Aramaic Letters That Look Alike

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For those new to learning Aramaic, one of the first reactions after going through the Aramaic Alphabet is to ask the question, "Why do so many letters in Aramaic look alike?!"

This, however, is natural. The first time you learn any new alphabet, all the letters look alike! You probably think this doesn’t happen in English, but that’s only because you have learned English and don’t get mixed up any more! If you don’t believe this, just think for a minute how similar many letters in the English alphabet actually are...

Take the letter a, for example. It’s round - isn’t it easy to confuse it with o? And if you don’t join the o up properly, isn’t it easy to confuse it with c? But it gets worse. The letter v is nearly identical to u, but a bit more pointed at the bottom. If you draw two v’s too close together, it looks like w! Or take b. That’s a confusing one! If you draw it back to front, you get d. If you draw it upside down, you get p. Back to front and upside down, and it’s q. If it’s not closed at the bottom, it looks like h. And as for i - if you forget the dot, it looks like l. Draw it slightly below the line, and it’s the same as j. English, in fact, is renowned for being difficult to read - look at a doctor’s handwriting for proof of this!

There is an important point to be made here. Just as you don’t really confuse the above letters in English, so in Aramaic the letters which seem to look alike now will soon become familiar when you get a little more experience in reading Aramaic and getting used to the Aramaic Alphabet.

So, to help you along, here are a few points to make you aware of the differences between some of the Aramaic letters. These differences apply equally well to both the printed and the written forms of the letters.

(Beet) and (Kap).
Kap is more rounded than Beet. Beet has straight lines with sharp edges, and the line at the bottom right corner sticks out.


(Gamal), (Noon) and (Kap).
The bottom right corner of Gamal has a ‘foot’ which sticks out. This is more clearly seen in the written form of the letter. Noon on the other hand, is square at the edges and does not have the foot. Both Gamal and Noon are about half the width of the other letters, and this distinguishes them from Kap which is wider and rounder.


(Dalat), (Resh) and (Final Kap).
The top right corner of Dalat has a tittle which sticks out, whereas Resh is rounded at the top corner. Dalat is also squarer than Resh. Both letters are different from Final Kap because they do not drop below the lower guide line.


(Heh), (Chet) and (Taw).
Heh and Chet have similar shapes, but Heh has a gap in the left vertical line, whereas Chet does not. Both letters are different from Taw because they do not have the little ‘foot’ that sticks out from the bottom left hand corner. Taw is more rounded at the top right corner; this corner does not stick out like the other two letters.


(Waw), (Zeyn) and (Final Noon).
These letters are actually very different. First, Final Noon is a final form, and can therefore only ever occur at the end of an Aramaic word. It goes below the lower guide line. Its vertical line is generally slightly sloped, unlike Waw and Zeyn whose lines are vertical. The vertical line of Waw extends from the right side, whereas the line of Zeyn extends from the middle of the letter. (The written form usually makes this line bent, to make the difference more pronounced.) The top bar of Zeyn is sloped, whereas that of Waw is straight.


(Yood) and (Waw).
These letters have similar shapes but Yood is much smaller. Do not draw Yood too long or Waw too short or you will get them confused!


(Meem) and (Tet).
Meem has the gap at the bottom left corner, but Tet has the gap at the top left. The line of Tet extends almost into the middle of the letter, but this does not happen with Meem.


(Final Meem) and (Semkat).
These letters are similar, but Final Meem is a square letter and Semkat is much more rounded. Remember also that Final Meem is a final letter, and can therefore only ever occur at the end of an Aramaic word. If you see one of these letters at the start or in the middle of a word, then it obviously isn’t Meem! Semkat and Final Meem are different from the normal Meem and Tet because they are closed, whereas the latter two are open.


(Sadeh), (Ey) and (Final Sadeh).
Careful inspection will show how different these letters are. Final Sadeh is the final form, meaning that it only ever occurs at the end of an Aramaic word. It also extends below the lower guide line. Sadeh is much more curvy than Ey.


If you take some time and care to examine the above Aramaic letters closely, you will find that they are not really as alike as they first looked. Once you get some practice, they are really only confused at the very beginning, when you are first starting to learn Aramaic.

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