Dalet

Dalet (also spelled Daleth or Daled) is the fourth letter of many ancient Semitic writing systems. These include the Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic alphabets. In all of these languages, Dalet makes the "d" sound, like in the word "door".

The shape of the letter comes from very old writing called the Proto-Sinaitic script. That script used a picture of a door to represent this letter. In modern Hebrew, a door is called "delet". Over time, this picture became the letter we now know as Dalet.

Dalet appears in many ancient alphabets related to these languages, such as Ancient North Arabian, South Arabian, and Ge'ez. It shows how different writing systems share common origins and develop in similar ways.

For the designation as "untouchable" in the Hindu caste system, see Dalit. For other uses, see Dalet (disambiguation).

For the town in Myanmar, see Dalet, Myanmar.

Arabic dāl

Further information: Ḏāl

The letter is named dāl (دَالْ) and can look different depending on where it appears in a word. It makes the /d/ sound, like in the word "dog".

Phoenician

The Phoenician letter dālet is connected to other important letters. It influenced the Greek letter delta, the Latin letter D, and the Cyrillic letter Д.

Aramaic

Further information: Aramaic alphabet

The Aramaic language also uses a letter similar to Dalet, called dālaṯ. It looks like this: 𐡃. Like the other letters, it makes the "d" sound, just like in the Hebrew and Phoenician letters.

Hebrew dalet

Further information: Hebrew alphabet

In Hebrew, the letter ד‎ is called dalet. It sounds like the English letter D. Some people, especially those from certain Jewish backgrounds, may call it dales or daleth. In academic settings, it is sometimes called daleth.

The letter ד‎ can change its sound slightly depending on how it is written. For example, with a special mark called a dagesh, it keeps the d sound. Without it, it can sound a bit softer or different in some dialects. In modern Hebrew, a special symbol can be added to ד‎ to show a different sound when writing foreign names.

In Jewish traditions, the letter dalet can represent the number four. It is also sometimes used in special ways to refer to sacred ideas without using direct names. For example, in Jewish prayer items, dalet might be used in this way. The letter can also appear at the start of some words in ancient Hebrew texts, giving them specific meanings.

Syriac daled/dolath

In the Syriac alphabet, the fourth letter is ܕ — called dolath in western pronunciation and dalath or daleth in eastern pronunciation (ܕܵܠܵܬ). It is one of six letters that can make two different sounds. When daleth or dolath is spoken with a hard sound (qûššāyâ), it makes the sound \ [d ]. When it is spoken with a soft sound (rûkkāḵâ), it makes the sound \ [ð ]. This letter is used a lot in Syriac because it is often added to the start of words as the relative pronoun.

The letter daleth or dolath is always written with a dot below it to tell it apart from the letter resh (ܪ), which looks the same but has a dot above it. As a number, daleth or dolath stands for the number four. With different marks of dots and lines, it can also stand for 4,000 and 40,000.

Other uses

Mathematics

In set theory, the dalet symbol is sometimes used to show the fourth transfinite cardinal number.

Character encodings

The letter Dalet appears in many ancient and modern writing systems. It is the fourth letter in several languages that use similar alphabets, such as Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic. In these languages, Dalet makes the "d" sound, like in the word "dog". It is also connected to letters in other old writing systems from places like North Arabia, South Arabia, and Ge'ez.