Romanization of Hebrew

This article is about the transcription of Hebrew into the Roman Alpha bet used by English. For the transcription of English into Hebrew script, seeHebraization of English.For the phonetic transcription of Hebrew, seeHelp:IPA/Hebrew.For Wikipedia's romanization conventions, seeWikipedia:Naming conventions (Hebrew).

Title of the romanized Hebrew newspaperha Savuja ha Palestini,shows part of the romanization method ofItamar Ben-Avi.1929.

TheHebrew languageuses theHebrew Alpha betwith optionalvowel diacritics.Theromanization of Hebrewis the use of theLatin Alpha bettotransliterateHebrew words.

For example, the Hebrew name spelledיִשְׂרָאֵל‎ ( "Israel" ) in the Hebrew Alpha bet can be romanized asYisraelorYiśrāʼēlin the Latin Alpha bet.

Romanizationincludes any use of the Latin Alpha bet to transliterate Hebrew words. Usually, it is to identify a Hebrew word in a non-Hebrew language that uses the Latin Alpha bet, such asGerman,Spanish,Turkish,and so on.Transliterationuses an Alpha bet to represent the letters and sounds of a word spelled in another Alpha bet, whereastranscriptionuses an Alpha bet to represent the sounds only. Romanization can refer to either.

To go the other way, that is from English to Hebrew, seeHebraization of English.Both Hebraization of English and Romanization of Hebrew are forms of transliteration. Where these are formalized these are known as "transliteration systems", and, where only some words, not all, are transliterated, this is known as "transliteration policy".

Transliteration

When to transliterate

Main article:Transliteration

Transliteration assumes two differentscript systems.The use of a French word in English without translation, such as "bourgeois",is not transliteration. The use of a Hindi word in English such as"khaki"(originallyखाकी) is transliteration. Transliteration of a foreign word into another language is usually the exception to translation, and often occurs when there is something distinctive about the word in the original language, such as adouble entendre,uniqueness,religious, cultural or political significance, or it may occur to add local flavor.

In the cases of Hebrew transliteration into English, many Hebrew words have a long history of transliteration, for exampleAmen,Satan,ephod,Urim and Thummimhave traditionally been transliterated, not translated.These terms were in many cases also first transliterated into Greek and Latin before English.

Different publishers have different transliteration policies. For exampleArtScrollpublications generally transliterate more words relative to sources such asThe Jewish Encyclopedia1911 orJewish Publication Societytexts.

How to transliterate

There are varioustransliterationstandards or systems for Hebrew-to-English; no one system has significant common usage across all fields. Consequently, in general usage there are often no hard and fast rules in Hebrew-to-English transliteration, and many transliterations are an approximation due to a lack of equivalence between theEnglishandHebrew Alpha bets.Conflicting systems of transliteration often appear in the same text, as certain Hebrew words tend to associate with certain traditions of transliteration. For example,

For Hanukkah at the synagogue Beith Sheer Chayyim, Isaac donned his talis that Yitzchak sent him from Bet Qehila in Tsfat, Israel.

This text includes instances of the same word transliterated in different ways: The Hebrew wordבית‎ is transliterated as bothBeithandBet.

These discrepancies in transliterations of the same word can be traced to discrepancies in the transliterations of individual Hebrew letters, reflecting not only different traditions of transliteration into different languages that use Latin Alpha bets, but also the fact that different pronunciation styles exist for the same letters in Israel (e.g. mainstream secular pronunciations used in the media versus Mizrahi, Arab, or Orthodox Ashkenazi colloquial pronunciations). For example,HanukkahandChayyimare transliterated with different initial letter combinations, although in Hebrew both begin with the letterח‎;the use of "ch" reflects German / Yiddish influence and pronunciation, whereas the "h" or "ḥ" may indicate a softer pronunciation ofח‎as in ancientHebrew,Judeo-ArabicorMizrahi Hebrew.Similarly, the Hebrew letterת‎is transliterated asthin the wordBeith,sin the wordtalis,andtin the wordBet,even though it is the same letter in all three words in Hebrew. The Hebrew letterק‎is transliterated ascinIsaac,kinYitzchak,andqinQehila.Finally, the Hebrew letterצ‎is transliterated variously ass(inIsaac),tz(inYitzchak), andts(inTsfat), again reflecting different traditions of spelling or pronunciation. These inconsistencies make it more difficult for the non-Hebrew-speaking reader to recognize related word forms, or even to properly pronounce the Hebrew words thus transliterated.

