ḤET

ḤET (Heb. חֵת ;ח), the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet; its numerical value is therefore 8. It is pronounced as a fricative pharyngeal. The earliest representation of the ḥet is in a pictograph of a fence \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0793\>\> , \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0794\>\> . Variants of the latter form survived in the Phoenician \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0795\>\> , Hebrew \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0796\>\> , \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0797\>\> , and Samaritan \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0798\>\> . The Aramaic ḥet dropped two of the horizontal bars and by the eighth century B.C.E. it had already become \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0799\>\> . This is the basic form of the modern Hebrew ח. The Arabic \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0800\>\> , \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0801\>\> developed through the Nabatean \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0802\>\> \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0803\>\> \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0804\>\> . In the Syriac and other eastern Aramaic scripts the ḥet developed as follows: \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0805\>\> , \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0806\>\> . \!ejud\_0002\_0009\_0\_img0807\>\> . From the GLYenician ḥet the Greek "H" (the Ionian vowel eta) developed, but in Latin it regained its consonantal value (fricative laryngeal). See Alphabet, Hebrew\>\> . (Joseph Naveh)