Gimel

{{Short description|Third letter of many Semitic alphabets}} {{Redirect|Gimmel|the music group|Gimmel (music group)|other uses|Gimel (disambiguation)}} {{for|the municipality in Switzerland|Gimel, Switzerland}} {{use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{distinguish|Gmail}} {{Infobox Semitic letter|letname=Gimel|previouslink=Bet (letter)|previousletter=Bet|nextlink=Dalet|nextletter=Dalet|archar=ج|sychar=ܓ|hechar=ג|smchar=ࠂ|amchar=𐡂|nbchar=𐢄|gechar=ገ|ugchar=𐎂|phchar=𐤂|nachar=𐪔|sachar=𐩴|grchar=Γ|lachar=C, G, Ȝ, Ɣ|cychar=Г, Ґ, Ғ|ipa={{IPA link|ɡ}}, {{IPA link|ɟ}}, {{IPA link|ɣ}}, {{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}, {{IPA link|ʒ}}|num=3|gem=3|}}

'''Gimel''' is the third (in alphabetical order; fifth in spelling order) letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ''gīml'' 𐤂, Hebrew ''gīmel'' {{Script|Hebr|ג}}, Aramaic ''gāmal'' 𐡂, Syriac ''gāmal'' ܓ Arabic ''jīm'' {{Script|Arabic|ج}}. Ancient North Arabian 𐪔‎, South Arabian {{lang|sem-x-oldsoara|𐩴}}, and Ge'ez {{lang|gez|ገ}}.

Its sound value in the original Phoenician and in all derived alphabets, except Arabic, is a voiced velar plosive {{IPAblink|ɡ}}; in Modern Standard Arabic, it represents either a {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}} or {{IPA|/ʒ/}} for most Arabic speakers except in Northern Egypt, the southern parts of Yemen and some parts of Oman where it is pronounced as the voiced velar plosive {{IPAblink|ɡ}}.

In its Proto-Canaanite form, the letter may have been named after a weapon that was either a staff sling or a throwing stick (spear thrower), ultimately deriving from a Proto-Sinaitic glyph based on the hieroglyph below: <div><hiero>T14</hiero></div>

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek gamma (Γ), the Latin C, G, Ɣ and Ȝ, and the Cyrillic Г, Ґ, and Ғ.

== Arabic Jīm == {{Infobox grapheme | name = Ǧīm Jīm جيم | letter = {{lang|ar|ج}} | variations = | image = | imagesize = 200 | imagealt = | script = Arabic script | type = Abjad | typedesc = | language = Arabiclanguage | phonemes = {{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}}, {{IPAslink|ʒ}}, {{IPAslink|g}}, {{IPAslink|ɟ}} | unicode = | alphanumber = 5 | number = | equivalents = ǧ, j, g | associates = | direction = Right-to-left | fam1 = 𓌙| | fam2 = 𐤂 | fam3 = 𐡂 | fam4 = 𐢄 | fam5 = ح }}

The Arabic letter {{lang|ar|ج}} is named {{lang|ar|جيم}} ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|jīm}}'' {{IPA|ar|d͡ʒiːm, ʒiːm, ɡiːm, ɟiːm|}}. It has four forms, and is written in several ways depending on its position in the word: {{Arabic alphabet shapes|ج}} The similarity to ''{{Transliteration|ar|ALA|ḥāʼ}}'' <big>{{lang|ar|ح}}</big>  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 {{Transliteration|ar|ALA|zāy}} and {{Transliteration|ar|ALA|rāʾ}}.

===Pronunciation=== In all varieties of Arabic, cognate words will have consistent differences in pronunciation of the letter. The standard pronunciation taught outside the Arabic speaking world is an affricate {{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}}, which was the agreed-upon pronunciation by the end of the nineteenth century to recite the Qur'an, this sound also corresponds to {{lang|mt|ġ}} {{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}} in Maltese as in ''ġar'' "neighbor" and Arabic {{lang|ar|جار}} ''jār'' "neighbor" both pronounced {{IPA|/d͡ʒaːr/}}. It is pronounced as a fricative {{IPAblink|ʒ}} in most of Northern Africa and the Levant, and {{IPAblink|ɡ}} is the prestigious and most common pronunciation in Egypt, which is also found in Southern Arabian Peninsula. Differences in pronunciation occur because readers of Modern Standard Arabic pronounce words following their native dialects.

