Qoph
Qoph | |
---|---|
Phoenician | 𐤒 |
Hebrew | ק |
Aramaic | 𐡒 |
Syriac | ܩ |
Arabic | ق |
Phonemic representation | q,(g,ʔ,k) |
Position in Alpha bet | 19 |
Numerical value | 100 |
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician | |
Greek | Ϙ,Φ |
Latin | Q |
Cyrillic | Ҁ,Ф,Ԛ |
Qophis the nineteenthletterof theSemitic abjads,includingArabicqāfق,Aramaicqop𐡒,Hebrewqūp̄ק,Phoenicianqōp𐤒, andSyriacqōp̄ܩ.
Its original sound value was aWest Semiticemphatic stop,presumably[kʼ].InHebrew numerals,it has the numerical value of 100.
Origins
[edit]The origin of the glyph shape ofqōp() is uncertain. It is usually suggested to have originally depicted either asewing needle,specifically theeye of a needle(Hebrewקוףqufand Aramaicקופאqopɑʔboth refer to the eye of a needle), or the back of a head and neck (qāfin Arabic meant "nape").[1] According to an older suggestion, it may also have been a picture of a monkey and its tail (the Hebrewקוףmeans "monkey" ).[2]
BesidesAramaicQop,which gave rise to the letter in the Semitic abjads used in classical antiquity, Phoenicianqōpis also the origin of the Latin letterQand GreekϘ(qoppa) andΦ(phi).[3]
Arabic qāf
[edit]qāf قاف | |
---|---|
ق | |
Usage | |
Writing system | Arabic script |
Type | Abjad |
Language of origin | Arabic language |
Sound values | q(g,ʔ,k,ɢ) |
Alphabetical position | 21 |
History | |
Development |
|
Other | |
Writing direction | Right-to-left |
The Arabic letterقis namedقافqāf.It is written in several ways depending in its position in the word:
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) |
ق | ـق | ـقـ | قـ |
Traditionally in thescripts of the Maghrebit is written with a single dot, similarly to how the letterfāفis written in Mashreqi scripts:[4]
Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glyph form: (Help) |
ڧ | ـڧ | ـڧـ | ڧـ |
It is usually transliterated into Latin script asq,though some scholarly works useḳ.[5]
Pronunciation
[edit]According toSibawayh,author of the first book onArabic grammar,the letter is pronouncedvoiced(maǧhūr),[6]although some scholars argue, that Sibawayh's termmaǧhūrimplies lack ofaspirationrather than voice.[7]As noted above,Modern Standard Arabichas thevoiceless uvular plosive/q/as its standard pronunciation of the letter, but dialectal pronunciations vary as follows:
The three main pronunciations:
- [q]:in most of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco,SouthernandWesternYemen and parts of Oman, Northern Iraq, parts of the Levant (especially theAlawiteandDruzedialects). In fact, it is so characteristic of theAlawitesand theDruzethat Levantines invented a verb "y QAQ i" /jqæqi/ that means "speaking with a /q/".[8]However, most other dialects of Arabic will use this pronunciation in learned words that are borrowed from Standard Arabic into the respective dialect or when Arabs speak Modern Standard Arabic.
- [ɡ]:in most of theArabian Peninsula,NorthernandEasternYemen and parts of Oman, SouthernIraq,some parts within Jordan, eastern Syria and southern Palestine,Upper Egypt(Ṣaʿīd),Sudan,Libya,Mauritaniaand to lesser extent in some parts ofTunisia,Algeria,andMoroccobut it is also used partially across those countries in some words.[9]
- [ʔ]:in most of theLevantandEgypt,as well as some North African towns such asTlemcenandFez.
Other pronunciations:
- [ɢ]:InSudaneseand some forms ofYemeni,even in loanwords from Modern Standard Arabic or when speaking Modern Standard Arabic.
- [k]:In ruralPalestinianit is often pronounced as avoiceless velar plosive[k],even in loanwords from Modern Standard Arabic or when speaking Modern Standard Arabic.
Marginal pronunciations:
- [d͡z]:In some positions inNajdi,though this pronunciation is fading in favor of[ɡ].[10][11]
- [d͡ʒ]:Optionally inIraqiand inGulf Arabic,it is sometimes pronounced as avoiced postalveolar affricate[d͡ʒ],even in loanwords from Modern Standard Arabic or when speaking Modern Standard Arabic.
- [ɣ]~[ʁ]:inSudaneseand some Yemeni dialects (Yafi'i), and sometimes inGulf Arabicby Persian influence, even in loanwords from Modern Standard Arabic or when speaking Modern Standard Arabic.
Velar gāf
[edit]It is not well known when the pronunciation of qāf⟨ق⟩as a velar[ɡ]occurred or the probability of it being connected to the pronunciation ofjīm⟨ج⟩as an affricate[d͡ʒ],but theArabian peninsulawhich is the homeland of the Arabic language, there are two sets of pronunciations, either the⟨ج⟩represents a[d͡ʒ]and⟨ق⟩represents a[ɡ][12]which is the main pronunciation in most of the peninsula except for western and southernYemenand parts ofOmanwhere⟨ج⟩represents a[ɡ]and⟨ق⟩represents a[q].
