TAV

TAV (Taw; Heb. ת;תָּו), the twenty-second and the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet; its numerical value is 400. The basic pictographic shape of this letter consisted of two strokes crossing each other \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2128\>\> or \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2129\>\> , i.e., the simplest mark and hence its name taw. While in the Proto-Canaanite and in the early Phoenician scripts, until the tenth century B.C.E., both the X-shaped and the cross-shaped taw were used; in the ninth century B.C.E. the letter's stance was stabilized. The Hebrew script preserved the X-shaped \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2130\>\> and did not alter its form, but in the Samaritan script it became \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2131\>\> . On the other hand, the late Phoenician script adopted and developed the cross-shaped taw \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2132\>\> → \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2133\>\> → \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2134\>\> . and in the Aramaic script it evolved as follows: \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2135\>\> → \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2136\>\> → \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2137\>\> . The last form was the prototype of the Jewish taw \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2138\>\> and Arabic \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2139\>\> which developed through the Nabatean \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2140\>\> → \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2141\>\> → \!ejud\_0002\_0019\_0\_img2142\>\> . The Greek (and Latin) "T" is a variation of the cross-shaped taw. See Alphabet, Hebrew\>\> . (Joseph Naveh)