Editing Romanization of Hebrew (section)

== Transliteration ==

[[Transliteration]] assumes two different [[Writing system|script systems]]. Transliteration of a foreign word into another language is usually the exception to translation, and often occurs when there is something distinctive about the word in the original language, such as a [[double entendre]], uniqueness, religious, cultural or political significance, or it may add local flavor.<ref>Jack Cargill, ''Athenian Settlements of the Fourth Century B.C.'' (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995), {{ISBN|978-90-04-09991-3|}}, p. xiii: ‘In relation to Greek words other than personal names, the main issue is deciding ''when'' to transliterate, i.e., when to employ an Anglicized Greek word rather than translating the Greek word into English. My tendency is “when in doubt, transliterate”, . . .’</ref>
Many Hebrew words have a long history of transliteration, for example [[Amen]], [[Satan]], [[ephod]], [[Urim and Thummim]] have traditionally been transliterated, not translated.<ref>Exodus p. 152 Henry Leopold Ellison – 1982 "THE PRIESTLY GARMENTS II Exodus 28:1–43 (cont'd) THE EPHOD (28:5 14) We have no means of giving a definitive meaning to 'ephod', the English being simply a transliteration of the Hebrew."</ref> These terms were in many cases also first transliterated into [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Latin]] before English. ''(See also [[Transliteration of Greek into English]])''

Different publishers have different transliteration policies. For example [[ArtScroll]] publications generally transliterate more words relative to sources such as ''[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' 1911 or [[Jewish Publication Society]] texts.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

There are various [[#Standards|transliteration standards or systems for Hebrew-to-English]]; no one system has significant common usage across all fields. Consequently, in general usage there are often no hard and fast rules in Hebrew-to-English transliteration, and many transliterations are an approximation due to a lack of equivalence between the [[English alphabet|English]] and [[Hebrew alphabet]]s. Conflicting systems of transliteration often appear in the same text, as certain Hebrew words tend to associate with certain traditions of transliteration. For example,
{{blockquote|For {{em|Hanukkah}} at the synagogue {{em|Beith Sheer Chayyim}}, {{em|Isaac}} donned his {{em|talis}} that {{em|Yitzchak}} sent him from {{em|Bet Qehila}} in {{em|Tsfat}}, Israel.}}
This text includes instances of the same word transliterated in different ways: The Hebrew word {{wikt-lang|he|בית}} is transliterated as both {{Transliteration|he|Beith}} and {{Transliteration|he|Bet}}.

These discrepancies in transliterations of the same word can be traced to discrepancies in the transliterations of individual Hebrew letters, reflecting not only different traditions of transliteration into different languages that use Latin alphabets, but also the fact that different pronunciation styles exist for the same letters in Hebrew itself (e.g. mainstream secular pronunciations used in the media versus [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]], [[Arab Jews|Arab]], or Orthodox [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]] colloquial pronunciations). For example, ''Hanukkah'' and ''Chayyim'' are transliterated with different initial letter combinations, although in Hebrew both begin with the letter {{Script/Hebrew|[[ח]]}}; the use of {{angle bracket|ch}} reflects [[German language|German]] or [[Yiddish]] influence and pronunciation (e.g. {{IPAblink|x}} or {{IPAblink|χ}}), whereas the {{angle bracket|h}} or {{angle bracket|ḥ}} may indicate a softer pronunciation of {{Script/Hebrew|[[ח]]}} as in ancient [[Hebrew]], [[Judeo-Arabic]] or [[Mizrahi Hebrew]] (e.g. {{IPAblink|h}} or {{IPAblink|ħ}}). Similarly:
* {{Script/Hebrew|[[ת]]}} is transliterated as {{angle bracket|th}} in {{Transliteration|he|Beith}}, {{angle bracket|s}} in {{Transliteration|he|[[tallit|talis]]}} (as in [[Ashkenazi Hebrew]]), and {{angle bracket|t}} in {{Transliteration|he|Bet}} (as in [[Sephardi Hebrew]])
* {{Script/Hebrew|[[ק]]}} is transliterated as {{angle bracket|c}} in {{Transliteration|he|Isaac}}, {{angle bracket|k}} in {{Transliteration|he|Yitzchak}}, and {{angle bracket|q}} in {{Transliteration|he|Qehila}}
* {{Script/Hebrew|[[צ]]}} is transliterated as {{angle bracket|s}} in ''Isaac''{{Dubious |reason="Issac" is not not a transliteration but rather the English equivalent|date=April 2017}}, {{angle bracket|tz}} in {{Transliteration|he|Yitzchak}}, and {{angle bracket|ts}} in {{Transliteration|he|Tsfat}}
These inconsistencies make it more difficult for the non-Hebrew-speaking reader to recognize related word forms, or even to properly pronounce the Hebrew words thus transliterated.