Resh (IPA: /ɹɛʃ/) is the twentieth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Arabic rāʾ ر, Aramaic rēš 𐡓, Hebrew rēš ר, Phoenician rēš 𐤓, and Syriac rēš ܪ. Its sound value is one of a number of rhotic consonants: usually [r] or [ɾ], but also [ʁ] or [ʀ] in Hebrew and North Mesopotamian Arabic.
In most Semitic alphabets, the letter resh (and its equivalents) is quite similar to the letter dalet (and its equivalents). In the Syriac alphabet, the letters became so similar that now they are only distinguished by a dot: resh has a dot above the letter, and the otherwise identical dalet has a dot below the letter. In the Arabic alphabet, rāʼ has a longer tail than dāl. In the Aramaic and Hebrew square alphabet, resh is a rounded single stroke while dalet is a right-angle of two strokes.
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek rho (Ρ/ρ), Etruscan 
, Latin R, Glagolitic Ⱃ,[1] and Cyrillic Р.
Origins
Resh is usually assumed to mean head, as in Proto-Semitic *raʾ(i)š- and descendants.
|
Arabic rāʾ
| Rāʾ راء | |
|---|---|
| ر | |
| Usage | |
| Writing system | Arabic script |
| Type | Abjad |
| Language of origin | Arabic language |
| Sound values | r (ɾ) |
| Alphabetical position | 10 |
| History | |
| Development |
|
| Other | |
| Writing direction | Right-to-left |
The letter is named rāʾ راء in Arabic. It is written in several ways depending on its position in the word:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ر | ـر | ـر | ر |
It ranges between an alveolar trill [r], an alveolar flap [ɾ], and a uvular trill [ʀ] (the last of which is only found in a few modern varieties). It is pronounced as a postalveolar approximant [ɹ̠] in the traditional dialect of Fes.[2]
Derived letter in other languages
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ݛ | ـݛ | ـݛ | ݛ |
The Unicode standard for Arabic scripts also lists a variant with a full stroke (Unicode character U+075b: ݛ), suggesting that this form is used in certain Northern and Western African languages and some dialects in Pakistan.[3]
In the Pashto alphabet, a variant of the letter rāʾ uses a ring below for the retroflex consonant [ɭ̆~ɽ] and another uses dots above and below the tail for the voiced fricative [ʐ] or [ʝ]:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ړ | ـړ | ـړ | ړ |
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ږ | ـږ | ـږ | ږ |
Hebrew resh
| Orthographic variants | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Various print fonts | Cursive Hebrew |
Rashi script | ||
| Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced | ||
| ר | ר | ר |  |
.svg){kind=small} |
Hebrew spelling: רֵישׁ
In Hebrew, Resh (רֵישׁ) represents a rhotic consonant that has different realizations for different dialects:
- In Modern Hebrew, the most common pronunciation is the voiced uvular fricative [ʁ].
- Ashkenazi use sometimes a uvular trill [ʀ] or an alveolar trill [r]. Native English-speakers replace it sometimes with an alveolar approximant [ɹ], as in English.
- Sephardic and Mizrahi use an alveolar trill [r], an alveolar flap [ɾ] or uvular trill [ʀ].
As a general rule, Resh, along with Ayin, Aleph, He, and Het, do not receive a dagesh. There are a handful of exceptions to this rule.[4] In the Yemenite tradition, Resh is treated as most other consonants in that it can receive a dagesh hazak under certain circumstances. In the most widely accepted version of the Hebrew Bible, there are 17 instances of Resh being marked with a dagesh.[5] The list is: 1 Samuel 1:6, 1 Samuel 10:24, 1 Samuel 17:25, 2 Kings 6:32, Jeremiah 39:12, Ezekiel 16:4 [×2], Habakkuk 3:13, Psalms 52:5, Proverbs 3:8, Proverbs 11:21, Proverbs 14:10, Proverbs 15:1, Job 39:9 (?[6]), Song of Songs 5:2, Ezra 9:6, 2 Chronicles 26:10 (?[7])
In gematria, Resh represents the number 200.
As abbreviation
Resh as an abbreviation can stand for Rabbi (or Rav, Rebbe, Rabban, Rabbenu, and other similar constructions).
Resh may be found after a person's name on a gravestone to indicate that the person had been a Rabbi or to indicate the other use of Rav, as a generic term for a teacher or a personal spiritual guide.
Spelling out
Resh is used in an Israeli phrase; after a child says something false, one may say "B'Shin Quf, Resh" (With Shin, Quf, Resh). These letters spell Sheqer, which is the Hebrew word for a lie. It would be akin to an English speaker saying "That's an L-I-E."
Character encodings
| Preview | ר | ر | ܪ | ࠓ | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | HEBREW LETTER RESH | ARABIC LETTER RA | SYRIAC LETTER RISH | SAMARITAN LETTER RISH | ||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1512 | U+05E8 | 1585 | U+0631 | 1834 | U+072A | 2067 | U+0813 |
| UTF-8 | 215 168 | D7 A8 | 216 177 | D8 B1 | 220 170 | DC AA | 224 160 147 | E0 A0 93 |
| Numeric character reference | ר | ר | ر | ر | ܪ | ܪ | ࠓ | ࠓ |
| Preview | 𐎗 | 𐡓 | 𐤓 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | UGARITIC LETTER RASHA | IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER RESH | PHOENICIAN LETTER ROSH | |||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 66455 | U+10397 | 67667 | U+10853 | 67859 | U+10913 |
| UTF-8 | 240 144 142 151 | F0 90 8E 97 | 240 144 161 147 | F0 90 A1 93 | 240 144 164 147 | F0 90 A4 93 |
| UTF-16 | 55296 57239 | D800 DF97 | 55298 56403 | D802 DC53 | 55298 56595 | D802 DD13 |
| Numeric character reference | 𐎗 | 𐎗 | 𐡓 | 𐡓 | 𐤓 | 𐤓 |
References
External links
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