Ghayn
Arabic
غ
Phonemic representationɣ, ʁ
Position in alphabet28
Numerical value1000
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
Ghayn
غ
Usage
Writing systemArabic script
TypeAbjad
Language of originArabic language
Phonetic usageɣ, ʁ
Alphabetical position19
Numerical value: 1000
History
Development
V28
Other
Associated numbers1000
Writing directionRight-to-left

The Arabic letter غ (Arabic: غَيْنْ, ghayn or ġayn) is the nineteenth letter of the Arabic alphabet, one of the six letters not in the twenty-two akin to the Phoenician alphabet (the others being thāʼ, khāʼ, dhāl, ḍād, ẓāʼ). It represents the sound /ɣ/ or /ʁ/. In name and shape, it is a variant of ʻayn (ع). Its numerical value is 1000 (see Abjad numerals). In the Persian language, it represents [ɣ]~[ɢ] and is the twenty-second letter in the new Persian alphabet.

Ghayn is written in several ways depending on its position in the word:

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)
غ ـغ ـغـ غـ

History

Proto-Semitic ġ (usually reconstructed as voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ or voiced uvular fricative /ʁ/) merged with ʻayn in most Semitic languages except for Arabic, Ugaritic, and older varieties of the Canaanite languages. The South Arabian alphabet retained a symbol for ġ, 𐩶. Biblical Hebrew, as of the 3rd century BCE, apparently still distinguished the phonemes ġ and /χ/, based on transcriptions in the Septuagint, such as that of the name "Gomorrah" as Gomorras (Γομορραν) for the Hebrew ‘Ămōrā (עֲמֹרָה). Canaanite languages, including Hebrew, later also merged ġ with ʻayin, and the merger was complete in Tiberian Hebrew.

Proto-Semitic Akkadian Arabic Canaanite Hebrew Aramaic South Arabian Geʻez
ġ - غgh ġ, ʻ עʻ עʻ ġ ʻ

Usage

The letter ghayn (غ) is preferred in the Levant (nowadays), and by Aljazeera TV channel, to represent /ɡ/, e.g., هونغ كونغ (Hong Kong) and غاندالف (Gandalf). Foreign publications and TV channels in Arabic, e.g. Deutsche Welle,[1] and Alhurra,[2] follow this practice. It is then often pronounced /ɡ/, not /ɣ/, though in many cases, غ is pronounced in loanwords as expected (/ɣ/, not /ɡ/).

Other letters can be used to transcribe /ɡ/ in loanwords and names, depending on whether the local variety of Arabic in the country has the phoneme /ɡ/, and if it does, which letter represents it, and whether it is customary in the country to use that letter to transcribe /ɡ/. For instance, in Egypt, where ج is pronounced as [ɡ] in all situations, even in speaking Modern Standard Arabic (except in certain contexts, such as reciting the Qur'an), ج is used to transcribe foreign [ɡ] in all contexts. The same applies to coastal Yemen, as well as southwestern and eastern Oman.

When representing the sound in transliteration of Arabic into Hebrew, it is written as ע׳. In English, the letter غ in Arabic names is usually transliterated as gh, ġ, or simply g: بغداد Baghdād 'Baghdad', or غزة Ghazzah 'Gaza', the latter of which does not render the sound [ɣ]~[ʁ] accurately. The closest equivalent sound to be known to most English-speakers is the Parisian French "r" [ʁ].

For the related characters, see ng (Arabic letter)

Character encodings

Character information
Previewغ
Unicode name ARABIC LETTER GHAIN ARABIC LETTER GHAIN
ISOLATED FORM
ARABIC LETTER GHAIN
FINAL FORM
ARABIC LETTER GHAIN
INITIAL FORM
ARABIC LETTER GHAIN
MEDIAL FORM
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode1594U+063A65229U+FECD65230U+FECE65231U+FECF65232U+FED0
UTF-8216 186D8 BA239 187 141EF BB 8D239 187 142EF BB 8E239 187 143EF BB 8F239 187 144EF BB 90
Numeric character referenceغغﻍﻍﻎﻎﻏﻏﻐﻐ
Character information
Previewڠݝ
Unicode name ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS ABOVE ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH TWO DOTS ABOVE ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS BELOW
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechex
Unicode1696U+06A01885U+075D2227U+08B3
UTF-8218 160DA A0221 157DD 9D224 162 179E0 A2 B3
Numeric character referenceڠڠݝݝࢳࢳ

See also

References

  1. "Leningrad لينينغراد spelled with غ rather than ج". Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  2. ""Blogger" بلوغر is spelled with غ, not ج about an article on Egypt quoting an Egyptian official Facebook post spelling it بلوجر with ج". Retrieved 14 December 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.