# Rafe
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{{Short description|Diacritical mark used in Hebrew}}
{{About|the Hebrew diacritic|people and fictional characters with the given name|Rafe (name)|the Syrian footballer|Raja Rafe}}
{| align="right" class="wikitable"
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |'''Rafe'''
|-
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background:white;height:100px"|ֿ
|-
| Similar appearance
| style="background:white" | [macron](/source/Macron_(diacritic))
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Example
|-
| colspan="2" align="center" style="background:white;height:50px"|פֿיש
|-
| colspan="2" style="width:250px;background:white; text-align:center;" | The word for fish in [Yiddish](/source/Yiddish), ''fish''. The first diacritic (the line over the [pei](/source/Pe_(Semitic_letter))) is a rafe.
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Other Niqqud
|-
| colspan="2" style="width:250px;background:white; text-align:center;"| [Shva](/source/Shva){{·}}[Hiriq](/source/Hiriq){{·}}[Zeire](/source/Zeire){{·}}[Segol](/source/Segol){{·}}[Patach](/source/Patach){{·}}[Kamatz](/source/Kamatz){{·}}[Holam](/source/Holam){{·}}[Dagesh](/source/Dagesh){{·}}[Mappiq](/source/Mappiq){{·}}[Shuruk](/source/Shuruk){{·}}[Kubutz](/source/Kubutz){{·}}Rafe{{·}}[Sin/Shin Dot](/source/Shin_dot)
|}
thumb|265px|Typefaces of the word {{lang|he|rtl=yes|אחריך}} (''’aḥăreḵā,'', Songs {{bibleverse-nb|Song of Solomon|1:4a|HE}}) in the two Masoretic Codices and four Hebrew Bible print editions. The ''rafe'' diacritic is mostly omitted in print editions.
In [Hebrew](/source/Hebrew_language) [orthography](/source/orthography) the '''rafe''' or '''raphe''' ({{langx|he|רָפֶה}}, {{IPA|he|ʁaˈfe|pron}}, meaning "weak, limp") is a [diacritic](/source/diacritic) ({{angle bracket|{{Script/Hebrew|◌ֿ}}}}), a subtle horizontal overbar placed above certain letters to indicate that they are to be [pronounced](/source/pronunciation) as [fricative](/source/fricative)s.
It originated with the [Tiberian](/source/Tiberian_Hebrew) [Masoretes](/source/Masoretes) as part of the extended system of ''[niqqud](/source/niqqud)'' (vowel points), and has the opposite meaning of ''[dagesh](/source/dagesh)'', showing that one of the letters {{Script|Hebr|[בגדכפת](/source/Begadkefat)}} is to be pronounced as a [fricative](/source/fricative) and not as a [plosive](/source/plosive), or (sometimes) that a consonant is not [geminated](/source/Gemination); or, as the opposite to a ''[mappiq](/source/mappiq)'', to show that the letters {{Script|Hebr|[ה](/source/%D7%94)}} or {{Script|Hebr|[א](/source/%D7%90)}} are silent (''[mater lectionis](/source/mater_lectionis)'').
The rafe generally fell out of use for Hebrew with the coming of printing, although according to [Gesenius](/source/Wilhelm_Gesenius) (1813) at that time it could still be found in a few places in printed [Hebrew Bible](/source/Hebrew_Bible)s, where the absence of a ''dagesh'' or a ''mappiq'' was noticeable.[{{Cite GHG|14}}] (e.g. Exodus 20:13,14,15; Deuteronomy 5:13,17,18,19; 2 Samuel 11:1; Isaiah 22:10; Jeremiah 20:17; Psalm 119:99; Zechariah 5:11)
In some [siddur](/source/siddur)s (e.g. those printed by [ArtScroll](/source/ArtScroll)) a diacritical symbol, typographically the same as the rafe, but utterly unrelated, is used to mark instances of "moving [sheva](/source/shva)" (''Shva Na'').[Rabbi Nosson Scherman, Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz, ''Siddur Kol Yaakov/The Complete ArtScroll Siddur—Nusach Ashkenaz'', 3rd Edition, Eighteenth Impression, Mesorah Publications Ltd., July 2003. {{ISBN|0-89906-650-X}}. Preface, p. IX.]