The Standard Arabic (MSA) combination of⟨ج⟩as a[d͡ʒ]and⟨ق⟩as a[q]does not occur in any natural modern dialect in the Arabian peninsula, which shows a strong correlation between the palatalization of⟨ج⟩to[d͡ʒ]and the pronunciation of the⟨ق⟩as a[ɡ]as shown in the table below:
Languages - Dialects | Pronunciation of the letters | |
---|---|---|
ج | ق | |
Dialects in parts of Oman and Yemen1 | [g] | [q] |
Modern Standard Arabic2 | [d͡ʒ] | |
Dialects in most of theArabian Peninsula | [ɡ] |
Notes:
- Western and southern Yemen:Taʽizzi, AdeniandTihamiyyadialects (coastal Yemen), in addition to southwestern (Salalahregion) and eastern Oman, includingMuscat,the capital.
- As used in theArabian Peninsula:inSanaa;قis[ɡ]inSanʽani dialectand also in the literary standard (local MSA), whereas the literary standard pronunciation inSudanis[ɢ]or[ɡ].For the pronunciation ofجin Modern Standard Arabic, checkJīm.
Pronunciation across other languages
[edit]Language | Dialect(s) / Script(s) | Pronunciation (IPA) |
---|---|---|
Azeri | Arabic Alpha bet | /g/ |
Kurdish | Sorani | /q/ |
Malay | Jawi | /q/or/k/ |
Pashto | /q/or/k/ | |
Persian | Dari | /q/ |
Iranian | /ɢ/~/ɣ/or/q/ | |
Punjabi | Shahmukhi | /q/or/k/ |
Urdu | /q/or/k/ | |
Uyghur | /q/ |
Maghrebi variant
[edit]TheMaghrebi styleof writingqāfis different: having only a single point (dot) above; when the letter is isolated or word-final, it may sometimes become unpointed.[13]
Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
---|---|---|---|---|
Form of letter: | ڧ ࢼ |
ـڧ ـࢼ |
ـڧـ | ڧـ |
The earliest Arabic manuscripts showqāfin several variants: pointed (above or below) or unpointed.[14]Then the prevalent convention was having a point above forqāfand a point below forfāʼ;this practice is now only preserved in manuscripts from the Maghribi,[15]with the exception of Libya and Algeria, where theMashriqiform (two dots above:ق) prevails.
Within Maghribi texts, there is no possibility of confusing it with the letterfāʼ,as it is instead written with a dot underneath (ڢ) in the Maghribi script.[16]
Hebrew qof
[edit]TheOxford Hebrew-English Dictionarytransliterates the letter Qoph (קוֹף) asqork;and, when word-final, it may be transliterated asck.[citation needed] The English spellings of Biblical names (as derived viaLatinfromBiblical Greek) containing this letter may represent it ascork,e.g.Cainfor HebrewQayin,orKenanforQenan(Genesis 4:1, 5:9).
Orthographicvariants | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Various print fonts | Cursive Hebrew |
Rashi script | ||
Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced | ||
ק | ק | ק |
Pronunciation
[edit]Inmodern Israeli Hebrewthe letteris also calledkuf.The letter represents/k/;i.e., no distinction is made between the pronunciations of Qof andKaph withDagesh(in modern Hebrew).
However, many historical groups have made that distinction, with Qof being pronounced[q]byIraqi Jewsand otherMizrahim,or even as[ɡ]byYemenite Jewsinfluenced byYemeni Arabic.
