Romanization of Hebrew Totally Explained

Everything about Hebrew Transliteration totally explained

Hebrew uses the Hebrew alphabet with optional vowel points. The romanization of Hebrew is the use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Hebrew words.
   For example, the Hebrew name spelled ישראל ("Israel") in the Hebrew alphabet can be romanized as Yisrael or Yiśrāʼēl in the Latin alphabet.
   Romanization includes any use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Hebrew words. Usually it's to identify a Hebrew word in a non-Hebrew language that uses the Latin alphabet, such as German, Spanish, Turkish, and so on. The term transliteration means using an alphabet to represent the letters and sounds of a word spelled in another alphabet, whereas the term transcription means using an alphabet to represent the sounds only. Romanization can do both.
   To go the other way, that's from Hebrew to English, see Hebraization of English.

Inconsistency in Hebrew transliteration

There are no hard and fast rules in Hebrew-to-English transliteration, and many transliterations are an approximation due to lack of equivalence between the English and Hebrew alphabets.

Historic instances

Early romanization of Hebrew occurred with the contact between the Romans and the Jews. It was influenced by earlier transliteration into the Greek language. For example, the name of the Roman province of Iudaea (63 BCE) was apparently derived the Greek words Ἰούδα (Iouda) and Ἰουδαία (Ioudaia). These words can be seen in Chapter 1 of Esdras (Ezra) in the Septuagint, a Hellenistic translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. The Greek words in turn are transliterations of the Hebrew word יהודה (Y'huda) that we now know adapted in English as the names Judah, Judas and Jude.
   In the 1st century, Satire 14 of Juvenal uses the Hebraic words sabbata, Iudaicum, and Moyses, apparently adopted from the Greek.
   The 4th century and 5th century Latin translations of the Hebrew Bible romanize its proper names. The familiar Biblical names in English are derived from these romanizations. The Vulgate, of the early 5th century, is considered the first direct Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible. Apart from names, another term that the Vulgate romanizes is the technical term mamzer (Hebrew ממזר).
   With the rise of Zionism, some Jews promoted the use of romanization instead of Hebrew script in hopes of helping more people learn Hebrew. One such promoter was Ithamar Ben Yehuda, or Ittamar Ben Avi as he styled himself. His father Eliezer Ben Yehuda raised him to be the first modern native speaker of Hebrew. In 1927 Ben-Avi published the biography Avi in romanized Hebrew (now listed in the online catalog of the Jewish National and University Library). However, the innovation didn't catch on.

Modern uses

Romanized Hebrew can be used to present Hebrew terminology or text to anyone who isn't familiar with the Hebrew script. Many Jewish prayer books include supplementary romanization for some or all of the Hebrew-language congregational prayers.
Romanized Hebrew is also used for Hebrew-language items in library catalogs and Hebrew-language place names on maps. In Israel, most catalogs and maps use the Hebrew script, but romanized maps are easily available and road signs include romanized names. Some Hebrew speakers use romanization to communicate when using internet systems that have poor support for the Hebrew alphabet.
Standard romanizations exist for these various purposes. However, non-standard romanization is widely seen, even on some Israeli street signs. The standards are not generally taught outside of their specific organizations and disciplines.

Standards

Traditional, scholarly: ISO 259:1984; ISO 259-2:1994 (simplified); Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) Handbook of Style
National: Rules of Transcription: Romanization of Hebrew. Academy of the Hebrew Language, 1957. Updated and augmented with a simplified version, 2000.
Artscroll transliteration
Bibliographic data: ANSI Z39.25-1975; ALA/LC Romanization Tables (1991) and their book Hebraica Cataloging (1987), with Encyclopaedia Judaica (1972-1993) as an authority on names and common terms. Library of Congress Authorities is an online database that records and sources the forms of subjects, names, and titles that the Library of Congress uses.
Geographic names: BGN/PCGN 1962 (US and UK), approximately equivalent to UNGEGN 1977 (United Nations), as both are based on the Academy of the Hebrew Language recommendations. However, BGN provides more and somewhat different specific recommendations. The GEONet Names Server is an authoritative online database that lists BGN names and assists with font character availability and conventional forms of names.
Phonemic: ISO/FDIS 259-3:1999 (not an adopted standard)

