Hebrew Letters

The Hebrew Letter Meaning Theory

The Hebrew-letter-meanings theory assumes that Hebrew words are spelt based on the meaning of their letters. However, that is not how any language works! Rather, Hebrew words are spelled according to how they are pronounced. The Hebrew word ab, “father”, is spelled with the letters Aleph and Beth because it was pronounced as “ab”, and not because of the meanings of those letters.

The Hebrew-letter-meanings theory also overlooks the reality of how languages develop. Like other ancient languages, Hebrew was a spoken language long before letters were invented to express the language in writing. In other words, long before the letters Aleph and Beth were invented, the Hebrew word ab, “father”, already existed, and it was already pronounced as “ab”.

The names of the Hebrew letters do have meaning, since they were directly derived from words. However, the Hebrew letters themselves do not have meaning. For example, the word aleph did mean “ox” and the word beth did mean “house”. However, the letters Aleph and Beth themselves have no meaning. In order to understand this, we need to consider how the letters of the Hebrew alphabet were created.

The letters of the Hebrew alphabet were created using the rebus principle: Existing symbols were used purely for their associated pronunciation sound; without any regard at all for their meaning. For example, in order to express the “b” sound in writing, a symbol for a house was used because a common word for “house” was beth, which started with the “b” sound. Accordingly, this letter was named “Beth”. Thus, the letter Beth was used to express the “b” sound in writing. However, the meaning of the word beth, “house”, was completely irrelevant to the letter Beth.

-- Asher Chee (Zealous Minitries)

Symbols from Hebrew alphabet perspective

Picture Meaning Name Sound Hebrew Greek Latin Number
ox head ox, bull, strength, leader, first, power alef silent א Α A 1
tent floor plan tent, house, household, family, in, into veyt v (as in vine) ב Β B 2
foot camel, gather, walk, lift up, pride gimel g (as in girl) ג Γ C, G 3
tent's door door, move, hang, entrance, pathway dalet d (as in door) ד Δ D 4
man with arms raised look, reveal, breath, lattice, window, "the" hey h (as in hay) ה Ε E 5
tent peg tent peg, nail, add, secure, hook, "and" vav v (as in vine) ו F 6
sword / mattock weapon, mattock, cut, food, nourish zayin z (as in zebra) ז Ζ Z 7
tent wall fence, wall, room, private, separate, outside, divide, half cheyt ch (as in Bach) ח Η H 8
snake / basket snake, basket, surround, contain, mud teyt t (as in time) ט Θ 9
arm with closed hand arm, hand, work, deed, make, throw, worship yod y (as in yes) י Ι I, J 10
open palm of hand palm of hand, cover, open, allow, bend, tame chaf
chaf sofiyt		 ch (as in Bach)
ch (as in Bach)		 כ
ך		 Κ K 20
500
shepherd staff staff, control, authority, tongue, teach, yoke, bind, "to" lamed l (as in look) ל Λ L 30
waves water, liquid, massive, chaos, mighty, blood mem
mem sofiyt		 m (as in mom) מ
ם		 Μ M 40
600
seed fish, seed, activity, life, heir, son nun
nun sofiyt		 n (as in now) נ
ן		 Ν N 50
700
thorn support, twist, slowly, hate, thorn, grab, protect samech s (as in son) ס Ξ X 60
eye eye, see, know, experience, watch, shade ayin silent ע Ο O 70
mouth mouth, speak, word, open, blow, scatter, edge pey
fei
fei sofiyt		 f (as in foot)
f (as in foot)		 פ
ף		 Π P 80
800
trail fish hook, catch, desire, need, wait, chase, snare, hunt tsadiy
tsadiy sofiyt		 ts (as in nuts)
tz		 צ
ץ		 90
900
sun on the horizon horizon, behind, last, least, condense, circle, time qof k (as in kite) ק Q 100
head of a man head, person, highest, first, top, beginning reiysh r (as in rain) ר Ρ R 200
two front teeth / breasts teeth, consume, destroy, sharp, press, eat, two siyn s (as in sun) ש Σ S 300
crossed sticks sign, seal, covenant, mark, signal, monument tav t (as in tall) ת Τ T 400

Calculating word values

Ragil Method

Calculates the value of a word by adding the numeric values of each letter together. For example:

Word Spelling Calculation
shalom Shin, Lamed, Vav, Mem 300+30+6+40 = 376
YHVH Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey 10+5+6+5+5 = 26

Mispar Mussafi Method

Calculates the same as the Ragil Method but also add the number of letters in the word. For example:

Word Spelling Calculation
shalom Shin, Lamed, Vav, Mem 300+30+6+40+4 = 380
YHVH Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey 10+5+6+5+5+4 = 30

Mispar Gadol Method

Calculates the same as the Ragil Method but add the final forms (sofit).

Name Symbol Number
Final Kaph ך 500
Final Mem ם 600
Final Nun ן 700
Final Pey ף 800
Final Tsade ץ 900

For example:

Word Spelling Calculation
shalom Shin, Lamed, Vav, Mem 300+30+6+600 = 936
YHVH Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey 10+5+6+5 = 26

Mispar Katan Method

Calculates the value of the word by assigning a value between from 1 to 9 to each letter. For example:

Name Hebrew Number
Alef א 1
Bet ב 2
Gimel ג 3
Dalet ד 4
Hey ה 5
Vav ו 6
Zayin ז 7
Het ח 8
Tet ט 9
Yod י 1
Kaf כ 2
Lamed ל 3
Mem מ 4
Nun נ 5
Samekh ס 6
Ayin ע 7
Pey פ 8
Tsadi צ 9
Qof ק 1
Resh ר 2
Shin ש 3
Tav ת 4
Final Kaph ך 5
Final Mem ם 6
Final Nun ן 7
Final Pey ף 8
Final Tsade ץ 9

For example:

Word Spelling Calculation
shalom Shin, Lamed, Vav, Mem 3+3+6+6 = 18
YHVH Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey 1+5+6+5 = 17

Ordinal Method

Calculates the value of the word by using the ordinal position of each letter in the Hebrew alphabet. For example:

Name Hebrew Number
Alef א 1
Bet ב 2
Gimel ג 3
Dalet ד 4
Hey ה 5
Vav ו 6
Zayin ז 7
Het ח 8
Tet ט 9
Yod י 10
Kaf כ 11
Lamed ל 12
Mem מ 13
Nun נ 14
Samekh ס 15
Ayin ע 16
Pey פ 17
Tsadi צ 18
Qof ק 19
Resh ר 20
Shin ש 21
Tav ת 22
Final Kaph ך 23
Final Mem ם 24
Final Nun ן 25
Final Pey ף 26
Final Tsade ץ 27

For example:

Word Spelling Calculation
shalom Shin, Lamed, Vav, Mem 21+12+6+24 = 63
YHVH Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey 10+5+6+5 = 26