Qoph is consistently transliterated into classical Greek with the unaspirated〈κ〉/k/, while Kaph (both its allophones) is transliterated with the aspirated〈χ〉/kʰ/. Thus Qoph was unaspirated /k/ where Kaph was /kʰ/, this distinction is no longer present. Further we know that Qoph is one of the emphatic consonants through comparison with other Semitic languages, and most likely was ejective /kʼ/. In Arabic the emphatics are pharyngealised and this causes a preference for back vowels, this is not shown in Hebrew orthography. Though the gutturals show a preference for certain vowels, Hebrew emphatics do not in Tiberian Hebrew (the Hebrew dialect recorded with vowels) and therefore were most likely not pharyngealised, but ejective, pharyngealisation being a result of Arabisation.[citation needed]
Numeral
[edit]Qof inHebrew numeralsrepresents the number 100.Sarahis described inGenesis Rabbaasבת ק' כבת כ' שנה לחטא, literally "At Qof years of age, she was likeKaphyears of age in sin ", meaning that when she was 100 years old, she was as sinless as when she was 20.[17]
Unicode
[edit]Preview | ק | ق | ڧ | ࢼ | ܩ | ࠒ | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | HEBREW LETTER QOF | ARABIC LETTER QAF | ARABIC LETTER QAF WITH DOT ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER AFRICAN QAF | SYRIAC LETTER QAPH | SAMARITAN LETTER QUF | ||||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 1511 | U+05E7 | 1602 | U+0642 | 1703 | U+06A7 | 2236 | U+08BC | 1833 | U+0729 | 2066 | U+0812 |
UTF-8 | 215 167 | D7 A7 | 217 130 | D9 82 | 218 167 | DA A7 | 224 162 188 | E0 A2 BC | 220 169 | DC A9 | 224 160 146 | E0 A0 92 |
Numeric character reference | ק |
ק |
ق |
ق |
ڧ |
ڧ |
ࢼ |
ࢼ |
ܩ |
ܩ |
ࠒ |
ࠒ |
Preview | 𐎖 | 𐡒 | 𐤒 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | UGARITIC LETTER QOPA | IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER QOPH | PHOENICIAN LETTER QOF | |||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 66454 | U+10396 | 67666 | U+10852 | 67858 | U+10912 |
UTF-8 | 240 144 142 150 | F0 90 8E 96 | 240 144 161 146 | F0 90 A1 92 | 240 144 164 146 | F0 90 A4 92 |
UTF-16 | 55296 57238 | D800 DF96 | 55298 56402 | D802 DC52 | 55298 56594 | D802 DD12 |
Numeric character reference | 𐎖 |
𐎖 |
𐡒 |
𐡒 |
𐤒 |
𐤒 |
References
[edit]- ^ Travers Wood, Henry Craven Ord Lanchester,A Hebrew Grammar,1913, p. 7. A. B. Davidson,Hebrew Primer and Grammar,2000,p. 4. The meaning is doubtful. "Eye of a needle" has been suggested, and also "knot" Harvard Studies in Classical Philology vol. 45.
- ^ Isaac Taylor,History of the Alphabet: Semitic Alphabets, Part 1,2003,p. 174: "The old explanation, which has again been revived by Halévy, is that it denotes an 'ape,' the characterQbeing taken to represent an ape with its tail hanging down. It may also be referred to a Talmudic root which would signify an 'aperture' of some kind, as the 'eye of a needle,'... Lenormant adopts the more usual explanation that the word means a 'knot'.
- ^ Qop may have been assigned the sound value /kʷʰ/ inearly Greek;as this was allophonic with /pʰ/ in certain contexts and certain dialects, the letter qoppa continued as the letter phi. C. Brixhe, "History of the Alpbabet", in Christidēs, Arapopoulou, & Chritē, eds., 2007, A History of Ancient Greek.
- ^al-Banduri, Muhammad (2018-11-16)."الخطاط المغربي عبد العزيز مجيب بين التقييد الخطي والترنح الحروفي"[Moroccan calligrapher Abd al-Aziz Mujib: between calligraphic restriction and Alpha betic staggering].Al-Quds(in Arabic).Retrieved2019-12-17.
- ^e.g.,The Encyclopaedia of Islam,Second Edition
- ^Kees Versteegh,The Arabic Language,pg. 131.Edinburgh:Edinburgh University Press,2001. Paperback edition.ISBN9780748614363
- ^Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2020).A Manual of the Historical Grammar of Arabic (Draft).p. 47.
- ^Samy Swayd (10 March 2015).Historical Dictionary of the Druzes(2 ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 50.ISBN978-1-4422-4617-1.
- ^This variance has led to theconfusion over the spellingofLibyanleaderMuammar al-Gaddafi's name in Latin letters. In Western Arabic dialects the sound[q]is more preserved but can also be sometimes pronounced[ɡ]or as a simple[k]underBerberandFrenchinfluence.
- ^Bruce Ingham (1 January 1994).Najdi Arabic: Central Arabian.John Benjamins Publishing. p. 14.ISBN90-272-3801-4.
- ^Lewis, Robert Jr. (2013).Complementizer Agreement in Najdi Arabic(PDF)(MA thesis). University of Kansas. p. 5. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on June 19, 2018.
- ^al Nassir, Abdulmunʿim Abdulamir (1985).Sibawayh the Phonologist(PDF)(in Arabic). University of New York. p. 80.Retrieved23 April2024.
- ^van den Boogert, N. (1989)."Some notes on Maghrebi script"(PDF).Manuscript of the Middle East.4.p. 38 showsqāfwith a superscript point in all four positions.
- ^Gacek, Adam (2008).The Arabic Manuscript Tradition.Brill. p. 61.ISBN978-90-04-16540-3.
- ^Gacek, Adam (2009).Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers.Brill. p. 145.ISBN978-90-04-17036-0.
- ^Muhammad Ghoniem, M S M Saifullah,cAbd ar-Rahmân Robert Squires &cAbdus Samad,Are There Scribal Errors In The Qur'ân?,seeqifon a traffic sign writtenڧڢwhich is written elsewhere asقف,Retrieved 2011-August-27
- ^Rabbi Ari Kahn (20 October 2013)."A deeper look at the life of Sarah".aish.RetrievedMay 9,2020.