View source for Segol

{{Short description|Hebrew niqqud vowel sign}}
{{Unreferenced|date=June 2019|bot=noref (GreenC bot)}}
{{for|the Torah cantillation mark|Segol (trope)}}
{| align="right" class="wikitable"
 | colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |'''Segol'''
  |-
 | colspan="2" align="center" style="background:white;height:100px"|<span style='font-size:325%; font-family:"Times New Roman", David, SBL Hebrew' dir="rtl">ֶ</span>
|-
| [[Help:IPA/Hebrew|IPA]]
| style="background:white" |  {{IPA link|ɛ}}
|-
| [[Romanization of Hebrew|Transliteration]]
| style="background:white" | e
|-
| English example
| style="background:white" | b'''e'''d
|-
| Same sound
| style="background:white" | [[tzere]]
|-
 | colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Example
 |-
 | colspan="2" align="center" style="background:white;height:50px;line-height:3.25em"|<span style='font-size:325%; font-family:"Times New Roman", David, SBL Hebrew' dir="rtl">שֶׁל</span>
 |-
 | colspan="2" style="width:250px;background:white;text-align:center;" | The word for ''of'' in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], ''shel''. The triangular array of three dots under the letter [[Shin (letter)|Shin]] form the segol.
|-
 | 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]]{{·}}[[Kubutz and Shuruk]]{{·}}[[Rafe]]{{·}}[[Shin (letter)#Sin and Shin dot|Sin/Shin Dot]]
 |}
'''Segol'''  (modern {{langx|he|סֶגּוֹל}},&nbsp;{{IPA|he|seˈɡol|IPA}}; formerly {{Script/Hebrew|סְגוֹל}}, ''səḡôl'') is a [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] [[niqqud]] [[vowel]] sign that is represented by three dots forming an upside down [[equilateral triangle]] "ֶ ". As such, it resembles an upside down [[therefore sign]] (a [[because sign]]) underneath a letter. In [[modern Hebrew]], it indicates the [[phoneme]] {{IPAslink|e̞|e}} which is similar to  "[[e]]" in the English word sound in ''s'''e'''ll'' and is [[Romanization of Hebrew|transliterated]] as an ''e''.

In [[Modern Hebrew]] segol makes the same sound as [[tzere]], as does the '''Hataf Segol''' ({{langx|he|חֲטַף סֶגּוֹל}} &nbsp; {{IPA|he|ħaˈtaf seˈɡol|IPA}}, "Reduced Segol"). The reduced (or ''ħataf'') niqqud exist for segol, [[patah]], and [[kamatz]] which contain a [[shva]] next to it.

==Pronunciation==
The following table contains the [[pronunciation]] and [[transliteration]] of the different segols in reconstructed historical forms and [[dialect]]s using the [[help:IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]].

The letters [[Beth (letter)|Bet]] {{angle bracket|{{Script/Hebrew|ב}}}} and [[Heth (letter)|Het]] {{angle bracket|{{Script/Hebrew|ח}}}} used in this table are only for demonstration; any letter can be used.
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan=3 | Symbol 
! rowspan=3 | Name
!! colspan=7 | [[help:IPA|Pronunciation]]
|-
!! rowspan=2 | [[Modern Hebrew|Modern]]
!! rowspan=2 | [[Ashkenazi Hebrew|Ashkenazi]]
!! rowspan=2 | [[Sephardi Hebrew|Sephardi]]
!! rowspan=2 | [[Yemenite Hebrew|Yemenite]]
!! rowspan=2 | [[Tiberian Hebrew|Tiberian]]
!! colspan=2 | Reconstructed 
|-
! [[Mishnaic Hebrew|Mishnaic]] !! [[Biblical Hebrew|Biblical]]
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:David, Arial Unicode, SBL Hebrew;font-size:200%"| {{Script/Hebrew|בֶ}}
|Segol
| {{IPAblink|e̞}} || [e̞] || [e̞] || [a] ||{{IPA|[ɛ, ɛː]}} || ? || {{IPA|[ɛ]}}
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:David, Arial Unicode, SBL Hebrew;font-size:200%"| {{Script/Hebrew|בֶי}} {{Script/Hebrew|בֶה}} {{Script/Hebrew|בֶא}}
|Segol Male
| {{IPAblink|e̞}} || [e̞] || [e̞] || [a] ||{{IPA|[ɛː]}} || ? || {{IPA|[ɛː, ɛj]}}
|-
| align="center" style="font-family:David, Arial Unicode, SBL Hebrew;font-size:200%" | {{Script/Hebrew|חֱ}}
|Hataf Segol
| {{IPAblink|e̞}} || [e̞] || [e̞] || [a] ||{{IPA|[ɛ̆]}} || ? || {{IPA|[ɛ]}}
|-
|}

In addition, a letter with a segol or tzere with a succeeding [[yodh|yod]] often makes the "ei" (also spelled "ey") sound such as in th'''ey''' or t'''a'''pe.

==Vowel length comparison==
By adding two vertical dots (''shva''), the vowel can be made very short. However, the vowels lengths are not manifested in Modern Hebrew.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!! colspan=6 | Vowel comparison table
|- align=center
!! colspan=3 | [[Vowel length]]
!! rowspan=2 | [[Help:IPA chart for Hebrew|IPA]]
!! rowspan=2 | [[Transliteration]]
!! rowspan=2 | English<br/>example
|-
! Long
! Short
! Very Short
|- align=center
|style="font-size:26px; padding-bottom:12px"| {{Script/Hebrew|ֵ}}
|style="font-size:26px; padding-bottom:12px"| {{Script/Hebrew|ֶ}}
|style="font-size:26px; padding-bottom:12px"| {{Script/Hebrew|ֱ}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPAblink|e̞}}
| rowspan="2" |e
| rowspan="2" |t'''e'''mp
|-
| ''Tzere''
| ''Segol''
|''Reduced Segol''
|}

==Unicode encoding==
{| class="wikitable"
! Glyph
! Unicode
! Name
|-
|<span style='font-size:140%; font-family:SBL Hebrew, David, Times New Roman' dir="rtl">ֶ</span>
|U+05B6
|SEGOL 
|-
|<span style='font-size:140%; font-family:SBL Hebrew, David, Times New Roman' dir="rtl">ֱ</span>
|U+05B1
|HATEF SEGOL 
|}

{{Hebrew language}}

[[Category:Niqqud]]