Egyptians always use the letter to represent {{IPAblink|ɡ}} as well as in names and loanwords,<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 |archive-date=23 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240423104616/https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10917/1/354409.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> such as {{lang|ar|جولف}} "golf". However, {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ج}}}} may be used in Egypt to transcribe {{IPA|/}}{{IPA link|ʒ}}~{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}{{IPA|/}} (normally pronounced {{IPAblink|ʒ}}) or if there is a need to distinguish them completely, then {{angbr|{{lang|ar|چ}}}} is used to represent {{IPAslink|ʒ}}, which is also a proposal for Mehri and Soqotri languages.

;The literary standard pronunciations: *{{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}}: In most of the Arabian Peninsula, northern Algeria, Iraq, southern Egypt, mountainous Levant. This is also the commonly taught pronunciation outside the Arabic speaking countries when Literary Arabic is taught as a foreign language. It is the agreed-upon pronunciation to recite the Qur'an. *{{IPAblink|ʒ}}: In the Levant (urban centers), Southern Iraq, most of Northwestern Africa, and southern Algeria (Oran),<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mezzoudj |first1=Fréha |last2=Loukam |first2=Mourad |last3=Belkredim |first3=Fatma |title=Arabic Algerian Oranee Dialectal Language Modelling Oriented Topic |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/964255 |journal=International Journal of Informatics and Applied Mathematics |access-date=2024-04-21 |archive-date=2024-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421131108/https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/964255 |url-status=live }}</ref> and by some speakers in western Arabia (Hejaz). *{{IPAblink|g}}: In Egypt, coastal Yemen (west and south), southwestern and eastern Oman. *{{IPAblink|ɟ}}: In Sudan, northern Arabia, and hinterland Yemen. *{{IPAblink|ɟ͡ʝ}}: attested among some bedouin in Saudi Arabia.'''<ref>{{cite book |last=Il-Hazmy |first=Alayan |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/43362.pdf |title=A critical and comparative study of the spoken dialect of the Harb tribe in Saudi Arabia |year=1975 |page=234 |access-date=2024-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318053906/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/43362.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-18 |url-status=live}}</ref>'''

;Non-literary pronunciation: * {{IPAblink|j}}: In eastern Arabian Peninsula and Iraq but only colloquial speech, for example Kuwaiti Arabic {{lang|ar|وايد}} {{IPAblink|ˈwɑːjəd}} “a lot” vs. Najdi Arabic {{lang|ar|واجد}} {{IPAblink|ˈwæːd͡ʒɪd}}.

=== Historical pronunciation === While in most Semitic languages, e.g. Aramaic, Hebrew, Ge'ez, Old South Arabian the equivalent letter represents a {{IPAblink|ɡ}}, Arabic is considered unique among them where the ''Jīm'' {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ج}}}} was palatalized to an affricate {{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}} or a fricative {{IPAblink|ʒ}} in most dialects from classical times. While there is variation in Modern Arabic varieties, most of them reflect this palatalized pronunciation except in coastal Yemeni and Omani dialects as well as in Egypt, where it is pronounced {{IPAblink|g}}.

It is not well known when palatalization occurred or the probability of it being connected to the pronunciation of ''Qāf'' {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ق}}}} as a {{IPAblink|ɡ}}, but in most of the Arabian peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE and parts of Yemen and Oman), the {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ج}}}} represents a {{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}} and {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ق}}}} represents a {{IPAblink|ɡ}}, except in coastal Yemen and southern Oman where {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ج}}}} represents a {{IPAblink|ɡ}} and {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ق}}}} represents a {{IPAblink|q}}, which shows a strong correlation between the palatalization of {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ج}}}} to {{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}} and the pronunciation of the {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ق}}}} as a {{IPAblink|ɡ}} as shown in the table below: {{Gim and qaf pronunciation}}