Comparative table

The following table is a breakdown of each letter in the Hebrew alphabet, describing its name or names, and its Latin script transliteration values used in academic work. If two glyphs are shown for a consonant, then the left-most glyph is the Final form of the letter (or right-most glyph if your browser doesn't support right-to-left text layout). The conventions here are ISO 259, the UNGEGN system based on the old-fashioned Hebrew Academy system, and the modern common informal Israeli transcription. In addition, an International Phonetic Alphabet pronunciation is indicated—historical (Tiberian vocalization) for ISO 259, prescribed for Hebrew Academy, and in practice for Israeli. For the vowels further down, the letters ח and ט are used as symbolic anchors for vowel symbols, but should otherwise be ignored.
   For the letters with dagesh in ISO 259 Classical Hebrew and by the Hebrew Academy standard, they're transcribed as single graphemes (b g d k p t) at the beginnings of words, after other consonants, and after shewa ְ or ẖatafim ֱ ֲ ֳ . In almost every other situation, they're transcribed as double letters (bb gg dd kk pp tt). This doesn't apply to common Israeli Hebrew transliteration, where there are no double consonants.
   The letters at the ends of words without additional niqqud are silent and not transliterated. The letter at the end of a word with ẖolam ֹ is also silent and not transliterated. The letter at the end of a word after ẖiriq ִ is also silent and not transliterated. The situation of the letter at the end of a word after ẕere ֵ or seggol ֶ is more complicated, as they're silent in Classical Hebrew and in Hebrew Academy prescription and not transliterated in those systems, but they form diphthongs (ei) in Israeli Hebrew—see the vowels and diphthongs sections further down. In any event, the shewa naẖ is placed between two adjacent consonants in all situations; if there isn't even a shewa naẖ between consonants, then the first of the two consonants is silent and not transliterated—this is usually one of, but even occasionally and rarely (in the name Issachar) are encountered silent in this fashion. In Israeli Hebrew transcription, a vowel before yud at the end of a word or before yud then shewa naẖ inside a word, is transcribed as a diphthong (ai oi ui)—see the diphthongs section further down.
   In Classical Hebrew transliteration, vowels can be long (gāḏōl), short (qāṭān) or ultra short (ḥăṭep̄), and are transliterated as such. Ultra short vowels are always one of šəwā nāʻ ְ , ḥăṭep̄ səḡōl ֱ , ḥăṭep̄ páṯaḥ ֲ or ḥăṭep̄ qāmeṣ ֳ . Šəwā ְ is always always šəwā nāʻ (pronounced) if it's immediately after the word's first consonant, or after a consonant after a long vowel and before another pronounced consonant—otherwise, šəwā is realized as šəwā nāḥ (silent). The vowels ṣērē ֵ and ḥōlem ֹ are always long in all situations. The vowels ḥīreq ִ , səḡōl ֶ , páṯaḥ ַ , qāmeṣ ָ , qibbūṣ ֻ and šūreq are always long if they're the stressed syllable, or if they're in a syllable before only one consonant and another vowel, and in these cases they're transliterated as long. If they're unstressed and before a double consonant or a consonant cluster, or in the word's final unstressed syllable, then they're always short and transliterated as short. But if a vowel carries an accent ֫ or a meteg ֽ , then it's always long—a meteg in particular is often used in places where a vowel is long but not necessarily the word's stressed syllable. Lastly, there are exceptional circumstances when long vowels—even ṣērē and ḥōlem—may not force a following šəwā to become šəwā nāʻ, including for example names such as Gēršōm (not Gērəšōm as it might seem), Bēlšaṣṣạr (not Bēləšaṣṣạr) and Ṣīqlạḡ (not Ṣīqəlạḡ). Some of these seem to be learned exceptions, and most words under the same circumstances have šəwā nāʻ as expected, such as Nāṣərạṯ (not Nāṣrạṯ). (This is all moot in Israeli Hebrew, where as already mentioned, shva nach tends to opportunistically replace shva na where comfortable, so is Natzrat not Natzerat, etc.)
   For the vowel qamaẕ ָ, whether the vowel is long or short in Classical Hebrew affects the pronunciation in Academy or Israeli Hebrew, even though vowel length isn't phonemic in those systems, and the difference is transliterated accordingly. Qamaẕ qatan when short is /o/, except when at the end of a word when not before a final consonant, in which case it's /a/. Qamaẕ gadol is usually /a/, but in rare situations in Classical Hebrew it can be treated as a long open /ọ/, which although pronounced identically to /ā/ (both were [ɔː]), this a/o distinction is clearly made in the pronunciation of Academy and Israeli Hebrew, and is thus transliterated.
   If any word ends with one of, then the vowel pataẖ is pronounced before the consonant, not after as it's written, and so the transliterated sequence is /ah/, /aẖ/, /aʻ/, etc.
   In certain rare words that are meant to begin with two consecutive consonants even in Classical Hebrew, an invisible səḡōl qāṭān vowel is pronounced before the two consonants in Classical Hebrew and is so transcribed, because Classical words may not begin with more than one consonant. This rule doesn't apply to Academy and Israeli Hebrew, where consonant clusters are more tolerated. For example, the word שְׁתַּ֫יִם ("two") would appear as štáyim, but is actually eštáyim. However, it remains simply shtayim in Academy and Israeli Hebrew.

