View source for Aleph

{{short description|First letter of many Semitic abjads}}
{{redirect|Alef|other uses|Aleph (disambiguation)|and|Alef (disambiguation)}}
{{For|the large number represented by this letter|aleph number}}
{{Infobox Semitic letter|letname=Aleph|nextlink=Bet (letter)|nextletter=Bet|arrowleft=&nbsp;|archar=ا|sychar=ܐ|hechar=א|amchar=𐡀|nbatchar=𐢀|gechar=አ|phchar=𐤀|grchar=[[Α]]|lachar=[[A]], [[Latin alpha|Ɑ]]|cychar=[[А]], [[Я]]|ipa={{IPA link|ʔ}}, {{IPA link|a}}|num=1|gem=1}}

'''Aleph''' (or '''alef''' or '''alif''', transliterated [[ʾ]]) is the first [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]] of the [[Semitic abjads]], including [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] ''ʾālep'' 𐤀, [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] ''ʾālef'' {{Script|Hebr|א}}, [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] ''ʾālap'' 𐡀, [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]] ''ʾālap̄'' ܐ, [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] ''ʾalif'' {{Script|Arabic|ا}}, and [[Ancient North Arabian|North Arabian]] 𐪑. It also appears as [[Ancient South Arabian script|South Arabian]] 𐩱 and [[Ge'ez script|Ge'ez]] ''ʾälef'' አ.

These letters are believed to have derived from an [[Egyptian hieroglyph]] depicting an ox's head<ref>{{cite web |date=1999-11-15 |title=Oldest alphabet found in Egypt |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/521235.stm |work=BBC News |access-date=2014-08-01 |archive-date=2017-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170607101606/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/521235.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> to [[Acrophony|describe the initial sound]] of  ''*ʾalp'', the [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]] word for ox<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Goldwasser|first=O.|date=2010|title=How the Alphabet was Born from Hieroglyphs.|url=https://www.academia.edu/6916402|journal=Biblical Archaeology Review|volume=36|issue=2|pages=40–53|access-date=2020-07-31|archive-date=2021-11-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128183754/https://www.academia.edu/6916402|url-status=live}}</ref> (compare [[Biblical Hebrew]] {{Script/Hebrew|אֶלֶף}} ''ʾelef'', "ox"<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Strong's Hebrew: 504. אֲלָפִים (eleph) -- cattle|url=https://biblehub.com/hebrew/504.htm|access-date=2020-07-31|website=biblehub.com|archive-date=2020-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616231424/https://biblehub.com/hebrew/504.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>). The Phoenician variant gave rise to the [[Alpha (letter)|Greek alpha]] ({{lang|el|Α}}), being re-interpreted to express not the [[glottal consonant]] but the accompanying [[vowel]], and hence the [[A|Latin A]] and [[A (Cyrillic)|Cyrillic А]] and possibly the Armenian letter [[Ayb (Armenian letter)|Ա]].

[[phonetics|Phonetically]], ''aleph'' originally represented the onset of a vowel at the [[glottis]]. In Semitic languages, this functions as a [[Prothesis (linguistics)|prosthetic]] weak consonant, allowing roots with only two true consonants to be conjugated in the manner of a standard three consonant Semitic root. In most Hebrew dialects as well as Syriac, the ''aleph'' is an absence of a true consonant, a [[glottal stop]] ({{IPAblink|ʔ}}), the sound found in the catch in ''uh'''-'''oh''. In Arabic, the ''alif'' represents the glottal stop pronunciation when it is the initial letter of a word. In texts with diacritical marks, the pronunciation of an ''aleph'' as a consonant is rarely indicated by a special marking, [[hamza]] in Arabic and [[mappiq]] in Tiberian Hebrew. In later Semitic languages, ''aleph'' could sometimes function as a ''[[mater lectionis]]'' indicating the presence of a vowel elsewhere (usually long). When this practice began is the subject of some controversy, though it had become well established by the late stage of Old Aramaic (ca. 200 BCE). Aleph is often [[transliteration|transliterated]] as {{unichar|02BE}}, based on the Greek ''[[spiritus lenis]]'' {{lang|grc|ʼ}}; for example, in the transliteration of the letter name itself, ''{{transliteration|sem|ʾāleph}}''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Andersen|first1=F.I.|last2=Freedman|first2=D.N.|title=Studies in Hebrew and Aramaic Orthography|date=1992|publisher=Eisenbrauns|location=Winona Lake, Indiana|pages=79–90|chapter=Aleph as a vowel in Old Aramaic}}</ref>