Historic instances

Earlyromanizationof Hebrew occurred with the contact between theRomansand theJews.It was influenced by earliertransliterationinto theGreek language.For example, the name of the Roman province ofIudaea(63 BCE) was apparently derived from the Greek wordsἸούδα(Iouda) andἸουδαία(Ioudaia). These words can be seen in Chapter 1 ofEsdras(Ezra) in theSeptuagint,aHellenistictranslation of theHebrew Bibleinto Greek. The Greek words in turn are transliterations of the Hebrew wordיהודה‎ (Yehuda) that we now know adapted in English as the namesJudah,Judas and Jude.

In the 1st century,Satire 14of Juvenal uses the Hebraic wordssabbata,Iudaicum,andMoyses,apparently adopted from the Greek.

The 4th-century and 5th-century Latin translations of theHebrew Bibleromanize its proper names. The familiar Biblical names in English are derived from these romanizations. TheVulgate,of the early 5th century, is considered the first direct Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible. Apart from names, another term that the Vulgate romanizes is thetechnical termmamzer(ממזר‎).

With the rise ofZionism,some Jews promoted the use of romanization instead of Hebrew script in hopes of helping more people learn Hebrew. One such promoter was Ithamar Ben Yehuda, orIttamar Ben Avias he styled himself. His fatherEliezer Ben Yehudaraised him to be the first modern native speaker of Hebrew. In 1927 Ben-Avi published the biographyAviin romanized Hebrew (now listed in the online catalog of theJewish National and University Library). However, the innovation did not catch on.

Political activistZe'ev Jabotinsky,leader ofBetar,and ChiefRabbi Kook,also expressed their support for the reform of Hebrew script using Latin letters.

Modern uses

Road signs inIsraelwritten inHebrewand romanized Hebrew transliteration

Romanized Hebrew can be used to present Hebrew terminology or text to anyone who is not familiar with the Hebrew script. Many Jewish prayer books in the diaspora include supplementary romanization for some or all of the Hebrew-language congregational prayers.

Romanized Hebrew is also used for Hebrew-language items in library catalogs and Hebrew-language place names on maps. In Israel, most catalogs and maps use the Hebrew script, but romanized maps are easily available and road signs include romanized names. Some Hebrew speakers use romanization to communicate when using internet systems that have poor support for the Hebrew Alpha bet. Frequently, Romanized Hebrew is also used in music scores, in part because music is written left-to-right and Hebrew is written right-to-left.

Standard romanizations exist for these various purposes. However, non-standard romanization is widely seen, even on some Israeli street signs. The standards are not generally taught outside of their specific organizations and disciplines.

Standards

• Traditional, scholarly:ISO 259:1984;ISO 259-2:1994 (simplified);Society of Biblical Literature(SBL) Handbook of Style
• National:for example:
  • Rules of Transcription: Romanization of Hebrew.Academy of the Hebrew Language,1957. Updated and augmented with a simplified version, 2000. Replaced by a new system altogether in 2006.
  • DIN 31636,the German standard.
  • Standard of Poland «Polska Norma"Transliteracja alfabetu hebrajskiego PN-74 / N-01211" »,similar to SBL.
• Artscroll § Transliteration system
• Bibliographic data:ANSI Z39.25-1975;ALA/LCRomanization Tables (1991) and their bookHebraica Cataloging(1987), withEncyclopaedia Judaica(1972–1993) as an authority on names and common terms. Library of Congress Authorities is an online database that records and sources the forms of subjects, names, and titles that the Library of Congress uses.
• Geographic names:BGN/PCGN 1962 (US and UK), approximately equivalent toUNGEGN1977 (United Nations), as both are based on the Academy of the Hebrew Language recommendations. However, BGN provides more and somewhat different specific recommendations. The GEONet Names Server is an authoritative online database that lists BGN names and assists with font character availability and conventional forms of names.
• Phonemic:ISO/FDIS 259-3:1999(not an adopted standard)

