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Reverted 1 edit by 2001:448A:11A3:1A20:BC1D:633F:AA5B:1A5E (talk): Inaccurate as it can certainly be connected from the right, and not really necessary here to point out that it shares this with five other letters.
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{{short description|Seventh letter of many Semitic alphabets}}
{{Phoenician glyph|letname=Zayin|archar=ﺯ|sychar=ܙ|hechar=ז|amchar=zayin|phchar=zayin|ipa=z|num=7|gem=7}}
{{About|the Semitic letter|other uses|Zayn (disambiguation){{!}}Zayn}}
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{{Hebrew alphabet}}
{{Refimprove|date=August 2009}}
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{{Arabic alphabet}}
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'''Zayin''' or '''Zain''' is the seventh letter of many [[Semitic abjads]], including [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]], [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] {{Ivrit|ז}}, [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]] {{Unicode|ܙ}} and [[Arabic alphabet]] {{ArabDIN|zāī}} {{ar|ﺯ}}. It represents a [[voiced alveolar fricative]], [[International_Phonetic_Alphabet|IPA]] {{IPA|[z]}}.


{{Phoenician glyph|letname=Zayin|previouslink=Waw (letter)|previousletter=Waw|nextlink=Heth|nextletter=Heth|archar=ز|sychar=ܙ|hechar=ז|amchar=𐡆|gechar=-|phchar=𐤆|grchar=[[Ζ]]|lachar=[[Z]]|cychar=[[З]], [[Ж]]|ipa={{IPAlink|z}}|num=7|gem=7}}
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The Phoenician letter gave rise to the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] [[Zeta]] (Ζ), [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] [[Z]], and [[Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic]] [[Ze (Cyrillic)|Ze]] З.
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'''Zayin''' (also spelled '''zain''' or '''zayn''' or simply '''zay''') is the seventh letter of the [[Semitic abjads]], including [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] ''zayn'' 𐤆, [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''zayīn'' ז, [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] ''zain'' 𐡆, [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]] ''zayn'' ܙ, and [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] ''zāy'' ز. It represents the sound {{IPAblink|z}}.


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The Phoenician letter gave rise to the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] [[Zeta (letter)|zeta]] (Ζ), [[Etruscan alphabet|Etruscan]] ''z'' [[File:EtruscanZ-01.png|14px|Z]], [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] [[Z]], and [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] [[Ze (Cyrillic)|Ze]] З, as well as [[Ж]].
The [[Proto-Canaanite]] glyph appears to be named after a sword or other weapon. The [[Proto-Sinaitic]] glyph according to [[Brian Colless]] may have been called ''ziqq'', based on a [[hieroglyph]] depicting a "manacle".


==Hebrew Zayin==
==Origin==
The [[Proto-Sinaitic]] [[glyph]] may have been called {{transl|mis|ziqq}}, may not have been based on a [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyph]], and may have depicted a "[[fetter]]".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Colless|first1=Brian E.|year=2014|title=The origin of the alphabet: an examination of the Goldwasser hypothesis|journal=Antiguo Oriente|volume=12|pages=71–104|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/32623054.pdf|access-date=2023-05-06|archive-date=2022-10-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014202936/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/32623054.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>


An alternative view is that it is based on the "[[oxhide ingot|copper ingot]]" hieroglyph ([[wikt:𓈔|𓈔]]) in the form of an axeblade, after noting that the name "zayin" has roots in Aramaic to refer to "[[Armament|Arms]]," "[[Armor]]," and "[[oxhide ingot|Metal used for arms]]."<ref name="cross1980">Cross, F. M. (1980) Newly Found Inscriptions in Old Canaanite and Early Phoenician Scripts. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 238, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.2307/1356511 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715024051/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/1356511 |date=2019-07-15 }}</ref>
A chupchik can be placed in front of Zayin ('ז), giving it the IPA sound [[voiced postalveolar fricative|{{IPA|[ʒ]}}]].

The Phoenician letter appears to be named after a sword or other weapon. In [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], ''{{transl|he|zayin}}'' ({{script/Hebrew|זין}}) means "weapon", the verb ''{{transl|he|lĕzayyēn}}'' ({{script/Hebrew|לזיין}}) means "to arm", and the verb ''{{transl|he|lĕhizdayyēn}}'' ({{script/Hebrew|להזדיין}}) means "to arm oneself".

==Arabic zāy ==
The letter is named {{transl|ar|ALA|zāy}}. It has two forms, depending on its position in the word:
⚫
{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ز}}

The similarity to ''{{transl|ar|ALA|rāʼ&nbsp;}}'' <big>{{lang|ar|[[Resh#Arabic rāʾ|ر]]}}</big>&nbsp; is likely a function of the original Syriac forms converging to a single symbol, requiring that one of them be distinguished as a dot; a similar process occurred to [[Gimel (letter)|{{transl|ar|ALA|jīm}}]] and [[Heth (letter)|{{transl|ar|ALA|ḥāʼ}}]].

