Topics Ancient Hebrew Alphabet

Early Hebrew Middle Hebrew Late Hebrew Modern Hebrew

The Ancient picture for this letter is , a picture of the two front teeth. This letter has the meanings of "teeth," "sharp" and "press" (from the function of the teeth when chewing). It also has the meaning of "two," "again" and "both."

The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is shin, a Hebrew word meaning tooth. Hebrew and Arabic agree that the sound for this letter is "sh."

The early pictograph evolved into in the Middle Semitic script and continued to evolve into in the Late Semitic Script. From the middle Semitic script is derived the Modern Hebrew ש. The Middle Semitic script is also the origin of the Greek letter Σ and the Latin S.

The Ancient Pictographic Alphabet (Article) The original Hebrew alphabet was written with pictures that reveal insights into Hebrew words.

The Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet (Article) The relationship between the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet and the Samaritan alphabet.

Sabbath in Ancient Hebrew (Video) Each letter in the Hebrew alphabet was originally a picture with meaning. In this video we will examine the letters in the Hebrew word shabbat.