(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. “Hebrew: Vere Transliteration - Yisrelit Hebrew”. brakha.blogspot.com.)
Yisreli Hebrew Consonant Letter | Vere Transliteration in English | IPA Transliteration for Nonenglish Sound |
א | − | [ˀ, −] (as stop in uh-uh) |
בּ | b | |
ב | v | |
גּ | g | |
ג | g | |
דּ | d | |
ד | d | |
ה | h, − | |
ו | v, − | |
ז | z | |
ח | kh | [χ] (uvular purr) |
ט | t | |
י | y, − | |
כּ | k | |
כ | kh | [χ] (uvular purr) |
ל | l | |
מ | m | |
נ | n | |
ס | s | |
ע | − | [ˀ, −] (as stop in uh-uh) |
פּ | p | |
פ | f | |
צ | ts | |
ק | k | |
ר | r | [ʁ] (uvular growl -r-) |
שׁ | sh | |
שׂ | s | |
תּ | t | |
ת | t |
Vowel Point | Vere Transliteration | IPA Transliteration |
ִ | i | [i] (like -i- in ski) |
ֵ | e | [e̝] (like -e- in they) |
ֶ | e | [e̝] |
ַ | a | [a] (like -a- in spa) |
ָ | a | [a] |
ֹ | o | [o̝] (like -o- in nor) |
ֻ | u | [u] (like -u- in flu) |
Shva or Khataf Point | Vere Transliteration | IPA Transliteration |
ְ | − | [−, ĕ] (not schwa [ə̆]) |
ֱ | e | [ĕ] |
ֲ | a | [ă] |
ֳ | a | [ă] |
Syllable-Stress Meteg | Vere Transliteration | IPA Transliteration |
ֽ | − | [ˈ] |
Vere Transliteration
In this blog, I strive to standardize the spelling of all Hebrew words that appear in English.
I use my own easy-to-understand spelling system wherever possible. I call it the “Vere Transliteration” after my name. It is the result of years of developing the best possible transliteration system, using special diacritics and letters, to transcribe simultaneously both the pronunciation and the spelling of any Hebrew dialect. In the end, I decide “less is best”. My Vere Transliteration is as simple as possible, completely consistent, predictable, and is even easy for English speakers to try pronounce Hebrew accurately.
Capitalization
Using Vere Transliteration, I always capitalize Hebrew words in English as if proper names. This alerts the reader to treat it as a nonstandard English word. Marking the Hebrew transliterations with capitalization is more pleasant to read than italics or some form of bracketing.
Modern Hebrew
I always spell the Hebrew words according to the modern Yisrelit dialect, also known as Israeli Hebrew, Modern Hebrew, or New Hebrew. This is the Hebrew that most speak today, or at least recognize. It also transliterates well into the English alphabet - without any need for diacritical marks or special letters. So it is English friendly.
In addition to the English letter-combo (digraph) -sh-, as in Shabat שבת , there is also a Nonenglish -kh-, as in Khesed חסד . Yisraelit Hebrew pronounces this -kh- as a breathy purr with the tongue at the back of the mouth behind -k- (namely the unvoiced uvular fricative [χ]). Of course, the -r- stands for the uvular -r- also at the back (voiced uvular fricative [ʁ]). English letters work well when spelling Hebrew this way.
When silent − certain Hebrew consonant letters - א , ה , י , and ו - can signify the presence of a vowel. Such a “vowel letter” can represent almost any vowel. Typically the stop א when silent can mark the presence of -a- or -e-, but -o-, or even -i- or -u- is possible. Similarly the -h- ה when silent at the end of a word can mark any of these vowels, as -e in Moshe משה . When the -y- י is silent, it normally stands for -i- or -e- (the unround front vowels). And when -v- ו is silent, it normally stands for -u- or -o- (the round back vowels).
To spell Hebrew without vowel points while adding extra vowel letters is called “full spelling” Ktiv Male כתיב מלא (also known as “plene spelling” or sometimes as Latin “mothers of reading” Matres Lectiones). To spell with vowel points is called “pointed spelling” Ktiv Mnukad כְּתִיב מְנֻקָּד (also known as “lacking spelling” כְּתִיב חָסָר as it lacks the vowel letters, or even as “defective spelling”). Modern Hebrew normally uses full spelling without vowel points. It only uses pointed spelling when context must make pronunciation unambiguous, such as sacred texts, poetry, unfamiliar names, dictionary entries, and so on. The Vere Transliteration into English omits the vowel letter as silent, but of course does transliterate the vowel itself.
When silent − certain Hebrew consonant letters - א , ה , י , and ו - can signify the presence of a vowel. Such a “vowel letter” can represent almost any vowel. Typically the stop א when silent can mark the presence of -a- or -e-, but -o-, or even -i- or -u- is possible. Similarly the -h- ה when silent at the end of a word can mark any of these vowels, as -e in Moshe משה . When the -y- י is silent, it normally stands for -i- or -e- (the unround front vowels). And when -v- ו is silent, it normally stands for -u- or -o- (the round back vowels).
To spell Hebrew without vowel points while adding extra vowel letters is called “full spelling” Ktiv Male כתיב מלא (also known as “plene spelling” or sometimes as Latin “mothers of reading” Matres Lectiones). To spell with vowel points is called “pointed spelling” Ktiv Mnukad כְּתִיב מְנֻקָּד (also known as “lacking spelling” כְּתִיב חָסָר as it lacks the vowel letters, or even as “defective spelling”). Modern Hebrew normally uses full spelling without vowel points. It only uses pointed spelling when context must make pronunciation unambiguous, such as sacred texts, poetry, unfamiliar names, dictionary entries, and so on. The Vere Transliteration into English omits the vowel letter as silent, but of course does transliterate the vowel itself.