Symbol	Common Israeli			Hebrew Academy			ISO 259
Symbol	Name	Xlit.	IPA	Name	Xlit.	IPA	Name	Xlit.	IPA
Consonants
	alef	'(1)	-	alef	ʼ(2)	[ʔ]	ʼālep̄	ʼ	[ʔ]
	alef	'(1)	-	alef	ʼ(2)	[ʔ]	ʼālep̄	ʼ	[ʔ]
	vet	v	[v]	vet	v	[v]	ḇēṯ	ḇ	[(β~)v]
	bet	b	[b]	bet	b	[b]	bēṯ	b	[b]
	bet	b	[b]	bet ẖazaq	bb	[bb]	bēṯ ḥāzāq	bb	[bb]
	gimmel	g	[ɡ]	gimel	g	[ɡ]	ḡīmel	ḡ	[ɣ]
				gimel	g	[ɡ]	gīmel	g	[ɡ]
				gimel ẖazaq	gg	[ɡɡ]	gīmel ḥāzāq	gg	[ɡɡ]
(4)	jimmel	j	[d͡ʒ]	ǧimel	ǧ	[d͡ʒ]
(4)	jimmel	j	[d͡ʒ]	ǧimel ẖazaq	ǧǧ	[dd͡ʒ]
	dalet	d	[d]	dalet	d	[d]	ḏāleṯ	ḏ	[ð]
				dalet	d	[d]	dāleṯ	d	[d̪]
				dalet ẖazaq	dd	[dd]	dāleṯ ḥāzāq	dd	[d̪d̪]
(4)	dhalet	dh	[ð]	ḏalet	ḏ	[ð]
(4)	dhalet	dh	[ð]	ḏalet ẖazaq	ḏḏ	[ðð]
	hei	h	[h]	he	h	[h]	hē	h	[h]
				he	h	[h]	hē	h	[h]
(4)				he ẖazaq	hh	[hh]
	vav	v	[v]	waw	w	[v]	wāw	w	[(w~)v]
	vav	v	[v]	waw ẖazaq	ww	[vv]	wāw ḥāzāq	ww	[(ww~)vv]
	zayin	z	[z]	zayin	z	[z]	záyin	z	[z]
	zayin	z	[z]	zayin ẖazaq	zz	[zz]	záyin ḥāzāq	zz	[zz]
(4)	zhayin	zh	[ʒ]	žayin	ž	[ʒ]
(4)	zhayin	zh	[ʒ]	žayin ẖazaq	žž	[ʒʒ]
	chet	ch	[χ]	ẖet	ẖ	[ħ]	ḥēṯ	ḥ	[ħ]
(4)				ẖet ẖazaq	ẖẖ	[ħħ]
(4)				khet	kh	[x]
(4)				khet ẖazaq	khkh	[xx]
	tet	t	[t]	tet	t	[t]	ṭēṯ	ṭ	[t̪ˁ]
	tet	t	[t]	tet ẖazaq	tt	[tt]	ṭēṯ ḥāzāq	ṭṭ	[t̪t̪ˁ]
(4)	dhet	dh	[ð]	ḏet	ḏ	[ð]
(4)	dhet	dh	[ð]	ḏet ẖazaq	ḏḏ	[ðð]
	yud	y, i(3)	[j]	yud	y	[j]	yōḏ	y	[j]
	yud	y, i(3)	[j]	yud ẖazaq	yy	[jj]	yōḏ ḥāzāq	yy	[jj]
	chaf	ch	[χ]	khaf	kh	[x]	ḵāp̄	ḵ	[x]
	kaf	k	[k]	kaf	k	[k]	kāp̄	k	[k]
	kaf	k	[k]	kaf ẖazaq	kk	[kk]	kāp̄ ḥāzāq	kk	[kk]
