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Lamedh
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{{Phoenician glyph|letname=Lamedh|archar=ï»?|sychar= Ü |hechar=ל|amchar=lamed|gechar=ለ|phchar=lamedh|ipa=l|num=12|gem=30}}
{{Arabic alphabet}}
{{Hebrew alphabet}}
{{Syriac alphabet}}
'''Lamed''' or '''Lamedh''' is the twelfth letter in many
Semitic abjads, including
Phoenician language Phoenician,
Aramaic language Aramaic,
Hebrew language Hebrew {{Ivrit|ל}} and
Arabic alphabet {{ArabDIN|lÄ?m}} {{ar|ï»?}}. Its value is
IPA {{IPA|[l]}}.
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the
Greek alphabet Greek Lambda (Λ),
Latin alphabet Latin L, and the equivalent in the
Cyrillic alphabet.
Origins
Lamedh is believed to have come from a pictogram of an ox goad or cattle prod. Some have suggested a shepherd's staff.
Hebrew Lamedh
Pronunciation
Lamedh is pronounced like the English letter
L when it occurs before a vowel, the
alveolar lateral approximant. Unlike L, however, ל is never pronounced
velarized alveolar lateral approximant velarised (IPA [É«]), i.e. never as in English ''milk''.
Significance
Lamedh in
gematria represents the number 30.
With the letter
Waw (letter) Vav it refers to the
Lamed Vav Tzadikim Lamedvavniks, the 36 righteous people who save the world from destruction.
As an abbreviation, it can stand for
litre. Also, a sign on a car with a Lamedh on it means that the driver is a student of driving (the Lamedh stands for ''lomed'', learner).
As a prefix, it can have two purposes:
* It can be attached to verb roots, designating the infinitive (''Daber'' means "speak", ''Ledaber'' means to speak).
* It can also act as a preposition meaning "to" or "for".
Category:Phoenician alphabet
Category:Arabic letters
als:ל
de:Lamed
es:Lamed
fr:Lamed (lettre)
he:ל
nl:Lamed
fi:Lamed
