Illuy (cantillation) explained

The Illuy or Iluy (Hebrew: עִלּוּי) is a Trope (from Yiddish Yiddish: rtl=yes|טראָפּ "trop") in the Judaic Liturgy. It is one of the cantillation marks used in the three poetic books: Job, the Book of Proverbs, and the Psalms. Accordingly, it is a special mark belonging to the Ta'amei Sifrei Emet (meaning, the accent signs of the books of truth).

Symbol

The symbol of Illuy is the same as that of Munach, except that the Illuy is positioned above the Hebrew letter, while the Munach is positioned below it.

In the Yemeni tradition the Illuy is also called the "Shofar illuy" . However, "Shofar illuy" means Munach in the Italian tradition.

Description

The Hebrew word Hebrew: rtl=yes|עִלּוּי is a derivative of the word Hebrew: rtl=yes|עִלִּי (meaning "upper" or "top"), hence its position above the letter.

Occurrences

The Trope Illuy occurs in only three books.

Part of the TanachIlluy
Book of Job20
Proverbs14
Psalms146
Total180

Literature