An Introduction to this Glossary

The purpose of this glossary is to provide definitions for terms used throughout this site. Terms may be linked throughout the site to a headword below. You may need to scroll up the page a bit to see the full entry after clicking on a link.

The Glossary

Academic Transcription תַּעְתִּיק אָקָדֶמִי

A way of representing each individual Hebrew letter or vowel mark in English/Latin letters with diacritical marks. Academic transcription allows you to know exactly which Hebrew letter is used in a word. For example, the two sounds k are differentiated as k (כּ) and q (ק). Similarly, the two ch sounds are differentiated as ḥ (ח) and ḵ (כ). The ability to distinguish includes the vowel lengths, etc. This allows us to visually demonstrate what is happening in Hebrew words at the theoretical level. For that reason, academic transcription is often preferable to the lack of clarity existent in the normal way we write Hebrew words in English letters.

Guttural Letter אוֹת גְּרוֹנִית | אוֹתִיּוֹת גְּרוֹנִיּוֹת

Letters that are formed in the throat. In Hebrew, this refers to alef (א), heh (ה), chet (ח), ayin (ע) and resh (ר).

Noun שֵׁם עֶצֶם | שְׁמוֹת עֶצֶם

Grammarians generally define “noun” as a word that indicates a person, place, thing or idea. Essentially, a noun is a word that serves as the subject or object of a verb, functions as the object of a preposition or takes adjective modification. Nouns (more properly, “noun phrases”) can be replaced by pronouns in a sentence.

Verb פּוֹעַל | פְּעָלִים

A word that indicates action or a state of being.