Glossary

The entries selection comes from the book “Dictionary of Judaica” (2005), which was written by a group of authors led by Eva Kosáková . Entries were further processed by Jaroslav Kuntoš, Dana Veselská, Olga Sixtová, Michaela Scheibová and Lenka Uličná. The book can be purchased at our e-shop.

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Hebrew script

Contemporary Hebrew script originally developed from Aramaic script in the last centuries before the beginning of the current era. Various types of script gradually emerged in the various regions of the Jewish Diaspora – particularly Sephardic (originally used on the Iberian peninsula, later throughout the Mediterranean, including the North African coast and the Middle East; derived from the Hebrew word Sefarad, meaning Spain) and Italian Hebrew and Ashkenazi (North France, Germany, North Italy, Central and Eastern Europe; derived from the Hebew word Ashkenaz, meaning Germany). Ashkenazi script is used in Hebrew written documents and books from the territory of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Several styles for various kinds of texts and documents developed in Ashkenazi script, as in other types of Hebrew script: square script (Bible*, Talmud*, prayer books in Hebrew), semi-cursive (commentaries, treatises, texts in Yiddish, including Yiddish prayers and official documents) and cursive (personal documents, notes and correspondence). Unlike square letters, which remained unchanged from the early Middle Ages onwards, semi-cursive and cursive letters more or less developed over the course of many centuries. Hebrew script is consonantal. Vowels in the form of punctation under the letters (a supralinear system has also existed) are supplemented in biblical books where an accurate reading of a canonical text is important (but not for Torah scrolls* or Scroll of Esther* in the synagogue, etc.) and in poetry.

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