The rafe is similar in function to the ''buailte'' (dot above, denoting [lenition](/source/lenition)) in the old-style [Irish alphabet](/source/Irish_orthography).
==Yiddish==
In standard [Yiddish orthography](/source/Yiddish_orthography), the rafe ({{Langx|yi|רפֿה|rofe}}; colloquially also {{Lang|yi|דעכעלע}} ''dekhele'' {{Gloss|little roof}}) distinguishes {{script/Hebrew|פּ}} {{IPAslink|p}} from {{script/Hebrew|פֿ}} {{IPAslink|f}} and in words of Semitic origin also {{script/Hebrew|ב}} {{IPAslink|b}} from {{script/Hebrew|בֿ}} {{IPAslink|v}}.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!! colspan=1 | Name
!! colspan=1 | Symbol
!! colspan=1 | IPA
!! colspan=1 | [Transliteration](/source/Transliteration)
!! colspan=1 | Example
|-
| ''pey''
| align=center | {{Script/Hebrew|פּ}}
| align="center" | {{IPAslink|p}}
| align="center" | p
| align="center" | '''p'''an
|-
| ''fey''
| align=center | {{Script/Hebrew|פֿ}}
| align="center" | {{IPAslink|f}}
| align="center" | f
| align="center" | '''f'''an
|-
|}
==Ladino==
[[File:Salmo 138.1-2 en la lingua Sefaradit.png|thumb|320px|Text from a 19th-century printing of {{Bibleverse|Psalm|138|HE}} in [Ladino](/source/Judaeo-Spanish) language, showing use of the curved “varrica” ''rafe'' atop letters written in [Rashi script](/source/Rashi_script) (titles/headings are in block print).]]
In Ladino the rafe, called a ''varrica'' (“little crossbar”), looks more like a breve-shaped diacritic (ﬞ ) on top of the letter (◌ﬞ). When written in the [square form](/source/Square_hebrew), or when unable to apply the varrica rafe diacritic to a letter, it is replaced by a [geresh](/source/geresh) ({{Script|Hebr|׳}}) immediately after the letter as a substitute to effect the same change in pronunciation. For example, {{Script|Hebr|גﬞ}} is equivalent to {{Script|Hebr|ג׳}} in altering the sound from the [voiced velar stop](/source/voiced_velar_stop) [g] to the [voiced postalveolar affricate](/source/voiced_postalveolar_affricate) [d͡ʒ], known in English as "[soft g](/source/soft_g)".
In Ladino, as in [Tiberian Hebrew](/source/Tiberian_Hebrew), the rafe changes {{Script|Hebr|ב}} [b] into {{Script|Hebr|בﬞ}} [v], {{Script|Hebr|ד}} [d] into {{Script|Hebr|דﬞ}} [ð], and {{Script|Hebr|פ}} [p] into {{Script|Hebr|פﬞ}} [f]. Unlike in Hebrew, the rafe also changes {{Script|Hebr|ג}} [g] into {{Script|Hebr|גﬞ}} ([d͡ʒ] or [t͡ʃ]), {{Script|Hebr|ז}} [z] into {{Script|Hebr|זﬞ}} [ʒ], and in words of Semitic origin also {{Script|Hebr|ש}} ([s] or [ʃ]) into {{Script|Hebr|שﬞ}} [ʃ]. In words of Romance origin, [s] is spelled as {{Script|Hebr|ס}}, freeing up {{Script|Hebr|ש}} for the [voiceless postalveolar fricative](/source/voiceless_postalveolar_fricative) [ʃ] without the need for a rafe to disambiguate.
Note Ladino orthography is far less standardized than Yiddish; original Ladino works may be written in [Rashi script](/source/Rashi_script) (using rafe), Hebrew block print (using geresh), or in the [Latin alphabet](/source/Latin_alphabet) (e.g. the 1553 [Ferrara Bible](/source/Ferrara_Bible)).