==Origin==
The name ''aleph'' is derived from the West Semitic word for '[[ox]]', as in the Biblical Hebrew word {{tlit|hbo|eleph}} ({{lang|hbo|אֶלֶף}}) 'ox',<ref name=":0" /> and the shape of the letter derives from a [[Proto-Sinaitic]] glyph that may have been based on an [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian hieroglyph]], which depicts an ox's head.<ref>{{cite web |date=2014-10-31 |title=Meet The Animal That Inspired The Letter A |url=http://www.dictionary.com/e/a/ |access-date=2019-05-05 |work=Everything After Z |publisher=Dictionary.com |archive-date=2019-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509022716/https://www.dictionary.com/e/a/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{| class=wikitable style="text-align: center;"
|-
! [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Hieroglyph]]
! [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic]]
! [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]]
! [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Paleo-Hebrew]]
|-
| align="center" | <hiero>F1</hiero>
| align="center" | [[Image:Proto-Canaanite - aleph.png|class=skin-invert-image|Aleph]]
| align="center" | [[Image:phoenician aleph.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Aleph]]
| align="center" | [[Image:Early Aramaic character - Alaph.png|class=skin-invert-image|55px|Aleph]]
|}

In [[Modern Standard Arabic]], the word {{lang|ar|أليف}} [[Help:IPA/Arabic|/ʔaliːf/]] literally means 'tamed' or 'familiar', derived from the root {{IPA|ʔ-L-F}}, from which the verb {{lang|ar|ألِف}} {{IPA|/ʔalifa/}} means 'to be acquainted with; to be on intimate terms with'.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wehr|first=Hans|title=A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic: (Arabic-English)|url=https://archive.org/details/hanswehrdictiona00wehr|url-access=limited|year=1994|publisher=Spoken Language Services|location=Urbana|isbn=0879500034|pages=[https://archive.org/details/hanswehrdictiona00wehr/page/n45 28]–29|edition=4th|author-link=Hans Wehr}}</ref> In modern Hebrew, the same root {{IPA|ʔ-L-P}} (alef-lamed-peh) gives {{tlit|he|me’ulaf}}, the passive participle of the verb {{tlit|he|le’alef}}, meaning 'trained' (when referring to pets) or 'tamed' (when referring to wild animals).

== {{anchor|Egyptian}} Ancient Egyptian==
{{further|Transliteration of Ancient Egyptian#alef}}
{{Hiero|"Aleph" |<hiero> A </hiero>|align=right|era=egypt}}

The Egyptian "[[Egyptian vulture#In culture|vulture]]" [[hieroglyph]] ([[Gardiner's sign list|Gardiner]] [[Vulture (hieroglyph)|G1]]), by convention pronounced {{IPA|[a]}}) is also referred to as ''aleph'', on grounds that it has traditionally been taken to represent a [[glottal stop]] ({{IPA|[ʔ]}}), although some recent suggestions<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lecarme|first1=Jacqueline|last2=Lowenstamm|first2=Jean|last3=Shlonsky|first3=Ur|title=Research in Afroasiatic Grammar: Papers from the Third Conference on Afroasiatic Languages, Sophia Antipolis, France, 1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sg_pdMfJbcwC&pg=PA345|date= 2000|publisher=John Benjamins|isbn=90-272-3709-3|page=345|quote= The "aleps" problem in Old Egyptian The character of Egyptian "aleph" (transcribed Ꜣ) has always been debated by linguists and egyptologists. Even at the present we can claim surely only that Egyptian Ꜣ was often not the same as the Semitic glottal stop ɂ.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Schneider |first=Thomas |year=2003 |title=Etymologische Methode, die Historizität der Phoneme und das ägyptologische Transkriptionsalphabet |journal=Lingua Aegyptia: Journal of Egyptian Language Studies |issue=11 |pages=187–199}}</ref> tend towards an alveolar approximant ({{IPAblink|ɹ}}) sound instead. Despite the name it does not correspond to an aleph in cognate Semitic words, where the single "reed" hieroglyph is found instead.

