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Font: Hebrew
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During most of the first millennium BC, the Hebrew language was written in a script, now called 'Old Hebrew', which descended directly from Phoenician, the first alphabet known to humankind. By about 200 BC, Old Hebrew script had been displaced by a distinct variant of Aramaic script which is yet another Semitic script descended from Phoenician. Since then, this distinct style called 'Square Script' has been associated with the Hebrew language, the Hebrew Scriptures and the Jewish people. During the same period, Aramaic was the lingua franca of the Near East. In fact, its influence was so strong that by the first century AD Aramaic had taken the place of Hebrew as the everyday language in Palestine. From then on, the Hebrew language was relegated to religious circles only. It became common practice to write both Hebrew and Aramaic documents in Square Hebrew script.
Considered one of the North Semitic scripts, Hebrew script has 22 letters and is written from right to left. Five of the letters, kaf, mem, nun, peh, tsade, have two shapes: one word-final and the other initial-medial. All letters stand disjoint even in cursive style. As in all other Semitic scripts, Hebrew writing was originally purely consonantal, however with the passing of time, several consonants began to double as long vowels. The demise of Hebrew as a colloquial tongue made it all the more necessary to preserve in writing the pronunciation of the Hebrew Scriptures which had been passed down as oral tradition. By around 600 AD, a notation had been developed for indicating short vowels, as well as other phonetic features, as an extension to Hebrew script. The introduction of these diacritics, better known as 'points' or nikkud, transformed Hebrew script into a true alphabet. The best known system of diacritics is the Tiberian (known also as Masoretic) system which has survived to this day. Besides indicating vowels, some of the points serve in reducing other ambiguities of text. The dot-shaped dagesh, for example, is used to indicate consonantal lengthening (gemination), as well as to distinguish between the occlusive and fricative variants of a consonant. For instance, peh with a dagesh represents [p], while one without represents [f]. As one might expect, the revival of Hebrew as a colloquial language in the 20th century has again reduced the need for 'pointed text'. Nowadays, Modern Hebrew is written without points in most contexts. Pointed text is almost exclusively used for religious and poetic texts, children's books and for the occasional disambiguation of a complex text. As a result, one must know Hebrew well in order to read it well. The same paradox holds true for most Semitic scripts and languages.
Over its long history, Hebrew script has also been used to write non-Semitic languages of the Jewish diaspora. Among the best known are Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), Yiddish (Judeo-Germanic) and Turkish.
The different styles of Hebrew script are reflected today in the rich variety of typefaces available. Aside from modern typographic interpretations, the main historic styles of Hebrew calligraphy are Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Rashi and cursive.
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