Ayin

Encyclopedia : A : AY : AYI : Ayin

ʿÁyin
Arabic Syriac Hebrew Aramaic Phoenician
ع ܥ ע

Pronunciation (IPA):
Position in alphabet: 16
Gematria/Abjad value: 70
ʿÁyin or Ayin is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ע and Arabic ʿayn ع (in abjadi order). It originally represented a pharyngeal consonant (IPA History · Transliteration
Diacritics · hamza {{ar
Numerals · Numeration
Syriac alphabet
Aleph (letter)>ܐ Beth (letter)>ܒ Gimel (letter)>ܓ Dalet>ܕ
He (letter)>ܗ Waw (letter)>ܘ Zayin>ܙ Heth (letter)>ܚ Teth>ܛ Yodh>ܝ
Kaph>ܟܟ Lamedh>ܠ Mem>ܡܡ Nun (letter)>ܢܢ Samekh>ܣ Ayin>ܥ
Pe (letter)>ܦ Tsade>ܨ Qoph>ܩ Resh>ܪ Shin (letter)>ܫ Taw (letter)>ܬ
Ayin, along with Aleph, Resh, He, and Heth, cannot receive a dagesh.

ʿÁyin
Arabic	Syriac	Hebrew	Aramaic	Phoenician
ع	ܥ	ע
Pronunciation (IPA):
Position in alphabet:	16
Gematria/Abjad value:	70

Syriac alphabet
	Aleph (letter)>ܐ	Beth (letter)>ܒ	Gimel (letter)>ܓ	Dalet>ܕ
He (letter)>ܗ	Waw (letter)>ܘ	Zayin>ܙ	Heth (letter)>ܚ	Teth>ܛ	Yodh>ܝ
Kaph>ܟܟ	Lamedh>ܠ	Mem>ܡܡ	Nun (letter)>ܢܢ	Samekh>ܣ	Ayin>ܥ
Pe (letter)>ܦ	Tsade>ܨ	Qoph>ܩ	Resh>ܪ	Shin (letter)>ܫ	Taw (letter)>ܬ

Pronunciation

Ayin traditionally represents a pharyngeal sound that has no equivalent in the English language (IPA {{IPA).

Ayin is pronounced by some as a glottal stop consonant sound, but is generally pronounced as silent (i.e. it is given the same treatment as Aleph).

In some historical Sephardi pronunciations, `Ayin was pronounced as a velar nasal "ng" consonant sound, while in non-"Mizrahi" modern Israeli Hebrew it is pronounced as a glottal stop consonant sound in certain cases, but is mostly silent (i.e. it is given the same treatment as Aleph). However, certain changes in adjoining vowels often testify to the former presence of `Ayin, even if `Ayin itself is no longer pronounced. Some historians have postulated the existence of an older "Ghayin" representing a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ]^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}, which was incorporated into the softer Ayin. In Arabic, Ghayin was introduced as a variant of Ayin.

In Yiddish, the ‘Áyin is used as a vowel, rather than a consonant, and is pronounced /e/.

Transliteration

In Hebrew transliteration, the letter Ayin can be transliterated as ` or as G. Because of this, we get Gomorrah from `Amora and Gaza from `Aza (which eventually gave us the English word ).

Significance

In gematria, ayin represents the number 70.

Ayin is also one of the seven letters which receive a special crown (called a tagin) when written in a Sefer Torah. See Shin, Gimmel, Teth, Nun, Zayin, and Tzadi.

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