Dagesh

Dagesh

ּ
ḥazaq: [ː] (gemination)

Biblical qal: [v]~[β]→[b], [ɣ]→[ɡ],

IPA [ð]→[d], [x]→[k],
[f]~[ɸ]→[p], [θ]→[t]
Israeli [v]~[β]→[b], [x]~[χ]→[k], [f]→[p]
ḥazaq: doubling of consonant
Biblical qal: none
Transliteration
(SBL transliteration system[1])

Israeli v→b, kh→k, f→p

Same appearance mappiq, shuruk
Example

‫דָּ גֵׁש‬
"Dagesh" in Hebrew. The center dot on the rightmost character is a dagesh.
Other Niqqud
Shva · Hiriq · Tzere · Segol · Patach · Kamatz · Holam · Dagesh · Mappiq · Shuruk · Kubutz · Rafe · Sin/Shin
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The dagesh (‫ ) ָּדגֵׁש‬is a diacritic used in the Hebrew alphabet. It was added to
the Hebrew orthography at the same time as the Masoretic system of niqqud (vowel points). It takes
the form of a dot placed inside a Hebrew letter and has the effect of modifying the sound in one of
two ways.
An identical mark, called mappiq, has a different phonetic function, and can be applied to different
consonants; the same mark is also employed in the vowel shuruk.

Dagesh and mappiq symbols are often omitted in writing. For instance, ‫ ּב‬is often written as ‫ב‬. The
use or omission of such marks is usually consistent throughout any given context. The two functions
of dagesh are distinguished as either kal (light) or ḥazak (strong).
 Contents

 1Dagesh kal
o 1.1Pronunciation
 2Dagesh hazak
 3Rafe
 4Unicode encodings
 5See also
 6Notes
 7Further reading
 8External links

Dagesh kal[edit]
A dagesh kal or dagesh qal (‫דגש קל‬, or ‫דגש קשיין‬, also "dagesh lene", "weak/light dagesh",
opposed to "strong dot") may be placed inside the
consonants ‫ ב‬bet, ‫ ג‬gimel, ‫ ד‬dalet, ‫ כ‬kaf, ‫ פ‬pe and ‫ ת‬tav. They each had two sounds: the original
"hard" (plosive) sound, and a "soft" (fricative) sound. Before the Babylonian captivity, the soft sounds
did not exist in Hebrew, but were added as a result of Aramaic-influenced pronunciation of Hebrew
after this point in history. The letters take on their hard sounds when they have no vowel sound
before them, and take their soft sounds when a vowel immediately precedes them, across word
boundaries in Biblical Hebrew, but not in Modern Hebrew. When vowel diacritics are used, the hard
sounds are indicated by a central dot called dagesh, while the soft sounds lack a dagesh. In Modern
Hebrew, however, the dagesh only changes the pronunciation of ‫ ב‬bet, ‫ כ‬kaf, and ‫ פ‬pe (traditional
Ashkenazic pronunciation also varies the pronunciation of ‫ ת‬tav, and some traditional Middle
Eastern pronunciations carry alternate forms for ‫ ד‬dalet).

With dagesh Without dagesh

Symbo Nam Transliteratio IP Exampl Symbo Nam Transliteratio IP Exampl

l e n A e l e n A e

‫ּב‬ bet b /b/ bun

‫ב‬ vet v /v/ van

[2]
‫ּכ‬ kaph k /k/
kangaro ‫כ‬ khap
kh/ch/ḵ /χ/ loch

‫ּך‬ ‫ך‬
o h
 [3]
‫ּפ‬ pe p /p/ pass
‫פ‬ phe f/ph /f/ find

‫ּף‬ ‫ף‬
* Only in Ashkenazi pronunciation Tav without a dagesh is pronounced [s], while in another traditions it is
assumed to have been pronounced [θ] at the time niqqud was introduced. In Modern Hebrew, it is always
pronounced [t].
** The letters gimmel (‫ )ג‬and dalet (‫ )ד‬may also contain a dagesh kal. This indicates an allophonic variation of
the phonemes /ɡ/ and /d/, a variation which no longer exists in modern Hebrew pronunciation. The variations are
believed to have been: ‫[=ּג‬ɡ], ‫[=ג‬ɣ], ‫[=ד‬d], ‫[=ד‬ð]. The Hebrew spoken by the Jews of Yemen (Yemenite Hebrew)
still preserves unique phonemes for these letters with and without a dagesh.[4]
*** The letter hey (‫ )ה‬when word final is usually silent in order to indicate the presence of a word-
final vowel. But when it receives a dagesh kal, the hey is pronounced instead of being silent.
This is the rule in historic pronunciation, but in Modern Hebrew, this rule is generally ignored.
However, when a non-silent word-final hey (‫ )ּה‬occurs, it can take a furtive patach.
Pronunciation[edit]
In Israel's general population, the pronunciation of some of the above letters has become
identical to the pronunciation of others:

