, the sacred embodiment of femininity, and the upward triangle symbolizes Shiva, or Agni Tattva, representing the focused aspects of masculinity. The mystical union of the two triangles represents Creation, occurring through the divine union of male and female. The two locked triangles are also known as 'Shanmukha'?the six-faced, representing the six faces of Shiva & Shakti's progeny Kartikeya. This symbol is also a part of several yantras and has deep significance in Hindu ritual worship and history.
In Buddhism, some old versions of the Bardo Thodol, also known as The "Tibetan Book of the Dead", contain a hexagram with a Swastika inside. It was made up by the publishers for this particular publication. In Tibetan, it is called the "origin of phenomenon" (chos-kyi 'byung-gnas). It is especially connected with Vajrayogini, and forms the center part of Her mandala. In reality, it is in three dimensions, not two, although it may be portrayed either way.
In the endocrine system, Anahata is associated with the thymus gland, located in the chest. This gland produces T-cells, that combat disease, and bring equilibrium to the body. The functioning of the thymus is greatest before puberty and is impaired by the appearance of sex hormones in the blood stream from puberty onwards.
Many Western occultists associate this central chakra with the central sephirah, Tiphereth, in the kabbalistic tree of life. Christian kabbalists in particular associate this sephirah with love, healing and Jesus Christ as God the Son.
The Shatkona is a symbol used in Hindu yantra that represents the union of both the male and feminine form. More specifically it is supposed to represent Purusha (the supreme being), and Prakriti (mother nature, or causal matter). Often this is represented as Shiva - Shakti.
The Shatkona is a hexagram and looks exactly like the Star of David in Semitic lore.
Anahata: The Heart Chakra.
Anahata (also known as Anahata-puri, or Padma-sundara) is related to the thymus, located in the chest. The thymus is an element of the immune system as well as being part of the endocrine system. It is the site of maturation of the T cells responsible for fending off disease and may be adversely affected by stress. Anahata is symbolized by a lotus flower with twelve petals. (See also heartmind). Anahata is related to the colors green or pink. Key issues involving Anahata involve complex emotions, compassion, tenderness, unconditional love, equilibrium, rejection and well-being. Physically Anahata governs circulation, emotionally it governs unconditional love for the self and others, mentally it governs passion, and spiritually it governs devotion.
Usage by the Abrahamic religionsEdit
Usage by JewsEdit
Main article: Star of David
The Star of David in the oldest surviving complete copy of the Masoretic text, the Leningrad Codex, dated 1008.
The Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Judaism and Jewish identity and is also known colloquially as the Jewish Star or "Star of David." Its usage as a sign of Jewish identity began in the Middle Ages, though its religious usage began earlier, with the current earliest archeological evidence being a stone bearing the shield from the arch of a 3?4th century synagogue in the Galilee. A more enduring symbol of Judaism, the menorah, has been in use since BC.
Usage by Christians.
Jesus in a hexagram ? painting in the Saint Nikola church in Krusevo, Macedonia
Marian Star, a slightly modified hexagram
The hexagram may be found in some Churches and stained-glass windows. An example of this is one embedded in the ceiling of the Washington National Cathedral. In Christianity it is often called the star of creation.
In Orthodox Christian churches, for example in Balkan countries, hexagrams can be found more often than in Roman Catholic churches.
Latter-day Saints (Mormons).
Star of David on the Salt Lake Assembly Hall
Main article: Mormonism and Judaism
The Star of David is also used less prominently by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the temples and in architecture. It symbolizes God reaching down to man and man reaching up to God, the union of Heaven and earth. It may also symbolize the Tribes of Israel and friendship and their affinity towards the Jewish people. Additionally, it is sometimes used to symbolize the quorum of the twelve apostles, as in Revelation 12, wherein the Church of God is symbolized by a woman wearing a crown of twelve stars. It is also sometimes used to symbolize the Big Dipper, which points to the North Star, a symbol of Jesus Christ.
Rastafari.
A black star of David is used to identify the black population, in Africa or otherwise, with one of the Tribes of Israel.
Usage by Muslims.
Hexagram at Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, India
Hexagram in Islamic stonework at the Qutb complex, Delhi, India
Hexagram on obverse of Moroccan 4 Falus coin (1873)
Hexagram on the Minaret of Arasta Mosque (Prizren)
Hexagram on the flag of Hayreddin Barbarossa
Use in a Quran
Use in a Dirham
The symbol is known in Arabic as ???? ?????, Najmat D?w?d (Star of David) or ???? ?????? Kh?tem Sulaym?n (Seal of Solomon), but "Seal of Solomon" may also refer to a pentagram or a species of plant.
In various places in the Qur'an, it is written that David and King Solomon (Arabic, Suliman or Sulayman) were prophets and kings and therefore they are revered figures by Muslims. The Medieval pre-Ottoman Hanafi Anatolian beyliks of the Karamanids and Jandarids used the star on their flag. The symbol also used on Hayreddin Barbarossa flag. Even today, the star can be found in mosques and on other Arabic and Islamic artifacts.
Professor Gershom Sholem theorizes that the "Star of David" originates in the writings of Aristotle, who used triangles in different positions to indicate the different basic elements. The superposed triangles thus represented combinations of those elements. From Aristotle's writings those symbols made their ways into early, pre-Muslim Arab literature.
Usage in heraldry.
In heraldry and vexillology, a hexagram is a fairly common charge employed, though it is rarely called by this name. In Germanic regions it is known simply as a "star." In English and French heraldry, however, the hexagram is known as a "mullet of six points," where mullet is a French term for a spur rowel which is shown with five pointed arms by default unless otherwise specified.
Usage in theosophy.
