Alphabet Letters
Beth ܒ
Syriac Letters
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
Origin The script is attested from the early centuries CE, in the Aramaic of Edessa
Beth is the second letter of the Syriac abjad, with the numeral value two. It writes b, and it is one of the six letters, beth gamal dalath kaph pe and taw, that carry a hard and a soft pronunciation; soft beth is a fricative close to a w or a v. Which reading is intended can be fixed by a point, the qushshaya written above the letter for the plosive and the rukkakha below it for the spirantized sound, though ordinary running text leaves both marks off and expects the reader to supply them. Beth joins on both sides, so it has initial, medial, final and isolated shapes. Its name is the inherited Northwest Semitic word for a house, and it holds the same second place in Hebrew and in the Greek beta.
Facts
Origins
Origin PeriodThe script is attested from the early centuries CE, in the Aramaic of Edessa 1Tradition: The Syriac script Place of OriginEdessa, in Osrhoene, from the local cursive form of the Aramaic script 1Tradition: The Syriac script Origin of the NameThe letter names continue Northwest Semitic nouns inherited from the older linear alphabet, and are not ordinary Syriac words 1Tradition: The Syriac script Origin of the NameThe pictographic senses behind the names describe signs of the older linear alphabet, not the Syriac shapes 1Tradition: The Syriac script Sense of the Namehouse, by inheritance from the Northwest Semitic name 1Tradition: The Syriac script Identity
Script TypeAn abjad: the twenty-two letters record consonants, and vowels are supplied either by points or by small Greek letters written above and below the line 1Tradition: The Syriac script PositionSecond of the twenty-two letters, with the numeral value 2 1Tradition: The Syriac script How the Letter JoinsJoins on both sides, taking initial, medial, final and isolated shapes 2Tradition: The Syriac script Attributions
Associated SoundVoiced bilabial stop b, with a soft reading close to w or v 1Tradition: The Syriac script Transmission
Manuscript TraditionThree hands write the same twenty-two letters: Estrangela, the oldest book hand, Serto in the west, and Madnhaya in the east 1Tradition: The Syriac script Practice
Liturgical and Scriptural RoleThe script is in current liturgical use in the Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholic, Maronite, Assyrian Church of the East and Chaldean Catholic churches 3Tradition: Syriac Christianity Attestation
Meaning in the Attesting SourceOne of the six letters, beth gamal dalath kaph pe and taw, that carry a hard and a soft pronunciation, marked where needed by the qushshaya point above for the plosive and the rukkakha point below for the spirantized sound 1Tradition: The Syriac script Meaning in the Attesting SourceThe letters carry numeral values, and a mark written below a letter can multiply its value for figures larger than the letters themselves supply 2Tradition: Syriac numerals Learn More
Beth: The Syriac Letter
Beth is the second letter of the Syriac abjad and writes b. It joins on both sides, taking initial, medial, final and isolated shapes according to where it falls in a connected run, so it never forces a break in a word.
Beth belongs to the set of six letters that carry two pronunciations, beth gamal dalath kaph pe and taw. Each has a hard reading, a plosive, and a soft reading, a fricative, and which is meant depends on the shape of the word rather than on anything visible in the letter. Soft beth is a fricative close to a w or a v. Syriac can fix the reading with a point: the qushshaya written above the letter calls for the plosive and the rukkakha written below it calls for the spirantized sound. Running text ordinarily leaves both marks off, so the distinction lives in the reader.
Its name is the inherited Northwest Semitic word for a house, and beth holds the same second place in Hebrew and stands behind the Greek beta. The name has outlasted every shape it was ever attached to.
As the entry for the letter rather than for a hand, this entry covers beth as Estrangela, Serto and Madnhaya all write it. The three differ in the drawing and agree in everything else: the place in the sequence, the sound, the numeral value two, and the pair of readings the letter carries.
Beth and the Six Letters With Two Readings
The six letters beth gamal dalath kaph pe and taw are the hinge of Syriac pronunciation. Each writes a stop in some positions and the matching fricative in others, so one letter covers two sounds and the reader has to know which is called for. The rule that governs the choice belongs to the grammar of the word, not to the letter, and a reader who knows Syriac applies it without thinking about it.
Beth is the first of the six and the easiest case to hear, since the difference between a b and the fricative that answers to it is wide. The pointing that can settle the matter, a dot above for the plosive and a dot below for the fricative, was developed for teaching, for scripture and for careful copies rather than for everyday writing, and most Syriac on most pages carries neither mark.
That has a consequence for anyone reading a manuscript rather than a modern edition. Two words spelled with the same letters may differ only in whether a beth is hard or soft, and nothing on the page decides it. Editors add the points, and in doing so make a reading rather than merely transcribing one. The practice is old and is not a modern imposition, but it is still an act of interpretation, and a careful edition says which points are in the manuscript and which are the editor.
Beth is also the Syriac preposition b, meaning in or with, prefixed directly to the word it governs, so a reader meets the letter at the head of a word constantly.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Related To
Mandaic Ab and Syriac Beth hold the same place in the twenty-two letter Aramaic sequence both alphabets inherited. The shapes are unrelated to look at, so it is the order that carries the descent. Where the Mandaic shapes came from is disputed, a cursive Aramaic hand or the Parthian chancery script.
Syriac Beth and Arabic Ba answer to one another in the abjad order, the twenty-two letter Aramaic sequence Arabic keeps for its letter numerals, and both carry the value 2. A shared ancestor and not a borrowing, since Arabic reached the sequence through Nabataean.
Bet and the Syriac beth continue the Semitic b and share the inherited name, which is the word for a house in both languages.
Syriac Beth and Hebrew Beth stand at the same place in the twenty-two letter Aramaic sequence and carry the same letter-numeral value, 2. The Syriac script grew out of the local Aramaic cursive of Edessa and the Hebrew square script out of the same Aramaic alphabet, so the two letters are inherited from one ancestor rather than borrowed from each other.
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.