Ghayn
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| Ghayn | |
|---|---|
| Arabic | غ |
| Phonemic representation | ɣ,ʁ |
| Position in alphabet | 28 |
| Numerical value | 1000 |
| Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician | |
| ġayn غين | |
|---|---|
| غ | |
| Usage | |
| Writing system | Arabic script |
| Type | Abjad |
| Language of origin | Arabic language |
| Sound values | ɣ , ʁ |
| Alphabetical position | 19 |
| History | |
| Development | V28 |
| Arabic alphabet |
|---|
| ا ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ك ل م ن ه و ي |
|
Arabic script |
The Arabic letter غ (Arabic: غَيْنْ, ghayn or ġayn /ɣajn/) is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet added to the twenty-two inherited from the Phoenician alphabet (the others being thāʼ , khāʼ , dhāl , ḍād , ẓāʼ ). It represents the sound /ɣ/ or /ʁ/. In name and shape, it is a variant of ʻayn (ع). Its numerical value is 1000 (see Abjad numerals). It is related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪖, and South Arabian 𐩶.
Ghayn is written in several ways depending on its position in the word:
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
غ | ـغ | ـغـ | غـ |
History
[edit ]Proto-Semitic ġ (usually reconstructed as voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ or voiced uvular fricative /ʁ/) merged with ʻayn in most Semitic languages except for Arabic, Ugaritic, and older varieties of the Canaanite languages. The South Arabian alphabet retained a symbol for ġ, 𐩶.
| Proto-Semitic | Arabic | Canaanite | Hebrew | Aramaic | South Arabian | Geʻez | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ġ | غ | gh | ġ, ʻ | ע | ʻ | ע | ʻ | ġ | ዐ | ʻ | ||
Usage
[edit ]The letter ghayn (غ) represents the sounds /ɣ/ or /ʁ/ sounds, but it can be used in a number of Arabic-speaking countries to transcribe /ɡ/ in loanwords and names, which is preferred in the Levant (nowadays), and by Aljazeera TV channel, e.g., هونغ كونغ (Hong Kong), بلغراد (Belgrade), and غاندالف (Gandalf). Foreign publications and TV channels in Arabic, e.g. Deutsche Welle,[1] and Alhurra,[2] follow this practice. It is then often pronounced /ɡ/, not /ɣ/, though in many cases, غ is pronounced in loanwords as expected /ɣ/, (not /ɡ/). It is also the preferred way to spell the names of countries or cities such as غانا (Ghana) which is pronounced /ɣaːna/ or /gaːna/, depending on the speaker.
Other ways to represent the phoneme /ɡ/ in loanwords or dialectal words in Arabic, is by the usage of the standard letters ج, or ق, or modified letters like ݣ in Morocco, and ڨ in Tunisia and Algeria.
In the Persian language, it represents [ɣ]~[ɢ] and is the twenty-second letter in the new Persian alphabet.
When representing the sound in transliteration of Arabic into Hebrew, it is written as ע׳ or ר׳. In English, the letter غ in Arabic names is usually transliterated as gh, ġ, or simply g: بغداد Baghdād 'Baghdad', قرغيزستان Qirghizstan 'Kyrgyzstan', سنغافورة Singhafura 'Singapore', or غزة Ghazzah 'Gaza', the latter of which does not render the sound [ɣ]~[ʁ] accurately. The closest equivalent sound to be known to most English-speakers is the Parisian French "r" [ʁ].
In the Maltese alphabet which is written in the Latin alphabet, the only Semitic language to do so in its standard form, writes the ghayn as ⟨għ⟩.
Turkish ğ, which in modern speech has no sound of its own (similar to soft G in Danish and the hard and soft signs in Russian), used to be spelled as غ in the Ottoman script.[3] Other Turkic languages also use this Latin equivalent of ghayn (ğ), such as Tatar (Cyrillic: г), which pronounces it as [ʁ]. In Arabic words and names where there is an ayin, Tatar adds the ghayn instead (عبد الله, ʻAbd Allāh, ’Abdullah; Tatar: Ğabdulla, Габдулла; Yaña imlâ: غابدوللا /ʁabdulla/).[4] [5] [6] [7]
Related characters
[edit ]For the related characters, see ng (Arabic letter) and ayin.
Character encodings
[edit ]| Preview | غ | ﻍ | ﻎ | ﻏ | ﻐ | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER GHAIN | ARABIC LETTER GHAIN ISOLATED FORM |
ARABIC LETTER GHAIN FINAL FORM |
ARABIC LETTER GHAIN INITIAL FORM |
ARABIC LETTER GHAIN MEDIAL FORM | |||||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1594 | U+063A | 65229 | U+FECD | 65230 | U+FECE | 65231 | U+FECF | 65232 | U+FED0 |
| UTF-8 | 216 186 | D8 BA | 239 187 141 | EF BB 8D | 239 187 142 | EF BB 8E | 239 187 143 | EF BB 8F | 239 187 144 | EF BB 90 |
| Numeric character reference | غ |
غ |
ﻍ |
ﻍ |
ﻎ |
ﻎ |
ﻏ |
ﻏ |
ﻐ |
ﻐ |
| Preview | ڠ | ݝ | ࢳ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH TWO DOTS ABOVE | ARABIC LETTER AIN WITH THREE DOTS BELOW | |||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1696 | U+06A0 | 1885 | U+075D | 2227 | U+08B3 |
| UTF-8 | 218 160 | DA A0 | 221 157 | DD 9D | 224 162 179 | E0 A2 B3 |
| Numeric character reference | ڠ |
ڠ |
ݝ |
ݝ |
ࢳ |
ࢳ |
See also
[edit ]- Ng (Arabic letter)
- Arabic phonology
- Gaf
- Ayin
- Cyrillic Ghayn, used for several Central Asian languages
References
[edit ]- ^ "Leningrad لينينغراد spelled with غ rather than ج" . Retrieved 14 December 2022.
- ^ ""Blogger" بلوغر is spelled with غ, not ج about an article on Egypt quoting an Egyptian official Facebook post spelling it بلوجر with ج" . Retrieved 14 December 2022.
- ^ Lewis, Geoffrey: Turkish Grammar: Second Edition, pp. 4–5. New York: Oxford University Press Inc, 2011. ISBN 978-0-19-870036-4
- ^ "Tatar (Standard)". eurphon.info.
- ^ "Quranic Names – Abdullah".
- ^ "Tatar Names" (in Tatar).
- ^ Ilya, Yevlampiev (2011). "Title: Revised Proposal to encode Arabic characters used for Bashkir, Belarusian, Crimean Tatar, and Tatar languages" (PDF).