User:Sartma/Hebrew transliteration

Transliteration/Transcription Table
Note that:
 * Transliteration = sign-to-sign transcription. This is in line with what is currently done by traditional Biblical Hebrew scholars, since it's important to represent in Roman letters the exact signs that are used to write a word. It allows to correctly transcribe the different spellings a word can have in the Bible, like: vs  (Exodus 15:11).
 * Transcription = transcription of how a word is pronounced. Biblical Hebrew being a dead language, all considerations about its pronunciation are obviously based on reconstructions. This makes it necessary to choose one of the existing pronunciation proposals. It does not show how a word is written. Both and  would be spelt the same (kāmōḵā).

Examples
See below for a comparison of words transliterated/transcribed in the different systems.

Description

 * Five-vowel system. It distinguishes qamats qatan (o) and qamats gadol (ā).
 * It uses macrons on putative long vowels and circumflex on vowels spelt with matres lectionis.
 * Transliterates quiescent aleph, as traditionally done for Biblical Hebrew.
 * Depending on the publication, it can always indicate the accent, show it only on the penultimate syllable (notably in segolates), or not show it at all.

Pros

 * 1) It's widely used on textbooks to learn Biblical Hebrew, so it's likely to be familiar to people new to the language.
 * 2) The distinction between qamats qatan (o) and qamats gadol (ā) agrees with some modern traditions used to read Biblical Hebrew (and with Israeli Hebrew pronunciation).

Cons

 * 1) Some transliterations are ambiguous, since this system doesn't allow to distinguish certain letter combinations (see notes in the table above).
 * 2) It's confusing in mixing diacritics with different values: some are supposed to indicate vowel length (macron, breve), others try to describe spelling (circumflex).
 * 3) It gives the false impression that vowel length was phonemic in Tiberian Hebrew showing vowels as long by nature (with a macron) when it is now widely accepted that vowel distinction was purely qualitative, while length was determined by position (vowels in open syllables or stressed syllables were long).
 * 4) By distinguishing the pronunciation of qamats qatan and qamats gadol, it arbitrarily imposes to the transliteration one particular reading tradition (Sephardi) that is not otherwise represented in the script (which represents the Tiberian tradition).

Description

 * Seven-vowel system (no distinction between qamats qatan and qamats gadol).
 * It writes aleph and ayin with IPA symbols ( = ʔ, = ʕ). This allows aleph to be written with a superscript when quiescent, e.g..
 * It represents matres lectionis as superscripts (see table).
 * It represents as a superscript when quiescent, thus marking a distinction in cases like  and  VS  and.

Pros

 * 1) Transliteration is never ambiguous.

Cons

 * 1) Superscript letters are visually noisy (take up horizontal space).

Author's Comment
The superscript romanization attempts to consistently show it when a letter is not pronounced as a consonant, mainly the letters אהוי. These letters are sometimes pronounced as the consonants and sometimes are not pronounced as a consonant, serving as a marker for a vowel. In cases where they are not pronounced as they are referred to here as non-consonantal. This includes cases where they are traditionally called matres lectionis and cases where they are called quiescent. (There are rare cases of other letters being non-consonantal, as with ש in .) Writing the status of a letter makes it considerably easier for newbies to understand the intention of the Hebrew spelling.

Hebrew spelling consists of consonants with diacritics added later by the Tiberian Masoretes to indicate vowel qualities, consonant doubling, and whether letters were consonantal. These rules involve the presence of a vowel before or after the letter. Most other romanizations do not consistently show non-consonantality; the tendency is that matres lectionis are indicated with diacritics and quiescent letters with consonant letters. Typical romanizations work well for more conventional spellings where the vowels are written with י and  with ו and word-final  with ה. They are less helpful for unconventional spellings like (superscript romanization ḥaṭṭoˀʷṯ), whose typical romanization ḥaṭṭōʾwṯ doesn't write או ʾw differently to indicate that it is quiescent and not pronounced ; you can only infer that if you know the rules for quiescent letters.

But the superscript romanization always writes non-consonantal letters as superscript letters, which indicates both that they are present in the Hebrew spelling and that they are not pronounced as consonants. With this romanization, readers only have to learn the meaning of the superscript letters, which is relatively simple; they do not have to learn the rules for when a letter is a mater lectionis or quiescent, which are somewhat complex.