Comparative table

The following table is a breakdown of each letter in the Hebrew Alpha bet, describing its name or names, and itsLatin scripttransliterationvalues used in academic work. If two glyphs are shown for a consonant, then the left-most glyph is the final form of the letter (or right-most glyph if your browser does not support right-to-left text layout). The conventions here areISO 259,the UNGEGN system based on the old-fashioned Hebrew Academy system,and the modern common informalIsraelitranscription. In addition, anInternational Phonetic Alphabetpronunciation is indicated—historical (Tiberian vocalization) for ISO 259, prescribed for Hebrew Academy, and in practice for Israeli. For the vowels further down, the letters ח and ט are used as symbolic anchors for vowel symbols, but should otherwise be ignored.

For the lettersבּ גּ דּ כּ פּ תּ‎ withdageshin ISO 259 Classical Hebrew and by the Hebrew Academy standard, they are transcribed as single graphemes (b g d k p t) at the beginnings of words, after other consonants, and aftershewaְ or ẖatafim ֱ ֲ ֳ. In almost every other situation, they are transcribed as double letters (bb gg dd kk pp tt). This does not apply to common Israeli Hebrew transliteration, where there are no double consonants.

The lettersא ה‎ at the ends of words without additionalniqqudare silent and not transliterated. The letterו‎ at the end of a word with ẖolam ֹ is also silent and not transliterated. The letterי‎ at the end of a word after ẖiriq ִ is also silent and not transliterated. The situation of the letterי‎ at the end of a word after ẕere ֵ or seggol ֶ is more complicated, as they are silent in Classical Hebrew and in Hebrew Academy prescription and not transliterated in those systems, but they form diphthongs (ei) in Israeli Hebrew—see the vowels and diphthongs sections further down. In any event, the shewa naẖ is placed between two adjacent consonants in all situations; if there is not even a shewa naẖ between consonants, then the first of the two consonants is silent and not transliterated—this is usually one ofא ו י‎, but even occasionallyה‎ and rarelyש‎ (in the nameיִשָּׂשכָר‎Issachar) are encountered silent in this fashion. In Israeli Hebrew transcription, a vowel before yud at the end of a word or before yud then shewa naẖ inside a word, is transcribed as a diphthong (ai oi ui)—see the diphthongs section further down.

In Classical Hebrew transliteration, vowels can be long (gāḏōl), short (qāṭān) or ultra short (ḥăṭep̄), and are transliterated as such. Ultra short vowels are always one of šəwā nāʻ ְ, ḥăṭep̄ səḡōl ֱ, ḥăṭep̄ páṯaḥ ֲ or ḥăṭep̄ qāmeṣ ֳ. Šəwā ְ isalwaysalways šəwā nāʻ (pronounced) if it is immediately after the word's first consonant, or after a consonant after a long vowel and before another pronounced consonant—otherwise, šəwā is realized as šəwā nāḥ (silent). The vowels ṣērē ֵ and ḥōlem ֹ are always long in all situations. The vowels ḥīreq ִ, səḡōl ֶ, páṯaḥ ַ, qāmeṣ ָ, qibbūṣ ֻ and šūreqוּ‎ are always long if they are the stressed syllable, or if they are in a syllable before only one consonant and another vowel, and in these cases they are transliterated as long. If they are unstressed and before a double consonant or a consonant cluster, or in the word's finalunstressedsyllable, then they are always short and transliterated as short. But if a vowel carries an accent ֫ or a meteg ֽ, then it is always long—a meteg in particular is often used in places where a vowel is long but not necessarily the word's stressed syllable. Lastly, there are exceptional circumstances when long vowels—even ṣērē and ḥōlem—may not force a following šəwā to become šəwā nāʻ, including for example names such asגֵּרְשֹׁם‎Gēršōm(not Gērəšōm as it might seem),בֵּלְשַׁאצַּר‎Bēlšaṣṣạr(not Bēləšaṣṣạr) andצִֽקְלַג‎Ṣīqlạḡ(not Ṣīqəlạḡ). Some of these seem to be learned exceptions, and most words under the same circumstances have šəwā nāʻ as expected, such asנָֽצְרַת‎Nāṣərạṯ(not Nāṣrạṯ). (This isallmoot in Israeli Hebrew, where, as already mentioned,shva nachtends to opportunistically replaceshva nawhere comfortable, soנָֽצְרַת‎ is Natzrat not Natzerat, etc.)