The Star of David is used in the seal and the emblem of the Theosophical Society (founded in 1875). Although it is more pronounced, it is used along with other religious symbols. These include the Swastika, the Ankh, the Aum, and the Ouroboros. The star of David is also known as the Seal of Solomon that was its original name until around 50 years ago.
Usage in Raelism.
The International Raelian Movement (IRM) uses a hexagram. The root of this symbol, according to the founder of the IRM, Rael, can be attributed to its use by genetic engineers from extrasolar planets who are allegedly the same entities referred to as Elohim. According to Rael, these space travellers came to Earth and synthesized life from non-living matter in 7 laboratory bases which contained the symbol.
Some meanings which involve particular variations of this symbol are supported by the IRM, such as "well being" (where "swastika" means "well being" in Sanskrit) and "infinity in time" (as Hindus see the swastika as a symbol for "eternal" cycles). In Raelism, the upper and lower triangles represent "as above, so below", which refers to either the likeness between the creators' past and created's future or the repeating fractal hierarchical structure in the universe. "As above so below" is also well known in Wicca as the last statement of an invocation or ritual in order to bring the change of events from the upper world to the lower world (our world).
The IRM has long-term plans to build a temple complex or embassy that would, at around the time of a Technological Singularity, and before 2035, support the arrival of prophets of major and some minor religions after a spectacular descent from an interstellar journey. Rael (or the Elohim, as Rael would put it) requires that the embassy contain the "symbol of the Elohim." The symbol initially used by the Raelian movement was the source of considerable controversy linked to a proposal to build the Raelian embassy in Israel since it resembled a hexagram with the image of a Swastika embedded in its center.
Usage in Occultism.
The hexagram, like the pentagram, was and is used in practices of the occult and ceremonial magic and is attributed to the 7 "old" planets outlined in astrology.
The six-pointed star is commonly used both as a talisman and for conjuring spirits and spiritual forces in divers forms occult magic. In the book The History and Practice of Magic, Vol. 2, the six-pointed star is called the talisman of Saturn and it is also referred to as the Seal of Solomon. Details are given in this book on how to make these symbols and the materials to use.
Double hexagram.
Traditionally, the Hexagram can be seen as the combination of the four elements. Fire is symbolized as an upwards pointing triangle, while Air (its elemental opposite) is also an upwards pointing triangle, but with a horizontal line through its center. Water is symbolized as a downwards pointing triangle, while Earth (its elemental opposite) is also a downwards pointing triangle, but with a horizontal line through its center. When you combine the symbols of Fire and Water, a hexagram (six-pointed star) is created. The same follows for when you combine the symbols of Air and Earth. When you combine both hexagrams, you get the double-hexagram. Thus, a combination of the elements is created.
In Rosicrucian and Hermetic Magic, the seven Traditional Planets correspond with the angles and the center of the Hexagram as follows, in the same patterns as they appear on the Sephiroth and on the The Tree of Life. Saturn, although formally attributed to the Sephira of Binah, within this frame work nonetheless occupies the position of Daath.
Usage in Freemasonry.
"The interlacing triangles or deltas symbolize the union of the two principles or forces, the active and passive, male and female, pervading the universe ... The two triangles, one white and the other black, interlacing, typify the mingling of apparent opposites in nature, darkness and light, error and truth, ignorance and wisdom, evil and good, throughout human life." ? Albert G. Mackey: Encyclopedia of Freemasonry.
The hexagram, one of the world's most ancient symbols, is featured within and on the outside of many Masonic temples as a decoration. It may have been found within the structures of King Solomon's temple, from which Freemasons are inspired in their philosophies and studies. Like many other symbols in Freemasonry, the deciphering of the hexagram is non-dogmatic and left to the interpretation of the individual.
Other uses.
Aerial photograph of Heathrow Airport, London, 1955
A six-point interlocking triangles has been used for thousands of years as an indication a sword was made, and "proved," in the Damascus area of the Middle East. Still today, it is a required "proved" mark on all official UK and United States military swords though the blades themselves no longer come from the Middle East.
The Ulster Banner flag of Northern Ireland, used from 1953-1952. The six pointed star, representing the six counties that make up Northern Ireland.
In Unicode, the "Star of David" symbol ? is U+2721.
There is a plant named Solomon's seal (Polygonatum multiflorum) in the lily family.
In alchemy, the two triangles represent the reconciliation of the opposites of fire and water. Non-Jewish Kabbalah (also called Christian or Hermetic Kabbalah) interprets the hexagram to mean the divine union of male and female energy, where the male is represented by the upper triangle and the female by the lower one. Moreover, it derives four triangular symbols from it (two triangles crossed like a capital letter A and two uncrossed) to represent the four elements: water, fire, air, and earth. This use of the symbol was used as an important plot point in Dan Brown's popular novel The Da Vinci Code and the Da Vinci Code film cites this as the origin of the star.
It was also used as a sign for quintessence, the fifth element.
In southern Germany the hexagram can be found as part of tavern anchors. It is symbol for the tapping of beer and sign of the brewer's guild. In German this is called "Bierstern" (beer star) or "Brauerstern" (brewer's star).
A six-point star is used as an identifying mark of the Folk Nation.
The main runways and taxiways of Heathrow Airport were arranged roughly in the shape of a hexagram.
A hexagram in a circle is incorporated prominently in the supports of Worthing railway station's platform 2 canopy (UK).
Flag of Dardania
A hexagram appears on the Dardania Flag, proposed for Kosovo by the Democratic League of Kosovo.
An extremely large, free-standing metal hexagram stands in the central park of the Municipality of El Tejar, Guatemala. Additionally, every year at Christmastime the residents of El Tejar erect a giant fake Christmas tree in front of their municipal building, with a hexagram sitting at its peak.
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