For the sake of consistent spelling, I always omit the Shva as if silent. The Hebrew vowel point Shva ְ is usually silent (“resting Shva” שווא נח ). However sometimes it corresponds to where a speaker adds a brief vowel to ease the pronunciation while transitioning thru a cluster of consonants (“moving Shva” שווא נע ). Then the Shva sounds like a brief -e- [ĕ̝]. Thus English readers must infer from context whether or not to add this brief vowel, in the same way that the Hebrew readers must. For example, the Hebrew word for a Jewish “mystic” is Mkubal מְקֻבַּל . In this case, English adds a vowel to help out the consonants, M(ĕ)kubal. Alternatively, in the case of the Hebrew word for “numberings” Sfirot סְפִירוֹת , English can leave the Shva silent. Hebrew makes these same inferences too. Note, the Hebrew name Yhoshua יְהוֹשֻׁעַ can sound either like Y(ĕ)hoshua or like Yoshua. These expanded and contracted pronunciations can exist in Hebrew too.
This transliteration system might surprise the reader if the Shva follows the consonant א or ע (both glottal plosives [ˀ]). To avoid unfriendly diacritics, I always omit these letters as if silent. For example, the word “genius” Gaon גָּאוֹן properly has a brief stop between the two vowels [gaˀon] (similar to the stop between the English negative grunts “uh-uh”). To be fair, this letter א can be weak, even silent, so in rapid speech it often realizes simply as Gaon [gaon] with a shift in vowels but no stop. So the English spelling is accurate enough. So far so good. The surprise here comes with the plural “geniuses” Gonim גְּאוֹנִים , which in Hebrew really sounds more like G(ĕ)onim [gĕˀonim]. But this spelling system omits both the letter א and the Shva. The benefits of consistent, predictable spelling outway hyper-precision in this situation. Moreover, a native Hebrew speaker easily recognizes which Hebrew word the English spelling represents. Also, I always add the Hebrew letters anyway, wherever exact pronunciation is helpful.
Altho some dialects still do, the Yisrelit dialect no longer distinguishes consonant length, that the Dagesh point represents ּ. Example “altruist”, whether the long -dd- [d:] in [s‛ɐd:iq] צַדִּיק or the normal -d- [ð] in [s‛ɔðiq] צָדִיק , come to sound exactly the same in Yisrelit, as Tsadik [tsadik]. Thus, the Vere transliterions writes Tsadik (not Tsaddik), the day of unlabor Shabat (not Shabbat), the letter Gimel (not Gimmel), and so on.
The stress is normally on the last syllable of a word (so that is always a good guess). Sometimes it is on the second-to-last syllable (penultimate), rarely anywhere else. The Vere Transliteration nev ind
Simple Is Best
Benefits of the simple, consistent, predictable Vere Transliteration include its use for word searches, library indexing, and even file names in various computer languages. It also helps track the Hebrew source by at least keeping consistent which Hebrew letters or vowel points it can or cant be. Also, it is more natural for English speakers to read and use.
Examples of Vere Transliteration:
“Instruction” Tora תורה
“Numbering” Sfira סְפִירָה
Yitskhak יצְחַק (cognate Isaac)
Yaakov יַעֲקֹב (cognates Jacob, James)
Examples of IPA Transliteration:
Examples of IPA Transliteration:
The only other transliteration system I use is the official International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA, to approximate the sound of ancient dialects, often Tavranit. Note, for the palatal approximant, I always substitute the letter [y] instead of the official IPA [j], thus for example, Yrushalayim ירושלים appears in the IPA as [yə̆.ɾu.ʃɔ.ˈla.yim] (cognate Jerusalem). I sometimes use it to clarify the pronunciation of a Non-Yisraelit dialect of Hebrew.
“Instruction” Tora [to.ʁɔ] תורה
“Numbering” Sfira [sə̆.fi.ʁɔ] סְפִירָה
Yitskhak [yis‛.ħaq] יצְחַק
Yitskhak [yis‛.ħaq] יצְחַק
Yaakov [ya.ˁă.qov] יַעֲקֹב
I also use the IPA to represent Nonlatin scripts, like Greek and Egyptian.
Yhoshua יְהוֹשֻֽׁעַ (cognates Joshua, Jeshua, Jesus): Yhudit Hebrew [ya.hu.tʃu.ˁa] → Late Biblical Hebrew [ya.u.tʃu.ˁa] → [yo.ʸʃu.ˁa] → [ye.ʃu.ˁa] → Yhudait Hebrew [ye.ˈʃu. ˁa] → Koine Greek [ye.ˈsu.a]-[os] → [ye.ˈsu:s] ἰησοῦς → Late Latin Iesus [dʒe.ˈsus] → Anglo-Norman Middle English Iesus [ˈdʒe.sus] → Early Modern English (after Great Vowel Shift) [ˈdʒi.zɐs] → Jesus [ˈdʒi.zəs]
“Lazurite” Sapir סַפִּיר : Biblical Hebrew [sap:ʰ.iɾ] → Yhudait Hebrew [sap:ʰ.iʁ] → Koine Greek sapphiros [sap:ʰ.ˈir]-[os] σαπφειρος → Medieval Latin sapphirus [sap.ˈfir]-[ʊs] → Early Modern English cognate sapphire [sæ.fɐɪr]