For the vowel qamaẕ ָ, whether the vowel is long or short in Classical Hebrew affects the pronunciation in Academy or Israeli Hebrew, even though vowel length is not phonemic in those systems, and the difference is transliterated accordingly. Qamaẕ qatan when short is /o/, except when at the end of a word when not before a final consonant, in which case it is /a/. Qamaẕ gadol isusually/a/, but in rare situations in Classical Hebrew it can be treated as a long open /ọ/, which although pronounced identically to /ā/ (both were[ɔː]), this a/o distinction is clearly made in the pronunciation of Academy and Israeli Hebrew, and is thus transliterated.

If any word ends with one ofהַּ חַ עַ‎, then the vowel pataẖ is pronouncedbeforethe consonant, not after as it is written, and so thetransliteratedsequence is⟨ah⟩,⟨aẖ⟩,⟨aʻ⟩,etc.

In certain rare words that are meant to begin with two consecutive consonants even in Classical Hebrew, an invisible səḡōl qāṭān vowel is pronounced before the two consonants in Classical Hebrew and is so transcribed, because Classical words may not begin with more than one consonant. This rule does not apply to Academy and Israeli Hebrew, where consonant clusters are more tolerated. For example, the wordשְׁתַּ֫יִם‎ ( "two" ) would appear as štáyim, but is actually ʼeštáyim.However, it remains simply shtayim in Academy and Israeli Hebrew.

In 2006, the Hebrew Academy replaced their 1953 transliteration rules with new rules, and these were adopted as a United Nations standard in 2007.As of 2008,migration to the new transliteration standard is still underway, and many signs and documents still use the 1953 conventions. The new 2006 rules attempt to more closely follow Israeli Hebrew vowel habits (such as the collapse of many shva na), but stop short of adopting most of the informal transliteration patterns. It still transliterates the diphthong[e̞͡ɪ]as⟨e⟩,and it still transliterates separate⟨ẖ⟩and⟨kh⟩in all cases. It is unspecific about rules governing the transliteration of phonemes not traditionally native to Hebrew.