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="10" align=center | [Ladino](/source/Judaeo-Spanish) letters formed using a 'varrica' ''rafe'' [{{cite web
|title = Sefarađizo: Ladino: Alefbet: Tabla
|url = http://www.sefaradizo.org/ladino/alefbet/alefbet_ladino-tabla-es.html
|date = 2021-09-16
|archiveurl = https://archive.today/20210916192938/http://www.sefaradizo.org/ladino/alefbet/alefbet_ladino-tabla-es.html
|archivedate = 2021-09-16
|access-date = 2021-09-16
|url-status = live
}}]
|-
!! colspan="4" | Without ''Rafe''
!! colspan="4" | With ''Rafe'' (equivalent with [geresh](/source/geresh))
|-
! Symbol !! [Translit.](/source/Transliteration_of_Hebrew) !! IPA !!Example !! Symbol !! [Translit.](/source/Transliteration_of_Hebrew) !! IPA!!Example
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |{{Script/Hebr|ב}}
| b
| {{IPAblink|b}}
| '''b'''oy
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |({{Script/Hebr|ב׳}}) {{Script/Hebr|בﬞ}}
| v
| {{IPAblink|v}}~{{IPAblink|β̞}}
| '''v'''oyage
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |{{Script/Hebr|ג}}
| g
| {{IPAblink|ɡ}}
| '''g'''ap
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |({{Script/Hebr|ג׳}}) {{Script/Hebr|גﬞ}}
| dj, ǧ, or ch, č
| {{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}}~{{IPAblink|t͡ʃ}}
| '''J'''upiter, '''G'''eorge, '''ch'''ip
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |{{Script/Hebr|ד}}
| d
| {{IPAblink|d̪}}
| '''d'''ay
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |({{Script/Hebr|ד׳}}) {{Script/Hebr|דﬞ}}
| dh, th, ḏ, đ
| {{IPAblink|ð̞}}
| '''th'''ey
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |{{Script/Hebr|ז}}
| z
| {{IPAblink|z}}
| '''z'''oo
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |({{Script/Hebr|ז׳}}) {{Script/Hebr|זﬞ}}
| j, g, zh, ž
| {{IPAblink|ʒ}}
| '''J'''acques, bei'''g'''e, vi'''s'''ion
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |{{Script/Hebr|ט}}
| t
| {{IPAblink|t̪}}
| '''t'''oy
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |({{Script/Hebr|ט׳}}) {{Script/Hebr|טﬞ}}
| th
| {{IPAblink|θ}}
| '''th'''irty
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |{{Script/Hebr|כ}}
| c, k
| {{IPAblink|k}}
| '''c'''are, '''k'''ing
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |({{Script/Hebr|כ׳}}) {{Script/Hebr|כﬞ}}
| ch, kh, k
| {{IPAblink|x}}~{{IPAblink|χ}}
| lo'''ch''', Ba'''ch'''
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |{{Script/Hebr|פ}}
| p
| {{IPAblink|p}}
| '''p'''ast
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |({{Script/Hebr|פ׳}}) {{Script/Hebr|פﬞ}}
| f
| {{IPAblink|f}}
| '''f'''ast
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |{{Script/Hebr|ש}}
| s, ç
| {{IPAblink|s}}
| '''s'''in, '''c'''ent
| align="center" style="font-size: 150%" |({{Script/Hebr|ש׳}}) {{Script/Hebr|שﬞ}}
| sh, š
| {{IPAblink|ʃ}}
| '''sh'''in
|-
|}
==Unicode==
"Hebrew Point Rafe" is encoded in the Unicode standard as U+05BF.
== See also ==
* [Dagesh](/source/Dagesh)
* [Hebrew alphabet](/source/Hebrew_alphabet)
* [Hebrew phonology](/source/Hebrew_phonology_(disambiguation))
* [Macron](/source/Macron_(diacritic))
* [Mappiq](/source/Mappiq)
* [Yiddish orthography](/source/Yiddish_orthography)
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Hebrew language}}
Category:Niqqud
---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rafe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafe) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafe?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.