The [[phoneme]] is commonly [[transliterated]] by a symbol composed of two half-rings, in [[Unicode]] (as of version 5.1, in the [[Latin Extended-D]] range) encoded at  {{Unichar|A722}} and {{Unichar|A723}}. A fallback representation is the numeral ''3'', or the Middle English character ''ȝ'' [[Yogh#In Egyptology|Yogh]]; neither are to be preferred to the genuine Egyptological characters.

==Arabic ʾalif==
{{Infobox grapheme|name=ʾalif ألف|letter=ا|script=[[Arabic script]]|type=[[Abjad]]|language=[[Arabic language]]|phonemes={{IPA link|ʔ}}, {{IPA link|aː}}|alphanumber=1|direction=Right-to-left|fam1=𐤀|fam2=𐡀|fam3=𐢀 ,𐢁‎}}

Written as {{lang|ar|ا}} or 𐪑, spelled as {{lang|ar|ألف}} or 𐪑𐪁𐪐 and transliterated as ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|alif}}'', it is the first letter in [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] and [[Ancient North Arabian|North Arabian]]. Together with Hebrew aleph, Greek [[alpha]] and Latin [[A]], it is descended from [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] {{transliteration|sem|ʾāleph}}, from a reconstructed Proto-Canaanite ''{{transliteration|sem|ʾalp}}'' "ox".

Alif has the highest frequency out of all 28 letters in the [[Arabic abjad]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Alif is written in one of the following ways depending on its position in the word:
{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ا}}

{| class="wikitable"
!North Arabian
|-
|{{Huge|𐪑|300%}}
|}

===Arabic variants===
====Alif mahmūza: {{big|أ}} and {{big|إ}}====
{{Main|Hamza}}
{{anchor|hamzat qaṭ‘|hamzat qaṭ`|hamzat qaṭ}}
The Arabic letter was used to render either a long {{IPA|/aː/}} or a [[glottal stop]] {{IPA|/ʔ/}}. That led to [[orthographical]] confusion and to the introduction of the additional marking ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|hamzat qaṭ‘}}'' <big>{{lang|ar|ﺀ}}</big> to fix the problem. [[Hamzah|Hamza]] is not considered a full letter in Arabic orthography: in most cases, it appears on a carrier, either a ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|wāw}}'' (<big>{{lang|ar|ؤ}}</big>), a dotless ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|yā’}}'' (<big>{{lang|ar|ئ}}</big>), or an alif. 
{{Arabic alphabet shapes|أ}}
The choice of carrier depends on complicated orthographic rules. Alif <big>{{lang|ar|إ أ}}</big> is generally the carrier if the only adjacent vowel is ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|fatḥah}}''. It is the only possible carrier if hamza is the first phoneme of a word. Where alif acts as a carrier for hamza, hamza is added above the alif, or, for initial alif-''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|kasrah}}'', below it and indicates that the letter so modified is indeed a glottal stop, not a long vowel.