Table

Symbol	Common Israeli			Hebrew Academy				ISO 259			SBL Handbook of Style
				2006		1953					Academic		General Purpose
	Name	Translit.	IPA	Name	Translit.	Name	Translit.	Name	Translit.	IPA	Name	Translit.	Name	Translit.
Consonants
א‎	alef	'	.	alef	'	alef	ʼ	ʾālep̄	ʾ	[ʔ]	ʾālep̄	ʾ	alef	' or omit
ב‎	vet	v	[v]	vet	v	vet	v	ḇēṯ	ḇ	[v]	bêt	ḇ	bet	v
בּ‎	bet	b	[b]	bet	b	bet	b	bēṯ	b	[b]		b		b
					bb		bb	bēṯ ḥāzāq	bb	[bb]
ג‎	gimel	g	[ɡ]	gimel	g	gimel	g	ḡīmel	ḡ	[ɣ]	gîmel	ḡ	gimel	gh
גּ‎								gīmel	g	[ɡ]		g		g
					gg		gg	gīmel ḥāzāq	gg	[ɡɡ]
ג׳‎	jimel	j	[d͡ʒ]			ǧimel	ǧ
ד‎	dalet	d	[d]	dalet	d	dalet	d	ḏāleṯ	ḏ	[ð]	dālet	ḏ	dalet	dh
דּ‎								dāleṯ	d	[d]		d		d
					dd		dd	dāleṯ ḥāzāq	dd	[dd]
ד׳‎	dhalet	dh	[ð]			ḏalet	ḏ
ה‎	hei	h	[h]	he	h	he	h	hē	h	[h]	hê	h	he	h
הּ‎							h
ו‎	vav	v (w)	[v]([w])	vav	v	waw	w	wāw	w	[v][(w)]	wāw	w	vav	v or w
וּ‎					vv		ww	wāw ḥāzāq	ww	[vv]
ז‎	zayin	z	[z]	zayin	z	zayin	z	záyin	z	[z]	zayin	z	zayin	z
זּ‎					zz		zz	záyin ḥāzāq	zz	[zz]
ז׳‎	zhayin	zh	[ʒ]			žayin	ž
ח‎	chet	ch, kh, h	[χ]	ẖet	ẖ	ẖet	ẖ	ḥēṯ	ḥ	[ħ]	ḥêt	ḥ	khet	h or kh
ט‎	tet	t	[t]	tet	t	tet	t	ṭēṯ	ṭ	[tˤ]	ṭêt	ṭ	tet	t
טּ‎					tt		tt	ṭēṯ ḥāzāq	ṭṭ	[tˤtˤ]
י‎	yud	y, i	[j]	yud	y	yud	y	yōḏ	y	[j]	yôd	y	yod	y
יּ‎					yy		yy	yōḏ ḥāzāq	yy	[jj]
ך כ‎	chaf	ch, kh	[χ]	khaf	kh	khaf	kh	ḵāp̄	ḵ	[x]	kāp	ḵ	kaf	kh
ךּ כּ‎	kaf	c, k	[k]	kaf	k	kaf	k	kāp̄	k	[k]		k		k
					kk		kk	kāp̄ ḥāzāq	kk	[kk]
ל‎	lamed	l	[l]	lamed	l	lamed	l	lāmeḏ	l	[l]	lāmed	l	lamed	l
לּ‎					ll		ll	lāmeḏ ḥāzāq	ll	[ll]
ם מ‎	mem	m	[m]	mem	m	mem	m	mēm	m	[m]	mêm	m	mem	m
מּ‎					mm		mm	mēm ḥāzāq	mm	[mm]
ן נ‎	nun	n	[n]	nun	n	nun	n	nūn	n	[n]	nûn	n	nun	n
נּ‎					nn		nn	nūn ḥāzāq	nn	[nn]
ס‎	samech	s	[s]	samekh	s	samekh	s	sāmeḵ	s	[s]	sāmek	s	samek	s
סּ‎					ss		ss	sāmeḵ ḥāzāq	ss	[ss]
ע‎	ayin	'	-	ayin	'	ʻayin	ʻ	ʿáyin	ʿ	[ʕ]	ʿayin	ʿ	ayin	' or omit
ף פ‎	fei	f	[f]	fe	f	fe	f	p̄ē	p̄	[f]	pê	p̄	pe	f
ףּ פּ‎	pei	p	[p]	pe	p	pe	p	pē	p	[p]		p		p
					pp		pp	pē ḥāzāq	pp	[pp]
ץ צ‎	tzadi	tz, ts	[t͡s]	tsadi	ts	ẕadi	ẕ	ṣāḏē	ṣ	[sˤ]	ṣādê	ṣ	tsade	ts
צּ‎							ẕẕ	ṣāḏē ḥāzāq	ṣṣ	[sˤsˤ]
ץ׳ צ׳‎	tshadi	tsh, ch	[t͡ʃ]			čadi	č
ק‎	kuf	c, k	[k]	kuf	k	quf	q	qōp̄	q	[q]	qôp̄	q	qof	q
קּ‎					kk		qq	qōp̄ ḥāzāq	qq	[qq]
ר‎	reish	r	[ʁ]	resh	r	resh	r	rēš	r	[ʀ]	rêš	r	resh	r
רּ‎					rr		rr	rēš ḥāzāq	rr	[ʀʀ]
שׁ‎	shin	sh	[ʃ]	shin	sh	shin	sh	šīn	š	[ʃ]	šîn	š	shin	sh
שּׁ‎								šīn ḥāzāq	šš	[ʃʃ]
שׂ‎	sin	s	[s]	sin	s	sin	s	śīn	ś	[s]	śîn	ś	sin	s
שּׂ‎					ss		ss	śīn ḥāzāq	śś	[ss]
