Sha
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2008-07-10T17:38:44Z
Unmerklich
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ka
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'''Sha''' (Ш, ш) is a letter of the [[Cyrillic alphabet]], representing the consonant sound {{IPA|/ʃ/}} or {{IPA|/ʂ/}}. It is roughly equivalent to ''sh'' in English, ''ch'' in French, ''sch'' in German, ''ש'' in Hebrew, ''ş'' in Turkish, or ''sz'' in Polish. In most Latin-alphabet Slavic languages (Czech, Slovak, Serbian, Slovene, Croatian) this sound is written ''š'', and linguists have adopted this symbol to [[transliteration|transliterate]] ш into the Latin alphabet.
The printed Sha looks something like a [[W]] or, more exactly, like an [[E]] rotated to the left 90 degrees. It is used in virtually every national variation of the [[Cyrillic alphabet]], for Slavic and non-Slavic languages. In mathematics, the [[Tate-Shafarevich group]] is denoted Ш, a notation first suggested by [[J. W. S. Cassels]]. (Previously it had been unimaginatively denoted <i>TS</i>.)
In a different mathematical context, some authors allude to the shape of the letter Sha when they use the term ''Shah function'' for what is otherwise called a [[Dirac comb]].
The sound {{IPA|/ʃ/}} is described as a [[voiceless postalveolar fricative]]. The postalveolar fricatives are the major reason why the [[Glagolitic]] and later the Cyrillic alphabet were invented, because they cannot be written with a simple Roman or Greek letter without diacritics or digraphs. Slavic languages are rich in postalveolar fricatives and [[affricate]]s, and Sha is one of the most typical letters of the Cyrillic alphabet.
Sha has its earliest origins in [[Proto-Canaanite]] [[Shin (letter)|Shin]] and is linked closely to Shin's [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] equivalent: [[Sigma (letter)|Sigma]] (Σ, σ). (Note the similar form of the modern [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] Shin (ש) which also derives from the same Proto-Canaanite source). Sha already possessed its current form in Saints [[Saint Cyril |Cyril]] and [[Saint Methodius | Methodius]]'s [[Glagolitic alphabet]]. Most Cyrillic letter-forms were derived from the Greek, but as there was no Greek sign for the Sha sound (modern Greek uses simply "σ" to spell the sh-sound in foreign words and names), Glagolitic Sha was adopted unchanged. There is a possibility that Sha was taken from the [[Coptic alphabet]], which was the same as the Greek alphabet but had a few letters added at the end, including one called "shai" which somewhat resembles both sha and [[shcha]] in appearance.
==See also==
*[[Š|Š, š]]
*[[Esh (letter)|ʃ - Esh (letter)]]
*[[Shcha|Щ, щ - Shcha (Cyrillic)]]
*[[Voiceless retroflex fricative]]
*[[Voiceless postalveolar fricative]]
[[br:Ш (lizherenn)]]
[[es:Ш (cirílico)]]
[[et:Ш]]
[[eo:Ŝa (cirila alfabeto)]]
[[ko:Ш]]
[[ka:Ш]]
[[it:Ш (Cirillico)]]
[[he:Ш]]
[[ht:Ш]]
[[nah:Ш]]
[[ja:Ш]]
[[no:Ш]]
[[nn:Ш]]
[[pl:Ш]]
[[pt:Sha]]
[[ru:Ш (кириллица)]]
[[sr:Ш (ћириличко)]]
[[fi:Ш]]
[[sv:Ш]]
[[th:Sha]]
[[uk:Ш]]
[[zh:Ш]]