{{anchor|hamzat waṣl|hamzat wasl}}
A second type of hamza, ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|hamzat waṣl}}'' ({{lang|ar|همزة وصل}}) whose diacritic is normally omitted outside of sacred texts, occurs only as the initial letter of the [[Al-|definite article]] and in some related cases. It differs from ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|hamzat qaṭ‘}}'' in that it is elided after a preceding vowel. Alif is always the carrier.
{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ٱ}}

====Alif mamdūda: {{big|آ}}====
{{anchor|alif maddah|alif madda|Alif maddah|Alif madda}}
The ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|alif [[Arabic diacritics#Maddah|maddah]]}}'' is a double alif, expressing both a glottal stop and a long vowel. Essentially, it is the same as a {{lang|ar|أا}} sequence: {{lang|ar|آ}} (final {{lang|ar|ـآ}}) {{transliteration|ar|ALA|’ā}} {{IPA|/ʔaː/}}, for example in {{lang|ar|آخر}} ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ākhir}}'' {{IPA|/ʔaːxir/}} {{gloss|last}}. 
{{Arabic alphabet shapes|آ}}
"It has become standard for a ''hamza'' followed by a long ā to be written as two ''alifs'', one vertical and one horizontal."<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Alan |url=https://archive.org/details/arabicthroughqur00jone |title=Arabic Through The Qur'an |publisher=The Islamic Texts Society |year=2005 |isbn=0946621-68-3 |location=Cambridge |page=[https://archive.org/details/arabicthroughqur00jone/page/n21 4] |url-access=limited}}</ref> (the "horizontal" alif being the ''maddah'' sign).

====Alif maqṣūrah: {{big|ى}}====
{{Anchor|alifmaqsura|alif maqsura|Aifmasqsura|Alif maqsura}}
The '''<big>ى</big>''' ('limited/restricted alif', ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|alif maqṣūrah}}''), commonly known in Egypt as ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|alif layyinah}}'' ({{lang|ar|ألف لينة}}, 'flexible alif'), may appear only at the end of a word. Although it looks different from a regular ''alif'', it represents the same sound {{IPA|/aː/}}, often realized as a short vowel. When it is written, ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|alif maqṣūrah}}'' is indistinguishable from final [[Persian alphabet|Persian]] ''[[Yodh#Perso-Arabic ye|ye]]'' or Arabic ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|yā’}}'' as it is written in Egypt, Sudan and sometimes elsewhere.

The letter is transliterated as {{transliteration|ar|ALA|y}} in [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], representing the vowel /[[Mid central vowel|ə]]/. ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Alif maqsurah}}'' is transliterated as {{transliteration|ar|ALA|á}} in [[ALA-LC Romanization|ALA-LC]], {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ā}} in [[DIN 31635]], {{transliteration|ar|ISO|à}} in ISO 233-2, and {{transliteration|ar|ISO|ỳ}} in [[ISO 233]].

In Arabic, ''alif maqsurah'' {{lang|ar|ى}} is not used initially or medially, and it is not joinable initially or medially in any font. However, the letter is used initially and medially in the [[Uyghur Arabic alphabet]] and the Arabic-based [[Kyrgyz alphabet]], representing the vowel /[[Close back unrounded vowel|ɯ]]/: (<big>{{script/Arabic|ىـ ـىـ}}</big>).

{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ى}}

As a vowel, the letter ''alif maqsurah'' can be a carrier with a [[hamza]]. The ''alif maqṣūrah'' with hamza is thus written as:
{{Arabic alphabet shapes|ئ}}

===Numeral===
As a numeral, alif stands for the number one. It may be modified as follows to represent other numbers.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Modification to alif
!Number represented
|-
|One dot below
|1,000
|-
|One line below
|10,000
|-
|One line above
|1,000,000
|-
|Two dots below
|10,000,000
|}

==Aramaic==

The Aramaic reflex of the letter is conventionally represented with the Hebrew {{lang|he|א}} in typography for convenience, but the actual graphic form varied significantly over the long history and wide geographic extent of the language. Maraqten identifies three different aleph traditions in East Arabian coins: a lapidary Aramaic form that realizes it as a combination of a V-shape and a straight stroke attached to the apex, much like a Latin K; a [[cursive]] Aramaic form he calls the "elaborated X-form", essentially the same tradition as the Hebrew [[Linguistic reconstruction|reflex]]; and an extremely cursive form of two crossed oblique lines, much like a simple Latin X.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Maraqten|first=Mohammed|title=Notes on the Aramaic script of some coins from East Arabia|journal=[[Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy]]|year=1996|volume=7|issue=2|pages=304–315|doi=10.1111/j.1600-0471.1996.tb00107.x|url=https://www.academia.edu/1556846}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Cursive Aramaic
! Lapidary Aramaic
|-
| align="center" | [[Image:Aleph.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20 px]]
| align="center" | [[Image:Lapidary Aramaic alef.png|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Lapidary aleph]]