ת‎	tav	t	[t]	tav	t	taw	t	ṯāw	ṯ	[θ]	tāw	ṯ	tav	th
תּ‎								tāw	t	[t]		t		t
					tt		tt	tāw ḥāzāq	tt	[tt]
ת׳‎	thav	th	[θ]			ṯaw	ṯ
Forms used only in transliterations of Arabic
ח׳‎	ḫāʾ	ḫ	[χ]
ט׳‎	ẓāʾ	ẓ	[ðˤ]~[zˤ]
ע׳ ר׳‎	ġayn	ġ	[ɣ]~[ʁ]
ץ׳ צ׳‎	ḍād	ḍ	[dˤ]
Vowels
טְ‎	shva nach			shva naẖ		shewa naẖ		šəwā nāḥ			vocal šĕwăʾ	ĕ
	shva na	e	[e̞]	shva na	e	shewa naʻ	e	šəwā nāʻ	ə	[ɐ̆] [ɛ̆] [ĕ] [ĭ] [ɔ̆] [ŏ] [ŭ]
חֱ‎	chataf segol	e	[e̞]	ẖataf seggol	e	ẖataf seggol	e	ḥăṭep̄ səḡōl	ĕ	[ɛ̆]	ḥāṭēp sĕgŏl	ĕ
חֲ‎	chataf patach	a	[ä]	ẖataf pataẖ	a	ẖataf pataẖ	a	ḥăṭep̄ páṯaḥ	ă	[ɐ̆]	ḥāṭēp pataḥ	ă	khatef patakh	a
חֳ‎	chataf kamatz	o	[o̞]	ẖataf kamats	o	ẖataf qamaẕ	o	ḥăṭep̄ qāmeṣ	ŏ	[ɔ̆]	ḥāṭēp qāmeṣ	ŏ	khatef qamets	o
טִ‎	chirik	i	[i]	ẖirik	i	ẖiriq	i	ḥīreq qāṭān	i	[i]	short ḥîreq	i	short hireq	i
								ḥīreq gāḏôl	ī	[iː]	long ḥîreq	ī	long hireq
טֵ‎	tzeire	e	[e̞]	tsere	e	ẕere	e	ṣērē	ē	[eː]	ṣērê	ē	tsere	e
טֶ‎	segol			seggol		seggol		səḡōl qāṭān	e	[ɛ]	sĕgōl	e	segol
								səḡōl gāḏōl	é, ẹ	[ɛː]
טַ‎	patach	a	[ä]	pataẖ	a	pataẖ	a	páṯaḥ qāṭān	a	[ɐ]	pataḥ	a	patakh	a
								páṯaḥ gāḏōl	á, ạ	[ɐː]
טָ‎	kamatz gadol			kamats gadol		qamaẕ gadol		qāmeṣ gāḏôl	ā	[ɔː]	qāmeṣ	ā	qamets
	kamatz katan	o	[o̞]	kamats katan	o	qamaẕ qatan	o		ọ		qāmeṣ ḥāṭûp	o	qamets khatuf	o
								qāmeṣ qāṭān	o	[ɔ]
טֹ‎	cholam			ẖolam		ẖolam		ḥōlem	ō	[oː]	ḥōlem	ō	holem
טֻ‎	kubutz	u	[u]	kubbuts	u	qubbuẕ	u	qibbūṣ qāṭān	u	[u]	short qibbûṣ	u	short qibbuts	u
								qibbūṣ gāḏōl	ū	[uː]	long qibbûṣ	ū	long qibbuts
טוּ‎	shuruk			shuruk		shuruq		šūreq qāṭān	u	[u]	šûreq	û	shureq
								šūreq gāḏōl	ū	[uː]
Other Vowels
וֹ‎											full ḥōlem	ô	full holem	o
טִי‎											ḥîreq yôd	î	hireq yod	i
טָה‎											final qāmeṣ hê	â	final qamets he	ah
Israeli Diphthongs
טֵי‎	tzeire yud	ei	[e̞͡ɪ]	tsere	e	ẕere	e	ṣērē	ē	[eː]	ṣērê yôd	ê	tsere yod	e
טֶי‎	segol yud			seggol		seggol		səḡōl	e, é, ẹ	[ɛ(ː)]	sĕgōl yôd
טַי טַיְ‎	patach yud	ai	[ä͡ɪ]	pataẖ yud	ay	pataẖ yud	ay	páṯaḥ yōḏ	ay, áy, ạy	[ɐ(ː)j]	pataḥ yôd	ai
טָי טָיְ‎	kamatz gadol yud			kamats gadol yud		qamaẕ gadol yud		qāmeṣ yōḏ	āy, oy, ọy	[ɔ(ː)j]	qāmeṣ yôd	āi
	kamatz katan yud	oi	[o̞͡ɪ]	kamats katan yud	oy	qamaẕ qatan yud	oy
טֹי טֹיְ‎	cholam yud			ẖolam yud		ẖolam yud		ḥōlem yōḏ	ōy	[oːj]	ḥōlem yôd	ōi
טֻי טֻיְ‎	kubutz yud	ui	[u͡ɪ]	kubbuts yud	uy	qubbuẕ yud	uy	ḥōlem yōḏ	uy, ūy	[u(ː)j]	qibbûṣ yôd	ui
טוּי טוּיְ‎	shuruk yud			shuruk yud		shuruq yud		šūreq yōḏ			šûreq yôd	ûi