=== Pronunciation across other languages === {| class="wikitable" |+Pronunciation of {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ج}}}} in other languages !Language !Alphabet name !Pronunciation (IPA) |- !Azeri !Arabic script | rowspan="17" style="text-align:center" |{{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}} |- ! colspan="2" |Balochi |- ! colspan="2" |Brahui |- ! colspan="2" |Hindko |- !Javanese !Pegon |- ! colspan="2" |Kashmiri |- !Kurdish !Sorani |- !Malay !Jawi |- ! colspan="2" |Pashto |- ! colspan="2" |Persian |- !Punjabi !Shahmukhi |- ! colspan="2" |Saraiki |- !Sindhi !Arabic script |- !Swahili !Ajami |- ! colspan="2" |Urdu |- ! colspan="2" |Uyghur |- !Uzbek !Arabic script |- !Hausa !Ajami | rowspan="2" style="text-align:center" | {{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}} or {{IPAslink|ʒ}} |- !Kazakh !Tote Jazu |} Note: In Kazakh {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ج}}}} is pronounced {{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}} in some dialects, such as in the south and east.<ref>Jankowski, H., Tazhibaeva, S., Özçelik, Ö., Abish, A., Aqtay, G., & Smagulova, J. (2023). "Kazakh". In L. Johanson (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Turkic Languages and Linguistics Online''. Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/2667-3029_ETLO_COM_032116.</ref> Hausa {{angbr|{{lang|ar|ج}}}} is pronounced {{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}}, in the Hausa of Niger, {{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}} is usually pronounced {{IPAblink|ʒ}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daniels |first=Peter |title=Phonologies of Asia and Africa - Hausa Phonology |last2=Kaye |first2=Alan |last3=Newman |first3=Paul |date=1996}}</ref>

===Variant=== {{Main|Che (Persian letter)}} A variant letter named ''che'' is used in Persian, with three dots below instead having just one dot below. However, it is not included on one of the 28 letters on the Arabic alphabet. It is thus written as: {{Arabic alphabet shapes|چ}}

==Hebrew gimel==

===Variations=== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" ! colspan="5" |Orthographic variants |- ! colspan="3" |Various print fonts ! rowspan="2" |Cursive Hebrew ! rowspan="2" |Rashi script |- !|Serif !! Sans-serif !! Monospaced |- | width="20%" |ג | width="20%" |ג | width="20%" |ג | width="20%" |class=skin-invert-image|25px | width="20%" |class=skin-invert-image|46px |}

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

Bertrand Russell posits that the letter's form is a conventionalized image of a camel.<ref>{{cite book|last=Russell|first=Bertrand|title=A history of western philosophy|year=1972|publisher=Touchstone book|location=New York|isbn=0-671-31400-9|edition=60th print.|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofwestern00russ}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Tenen|first=Stan|url=https://www.meru.org/letteressays/gimel.html|title=Letter Portrait: Gimel|series=A Matrix of Meaning: Portraits of the Hebrew Letters, in Pictures and Words|website=Meru Foundation|access-date=2011-09-29|archive-date=2022-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222153109/https://www.meru.org/letteressays/gimel.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The letter may be the shape of the walking animal's head, neck, and forelegs. Barry B. Powell, a specialist in the history of writing, states “It is hard to imagine how gimel = ‘camel’ can be derived from the picture of a camel (it may show his hump, or his head and neck!)”.<ref>{{cite book|last=Powell|first=Barry B.|title=Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization|date=27 March 2009|publisher=Wiley Blackwell|isbn=978-1-4051-6256-2|page=182|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZ2Gr3d9X2UC&q=Gimel+shaped+like+a+camel%27s+neck&pg=PA182}}</ref> Solomon Gandz suggests instead that it is derived from "weapon" or "battle-axe".<ref>{{cite journal | author = Gandz S | title = The Origin of the Gnomon or the Gnomon in Hebrew Literature | journal = Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research | volume = 2 | year = 1930 | pages = 23–38 | doi = 10.2307/3622130 | jstor = 3622130 }}</ref>

Gimel is one of the six letters which can receive a dagesh qal. The two functions of dagesh are distinguished as either qal (light) or hazaq (strong). The six letters that can receive a dagesh qal are bet, gimel, daled, kaph, pe, and taf. Three of them (bet, kaph, and pe) have their sound value changed in modern Hebrew from the fricative to the plosive by adding a dagesh. The other three represent the same pronunciation in modern Hebrew, but have had alternate pronunciations at other times and places. They are essentially pronounced in the fricative as ג gh غ, dh ذ and th ث. In the Temani pronunciation, gimel represents {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, {{IPA|/ʒ/}}, or {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}} when with a dagesh, and {{IPA|/ɣ/}} without a dagesh. In modern Hebrew, the combination '''{{Script/Hebrew|ג׳}}''' (gimel followed by a geresh) is used in loanwords and foreign names to denote {{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}}.

