Tsade
Tsade | ||||||||||
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Phonemic representation | sˤ (t͡s) | |||||||||
Position in alphabet | 18 | |||||||||
Numerical value | 90 | |||||||||
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician | ||||||||||
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á¹¢ade (also spelled á¹¢ÄdÄ“, Tsade, á¹¢addi, á¹¢ad, Tzadi, Sadhe, Tzaddik) is the eighteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ÇÄdÄ“ , Hebrew á¹¢Ädi צ, Aramaic á¹¢Äá¸Ä“
, Syriac á¹¢Äá¸Ä“ ܨ, and Arabic á¹¢Äd ص. Its oldest sound value is probably /sˤ/, although there is a variety of pronunciation in different modern Semitic languages and their dialects. It represents the coalescence of three Proto-Semitic "emphatic consonants" in Canaanite. Arabic, which kept the phonemes separate, introduced variants of á¹£Äd and á¹Äʾ to express the three (see á¸Äd, ẓÄʾ). In Aramaic, these emphatic consonants coalesced instead with Ê¿ayin and á¹Ä“t, respectively, thus Hebrew ereá¹£ ×רץ (earth) is araÊ¿ ×רע in Aramaic.
The Phoenician letter is continued in the Greek San (Ϻ) and possibly Sampi (Ï ), and in Etruscan ðŒ‘ Åš. It may have inspired the form of the letter Tse in the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet.
The corresponding letter of the Ugaritic alphabet is ðŽ• á¹£ade.
The letter is known as "tsadik" in Yiddish, and Hebrew speakers often give it that name as well. This name for the letter probably originated from a fast recitation of the alphabet (i.e., "tsadi, qoph" -> "tsadiq, qoph"), influenced by the Hebrew word tzadik, meaning 'righteous person'.[1]
Origins
The origin of á¹¢ade is unclear. It may have come from a Middle Bronze Age glyph based on a pictogram of a plant, perhaps a papyrus plant, or a fish hook (in Modern Hebrew, צד tsad means "[he] hunt[ed]", and in Arabic صاد á¹£Äd means "[he] hunted").
Hebrew Tsadi
Orthographic variants | |||||
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position in word |
Various print fonts | Ashkenazi Cursive Hebrew |
Rashi script | ||
Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced | |||
non final | צ | צ | צ | ![]() |
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final | ×¥ | ×¥ | ×¥ | ![]() |
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Hebrew spelling: צָדִי
Name
In modern Hebrew, the letter Tsadi is also named á¹¢adi, though this is regarded by many speakers as incorrect. In transliteration, it may also be transliterated as "ts" instead of "á¹£", as Tsadi instead of á¹¢adi.
Variations
Ṣadi, like Kaph, Mem, Pe, and Nun, has a final form, used at the end of words. Its shape changes from צ to ץ.
Pronunciation
In Modern Israeli Hebrew, Ṣadi represents a voiceless alveolar affricate /t͡s/. This is the same in Yiddish language. Historically, it likely represented a pharyngealized /t͡sˤ/; which became [t͡s] in Ashkenazi pronunciation and is preserved as [sˤ] amongst Yemenite Jews and other Jews from the Middle East.
A geresh can also be placed after it (צ׳ ץ׳), giving it the sound [t͡ʃ], e.g. צ׳יפּס Äips, meaning "chips".
Significance
In gematria, á¹¢adi represents the number 90. Its final form represents 900 but this is rarely used, Taw, Taw, and Qof (400+400+100) being used instead.
As an abbreviation, it stands for á¹£afon, North.
Ṣadi is also one of the seven letters which receive a special crown (called tagin) when written in a Sefer Torah. See Shin, ‘Ayin, Ṭet, Nun, Zayin, and Gimmel.
Arabic á¹¢Äd
The letter is named á¹£Äd ; Modern Standard Arabic pronunciation: /sˤ/. In Persian, Turkish, and Urdu, its pronunciation is not distinguishable from س or Ø«, all are pronounced [s].
It is written in several ways depending in its position in the word:
In the Qur'an, chapter 38 is named after this letter, سورة ص.
Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
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Glyph form: | ص‎ | ـص‎ | ـصـ‎ | صـ‎ |
Character encodings
Character | צ | ×¥ | ص | ܨ | à ‘ | |||||
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Unicode name | HEBREW LETTER TSADI | HEBREW LETTER FINAL TSADI | ARABIC LETTER SAD | SYRIAC LETTER SADHE | SAMARITAN LETTER TSAADIY | |||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | decimal | hex | decimal | hex | decimal | hex | decimal | hex |
Unicode | 1510 | U+05E6 | 1509 | U+05E5 | 1589 | U+0635 | 1832 | U+0728 | 2065 | U+0811 |
UTF-8 | 215 166 | D7 A6 | 215 165 | D7 A5 | 216 181 | D8 B5 | 220 168 | DC A8 | 224 160 145 | E0 A0 91 |
Numeric character reference | צ | צ | ץ | ץ | ص | ص | ܨ | ܨ | ࠑ | ࠑ |
Character | ðŽ• | ð¡‘ | 𤑠| |||
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Unicode name | UGARITIC LETTER SADE | IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER SADHE | PHOENICIAN LETTER SADE | |||
Encodings | decimal | hex | decimal | hex | decimal | hex |
Unicode | 66453 | U+10395 | 67665 | U+10851 | 67857 | U+10911 |
UTF-8 | 240 144 142 149 | F0 90 8E 95 | 240 144 161 145 | F0 90 A1 91 | 240 144 164 145 | F0 90 A4 91 |
UTF-16 | 55296 57237 | D800 DF95 | 55298 56401 | D802 DC51 | 55298 56593 | D802 DD11 |
Numeric character reference | 𐎕 | 𐎕 | 𐡑 | 𐡑 | 𐤑 | 𐤑 |
See also
Notes
- ↑ "The Letter Tsade: Righteousness and Modesty" (in Hebrew). Retrieved 5 December 2010.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to צ. |
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