Transcription vs. transliteration

Different purposes call for different choices of romanization. One extreme is to make a phonetic transcription of one person's speech on one occasion.

In Israel, a pronunciation known as General Israeli Hebrew or Standard Hebrew is widely used and documented. For Israeli speech and text where linguistic groups are not at issue, romanization can use a phonetic transcription according to Standard Hebrew pronunciation. However, there are many Israeli groups with differing pronunciations of Hebrew and differing social priorities.

An attempt to devise a more general system of romanization is complicated by the long and varied history of the Hebrew language. Most Hebrew texts can be appropriately pronounced according to several different systems of pronunciation, both traditional and modern. Even today, it is customary to write Hebrew using only consonants andmatres lectionis.There was no way to indicate vowels clearly in Hebrew writing until the time of theSecond Temple.Since an earlier time, multiple geographically separated communities have used Hebrew as a language of literature rather than conversation.

One system of assigning and indicating pronunciation in Hebrew, theTiberian vocalization,is broadly authoritative for Hebrew text since the end of the Second Temple period (Sáenz-Badillos, page xi). It is possible to accommodate the pronunciations of different communities by transliterating the Tiberian vocalization without attempting to transcribe a specific phonetic pronunciation.

Notable varieties of Hebrew for which Tiberian vocalization is not suitable are the Hebrew of the Qumran community (as known from theDead Sea Scrolls) and of theSamaritans.For romanizations of Samaritan pronunciation, it is advisable to take quotations directly from a Samaritan edition of the Hebrew Bible, which has approximately 6,000 textual variations from Jewish editions.

It is appropriate to focus only on the consonantal spelling when discussing unusually structured words from ancient or medieval works.

Use of Tiberian principles

Main article:Tiberian vocalization

The Tiberian vocalization was devised in order to add indications of pronunciation to the consonantal text of the Hebrew Bible, without changing the consonantal text. It was intended for experts in Biblical Hebrew grammar and morphology.

Transliterations usually avoid the typographically complex marks that are used in Tiberian vocalization. They also attempt to indicate vowels and syllables more explicitly than Tiberian vocalization does. Therefore a technical transliteration requires the use of Tiberian principles, as mentioned below, rather than simply representing the Tiberian symbols. Many transliteration standards require a thorough knowledge of these principles, yet they usually do not provide practical details.

Vowels

• There are seven basic vowels.
• A vowel may be long, short, or ultrashort.
• The vowel "shva" may be sounded (shva na) or silent (shva nach).
• Consonants that have been used historically to indicate vowels, the "matres lectionis", are no substitute for proper vowel marks.
• The vowel "kamets" may have its usual sound (kamets gadol – long "a" ) or a different sound (kamets katan – short "o" ).

Consonants

• Six consonants (beth, gimel, daleth, kaph, pe, and tav) can be hard or soft. To be specific, they are pronounced either asstopsorfricatives( "spirantized" ). For example, the letter bet can be pronounced as "b" or "v". Tiberian vocalization marks a hard consonant with adageshkal(in the Hebrew term) orlene(Latin). A soft consonant lacks adagesh kal,and is sometimes explicitly marked usingrafe,an overbar. Transliterations sometimes also use an overbar or underbar to mark a soft consonant. (In Modern Sephardic Hebrew, however, only three consonants—bet, kaph, and pe—retain the hard–soft distinction. In the Ashkenazic style of pronunciation, the soft tav is sounded as "s".)
• A letter that looks like shin may be that letter (when marked with a shin dot) or the letter sin (when marked with a sin dot).
• Most consonants can undergogemination.Tiberian vocalization marks gemination with adagesh hazak(in the Hebrew term) orforte(Latin), which looks the same asdagesh kal.
• A consonant that is normally silent (most often he) may be sounded if it is a root consonant or possessive ending. Tiberian vocalization marks such a consonant using a mapiq, which looks like a dagesh.
• A silent vav may be used to hold a holem vowel, but sometimes a vav with holem has consonant value.