===Significance=== In gematria, gimel represents the number three.<ref name="gimmel">{{cite web |last1=Raskin |first1=Aaron |title=Gimmel |url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/137075/jewish/Gimmel.htm |website=Chabad |access-date=February 3, 2026}}</ref>

It is written like a ''vav'' with a ''yud'' as a "foot", and is traditionally believed to resemble a person in motion; symbolically, a rich man running after a poor man to give him charity. In the Hebrew alphabet ''gimel'' directly precedes ''dalet'', which signifies a poor or lowly man, given its similarity to the Hebrew word ''dal'' (b. ''Shabbat'', 104a).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ginzburgh|first1=Yitzchak|first2=Avraham Arieh|last2=Trugman|first3=Moshe Yaakov|last3=Wisnefsky|title=The Alef-beit: Jewish Thought Revealed Through the Hebrew Letters|location=Lanham|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|pages=42,389|date=1991|isbn=0-87668-518-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5YVLC35h3B8C}}</ref>

Gimel is also one of the seven letters which receive special crowns (called ''tagin'') when written in a Sefer Torah. See ''shin'', ''ayin'', ''teth'', ''nun'', ''zayin'', and ''tsadi''.

The letter gimel is the electoral symbol for the United Torah Judaism party, and the party is often nicknamed ''Gimmel''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hamodia.com/2015/03/11/mass-rally-for-united-torah-judaism/|title=Mass Rally for United Torah Judaism - Hamodia.com|date=11 March 2015|website=Hamodia|access-date=5 May 2019|archive-date=5 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505194044/https://hamodia.com/2015/03/11/mass-rally-for-united-torah-judaism/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://hamodia.com/2019/04/01/gedolim-special-conference-call-strengthen-utj-uphold-torah-shabbos-religious-character/|title=Gedolim at Special Conference Call to Strengthen UTJ to Uphold Torah, Shabbos and Religious Character - Hamodia.com|date=1 April 2019|website=Hamodia|access-date=5 May 2019|archive-date=5 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505194045/https://hamodia.com/2019/04/01/gedolim-special-conference-call-strengthen-utj-uphold-torah-shabbos-religious-character/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In Modern Hebrew, the frequency of usage of gimel, out of all the letters, is 1.26%.{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}}

==Syriac gamal/gomal== {| class="wikitable" |- !Gamal/Gomal |- | class=skin-invert-image|50px ''Madnḫaya'' Gamal |- | class=skin-invert-image|50px ''Serṭo'' Gomal |- | class=skin-invert-image|50px ''Esṭrangela'' Gamal |}

class=skin-invert-image|600px

In the Syriac alphabet, the third letter is {{lang|syr|ܓ}} — Gamal in eastern pronunciation, Gomal in western pronunciation ({{lang|syr|ܓܵܡܵܠ}}). It is one of six letters that represent two associated sounds (the others are Bet, Dalet, Kaph, Pe and Taw). When Gamal/Gomal has a hard pronunciation (''qûššāyâ '') it represents {{IPAblink|ɡ}}, like "'''g'''oat". When Gamal/Gomal has a soft pronunciation (''rûkkāḵâ '') it traditionally represents {{IPAblink|ɣ}} ({{lang|syr|ܓ݂ܵܡܵܠ}}), or ''Ghamal/Ghomal''. The letter, renamed ''Jamal/Jomal'', is written with a tilde/tie either below or within it to represent the borrowed phoneme {{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}} ({{lang|syr|ܓ̰ܡܵܠ}}), which is used in Garshuni and some Neo-Aramaic languages to write loan and foreign words from Arabic or Persian.

==Other uses==

===Mathematics===

The serif form <math>\gimel</math> of the Hebrew letter gimel is occasionally used for the gimel function in mathematics.

==Character encodings== {{charmap |05D2|name1=Hebrew Letter Gimel |062C|name2=Arabic Letter Jeem |06AF|name3=Arabic Letter Gaf |0713|name4=Syriac Letter Gamal |0802|name5=Samaritan Letter Gaman |2137|name6=Gimel Symbol }}

{{charmap |10382|name1=Ugaritic Letter Gamla |10842|name2=Imperial Aramaic Letter Gimel |10902|name3=Phoenician Letter Gaml }}

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Gimel (letter)}} *[https://www.inner.org/hebleter/gimmel.htm The Mystical Significance of the Hebrew Letters: Gimel] * [https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/137075/jewish/Gimmel.htm Gimmel] Chabad

Category:Phoenician alphabet Category:Arabic letters Category:Hebrew letters Category:Urdu letters