The disadvantage of the superscripts is that, like the original non-consonantal Hebrew letters, they are visually noisy (take up horizontal space).

Description

 * Seven-vowel system (no distinction between qamats qatan and qamats gadol).
 * Transliterates vowels spelt with matres lectionis and  with a macron.
 * Transliterates word-final with a circumflex.
 * Transliterates quiescent aleph (as traditionally done for Biblical Hebrew).
 * Indicates the accent only when non-final.

Pros

 * 1) Transliteration is never ambiguous. Compared to Sartma 2, it can clearly show the difference in the spelling of the last syllable between  and.

Cons

 * 1) Extremely rare, irregular spellings of some proper nouns and inflected words (but never headwords) could give "odd" transliterations that would need to be manually normalised:
 * 2) * >  (compare regular spelling . This case is already handled automatically by the transliteration module)
 * 3) * >  (compare regular spellings /)

Author's Comment

 * We have chosen the seven-vowel system not only because it is the one nowadays most used in the academia when transliterating Biblical Hebrew words, but also because it uses simple vowels without macrons.
 * Traditionally, the circumflex accent has been used to indicate any vowel spelt with a mater lectionis, but this unavoidably produced some ambiguous transliterations (see notes in the table above). To avoid those ambiguities, we repurposed the macron sign to be used in a similar fashion as the circumflex (i.e. to show vowels spelt with matres lectionis), but limited to class i vowels (i, ɛ, e: spelt with mater lectionis ) and class u vowels (u, o: spelt with mater lectionis ), i.e. those matres lectionis always used within their vowel class and in any position.
 * The use of the circumflex was then restricted to mater lectionis, which, unlike the previous two, can be used with vowels of any class (class a, i and u) but only in word-final position.
 * (Incidentally, such a use of the circumflex doubles as etymological in words where a final indicates the disappearance of an original final consonant, like the final -t of feminine nouns (,, etc.) or the final -y or -w of lameḏ he' verbs (, , etc.), in a similar way to how the circumflex is used in French, for example, to show the etymological disappearance of a consonant, like in  or in .)
 * This method solves all the ambiguities of the traditional scholar transliteration system.

Description

 * Same as Sartma 1, but:
 * transliterates final vowels followed by as simple vowels (with no diacritic sign), on the basis that final simple vowels in BH are generally followed by a  (with a handful of exceptions, like the second-person masculine singular personal pronoun suffix, the second-person masculine singular past , etc.).

Pros

 * It has one less diacritic (the circumflex) than Sartma 1.
 * It allows to easily indicate the accent when it falls on the last syllable (i.e., without any conflict with the circumflex)

Cons

 * Transliteration is ambiguous when it comes to the exceptions mentioned in the description. E.g., it doesn't show the difference in the spelling of the last syllable in cases like vs.

Author's Comment

 * Since a final simple vowel in BH is generally followed by (a handful of exceptions excluded), we could omit the circumflex proposed on Sartma 1 without too much definition loss. This might also make it easier to show word-final accent with an acute accent sign (without it conflicting with the circumflex), in case we wanted to do so: compare Sartma 1  VS Sartma 2.

Examples
When the transcription is identical in two or more systems, the cells have been merged to highlight differences and make comparison easier. Traditional transliteration is given throughout.

