Geresh

Geresh (׳ in Hebrew: גֶּרֶשׁ‎^[1] or גֵּרֶשׁ‎^[2] , or medieval ) is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.

1. An apostrophe-like sign (also known colloquially as a chupchik)^[3] placed after a letter:
   • as a diacritic that modifies the pronunciation of some letters (in modern Hebrew),
   • as a diacritic that signifies Yiddish origin of a word or suffix,
   • as a punctuation mark to denote initialisms or abbreviations,
   • or to denote a Hebrew numeral.
2. A note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah and other Biblical books, taking the form of a curved diagonal stroke placed above a letter.

Diacritic

As a diacritic, the Geresh is written immediately after (left of) the letter it modifies. It indicates three sounds native to speakers of modern Hebrew that are common in loan words and slang: [dʒ] as in judge, [ʒ] as in measure and [tʃ] as in church. In transliteration of Arabic, it indicates Arabic phonemes which are usually allophones in modern Hebrew: [ɣ] is distinguished from [r] and [ħ] is distinguished from [χ]. Finally, it indicates other sounds foreign to the phonology modern Hebrew speakers and used exclusively for the transliteration of foreign words: [ð] as in then, [θ] as in thin, [sˤ]; and, in some transliteration systems, also [tˤ], [dˤ] and [ðˤ].

Loanwords, slang, foreign names and transliterations

Transcriptions of Arabic

There are six additional letters in the Arabic alphabet. They are Ṯāʾ, Ḫāʾ, Ḏāl, Ḍād, Ẓāʾ, and Ġayn. Also, some letters have different sounds in Arabic phonology and modern Hebrew phonology, such as Ǧīm.

Transliteration of foreign names

Note

* ^ Both double-vav and vav with geresh are non-standard and so inconsistently used.^[6]

Yiddish origin

Some words or suffixes with Yiddish origin or pronunciation are marked with a geresh, e.g. the diminutive suffix "לֶ׳ה" – "le", e.g. "יענקל׳ה" – "Yankale" (as in Yankale Bodo), or the words "חבר׳ה" – [ˈχevre], "guys" (which is the Yiddish pronunciation of Hebrew "חברה" [χevˈra] "company"), or "תכל׳ס" – [ˈtaχles], "down-to-earth".

Punctuation mark

The geresh is used as a punctuation mark in initialisms and to denote numerals.

Indicating initialisms

In initialisms, the Geresh is written after the last letter of the initialism. For example: the title גְּבֶרֶת (literally "lady") is abbreviated גב׳, equivalent to English "Mrs" and "Ms".^[7]

Denoting a numeral

A Geresh can be appended after (left of) a single letter to indicate that the letter represents a Hebrew numeral. For example: ק׳‎ represents 100. A multi-digit Hebrew numeral is indicated by the Gershayim ⟨״⟩.

Cantillation mark

As a note of cantillation in the reading of the Torah, the Geresh is printed above the accented letter: ב֜. The Geresh Muqdam (lit. "a Geresh made earlier"), a variant cantillation mark, is also printed above the accented letter, but slightly before (i.e. more to the right of) the position of the normal Geresh: ב֝. As a cantillation mark it is also called Ṭères (טֶרֶס)‎.^[1]

Computer encoding

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

See also

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

References