In this lesson we will go over the letter Alaf, how to write it, as well as its most common sound.

The letter (sometimes called “alef”) in Herodian script is usually written in three strokes should fit inside an imaginary square around it.

Generally in Galilean, takes on the sound AH, unless it is combined with other vowels or half-vowels (known as the matres lectionis, which we will eventually get to later).

Now where in other Aramaic dialects there are usually two distinct A sounds (a short A like in hat, vs a long A as in father) there is evidence that any such distinction in Galilean was muddled. In the few snippets of Galilean text that we have which are marked for vowels in a system that distinguishes between the two, we often find that the long and short A’s are interchanged, and could more be simply a distinction based upon stress or accent.

Try writing out a few dozen times on a piece of paper starting on the right and working your way towards the left.