Teth
1769117
216854508
2008-06-03T14:57:14Z
Epson291
3138762
/* Arabic Ṭāʼ */
{{Phoenician glyph|letname=Teth|previouslink=Heth (letter)|previousletter=Heth|nextlink=Yodh|nextletter=Yodh|archar=ﻁ|sychar=ܛ|hechar=ט|amchar=teth|gechar=ጠ|phchar=teth|ipa=tˤ|num=9|gem=9}}
'''{{transl|sem|Ṭēth}}''' (also '''Teth''', '''Tet''') is the ninth letter of many [[Semitic abjads]], including [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]], [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]], [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] '''Tet''' {{Ivrit|ט}}, [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]] {{unicode|ܛ}} and [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] {{ArabDIN|'''Ṭāʼ'''}} {{unicode|ط}}; it is 9th in abjadi order and 16th in modern Arabic order.
Its sound value is {{IPA2|tˤ}}, one of the Semitic [[emphatic consonant]]s.
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] [[Theta]] (Θ).
==Origins==
{{Semitic alphabet}}
The Phoenician letter name {{transl|sem|ṭēth}} means "wheel", but the letter possibly (according to [[Brian Colless]]) continues a [[Middle Bronze Age alphabets|Middle Bronze Age]] glyph named {{transl|sem|ṭab}} "good", ''tayeb'' طيب in modern Arabic, based on the ''nfr'' "good" [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyph]],
<hiero>F35</hiero>
==Hebrew Tet==
{|class=prettytable style="text-align:center;"
|colspan=5|<small>[[Orthography|Orthographic]] variants</small>
|-
!|<small>Sans-serif</small> !! <small>[[Serif]]</small> !! <small>[[Monospaced]]</small>!!<small>[[Cursive Hebrew|Cursive<br>Hebrew]]</small>!!<small>[[Rashi Script|Rashi<br>Script]]</small>
|-
|width=20%|<span style="font:19pt 'arial';">ט</span>
|width=20%|<span style="font:19pt 'times new roman';">'''ט'''</span>
|width=20%|<span style="font:20pt 'courier new';">ט</span>
|width=20%|[[Image:Hebrew letter Tet handwriting.svg|18px]]
|width=20%|[[Image:Hebrew letter Tet Rashi.png|31px]]
|}
===Hebrew Pronunciation:===
In [[Hebrew language|Modern Hebrew]], Tet represents a [[voiceless alveolar plosive]] {{IPA|/t/}}, although this can be [[Pharyngealisation|pharyngealized]] to produce {{IPA|[tˤ]}} in traditional [[Yemenite Jews|Temani]] and [[Sephardi]] pronunciation.
===Significance===
In [[gematria]], Tet represents the number nine. When followed by an apostrophe, it means 9,000. The most common example of this usage is in the numbers of the [[Hebrew calendar|Hebrew years]] (i.e. ט'תשנד in [[Arabic numerals|numbers]] would be the [[Calendar date|date]] 9754).
As well, in gematria, the number 15 is written with Tet and [[Waw (letter)|Vav]], (9+6) to avoid the normal construction [[Yodh|Yud]] and [[He (letter)|Hei]] (10+5) which spells a [[Names of God in Judaism|name of God]]. Similarly, 16 is written with Tet and [[Zayin]] (9+7) instead of [[Yodh|Yud]] and [[Waw (letter)|Vav]] (10+6) to avoid spelling part of the [[Tetragrammaton]].
Tet is also one of the seven letters which receive a special crown (called a ''tagin'') when written in a [[Sefer Torah]]. See [[Shin (letter)|Shin]], [[Ayin]], [[Gimmel]], [[Nun (letter)|Nun]], [[Zayin]], and [[Tzade|Tzadi]].
==Arabic Ṭāʼ==
The letter is named ''ṭāʼ''; [[Standard Arabic|standard]] pronunciation: {{IPA|[tˤ]}}. It is written in several ways depending in its position in the word:
{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ط}}
{{Hebrew language}}
{{Arabic language}}
[[Category:Phoenician alphabet]]
[[Category:Arabic letters]]
[[als:ט]]
[[am:ጠይት]]
[[arc:ܛܝܬ]]
[[br:Tet (lizherenn)]]
[[ca:Thet]]
[[de:Tet (Buchstabe)]]
[[es:Thet]]
[[fr:Tet (lettre)]]
[[he:ט]]
[[ht:ט]]
[[ms:Ṭa]]
[[nl:Tet (letter)]]
[[pl:Tet]]
[[fi:Tet (kirjain)]]
[[sv:Tet (bokstav)]]
[[th:ฏออุ]]