Ghayn

{{Short description|Nineteenth letter of the Arabic alphabet}} {{About|the Arabic letter|the Cyrillic letter|Ghayn (Cyrillic)}} {{Italic title}} {{More citations needed|date=October 2011}} {{Infobox Semitic letter|letname=''Ghayn''|previouslink=Ẓāʾ|previousletter=''Ẓāʾ''||archar=غ|ipa=ɣ, ʁ|num=28|gem=1000}} {{Infobox grapheme | name = ġayn {{lang|ar|غين}} | letter = غ | script = Arabic script | type = Abjad | language = Arabic language | phonemes = {{IPA link|ɣ}}, {{IPA link|ʁ}} | alphanumber = 19 | number = | fam1 = <hiero>V28</hiero> | fam2 = class=skin-invert-image|20px|Proto-Sinaitic Ghayin | fam3 = class=skin-invert-image|20px|Proto-Caananite Ghayin | fam4 = class=skin-invert-image|20px|Phoenician Ayin | fam5 = class=skin-invert-image|20px|Aramaic ayn | fam6 = class=skin-invert-image|20px|Nabatean ein | fam7 = ع | direction = Right-to-left }} {{Arabic-script sidebar}} The Arabic letter '''{{script/Arabic|غ}}''' ({{langx|ar|غَيْنْ}}, '''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ghayn}}''' or '''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|ġayn}}''', {{IPA|ar|ɣæjn|}}){{efn|Colloquially, it ranges from {{IPA|arz|ɣeːn|}} to {{IPA|ary|ɣiːn|}}. The consonat itself is {{IPAblink|ʁ}} in Arabia, Iraq, and North Africa, but not in the Nile valley or the Levant.}} is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet added to the twenty-two inherited from the Phoenician alphabet (the others being {{transliteration|ar|ALA|thāʼ}}, {{transliteration|ar|ALA|khāʼ}}, {{transliteration|ar|ALA|dhāl}}, {{transliteration|ar|ALA|ḍād}}, {{transliteration|ar|ALA|ẓāʼ}}). It represents the sound {{IPAslink|ɣ}} or {{IPAslink|ʁ}}. In name and shape, it is a variant of ʻayn ({{script/Arabic|ع}}). Its numerical value is 1000 (see Abjad numerals). In Persian, it represents {{IPAblink|ɣ}}~{{IPAblink|ɢ}} and is the twenty-second letter in the new Persian alphabet.

''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Ghayn}}'' is written in several ways depending on its position in the word: {{Arabic alphabet shapes|غ}}

== History == Proto-Semitic {{transliteration|sem|ġ}} (usually reconstructed as voiced velar fricative {{IPA|/ɣ/}} or voiced uvular fricative {{IPA|/ʁ/}}) merged with ʻayn in most Semitic languages except for Arabic, Ugaritic and older varieties of the Canaanite languages. The South Arabian alphabet retained a symbol for {{transliteration|sem|ġ}}, {{Script|Sarb|𐩶}}. Biblical Hebrew, as of the 3rd century BCE, apparently still distinguished the phonemes {{transliteration|sem|ġ}} and {{transliteration|sem|ḫ}} {{IPA|/χ/}}, based on transcriptions in the Septuagint, such as that of the name "Gomorrah" as ''Gomorrha'' ({{lang|grc|Γόμορρᾰ}}) for the Hebrew ''‘Ămōrā'' ({{lang|he|עֲמֹרָה}}). Canaanite languages, including Hebrew, later also merged {{transliteration|sem|ġ}} with ʻayin, and the merger was complete in Tiberian Hebrew.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" ! width="14%" | Proto-Semitic ! width="14%" | Akkadian ! width="14%" colspan="2" | Arabic ! width="14%" colspan="2" | Canaanite ! width="14%" colspan="2" | Hebrew ! width="14%" colspan="2" | Aramaic ! width="14%" colspan="2" | South Arabian ! width="14%" colspan="2" | Geʻez |- ! {{transliteration|sem|ġ}} | – | <span style="font-si

، ze:190%; line-height:115%;">{{lang|ar|غ}} || {{transliteration|ar|ALA|gh}} | class=skin-invert-image|16px || {{transliteration|sem|ġ, ʻ}} | {{lang|he|ע}} || {{transliteration|he|ʻ}} | {{lang|he|ע}} || {{transliteration|he|ʻ}} | class=skin-invert-image|16px || {{transliteration|sem|ġ}} | ዐ || {{transliteration|sem|ʻ}} |- |}

== Usage == The letter {{transliteration|ar|ALA|ghayn}} ({{lang|ar|غ}}) is preferred in the Levant (nowadays), and by Aljazeera TV channel, to represent {{IPAslink|ɡ}}, e.g., {{lang|ar|هونغ كونغ}} (Hong Kong), {{lang|ar|البرتغال}} (Portugal), {{lang|ar|أغسطس}} (August), and {{lang|ar|غاندالف}} (Gandalf). Foreign publications and TV channels in Arabic, e.g. Deutsche Welle,<ref>{{cite web| title=Leningrad لينينغراد spelled with غ rather than ج| url=https://m.dw.com/ar/%D8%AD%D9%81%D9%84-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%AD-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%A9-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A7/a-64054336|access-date=14 December 2022}}</ref> and Alhurra,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.alhurra.com/egypt/2022/12/13/%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1-%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%B6%D8%AF-%D8%A8%D9%84%D9%88%D8%BA%D8%B1-%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A9 | title= "Blogger" بلوغر is spelled with غ, not ج about an article on Egypt quoting an Egyptian official Facebook post spelling it بلوجر with ج |access-date=14 December 2022}}</ref> follow this practice. It is then often pronounced {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, not {{IPA|/ɣ/}}, though in many cases, {{lang|ar|غ}} is pronounced in loanwords as expected ({{IPAslink|ɣ}}, not {{IPAslink|ɡ}}).

