Tsade

{{short description|Eighteenth letter of the Semitic scripts}} {{distinguish|text=the similarly shaped Phoenician letter Mem (𐤌)}} {{Infobox Semitic letter|letname=Tsade|previouslink=Pe (Semitic letter)|previousletter=Pe|nextlink=Qoph|nextletter=Qoph|archar=ص|sychar=ܨ|hechar=צץ|smchar=ࠑ|amchar=𐡑|nbchar=𐢙|gechar=ጸ|ugchar=𐎕|phchar=𐤑|nachar=𐪎|sachar=𐩮|grchar=Ϻ, Ψ, Ϡ|cychar=Ц, Ч, Џ, Ѱ|lachar=ʭ,ǂ|ipa={{IPA link|sˤ}} ({{IPA link|t͡s}})|num=18|gem=90}} '''Tsade''' (also spelled '''{{lang|sem-Latn|ṣade}}''', {{lang|sem-Latn|'''ṣādē'''}}, '''{{lang|sem-Latn|ṣaddi}}''', '''{{Transliteration|ar|ṣad}}''', '''tzadi''', '''sadhe''', '''tzaddik''') is the eighteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ''ṣādē'' 𐤑, Hebrew ''ṣādī'' {{Script|Hebr|צ}}, Aramaic ''ṣāḏē'' 𐡑, Syriac ''ṣāḏē'' ܨ, Ge'ez ''ṣädäy'' ጸ, and Arabic ''ṣād'' {{Script|Arabic|ص}}. It is related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪎‎‎, South Arabian {{lang|sem-x-oldsoara|𐩮}}, and Ge'ez {{lang|gez|ጸ}}. The corresponding letter of the Ugaritic alphabet is 𐎕 ''ṣade''.

Its oldest phonetic value is debated, although there is a variety of pronunciations in different modern Semitic languages and their dialects. It represents the coalescence of three Proto-Semitic "emphatic consonants" in Canaanite. Arabic, which kept the phonemes separate, introduced variants of {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ṣād}} and {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ṭāʾ}} to express the three (see {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ḍād}}, {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ẓāʾ}}). In Aramaic, these emphatic consonants coalesced instead with ''ʿayin'' and ''ṭēt'', respectively, thus Hebrew ''ereṣ'' {{lang|he|rtl=yes|ארץ}} (earth) is ''araʿ'' {{Script|Hebr|ארע}} in Aramaic.

The Phoenician letter is continued in the Greek san (Ϻ) and possibly sampi (Ϡ), and in Etruscan 𐌑 ''Ś''. It may have inspired the form of the letter tse in the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets.

The letter is named "'''tsadek'''" in Yiddish,<ref>{{cite book |last=Weinreich |first=Uriel |date=1968 |title=Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary |location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill Book Co. |page=453 |isbn=07-0690380-3}}</ref> and Hebrew speakers often give it a similar name as well. This name for the letter probably originated from a fast recitation of the alphabet (i.e., "''tsadi'', ''qoph''" → "''tsadiq'', ''qoph''"), influenced by the Hebrew word ''tzadik'', meaning "righteous person".<ref>{{Cite web | title=The Letter Tsade: Righteousness and Modesty | url=http://www.arachim.org/Index.asp?ArticleID=794&CategoryID=164 | language=he | access-date=5 December 2010 | archive-date=31 May 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531100351/https://www.arachim.org/ArticleDetail.asp?ArticleID=794 | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Origins== The origin of {{Transliteration|sem|ṣade}} is unclear. It may have come from a Proto-Sinaitic script based on a pictogram of a plant, perhaps a papyrus plant, or a fish hook (Modern Hebrew {{lang|he|צד}} ''{{Transliteration|he|tsad}}'' and Arabic {{lang|ar|صاد}} ''{{Transliteration|ar|ṣād}}'' both can mean "[he] hunted" or, alternatively, "a side").

==Arabic ṣād== {{See also-text|the derived letter {{noitalic|{{lang|ar|ض}}}} ({{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ḍād}}).}}

{{Infobox grapheme | name = Ṣād صاد | letter = ص | script = Arabic script | type = Abjad | language = Arabiclanguage | phonemes = {{IPA link|sˤ}} | alphanumber = 14 | direction = Right-to-left | fam2 = 𐡑 | fam3 = 𐢙 | fam1 = 𐤑 | equivalents = ṣ }}The letter is named ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ṣād}}'' and in Modern Standard Arabic is pronounced {{IPA|/sˤ/}}. It may be formed from a ligature of dotless ''nūn'' and the bottom part of the letter ''ṭa''.

It is written in several ways depending on its position in the word: {{Arabic alphabet shapes|ص}}

Chapter 38 of the Quran is named for this letter, which begins the chapter.

The phoneme is not native to Persian, Ottoman Turkish, or Urdu, and its pronunciation in Arabic loanwords in those languages is not distinguishable from {{lang|ar|س}} {{IPA|/s/}} or {{lang|ar|ث}} {{IPA|/θ/}}, all of which are pronounced {{IPAblink|s}}.