|}

==Hebrew alef==
{{Redirect|א|the Biblical manuscript|Codex Sinaiticus}}

Hebrew spelling: <big>{{script/Hebrew| אָלֶף }}</big>

In [[Modern Hebrew|Modern Israeli Hebrew]], the letter either represents a [[glottal stop]] ({{IPAblink|ʔ}}) or indicates a [[Hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]] (the separation of two adjacent [[vowels]] into distinct [[syllable]]s, with no intervening [[consonant]]). It is sometimes silent (word-finally always, word-medially sometimes: {{Script/Hebrew|הוּא}} {{IPA|[hu]}} "he", {{Script/Hebrew|רָאשִׁי}} {{IPA|[ʁaˈʃi]}} "main", {{Script/Hebrew|רֹאשׁ}} {{IPA|[ʁoʃ]}} "head", {{Script/Hebrew|רִאשׁוֹן}} {{IPA|[ʁiˈʃon]}} "first"). The pronunciation varies in different [[Jewish ethnic divisions]].

In [[gematria]], aleph represents the number 1, and when used at the beginning of [[Hebrew calendar|Hebrew years]], it means 1000 (e.g. {{Script/Hebrew|א'תשנ"ד}} in [[Arabic numerals|numbers]] would be the Hebrew [[Calendar date|date]] 1754, not to be confused with 1754 CE).

Aleph, along with [[ayin]], [[resh]], [[He (letter)|he]] and [[Heth (letter)|heth]], cannot receive a [[dagesh]]. (However, there are few very rare examples of the [[Masoretes]] adding a dagesh or [[mappiq]] to an aleph or resh. The verses of [[Hebrew Bible|the Hebrew Bible]] for which an aleph with a mappiq or dagesh appears are [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 43:26, [[Leviticus]] 23:17, [[Book of Job|Job]] 33:21 and [[Ezra]] 8:18.)

In Modern Hebrew, the frequency of the usage of alef, out of all the letters, is 4.94%.

Aleph is sometimes used as a [[mater lectionis]] to denote a vowel, usually {{IPA|/a/}}. That use is more common in words of [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] and [[Arabic language|Arabic]] origin, in foreign names, and some other borrowed words.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="5" |<small>[[Orthography|Orthographic]] variants</small>
|-
! colspan="3" |<small>Various print fonts</small>
! rowspan="2" |<small>[[Cursive Hebrew|Cursive<br />Hebrew]]</small>
! rowspan="2" |<small>[[Rashi script|Rashi<br />script]]</small>
|-
!|<small>[[Serif]]</small> !! <small>[[Sans-serif]]</small> !! <small>[[Monospaced font|Monospaced]]</small> <!-- !! </small> [[Rounded Roman]]</small> -->
|-
| width="20%" |<span style="font:30pt 'Times New Roman', 'SBL Hebrew', David, Narkisim, 'New Peninim MT', 'Taamey Frank CLM', serif;">א</span>
| width="20%" |<span style="font:29pt Arial, 'DejaVu Sans Condensed', 'DejaVu Sans', Tahoma, 'Noto Sans Hebrew', Alef, sans-serif;">א</span>
| width="20%" |<span style="font:30pt 'Courier New', 'Miriam Fixed', 'Miriam Mono CLM', FreeMono, monospace;">א</span>
<!-- |width=20%|<span style="font:30pt 'cooper black';">א</span> -->
| width="20%" |[[File:Hebrew letter Alef handwriting.svg|class=skin-invert-image|18px]]
| width="20%" |[[File:Alef (Rashi-script - Hebrew letter).svg|class=skin-invert-image|31px]]
|}

===Rabbinic Judaism===
Aleph is the subject of a [[midrash]] that praises its humility in not demanding to start the Bible. (In [[Hebrew]], the Bible begins with the second letter of the [[alphabet]], [[Bet (letter)|bet]].) In the story, aleph is rewarded by being allowed to start the [[Ten Commandments]]. (In [[Hebrew]], the first word is [[Wikt:אנוכי|anoki]] ({{Script/Hebrew|אָנֹכִי}}), which starts with an aleph.)

