שווא

See also: שוואָ, שווה, and שב

Hebrew

ניקוד
ְ   ֱ   ֲ   ֳ   ִ   ֵ   ֶ   ַ   ָ   ֹ   ֻ   ּ   ֿ   ׁ   ׂ

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Classical Syriac ܫܘܳܝܳܐ (š'waya, literally “even, equal”), in Syriac a term for a sign consisting of two vertical dots used to separate parts of a sentence.

Pronunciation

• (Modern Israeli Hebrew) IPA^(key): /ˈʃva/

Noun

שווא / שְׁוָא • (shva, šəwɔʾ) m

1. the Hebrew diacritical mark shva (ִ◌ְ)
2. schwa (unstressed vowel sound)

Descendants

• → Dutch: sjwa
• → German: Schwa
  • → English: schwa
    • → Portuguese: schwa, xevá
  • → Finnish: švaa
  • → Italian: scevà, schwa
• → Polish: szwa

References

• “שוא” in the Hebrew Terms Database of the Academy of Hebrew Language

Further reading

• שווא on the Hebrew Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^he
• Shva on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Root
שׁ־ו־א (š-w-ʾ)

Noun

שווא / שָׁוְא • (shav) m

1. falsehood, futility
2. (literary) emptiness, vanity, uselessness, pointlessness
   • Tanach, Exodus 20:7, with translation of the King James Version:

     לֹא תִשָּׂא אֶת שֵׁם ה׳ אֱלֹהֶיךָ לַשָּׁוְא כִּי לֹא יְנַקֶּה ה׳ אֵת אֲשֶׁר יִשָּׂא אֶת שְׁמוֹ לַשָּׁוְא׃

     Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Derived terms

• לשווא / לַשָּׁוְא (lasháv)

References

• H7723 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• “שוא” in the Hebrew Terms Database of the Academy of Hebrew Language

Yiddish

Noun

שווא • (shvo) m

1. (nonstandard) Unpointed form of שוואָ (shvo).