==Hebrew tsadi== {|class=wikitable style="text-align:center;" !colspan=6|Orthographic variants |- !rowspan=2|position in word !colspan=3|Various print fonts !rowspan=2|Modern Cursive Hebrew !rowspan=2|Rashi script |- !|Serif !! Sans-serif !! Monospaced |- |width=15%|non-final |width=17%|צ |width=17%|צ |width=17%|צ |width=17%|class=skin-invert-image|25px |width=17%|class=skin-invert-image|40px |- |width=15%|final |width=17%|ץ |width=17%|ץ |width=17%|ץ |width=17%|class=skin-invert-image|21px |width=17%|class=skin-invert-image|40px |}

Hebrew spelling: <big>{{lang|he|צָדִי}}</big> or <big>{{lang|he|צָדֵי}}</big>.

===Name=== In Hebrew, the letter's name is ''tsadi'' or ''ṣadi'', depending on whether the letter is transliterated as Modern Israeli "ts" or Tiberian "ṣ". Alternatively, it can be called ''tsadik'' or ''ṣadik'', spelled צָדִּיק, influenced by its Yiddish name ''tsadek'' and the Hebrew word ''tzadik''.

===Variations=== {{Transliteration|he|Ṣadi}}, like kaph, mem, pe, and nun, has a final form, used at the end of words. Its shape changes from {{Script/Hebrew|צ}} to {{Script/Hebrew|ץ}}.

===Pronunciation=== In Modern Hebrew, {{lang|he|צ}} tsade represents a voiceless alveolar affricate {{IPAslink|t͡s}}. This is the same in Yiddish. Historically, it represented either a pharyngealized {{IPA|/sˤ/}} or an affricate such as the Modern Hebrew pronunciation or Geʽez {{IPAblink|t͡sʼ}};<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Steiner |first=Richard |date=1982 |title=Affricated Sade in the Semitic Languages |journal=The American Academy for Jewish Research, Research Monograph Series |volume=3}}</ref> which became {{IPAblink|t͡s}} in Ashkenazi Hebrew. A geresh can also be placed after tsade ({{Script/Hebrew|צ׳ ; ץ׳}}), which is pronounced {{IPAblink|t͡ʃ}} (or, in a hypercorrected pronunciation, a pharyngealized {{IPAblink|ʃˤ}}), e.g. {{Script/Hebrew|צִ׳יפְּס}} chips.

Ṣade appears as {{IPA|[sˤ]}} in Yemenite Hebrew and other Jews from the Middle East, and sometimes appears in the Modern Hebrew pronunciation of Yemenite Jews.

Sephardi Hebrew pronounces {{Script|Hebr|צ}} like a regular s, and this is the sound value it has in Judaeo-Spanish, as in "masa" (matzo) or "sadik" (tzadik), and rarely appears in this form in the Modern Hebrew pronunciation of Sephardic Jews.

===Significance=== In gematria, {{Transliteration|he|ṣadi}} represents the number 90. Its final form represents 900, but this is rarely used, taw, taw, and qof (400+400+100) being used instead.

As an abbreviation, it stands for ''ṣafon'', north.

{{Transliteration|he|Ṣadi}} is also one of the seven letters that receive special crowns (called ''tagin'') when written in a Sefer Torah. See shin, ‘ayin, {{Transliteration|he|tet}}, nun, zayin, and gimmel.

=== In relation with Arabic === Hebrew {{lang|he|צ}} {{Transliteration|he|tsadi}} corresponds to the letters {{lang|ar|ظ}} {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ẓāʾ}}, {{lang|ar|ص}} {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ṣād}}, and {{lang|ar|ض}} {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ḍād}} in Arabic ; Examples: * {{lang|ar|ظ}} {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ẓāʾ}}: the word for "thirst" in Classical Arabic is {{lang|ar|ظمأ}} {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ẓamaʾ}} and {{lang|he|צמא}} {{Transliteration|he|tsama}} in Hebrew. * {{lang|ar|ص}} {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ṣād}}: the word for "Egypt" in Classical Arabic is {{lang|ar|مصر}} {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|miṣr}} and {{lang|he|מצרים}} {{Transliteration|he|mitsrayim}} in Hebrew. * {{lang|ar|ض}} {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ḍād}}: the word for "egg" in Classical Arabic is {{lang|ar|بيضة}} {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|bayḍah}} and {{lang|he|ביצה}} {{Transliteration|he|betsah}} in Hebrew.

When representing this sound in transliteration of Arabic into Hebrew, it is written as {{lang|he|צ}} {{Transliteration|he|tsade}} or {{lang|he|ס׳‎}} samekh with a geresh.

==Syriac sade== {{Arabic alphabet shapes|ܨ‎}}

==Character encodings== {{charmap |05E6|name1=Hebrew Letter Tsadi |05E5|name2=Hebrew Letter Final Tsadi |0635|name3=Arabic Letter Sad |0728|name4=Syriac Letter Sadhe |0811|name5=Samaritan Letter Tsaadiy }}

{{charmap |10395|name1=Ugaritic Letter Sade |10851|name2=Imperial Aramaic Letter Sadhe |10911|name3=Phoenician Letter Sade }}

==See also== *Ṣ *Z → Usage *Tse (Cyrillic)

==Notes== <references />

==External links== {{commons category|Tsade (letter)}}{{Arabic language}}{{Hebrew language}} {{Northwest Semitic abjad}}

Category:Phoenician alphabet Category:Arabic letters Category:Hebrew letters Category:Urdu letters Category:Letters with final form