Other letters can be used to transcribe {{IPAslink|ɡ}} in loanwords and names, depending on whether the local variety of Arabic in the country has the phoneme {{IPAslink|ɡ}}, and if it does, which letter represents it and whether it is customary in the country to use that letter to transcribe {{IPAslink|ɡ}}. For instance, in Egypt, where {{lang|ar|ج}} is pronounced as {{IPAblink|ɡ}} in all situations even in Modern Standard Arabic<ref>{{Cite book |last=al Nassir |first=Abdulmunʿim Abdulamir |url=https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10917/1/354409.pdf |title=Sibawayh the Phonologist |publisher=University of New York |year=1985 |pages=80 |language=ar |access-date=23 April 2024}}</ref> (except in certain contexts, such as reciting the Qur'an), {{lang|ar|ج}} is used to transcribe foreign {{IPAblink|ɡ}} in all contexts. The same applies to coastal Yemen, as well as Oman. In Algeria and Tunisia, it is {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|qāf}} ({{script/Arabic|ق}}) or a three-dotted ''qāf'' ({{script/Arabic|ڨ}}); the Arabian peninsula, it is {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|qāf}} ({{script/Arabic|ق}}). In Iraq, gaf ({{script/Arabic|گ}}) or kaf ({{script/Arabic|ك}}) is more used. In Morocco, a three-dotted ''kāf'' ({{script/Arabic|ݣ}}) or ''kāf'' ({{script/Arabic|ك}}) is used. In Lebanon and Israel, a three-dotted ''jīm'' ({{script/Arabic|چ‎‎}}) is often used to create the phoneme {{IPAslink|ɡ}} in names and foreign loanwords, such as in {{lang|ar|چامبيا}} (Gambia).

When representing the sound in transliteration of Arabic into Hebrew, it is written as {{lang|he|ע׳}} or {{lang|he|ר׳‎}}. In English, the letter {{lang|ar|غ}} in Arabic names is usually transliterated as {{transliteration|ar|ALA|gh}}, {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ġ}}, or simply ''g'': {{lang|ar|بغداد}} {{transliteration|ar|ALA|Baghdād}} 'Baghdad', {{lang|ar|قرغيزستان}} {{transliteration|ar|ALA|Qirghīzstān}} 'Kyrgyzstan', {{lang|ar|سنغافورة}} {{transliteration|ar|ALA|Singhafūra}} 'Singapore', or {{lang|ar|غزة}} {{transliteration|ar|ALA|Ghazzah}} 'Gaza', the last of which does not render the sound {{IPAblink|ɣ}}~{{IPAblink|ʁ}} accurately. The closest equivalent sound to be known to most English-speakers is the Parisian French "r" {{IPAblink|ʁ}}. The Maltese alphabet is written in the Latin alphabet, the only Semitic language to do so in its standard form, and uses ⟨g⟩. It is usually represented as voiced velar plosive.

Turkish ğ, which in modern speech has no sound of its own (similar to the soft ''g'' in Danish and the hard and the soft signs in Russian), used to be spelled as غ in the Ottoman script and pronounced as {{IPAblink|ɣ}}.<ref>Lewis, Geoffrey: ''Turkish Grammar: Second Edition'', pp. 4–5. New York: Oxford University Press Inc, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-19-870036-4}}</ref> Other Turkic languages also use this Latin equivalent of ghayn (ğ), such as Tatar (Cyrillic: г), which pronounces it as [ʁ], and Azerbaijani (Cyrillic: ғ, Perso-Arabic: غ), which pronounces it as {{IPAblink|ɣ}}. In Arabic words and names where there is an ayin, Tatar adds the ghayn instead (عبد الله, ʻ''Abd Allāh, ’Abdullah;'' Tatar: '''Ğ'''abdulla'','' '''Г'''абдулла; Yaña imlâ: غابدوللا /'''ʁ'''abdulla/).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tatar (Standard) |url=https://eurphon.info/languages/html?lang_id=46 |website=eurphon.info}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Quranic Names – Abdullah |url=https://quranicnames.com/abdullah/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Tatar Names |url=https://magarif-uku.ru/tatar-isemnere/ir-at/ |language=tt |access-date=2024-11-13 |archive-date=2022-10-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027192517/https://magarif-uku.ru/tatar-isemnere/ir-at/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ilya |first=Yevlampiev |date=2011 |title=Title: Revised Proposal to encode Arabic characters used for Bashkir, Belarusian, Crimean Tatar, and Tatar languages |url=https://unicode.org/L2/L2011/11209-n4072-arabic.pdf}}</ref>

== Related characters == For related characters, see ''ng'' (Arabic letter) and ayin.

==Character encodings== {{charmap |063A|name1=Arabic Letter Ghain |FECD|name2=Arabic Letter Ghain isolated form |FECE|name3=Arabic Letter Ghain final form |FECF|name4=Arabic Letter Ghain initial form |FED0|name5=Arabic Letter Ghain medial form }} {{charmap |06A0|name1=Arabic Letter Ain With Three Dots Above |075D|name2=Arabic Letter Ain With Two Dots Above |08B3|name3=Arabic Letter Ain With Three Dots Below }}

==See also== * Ng (Arabic letter) *Arabic phonology *Gaf *Ayin *Cyrillic Ghayn, used for several Central Asian languages

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Arabic letters Category:Urdu letters