Gimel

Gimel
Phoenician
𐤂
Hebrew
ג
Aramaic
𐡂
Syriac
ܓ
Arabic
ج
Phonemic representationd͡ʒ, ʒ, ɡ, ɟ, ɣ
Position in alphabet3
Numerical value3
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
GreekΓ
LatinC, G, Ȝ
CyrillicГ, Ґ, Ғ

Gimel is the third (in alphabetical order; fifth in spelling order) letter of the Semitic abjads, including Arabic ǧīm ج‎, Aramaic gāmal 𐡂, Hebrew gīmel ג‎, Phoenician gīml 𐤂, and Syriac gāmal ܓ. Its sound value in the original Phoenician and in all derived alphabets, except Arabic, is a voiced velar plosive [ɡ]. In Modern Standard Arabic, it represents either a /d͡ʒ/ or /ʒ/ for most Arabic speakers except in Northern Egypt, the southern parts of Yemen and some parts of Oman where it is pronounced as the voiced velar plosive [ɡ] (see below).

In its Proto-Canaanite form, the letter may have been named after a weapon that was either a staff sling or a throwing stick (spear thrower), ultimately deriving from a Proto-Sinaitic glyph based on the hieroglyph below:

T14

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek gamma (Γ), the Latin C, G, Ɣ and Ȝ, and the Cyrillic Г, Ґ, and Ғ.


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