Genesis

 * בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃
 * וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃
 * וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃
 * וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָא֖וֹר כִּי־ט֑וֹב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ׃
 * וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים לָאוֹר֙ י֔וֹם וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד
 * וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים יְהִ֥י רָקִ֖יעַ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַמָּ֑יִם וִיהִ֣י מַבְדִּ֔יל בֵּ֥ין מַ֖יִם לָמָֽיִם׃
 * וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֮ אֶת־הָרָקִ֒יעַ֒ וַיַּבְדֵּ֗ל בֵּ֤ין הַמַּ֙יִם֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ מִתַּ֣חַת לָרָקִ֔יעַ וּבֵ֣ין הַמַּ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֖ר מֵעַ֣ל לָרָקִ֑יעַ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃
 * וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָֽרָקִ֖יעַ שָׁמָ֑יִם וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם שֵׁנִֽי׃
 * bə-reˀšiʸṯ bɔrɔˀ ʔɛ̆loḥiʸm ʔeṯ haš-šɔmáyim wə-ʔeṯ hɔ-ʔɔ́rɛṣ.
 * wə-hɔ-ɔ́rɛṣ hɔyəṯɔʰ ṯóhuʷ wɔ-ḇóhuʷ wə-ḥóšɛḵ ʿal-pəneʸ ṯəhoʷm wə-rúʷaḥ ʔɛ̆lohiʸm məraḥɛ́p̄ɛṯ ʿal-pəneʸ ham-mɔ́yim.
 * way-yóˀmɛr ʔɛ̆lohiʸm yəhiʸ ʔoʷr wa-yəhiʸ-ʔoʷr.
 * way-yarˀ ʔɛ̆lohiʸm ʔɛṯ-hɔ-ʔoʷr kiʸ ṭoʷḇ way-yaḇdel ʔɛ̆lohiʸm beʸn hɔ-ʔoʷr uʷ-ḇeʸn ha-ḥóšɛḵ.
 * way-yiqrɔˀ ʔɛ̆lohiʸm: lɔ-ʔoʷr yoʷm wə-la-ḥóšɛḵ qɔrɔˀ lɔ́ylɔʰ wa-yəhiʸ-ʿɛ́rɛḇ wa-yəhiʸ-ḇóqɛr yoʷm ʔɛḥɔḏ.
 * way-yóˀmɛr ʔɛ̆lohiʸm yəhiʸ rɔqíʸaʿ bə-ṯoʷḵ ham-mɔ́yim wi-yhiʸ maḇdiʸl beʸn máyim lɔ-mɔ́yim.
 * way-yaʿaś ʔɛ̆lohiʸm ʔɛṯ-hɔ-rɔqíʸaʿ way-yaḇdel beʸn ham-máyim ʔăšɛr mittáḥaṯ lɔ-rɔqíʸaʿ uʷ-ḇeʸn ham-máyim ʔăšɛr meʿal lɔ-rɔqíʸaʿ wa-yəhiʸ-ḵen.
 * way-yiqrɔˀ ʔɛ̆lohiʸm lɔ-rɔqíʸaʿ šɔmɔ́yim wa-yəhiʸ-ʿɛ́rɛḇ wa-yəhiʸ-ḇóḵɛr, yoʷm šeniʸ.


 * בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃
 * וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃
 * וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃
 * וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָא֖וֹר כִּי־ט֑וֹב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ׃
 * וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים לָאוֹר֙ י֔וֹם וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד
 * וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים יְהִ֥י רָקִ֖יעַ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַמָּ֑יִם וִיהִ֣י מַבְדִּ֔יל בֵּ֥ין מַ֖יִם לָמָֽיִם׃
 * וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֮ אֶת־הָרָקִ֒יעַ֒ וַיַּבְדֵּ֗ל בֵּ֤ין הַמַּ֙יִם֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ מִתַּ֣חַת לָרָקִ֔יעַ וּבֵ֣ין הַמַּ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֖ר מֵעַ֣ל לָרָקִ֑יעַ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃
 * וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָֽרָקִ֖יעַ שָׁמָ֑יִם וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם שֵׁנִֽי׃
 * bə-reʔšīṯ bɔrɔʔ ʔɛ̆loḥīm ʔeṯ haš-šɔmáyim wə-ʔeṯ hɔ-ʔɔ́rɛṣ.
 * wə-hɔ-ʔɔ́rɛṣ hɔyəṯɔ̂ ṯóhū wɔ-ḇóhū wə-ḥóšɛḵ ʕal-pənē ṯəhōm wə-rū́aḥ ʔɛ̆lohīm məraḥɛ́p̄ɛṯ ʕal-pənē ham-mɔ́yim.
 * way-yóʔmɛr ʔɛ̆lohīm yəhī ʔōr wa-yəhī-ʔōr.
 * way-yarʔ ʔɛ̆lohīm ʔɛṯ-hɔ-ʔōr kī ṭōḇ way-yaḇdel ʔɛ̆lohīm bēn hɔ-ʔōr ū-ḇēn ha-ḥóšɛḵ.
 * way-yiqrɔʔ ʔɛ̆lohīm: lɔ-ʔōr yōm wə-la-ḥóšɛḵ qɔrɔʔ lɔ́ylɔ̂ wa-yəhī-ʕɛ́rɛḇ wa-yəhī-ḇóqɛr yōm ʔɛḥɔḏ.
 * way-yóʔmɛr ʔɛ̆lohīm yəhī rɔqī́aʕ bə-ṯōḵ ham-mɔ́yim wi-yhī maḇdīl bēn máyim lɔ-mɔ́yim.
 * way-yaʕaś ʔɛ̆lohīm ʔɛṯ-hɔ-rɔqī́aʕ way-yaḇdel bēn ham-máyim ʔăšɛr mittáḥaṯ lɔ-rɔqī́aʕ ū-ḇēn ham-máyim ʔăšɛr meʕal lɔ-rɔqī́aʕ wa-yəhī-ḵen.
 * way-yiqrɔʔ ʔɛ̆lohīm lɔ-rɔqī́aʕ šɔmɔ́yim wa-yəhī-ʕɛ́rɛḇ wa-yəhī-ḇóḵɛr, yōm šenī.


 * בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃
 * וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃
 * וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃
 * וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָא֖וֹר כִּי־ט֑וֹב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ׃
 * וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים לָאוֹר֙ י֔וֹם וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד
 * וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים יְהִ֥י רָקִ֖יעַ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַמָּ֑יִם וִיהִ֣י מַבְדִּ֔יל בֵּ֥ין מַ֖יִם לָמָֽיִם׃
 * וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֮ אֶת־הָרָקִ֒יעַ֒ וַיַּבְדֵּ֗ל בֵּ֤ין הַמַּ֙יִם֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ מִתַּ֣חַת לָרָקִ֔יעַ וּבֵ֣ין הַמַּ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֖ר מֵעַ֣ל לָרָקִ֑יעַ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃
 * וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָֽרָקִ֖יעַ שָׁמָ֑יִם וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם שֵׁנִֽי׃
 * bə̆-reʔšíṯ bɔrɔ́ʔ ʔɛ̆loḥím ʔéṯ haš-šɔmáyim wə̆-ʔéṯ hɔ-ʔɔ́rɛṣ.
 * wə̆-hɔ-ʔɔ́rɛṣ hɔyə̆ṯɔ́ ṯóhu wɔ-ḇóhu wə̆-ḥóšɛḵ ʕal pə̆né ṯə̆hóm wə̆-rúaḥ ʔɛ̆lohím mə̆raḥɛ́p̄ɛṯ ʕal pə̆né ham-mɔ́yim.
 * wayyóʔmɛr ʔɛ̆lohím yə̆hí ʔór wayə̆hí ʔór.
 * wayyárʔ ʔɛ̆lohím ʔɛṯ-hɔ-ʔór kí ṭóḇ wayyaḇdél ʔɛ̆lohím bén hɔ-ʔór u-ḇen ha-ḥóšɛḵ.
 * wayyiqrɔ́ʔ ʔɛ̆lohím: lɔ-ʔór yóm wə̆-la-ḥóšɛḵ qɔrɔ́ʔ lɔ́ylɔ wayə̆hí ʕɛ́rɛḇ wayə̆hí ḇóqɛr yóm ʔɛḥɔ́ḏ.
 * wayyóʔmɛr ʔɛ̆lohím yə̆hí rɔqíaʕ bə̆-ṯóḵ ham-mɔ́yim wiyhí maḇdíl bén máyim lɔ-mɔ́yim.
 * wayyáʕaś ʔɛ̆lohím ʔɛṯ-hɔ-rɔqíaʕ wayyaḇdél bén ham-máyim ʔăšɛ́r mittáḥaṯ lɔ-rɔqíaʕ u-ḇén ham-máyim ʔăšɛ́r meʕál lɔ-rɔqíaʕ wayə̆hí ḵén.
 * wayyiqrɔ́ʔ ʔɛ̆lohím lɔ-rɔqíaʕ šɔmɔ́yim wayə̆hí ʕɛ́rɛḇ wayə̆hí ḇóḵɛr, yóm šení.