In the [[Sefer Yetzirah]], the [[letter (alphabet)|letter]] aleph is [[king]] over breath, formed air in the universe, temperate in the year, and the [[chest]] in the soul.

Aleph is also the first letter of the [[Hebrew]] word ''emet'' ({{Script/Hebrew|אֱמֶת}}), which means ''truth''. In Judaism, it was the letter aleph that was carved into the head of the [[golem]] that ultimately gave it life.

Aleph also begins the three words that make up God's name in [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]], [[I Am that I Am|I Am who I Am]] (in [[Hebrew]], Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh {{lang|he|אהיה אשר אהיה}}), and aleph is an important part of mystical [[amulet]]s and formulas.

Aleph represents the oneness of God. The letter can be seen as being composed of an upper [[yodh|yud]], a lower yud, and a [[Waw (letter)|vav]] leaning on a diagonal. The upper yud represents the hidden and ineffable aspects of God while the lower yud represents God's revelation and presence in the world. The vav ("hook") connects the two realms.

Judaism relates aleph to the element of air, and the Scintillating Intelligence (#11) of the path between Kether and Chokmah in the Tree of the Sephiroth {{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}.

===Yiddish===

In [[Yiddish]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Weinreich|first=Uriel|date=1992|title=College Yiddish|location=New York|publisher=[[YIVO]] Institute for Jewish Research|pages=25–8|author-link=Uriel Weinreich}}</ref> aleph is used for several orthographic purposes in native words, usually with different [[diacritical mark]]s borrowed from Hebrew [[niqqud]]:
* With no diacritics, aleph is silent; it is written at the beginning of words before vowels spelled with the letter [[Waw (letter)|vov]] or [[yodh|yud]]. For instance, ''oykh'' 'also' is spelled {{lang|yi|rtl=yes|אויך}}. The [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]] {{lang|yi|rtl=yes|וי}} represents the initial [[diphthong]] [{{IPA|oj}}], but that digraph is not permitted at the beginning of a word in Yiddish orthography, so it is preceded by a silent aleph. Some publications use a silent aleph adjacent to such vowels in the middle of a word as well when necessary to avoid ambiguity.
* An aleph with the diacritic ''[[patach|pasekh]]'', {{lang|yi|rtl=yes|אַ}}, represents the vowel {{IPAblink|a}} in standard Yiddish.
* An aleph with the diacritic ''[[kamatz|komets]]'', {{lang|yi|rtl=yes|אָ}}, represents the vowel {{IPAblink|ɔ}} in standard Yiddish.
[[Loanword]]s from Hebrew or Aramaic in Yiddish are spelled as they are in their language of origin.

==Syriac ʾalaph/olaf==

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!''Alaph''
|-
| [[File:Syriac Eastern alap.svg|class=skin-invert-image|45px]] ''Madnḫaya'' alap
|-
| [[File:Syriac Serta alap.svg|class=skin-invert-image|45px]] ''Serṭo'' olaph
|-
| [[File:Syriac Estrangela alap.svg|class=skin-invert-image|45px]] ''Esṭrangela'' alap
|}

[[File:Syriac letter shapes Alaph.PNG|class=skin-invert-image|500px]]

In the [[Syriac alphabet]], the first letter is {{lang|syr|ܐ}}, {{langx|syc|ܐܵܠܲܦ}}, alap (in eastern dialects) or olaph (in western dialects). It is used in word-initial position to mark a word beginning with a vowel, but some words beginning with ''i'' or ''u'' do not need its help, and sometimes, an initial alap/olaph is [[elision|elided]]. For example, when the Syriac [[grammatical person|first-person]] [[grammatical number|singular]] [[pronoun]] {{lang|syc|ܐܸܢܵܐ}} is in [[clitic|enclitic]] positions, it is pronounced ''no/na'' (again west/east), rather than the full form ''eno/ana''. The letter occurs very regularly at the end of words, where it represents the long final vowels ''o/a'' or ''e''. In the middle of the word, the letter represents either a [[glottal stop]] between vowels (but West Syriac pronunciation often makes it a [[palatal approximant]]), a long ''i/e'' (less commonly ''o/a'') or is silent.