{{anchor|Ze}}
{{Arabic-script sidebar|Persian}}

The same letter has another name – ''[[ژ|že]]'' ({{IPA-fa|ʒe}}) – in a number of languages, such as [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Pashto language|Pashto]], [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], [[Urdu]] and [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]] (see [[Uyghur Ereb Yéziqi|K̡ona Yezik̡]]).
{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ژ}}

==Hebrew zayin==
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!colspan=5|[[Orthography|Orthographic]] variants
|-
!colspan=3|Various print fonts
!rowspan=2|[[Cursive Hebrew]]
!rowspan=2|[[Rashi script]]
|-
!Serif !! [[Sans-serif]] !! [[Monospaced]]
|-
|width=20%|<span style="font:30pt 'Times New Roman', 'SBL Hebrew', David, Narkisim, 'New Peninim MT', 'Taamey Frank CLM', serif;">ז</span>
|style="font:28pt Arial, 'DejaVu Sans Condensed', 'DejaVu Sans', Tahoma, 'Noto Sans Hebrew', Alef, sans-serif;"|ז
|style="font:30pt 'Courier New', 'Miriam Fixed', 'Miriam Mono CLM', FreeMono, monospace;"|ז
|[[File:Hebrew letter Zayin handwriting.svg|22px]]
|[[File:Zayin (Rashi-script - Hebrew letter).svg|35px]]
|}

In modern Hebrew, the frequency of the usage of zayin, out of all the letters, is 0.88%.

Hebrew spelling: <big>{{lang|he|זַיִן}}</big>

In modern Hebrew, the combination {{Script/Hebrew|ז׳}} (zayin followed by a [[geresh]]) is used in loanwords and foreign names to denote {{IPAblink|ʒ}} as in ''vi{{strong|si}}on''.


===Significance===
===Significance===
====Numerical value (gematria)====
In [[gematria]], Zayin represents the number seven, and when used at the beginning of [[Hebrew calendar|Hebrew years]], it means 7000 (i.e. זתשנד in [[Arabic_numerals|numbers]] would be the [[Calendar_date|date]] 7754).
In [[gematria]], zayin represents the number [[7|seven]],<ref name="Gematria Chart">{{cite web|url=http://www.inner.org/gematria/gemchart.htm|title=Gematria Chart|access-date=2011-11-29|archive-date=2011-12-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226164309/http://www.inner.org/gematria/gemchart.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> and when used at the beginning of [[Hebrew calendar|Hebrew years]] it means 7000 (i.e. {{lang|he|זתשנד}} in [[Arabic numerals|numbers]] would be the future [[Calendar date|date]] 7754).


====Use in Torah scroll====
Zayin 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]], [[Teth]], [[Nun (letter)|Nun]], [[Gimel (letter)|Gimel]], and [[Tzade|Tzadi]].
Zayin, in addition to [[ʻayin]], [[gimel]], [[teth]], [[Nun (letter)|nun]], [[Shin (letter)|shin]], and [[Tzade|tzadi]], is one of the seven letters which receive a special crown (called a ''[[Tagin (Hebrew writing)|tagin]]'') when written in a [[Sefer Torah]] (Torah scroll).


==Syriac zain==
Zayin, in modern Israeli slang, refers to the [[penis]].
Zain is a consonant with the {{ipa|/z/}} sound which is a [[voiced alveolar fricative]].


==Character encodings==
⚫
[[Category:Phoenician alphabet]]
{{charmap
|05D6|name1=Hebrew Letter Zayin
|0632|name2=Arabic Letter Zain
|0719|name3=Syriac Letter Zain
|0806|name4=Samaritan Letter Zen
}}


{{charmap
[[de:Zajin]]
|10387|name1=Ugaritic Letter Zeta
[[es:Zayin]]
|10846|name2=Imperial Aramaic Letter Zayin
[[fr:Zayin (lettre)]]
|10906|name3=Phoenician Letter Zai
[[he:ז]]
}}
[[fi:Zajin]]

== See also ==
*[[Ve (Arabic)|ڤ - Ve]]
*[[Pe (Arabic)|پ - Pe]]
*[[Gaf|گ - Gāf]]
*[[Che (Arabic)|چ - Che]]

==References==
{{commonscat|Zayin (letter)}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Arabic language}}
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{{Hebrew language}}
{{Northwest Semitic abjad}}
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[[Category:Phoenician alphabet]]
[[Category:Arabic letters]]
[[Category:Hebrew letters]]
[[Category:Urdu letters]]

Revision as of 15:45, 18 July 2024

This article is about the Semitic letter. For other uses, see Zayn.
Zayin
Phoenician
𐤆‎
Hebrew
ז‎
Aramaic
𐡆‎
Syriac
ܙ‎
Arabic
ز‎
Phonemic representationz
Position in alphabet7
Numerical value7
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
GreekΖ
LatinZ
CyrillicЗ, Ж

Zayin (also spelled zain or zayn or simply zay) is the seventh letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician zayn 𐤆, Hebrew zayīn ז, Aramaic zain 𐡆, Syriac zayn ܙ, and Arabic zāy ز. It represents the sound [z].