	lamed	l	[l]	lamed	l	[l]	lāmeḏ	l	[l]
	lamed	l	[l]	lamed ẖazaq	ll	[ll]	lāmeḏ ḥāzāq	ll	[ll]
	mem	m	[m]	mem	m	[m]	mēm	m	[m]
	mem	m	[m]	mem ẖazaq	mm	[mm]	mēm ḥāzāq	mm	[mm]
	nun	n	[n]	nun	n	[n]	nūn	n	[n̪]
	nun	n	[n]	nun ẖazaq	nn	[nn]	nūn ḥāzāq	nn	[n̪n̪]
	samech	s	[s]	samekh	s	[s]	sāmeḵ	s	[s]
	samech	s	[s]	samekh ẖazaq	ss	[ss]	sāmeḵ ḥāzāq	ss	[ss]
	ayin	'(1)	-	ʻayin	ʻ	[ʕ]	ʻáyin	ʻ	[ʕ]
(4)	ayin	'(1)	-	ʻayin ẖazaq	ʻʻ	[ʕʕ]
(4)	rayin	r	[ʁ]	ghayin	gh	[ɣ]
(4)	rayin	r	[ʁ]	ghayin ẖazaq	ghgh	[ɣɣ]
	fei	f	[f]	fe	f	[f]	p̄ē	p̄	[(ɸ~)f]
(4)	fei	f	[f]	fe ẖazaq	ff	[ff]
	pei	p	[p]	pe	p	[p]	pē	p	[p]
	pei	p	[p]	pe ẖazaq	pp	[pp]	pē ḥāzāq	pp	[pp]
	tzadi	tz	[t͡s]	ẕadi	ẕ	[t͡s]	ṣāḏē	ṣ	[sˁ]
	tzadi	tz	[t͡s]	ẕadi ẖazaq	ẕẕ	[tt͡s]	ṣāḏē ḥāzāq	ṣṣ	[ssˁ]
(4)	tshadi	tsh	[t͡ʃ]	čadi	č	[t͡ʃ]
(4)	tshadi	tsh	[t͡ʃ]	čadi ẖazaq	čč	[tt͡ʃ]
(4)	dadi	d	[d]	dadi	d	[d]
(4)	dadi	d	[d]	dadi ẖazaq	dd	[dd]
	kuf	k	[k]	quf	q	[k]	qōp̄	q	[q]
	kuf	k	[k]	quf ẖazaq	qq	[kk]	qōp̄ ḥāzāq	qq	[qq]
	reish	r	[ʁ]	resh	r	[r]	rēš	r	[ʀ~ɾ]
(4)	reish	r	[ʁ]	resh ẖazaq	rr	[rr]
	shin	sh	[ʃ]	shin	sh	[ʃ]	šīn	š	[ʃ]
	shin	sh	[ʃ]	shin ẖazaq	shsh	[ʃʃ]	šīn ḥāzāq	šš	[ʃʃ]
	sin	s	[s]	sin	s	[s]	śīn	ś	[(ɬ~)s]
	sin	s	[s]	sin ẖazaq	ss	[ss]	śīn ḥāzāq	śś	[(ɬɬ~)ss]
	tav	t	[t]	taw	t	[t]	ṯāw	ṯ	[θ]
				taw	t	[t]	tāw	t	[t̪]
				taw ẖazaq	tt	[tt]	tāw ḥāzāq	tt	[t̪t̪]
(4)	thav	th	[θ]	ṯaw	ṯ	[θ]
(4)	thav	th	[θ]	ṯaw ẖazaq	ṯṯ	[θθ]
Vowels
	shva nach			shewa naẖ			šəwā nāḥ
	shva na	e(5)	[e̞](5)	shewa naʻ	e	[e̞]	šəwā nāʻ	ə	[ə̆]