== South Arabian/Ge'ez ==
In the [[Ancient South Arabian script|Ancient South Arabian alphabet]], 𐩱 appears as the seventeenth letter of the South Arabian abjad. The letter is used to render a [[glottal stop]] {{IPA|/ʔ/}}.

In the [[Ge'ez script|Ge'ez alphabet]], ʾälef አ appears as the thirteenth letter of its abjad. This letter is also used to render a glottal stop {{IPA|/ʔ/}}. 
{| class="wikitable"
!South Arabian
!Ge'ez
|-
|{{Huge|𐩱|300%}}
|{{Huge|አ|300%}}
|}

==Other uses==
===Mathematics===
In [[set theory]], the Hebrew aleph glyph is used as the symbol to denote the [[aleph number]]s, which represent the [[cardinality]] of infinite sets. This notation was introduced by mathematician [[Georg Cantor]]. In older mathematics books, the letter aleph is often printed upside down by accident, partly because a [[Monotype Imaging|Monotype]] matrix for aleph was mistakenly constructed the wrong way up.<ref>{{citation|mr=0553111 |last1=Swanson |first1=Ellen |first2=Arlene Ann |last2=O'Sean |first3=Antoinette Tingley |last3=Schleyer |title=Mathematics into type. Copy editing and proofreading of mathematics for editorial assistants and authors |edition=updated |publisher=American Mathematical Society |place= Providence, R.I. |year=1999 |orig-year= 1979 |isbn=0-8218-0053-1 |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pL3vAAAAIAAJ&q=aleph}}</ref>

===Politics===
The [[Mapai]] political party in [[Israel]] used an aleph as its election symbol, and featured it prominently in its campaign posters.<ref name="Weitz 2018 p870">{{cite web | last=Weitz | first=Carmel Sapir | title=Symbols of the Mapai Party | website=The Jerusalem Post | date=2018-07-12 | url=https://www.jpost.com/magazine/symbols-of-the-mapai-party-562347 | access-date=2024-03-06 | archive-date=2023-03-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320162638/https://www.jpost.com/magazine/symbols-of-the-mapai-party-562347 | url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Religion ===
[[Guru Nanak]], regarded as the founder of [[Sikhism]], used the aleph to represent the oneness of God.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

==Character encodings==

{{charmap
|05D0|name1=Hebrew Letter Alef
|0627|name2=Arabic Letter Alef
|0710|name3=Syriac Letter Alaph
|0800|name4=Samaritan Letter Alaf
|10380|name5=Ugaritic Letter Alpa
|10900|name6=Phoenician Letter Alf
|10840|name7=Imperial Aramaic Letter Aleph
|10AC0|name8=Manichaean Letter Aleph
|2135|name9=Alef symbol
}}

==See also==

* [[Modifier letter right half ring|ʾ]]
* [[Al-]]
* [[Aleph number]]
* [[Yāʼ|Arabic yāʼ]]
* [[Hamza]]h

==References==
*{{cite web|title=The Letter Aleph (א) |url=https://hebrewtoday.com/alphabet/the-letter-alef-%d7%90/ |website=Hebrew Today |access-date=2019-05-05}}
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Arabic language}}
{{Hebrew language}}
{{Northwest Semitic abjad}}

[[Category:Phoenician alphabet]]
[[Category:Arabic letters|Alef]]
[[Category:Urdu letters|Alef]]
[[Category:Hebrew letters]]
[[Category:Vowel letters]]