Additional transliteration principles

A further complication is that the Roman Alpha bet does not have as many letters for certain sounds found in the Hebrew Alpha bet, and sometimes no letter at all. Some romanizations resolve this problem using additional non-Tiberian principles:

• The two letters that represent a stop may be written using the forward and backward quote marks, or similar marks.
• Certain consonants are considered "emphatic" (the consonants ט צ ק ח ע), due to being pronounced traditionally toward the back of the mouth. They may be transliterated distinctively by using an underdot.
• The letter "vav" (ו) was once pronounced like English "w", in contrast to its current pronunciation identical to the letter "vet" (the soft letter ב).
• The Karmeli transcription (see link at bottom of page) creates additional letters based on similar Hebrew or Cyrillic letters to represent the sounds that lack Roman letters.

Finally, for ease of reading it is common to apply certain principles foreign to Hebrew:

• Use a hyphen between common prefixes or suffixes and a romanized word.
• Capitalize the first letter of a proper name, but not its prefixes.

Examples

Below is the word "שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם"(pronounced[ʃaˈloːmʕaleːˈxem],"Peace be upon you" ) in various transliteration systems.

System(s)	Transliteration
Artscroll	sholōm alaychem
Artscroll Sephardic	shalom alẹchem
Braille ASCII	%<LOM $3L/#*EM
Brill Simple	shalom ‘ᵃleikhem
FinnishRomanisation	shalom ‘aleicem
GermanRomanisation	schalom alechem
ISO 259-2	šalŵm ʿaleykem
ISO 259-3	šalom ˁaleikem
RussianCyrillisation	шало́м алейхэ́м
SBL Academic	šālôm ʿălêk̲em
SBL General	shalom alekhem
Simplified Ashkenazi	sholom aleichem
Simplified Modern Israeli	shalom aleichem
SpanishRomanisation	shalóm aleijém
Latintraditional romanisation	Sāluōm Alēichem

See also

• Anglicisation
• Hebraization of English
• Help:IPA/Hebrew
• Other Alpha bets in Morse code#Hebrew
• Romanization of Arabic
• Romanization of Yiddish

References

Bibliography

• Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (2000) [1993].A History of the Hebrew Language.Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-55634-1.
• "The Jewish diaspora: Rome".Archived fromthe originalon April 18, 2016.RetrievedAugust 9,2005.
• "Parallel texts of Ezra in various languages".Unbound Bible.RetrievedAugust 16,2005.
• Juvenal."Satire 14".The Latin Library.RetrievedAugust 9,2005.
• "Transliteration".RetrievedAugust 9,2005.Excellent, lively summary of issues and options for transliteration of Hebrew.
• Arenstein, Benjamin (2018)."Scripted History: Hebrew Romanization in Interwar British Mandate Palestine"(PDF).Columbia University.RetrievedNovember 19,2019.

External links

• The entire Hebrew bible transliterated in two different formats,Matthew Anstey
• Transliteration between Hebrew and Standard English or ISO 259Archived2008-04-02 at theWayback Machine
• "Hebrish or Engbrew",Talya Halkin inThe Jerusalem Post(July 6, 2006).
• United Nations romanization of Hebrew
• ALA/LC romanization of Hebrew
• Society of Biblical Literature,SBL Handbook of Style 2nd edition (archived),SBL Handbook of Style 2nd edition,Student Supplement for the SBL Handbook of Style, Second edition.
• Transliterated text of theTorahand allHaftarotare available fromhttp://bible.ort.org/Archived2011-03-05 at theWayback Machinebased onSephardipronunciation.
• The Karmeli Alphabet(Romanization developed in Israel that uses extra invented letters).
• Automatic Hebrew Transliteration (Hebrew-Braille, English, Finnish, German, IPA, Russian and Spanish