{"id":363,"date":"2026-07-18T20:52:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T20:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/psybin.org\/hisword\/?p=363"},"modified":"2026-07-18T23:56:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T23:56:58","slug":"yogh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psybin.org\/hisword\/biblical\/yogh\/","title":{"rendered":"Yogh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The letter yogh (uppercase: \u021c<\/strong>; lowercase: \u021d<\/strong>) has a fascinating history, and it seems to be everywhere and in many languages, yet today it’s almost as if it doesn’t exist. Maybe it’s best to start from today and go backward in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter yogh was used in Middle English and Older Scots to represent several phonemes, such as y<\/em>, j<\/em>, and g<\/em>. It is from Insular G (\u1d79), the form of g<\/em> in the medieval Insular script.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started to become confused with Ezh<\/a> (\u01b7, \u0292), or “tailed z” when early to middle Scots began to use z in place of yogh, since it wasn’t in their fonts. Now some Scots names have a z, which is still pronounced as a y<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It still represents a wide range of pronunciation, such as the o<\/em> in body or in code, the voiceless velar fricative (x) range of k<\/em> in kind, or the ch<\/em> in loch, as well as the previously mentioned voiced velar fricative (\u0263) consonantal range of y<\/em>, j<\/em>, and g<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

A rough<\/strong>-coated, dough<\/strong>-faced, thought<\/strong>ful plough<\/strong>man strode through<\/strong> the streets of Scarborough<\/strong>, after falling into a slough<\/strong>, he cough<\/strong>ed and hiccough<\/strong>ed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This absurd sentence shows just how many different ways there are to pronounce the word cluster ough<\/em>, which used to be represented by just one letter. Here are the nine ways it is pronounced today, which is equally absurd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. \/\u028cf\/<\/strong>“uff” (rhymes with stuff<\/em>) rough<\/strong>, tough<\/strong>, enough<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. \/o\u028a\/<\/strong> or \/\u0259\u028a\/<\/strong>“oh” (rhymes with no<\/em>) though<\/strong>, although<\/strong>, dough<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. \/\u0254\u02d0\/<\/strong>“aw” (rhymes with saw<\/em>) thought<\/strong>, bought<\/strong>, brought<\/strong>, fought<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. \/u\u02d0\/<\/strong>“oo” (rhymes with too<\/em>) through<\/strong>, throughout<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. \/a\u028a\/<\/strong>“ow” (rhymes with how<\/em>) bough<\/strong>, plough<\/strong> (spelled plow<\/em> in US), drought<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. \/\u0252f\/<\/strong>“off” (rhymes with cough<\/em>) cough<\/strong>, trough<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. \/\u0259\/<\/strong>“uh” (a weak schwa sound) thorough<\/strong>, borough<\/strong> (Note: mainly in UK English)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. \/\u028cp\/<\/strong>“up” (rhymes with cup<\/em>) hiccough<\/strong> (traditionally pronounced like “hiccup”)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. \/\u0252k\/<\/strong>“ock” (rhymes with lock<\/em>) lough<\/strong> (an Irish\/Scottish word for lake)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The official history of yogh leads back through g, c, Greek gamma (\u03b3<\/strong>), and then Hebrew gimel (\u05d2), but we’re going a different route–the nebulous path of voiceless velar fricative<\/a> (x<\/a><\/strong>), voiced pharyngeal fricative<\/a> (\u0295<\/a><\/strong>), and the voiced palatal approximant<\/a> (y\/j<\/a><\/strong>). It’s a path where the letters of the Greek alphabet became uncoupled from their Hebrew source equivalents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>Omicron<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Omicron is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet and has the short o<\/em> sound. The name means  \u1f42 \u03bc\u03b9\u03ba\u03c1\u03cc\u03bd (\u00f2 mikr\u00f3n<\/em>), literally ‘small o’. Its parent letter is Hebrew ayin, and its Greek numeral value is 70. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Its position relative to the Hebrew alphabet hasn’t changed as much as some letters have, but regardless, now would be a good time to have an alphabet evolution chart for reference. Even this letter’s shape has stayed relatively stable throughout the millennia, with its beginnings as the hieroglyph for eye (\ud80c\udc79), which is what ayin means. If I were to speculate, once a letter attains a shape of a basic circle, there’s really no improving or shortening it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Notably, omega (\u03a9, \u03c9), meaning ‘great o’ and having the long o<\/em> sound, resembles a clockwise-turned yogh–in lowercase anyway, while the opposite is true in early Cyrillic (\u0460), where instead its uppercase omega more resembles the turned yogh. Curiously, also lowercase epsilon (\u03b5<\/strong>) and xi (\u03be<\/strong>) both look quite like a flipped yogh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This chart is a simple and easy way to see how each letter has changed position over time as it evolved through each language’s subsequent adoption of it. Most letters have had an easy and straight-forward evolution, but the sound cluster involving yogh and its wide range of phonemes is a real cluster, indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Evolution
    Useful chart from usefulcharts.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>Ayin<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Image courtesy of Hebrew for Christians<\/a> showing the tagin (crowns)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Going further back in time, we have the 16th letter of the Hebrew alephbet, ayin, which as mentioned above means ‘eye’. Like omicron, it also has a numeral value of 70, and is one of seven letters to receive tagin (crowns) when written in a sefer Torah. In Strong’s:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    H5869 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u02bbayin:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. eye\n
        \n
      1. of physical eye<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. as showing mental qualities<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. of mental and spiritual faculties (fig.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      4. spring, fountain<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
        Absurdly-long full Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon entry<\/summary>\n
        \"\"
        You can’t say I didn’t warn ya!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

        It represents a voiced pharyngeal fricative<\/a> (\/\u0295<\/strong>\/), which sounds like augh<\/em>, but more rounded and with the throat somewhat constricted, making an almost guttural kh<\/em> sound as in Hebrew or German. The wiki link has an audio clip to give its precise sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Curiously, the modern Hebrew script, called Ktav Ashuri<\/a> or Square script, taken from Aramaic during the Babylonian exile of the Israelites, is the only one to deviate from the standard o<\/em> shape of ayin into its evolution as today’s o<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        It has also lost its nuance of pronunciation, becoming simpler, reduced to a glottal stop<\/a> (\u0294<\/a><\/strong>) if not silent like aleph (\u05d0), both of which are among the few explicit vowels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        This is where yogh starts to pierce through the veil and show its spectral face. You can see how ayin \u05e2 and yogh \u021d<\/strong> at this point are fairly similar: they each have three lines coming from their curved bases on the right side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The only real difference is that ayin’s two upper lines are vertical, and the entire letter has less curvature, which makes sense with the square design of Ktav Ashuri. Ironically, ayin in Hebrew cursive looks just like Greek gamma (\u03b3<\/strong>), the voiced velar fricative symbol (\u0263<\/strong>), and the close\/high-mid back unrounded vowel (\u0264).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"cursive
        cursive Hebrew ayin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        <\/span>Other languages and scripts<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        One language and accompanying script to fully embrace the yogh shape is Arabic. Its ayin (or ayn, or ain) in isolated form (\u0639) looks like a fully-formed yogh, just in reverse. It has retained its voiced pharyngeal or epiglottal sound, and it is also the 16th letter, though only in abjadi order<\/a>, otherwise it’s the 18th. Other languages and scripts with a similar letter and shape are as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n