View source for Mappiq

{{Short description|Hebrew diacritic indicating the letter ה‎ (he)}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2023}}
{| align="right" class="wikitable"
 | colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |'''Mappiq'''
  |-
 | colspan="2" align="center" style="background:white;height:100px"|{{script/Hebrew|1=<span style="font-size: 400%; line-height: normal">&#x5BC;</span>}}
|-
| [[Help:IPA/Hebrew|IPA]]
| style="background:white" |h
|-
| [[Romanization of Hebrew|Transliteration]]
| style="background:white" |h
|-
| Same appearance
| style="background:white" | [[dagesh]], [[shuruk]]
|-
 | colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Example
 |-
 | colspan="2" align="center" style="background:white;height:50px"| {{script/Hebrew|1=<span style="font-size: 300%; line-height: normal">גֹּבַהּ</span>}}
 |-
 | colspan="2" style="width:250px;background:white; text-align:center;" | The word for height in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], ''govah''. The centre dot in the leftmost letter (which is the letter [[He (letter)|He]]) is a mappiq.
|-
 | colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Other [[Niqqud]]
|-
 | colspan="2" style="width:250px;background:white; text-align:center;"| [[Shva]]{{·}}[[Hiriq]]{{·}}[[Tzere]]{{·}}[[Segol]]{{·}}[[Patach]]{{·}}[[Kamatz]]{{·}}[[Holam]]{{·}}[[Dagesh]]{{·}}Mappiq{{·}}[[Shuruk]]{{·}}[[Kubutz]]{{·}}[[Rafe]]{{·}}[[Shin dot|Sin/Shin Dot]]
 |}The '''mappiq''' ({{Script/Hebrew|מַפִּיק}} ''mapík''; also ''mapiq'', ''mapik'', ''mappik'', lit. "causing to go out") is a [[diacritic]] used in the [[Hebrew alphabet]]. It is part of the [[Masoretes]]' system of [[niqqud]] (vowel points), and was added to [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] [[orthography]] at the same time. It takes the form of a dot in the middle of a letter (usually {{Script/Hebrew|ה}}, ''[[He (letter)|he]]''). An identical point with a different phonetic function (marking different consonants) is called a [[dagesh]].

[[File:Mapiq.png]]

The ''mappiq'' is used to indicate that the corresponding letter is to be pronounced as a consonant, although in a position where the letter usually indicates a vowel. Typically, the mappiq is used in the middle of {{Script/Hebrew|הּ}} (''[[He (letter)|he]]''), though it historically and biblically has been used with {{Script/Hebrew|יּ}} ([[yodh]]), {{Script/Hebrew|וּ}} ([[Vav (letter)|vav]]), and {{Script/Hebrew|אּ}} ([[aleph]]).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chomsky |first1=William |title=Dagesh and Rafe in the Tiberian Tradition |journal=The Jewish Quarterly Review |date=April 1973 |volume=63 |issue=4 |pages=353–354 |doi=10.2307/1453811 |jstor=1453811 |access-date=10 February 2023 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1453811|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Before the vowel points were invented, some consonants were used to indicate vowel sounds. These consonants are called ''[[matres lectionis]]'' ([[New Latin]]: sg. ''māter lēctiōnis'' "mother of reading", pl. ''mātrēs lēctiōnis'' "mothers of reading", [[calque]]s of Hebrew: {{Script/Hebrew|אֵם קְרִיאָה}} ''em kriá'' and {{Script/Hebrew|אִמּוֹת קְרִיאָה}} ''imót kriá'' -  with the same meaning). The letter ''he'' (transliterated ''H'') at the end of a word (Hebrew is written from right to left) can indicate the vowel sound ''a'' or ''e''. When it does, it is not acting as a consonant, and therefore in pure phonetic logic the Biblical name Zechariah (among others) should be spelled "Zekharya" without the final "h".  However, silent final h being also a feature of English, it is usually retained in Hebrew transliterations to distinguish final ''he'' from final ''aleph''.

The divine name [[Jah|Yah]] has a mappiq (a dot inside the last letter), so the last letter shall not be read as a vowel ''a'', but as the consonant ''H'' - and therefore Yah (and not Ya).

The most common occurrence of ''mappiq'' is in the suffix "-ah", meaning "her".

A ''he'' with ''mappiq'' is meant to be pronounced as a full consonant "h". In [[Mizrahi Hebrew|Mizrahi]] and [[Yemenite Hebrew]] it is pronounced more strongly than a normal ''he'', sometimes with a slight following ''[[schwa|shwa]]'' sound (this rule is also followed by Dutch Sephardim), and in Ashkenazi Hebrew, it is pronounced {{IPA-link|[ʔʼ]}}.{{clarification needed|An ejective glottal stop is impossible.|date=November 2024}}{{citation needed|date=November 2024}} In modern Hebrew, however, it is normally silent; although it is still pronounced in religious contexts by careful readers of the [[Jewish prayer|prayers]] and scriptures.

== Rafe ==

In Masoretic manuscripts the opposite of a ''mappiq'' would be indicated by a ''[[rafe (diacritic)|rafe]]'', a small line on top of the letter.  This is no longer found in Hebrew.

==See also==
* [[Hebrew alphabet]]
* [[Biblical Hebrew phonology|Hebrew phonology]]
* [[Mater lectionis]]
* [[Rafe]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Hebrew language}}

[[Category:Niqqud]]


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