Letter pronounced like Letter

‫ב‬ (without dagesh) like ‫ו‬

vet vav

‫כ‬ (without dagesh) like ‫ח‬

khaf chet

‫ּת‬ (with dagesh) like ‫ט‬

tav tet

‫ּכ‬ (with dagesh) like ‫ק‬

kaf qof
Dagesh hazak[edit]
Dagesh ḥazak or dagesh ḥazaq (‫דגש חזק‬, "strong dot", i.e. "gemination dagesh", or ‫דגש‬
‫כפלן‬, also "dagesh forte") may be placed in almost any letter, this indicated
a gemination (doubling) of that consonant in the pronunciation of pre-modern Hebrew. This
gemination is not adhered to in modern Hebrew and is only used in careful pronunciation,
such as reading of scriptures in a synagogue service, recitations of biblical or traditional
texts or on ceremonious occasions, and then only by very precise readers.
The following letters, the gutturals, almost never have a
dagesh: aleph ‫א‬, he ‫ה‬, chet ‫ח‬, ayin ‫ע‬, resh ‫ר‬. (A few instances of resh with dagesh
are masoretically recorded in the Hebrew Bible, as well as a few cases of aleph with a
dagesh, such as in Leviticus 23:17.)
The presence of a dagesh ḥazak or consonant-doubling in a word may be entirely
morphological, or, as is often the case, is a lengthening to compensate for a deleted
consonant. A dagesh ḥazak may be placed in letters for one of the following reasons:

 The letter follows the definite article, the word "the". For
example, ‫מיִם‬ ָּ ‫ׁש‬
ָּ shamayim "heaven(s)" in Gen 1:8 is ‫שמַ יִם‬ ָּ ַ‫ ה‬Hashshamayim "the
heaven(s)" in Gen 1:1. This is because the definite article was originally a stand-alone
particle ‫ הַ ל‬hal, but at some early stage in ancient Hebrew it contracted into a prefix ַַ‫ה‬
'ha-', and the loss of the ‫' ל‬l' was compensated for by doubling the following letter. In this
situation where the following letter is a guttural, the vowel in 'ha-' becomes long to
compensate for the inability to double the next letter - otherwise, this vowel is almost
always short. This also happens in words taking the prefix ַַ‫' ל‬la-', since it is a prefix
created by the contraction of ַ‫' ל‬le-' + ַַ‫' ה‬ha-'. Occasionally, the letter following a He which
is used to indicate a question may also receive a dagesh, e.g. Num 13:20 ‫שמֵ נָּה‬ ְּׁ ַ‫ה‬
‫ ִהוא‬Hashshemena hi? - "whether it is fat".
 The letter follows the prefix ַ‫' מ‬mi-' where this prefix is an abbreviation for the word min,
meaning "from". For example, the phrase "from your hand", if spelled as two words,
would be ‫ ִמן י ֶָּדָך‬min yadekha. In Gen. 4:11, however, it occurs as one
word: ‫ ִמי ֶָּדָך‬miyyadekha. This prefix mostly replaces the usage of the particle ‫ מן‬min in
modern Hebrew.
 The letter follows the prefix ַ‫' ש‬she-' in modern Hebrew, which is a prefixed contraction of
the relative pronoun ‫ אֲ שר‬asher, where the first letter is dropped and the last letter
disappears and doubles the next letter. This prefix is rare in Biblical texts, but mostly
replaces the use of ‫ אֲ שר‬asher in Modern Hebrew.
 It marks the doubling of a letter that is caused by a weak letter losing its vowel. In these
situations, the weak letter disappears, and the following letter is doubled to compensate
for it. For example, compare Ex. 6:7 ‫ לָּ ַק ְּׁח ִּתי‬lakachti with Num 23:28, where the first
letter of the root ‫ ל‬has been elided: ‫ וַיִ ַקח‬vayyikkach. Lamed only behaves as a weak
letter in this particular root word, but never anywhere else.
 If the letter follows a vav consecutive imperfect (sometimes referred to
as vav conversive, or vav ha'hipuch), which, in Biblical Hebrew, switches a verb
between perfect and imperfect. For example, compare Judges 7:4 ‫ יֵלֵ ְך‬yelekh "let him
go" with Deu. 31:1 ‫ ַויֵלֶ ך‬vayyelekh "he went". A possible reason for this doubling is that
the ‫' ַַו‬va-' prefix could be the remains of an auxiliary verb ‫ הָ ַוַַי‬hawaya (the ancient form of
the verb ‫ הָ יָה‬hayah, "to be") being contracted into a prefix, losing the initial 'ha', and the
final 'ya' syllable disappearing and doubling the next letter.
 In some of the binyan verbal stems, where the Piel, Pual and Hitpa'el stems themselves
cause doubling in the second root letter of a verb. For example:
o Ex. 15:9 ‫ אֲ חַ לֵ ק‬achallek "I shall divide", Piel Stem, first person future tense
o in the phrase ‫ הָ לֵּ לּוַיַּה‬hallelu yah "praise the LORD", where hallelu is in Piel Stem,
masculine plural Imperative form
o Gen. 47:31 ‫תחַ זֵ ק‬
ְּׁ ִ‫ וַי‬vayyitchazzek, "he strengthened himself", Hitpael stem