	chataf segol	e	[e̞]	ẖataf seggol	e	[e̞]	ḥăṭep̄ səḡōl	ĕ	[ɛ̆]
	chataf patach	a	[ä]	ẖataf pataẖ	a	[ä]	ḥăṭep̄ páṯaḥ	ă	[ɐ̆]
	chataf kamatz	o	[o̞]	ẖataf qamaẕ	o	[o̞]	ḥăṭep̄ qāmeṣ	ŏ	[ɔ̆]
	chirik	i	[i]	ẖiriq	i	[i]	ḥīreq qāṭān	i	[i]
	chirik	i	[i]	ẖiriq	i	[i]	ḥīreq gāḏôl	ī	[iː]
	tzeire	e	[e̞]	ẕere	e	[e̞]	ṣērē	ē	[eː]
	segol			seggol			səḡōl qāṭān	e	[ɛ]
	segol			seggol			səḡōl gāḏōl	é, ẹ	[ɛː]
	patach	a	[ä]	pataẖ	a	[ä]	páṯaḥ qāṭān	a	[ɐ]
	patach			pataẖ			páṯaḥ gāḏōl	á, ạ	[ɐː]
	kamatz gadol			qamaẕ gadol			qāmeṣ gāḏôl	ā	[ɔː]
	kamatz katan	o	[o̞]	qamaẕ qatan	o	[o̞]	qāmeṣ gāḏôl	ọ	[ɔː]
	kamatz katan			qamaẕ qatan			qāmeṣ qāṭān	o	[ɔ]
	cholam			ẖolam			ḥōlem	ō	[oː]
	kubutz	u	[u]	qubbuẕ	u	[u]	qibbūṣ qāṭān	u	[u]
	kubutz			qubbuẕ			qibbūṣ gāḏōl	ū	[uː]
	shuruk			shuruq			šūreq qāṭān	u	[u]
	shuruk			shuruq			šūreq gāḏōl	ū	[uː]
Israeli Diphthongs
	tzeire yud	ei	[e̞͡ɪ]	ẕere	e	[e̞]	ṣērē	ē	[eː]
	segol yud	ei	[e̞͡ɪ]	seggol	e	[e̞]	səḡōl	e, é, ẹ	[ɛ(ː)]
	patach yud	ai	[ä͡ɪ]	pataẖ yud	ay	[äj]	páṯaḥ yōḏ	ay, áy, ạy	[ɐ(ː)j]
	kamatz gadol yud	ai	[ä͡ɪ]	qamaẕ gadol yud	ay	[äj]	qāmeṣ yōḏ	āy, oy, ọy	[ɔ(ː)j]
	kamatz katan yud	oi	[o̞͡ɪ]	qamaẕ qatan yud	oy	[o̞j]	qāmeṣ yōḏ	āy, oy, ọy	[ɔ(ː)j]
	cholam yud	oi	[o̞͡ɪ]	ẖolam yud	oy	[o̞j]	ḥōlem yōḏ	ōy	[oːj]
	kubutz yud	ui	[u͡ɪ]	qubbuẕ yud	uy	[uj]	ḥōlem yōḏ	uy, ūy	[u(ː)j]
	shuruk yud	ui	[u͡ɪ]	shuruq yud	uy	[uj]	šūreq yōḏ	uy, ūy	[u(ː)j]

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