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek zeta (Ζ), Etruscan z Z, Latin Z, and Cyrillic Ze З, as well as Ж.

Origin

The Proto-Sinaitic glyph may have been called ziqq, may not have been based on a hieroglyph, and may have depicted a "fetter".[1]

An alternative view is that it is based on the "copper ingot" hieroglyph (𓈔) in the form of an axeblade, after noting that the name "zayin" has roots in Aramaic to refer to "Arms," "Armor," and "Metal used for arms."[2]

The Phoenician letter appears to be named after a sword or other weapon. In Hebrew, zayin (זין‎) means "weapon", the verb lĕzayyēn (לזיין‎) means "to arm", and the verb lĕhizdayyēn (להזדיין‎) means "to arm oneself".

Arabic zāy

The letter is named zāy. It has two forms, depending on its position in the word:

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help) 		ز‎ ـز‎ ـز‎ ز‎

The similarity to rāʼ  ر  is likely a function of the original Syriac forms converging to a single symbol, requiring that one of them be distinguished as a dot; a similar process occurred to jīm and ḥāʼ.

Persian alphabet
ا ب پ ت ث ج چ ح خ د ذ ر ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک گ ل م ن و ه ی
Perso-Arabic script

The same letter has another name – že (Persian pronunciation: [ʒe]) – in a number of languages, such as Persian, Pashto, Kurdish, Urdu and Uyghur (see K̡ona Yezik̡).

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help) 		ژ‎ ـژ‎ ـژ‎ ژ‎

Hebrew zayin

Orthographic variants
Various print fonts Cursive Hebrew Rashi script
Serif Sans-serif Monospaced
ז ז ז

In modern Hebrew, the frequency of the usage of zayin, out of all the letters, is 0.88%.

Hebrew spelling: זַיִן

In modern Hebrew, the combination ז׳‎ (zayin followed by a geresh) is used in loanwords and foreign names to denote [ʒ] as in vision.

Significance

Numerical value (gematria)

In gematria, zayin represents the number seven,[3] and when used at the beginning of Hebrew years it means 7000 (i.e. זתשנד in numbers would be the future date 7754).

Use in Torah scroll

Zayin, in addition to ʻayin, gimel, teth, nun, shin, and tzadi, is one of the seven letters which receive a special crown (called a tagin) when written in a Sefer Torah (Torah scroll).

Syriac zain

Zain is a consonant with the /z/ sound which is a voiced alveolar fricative.

Character encodings

Character information
Vorschau ז ز ܙ ࠆ
Unicode name HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN ARABIC LETTER ZAIN SYRIAC LETTER ZAIN SAMARITAN LETTER ZEN
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 1494 U+05D6 1586 U+0632 1817 U+0719 2054 U+0806
UTF-8 215 150 D7 96 216 178 D8 B2 220 153 DC 99 224 160 134 E0 A0 86
Numeric character reference ז ז ز ز ܙ ܙ ࠆ ࠆ


Character information
Vorschau 𐎇 𐡆 𐤆
Unicode name UGARITIC LETTER ZETA IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER ZAYIN PHOENICIAN LETTER ZAI
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 66439 U+10387 67654 U+10846 67846 U+10906
UTF-8 240 144 142 135 F0 90 8E 87 240 144 161 134 F0 90 A1 86 240 144 164 134 F0 90 A4 86
UTF-16 55296 57223 D800 DF87 55298 56390 D802 DC46 55298 56582 D802 DD06
Numeric character reference 𐎇 𐎇 𐡆 𐡆 𐤆 𐤆

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zayin (letter).
  1. ^ Colless, Brian E. (2014). "The origin of the alphabet: an examination of the Goldwasser hypothesis" (PDF). Antiguo Oriente. 12: 71–104. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-14. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  2. ^ Cross, F. M. (1980) Newly Found Inscriptions in Old Canaanite and Early Phoenician Scripts. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 238, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.2307/1356511 Archived 2019-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Gematria Chart". Archived from the original on 2011-12-26. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
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