| Inverted Hebrew: Nun | ||
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Inverted Hebrew: nun ("isolated Hebrew: nun" or "inverted Hebrew: nun" or "" in Hebrew[1]) is a rare glyph used in classical Hebrew. Its function in the ancient texts is disputed. It takes the form of the letter Hebrew: [[Nun (letter)|nun]] in mirror image, and appears in the Masoretic text of the Tanakh in nine different places:[2]
The images at right show three common variants of the inverted Hebrew: nun - vertically flipped, horizontally flipped, and Z-shaped. Other renderings exist, corresponding to alternative interpretations of the term "inverted".[3] It may also occur with a dot above.[4]
Inverted Hebrew: nuns are found in nine passages of the Masoretic Text of the Bible. The exact shape varies between different manuscripts and printed editions. In many manuscripts, a reversed Hebrew: nun is found, referred to as a "Hebrew: nun hafucha" by the Masoretes. In some earlier printed editions, they are shown as the standard Hebrew: nun upside down or rotated, presumably because the printer did not want to design a new rare character. Recent scholarly editions of the Masoretic text show the reversed Hebrew: nun as described by the Masoretes. In some manuscripts, however, other symbols are occasionally found instead. These are sometimes referred to in rabbinical literature as "simaniyot" (markers).
In the Torah, the inverted Hebrew: nuns frame the text:
The Hebrew: nuns are generally positioned close to, but not touching, the first and last words of the couplet.[5] They are supposed to be positioned between the gaps in between the paragraphs, but there is disagreement as to how this should be done.[6] Some texts invert the existing Hebrew: nuns in the Torah text and don't add inverted Hebrew: nuns before and after it.[7]
Rashi's commentary states that the name of the city of Haran at the end of the Torah portion Noach also occurs with an inverted Hebrew: nun, but this is not found in existing texts.[8]
The Babylonian Talmud records in the tractate Shabbath, folio 116a, that the markings surrounding Numbers 10:35 - 36 were thought to denote that this 85-letter text was not in its proper place. One opinion states that it would appear in another location which discusses the order of tribal column, with the position of the Ark already stated there.
The 85-letter text found between the is also said to be denoted because it is the model for the fewest letters which constitute a 'text' which one would be required to save from fire due to its holiness. It also suggests that the inverted Hebrew: nuns may suggest the Hebrew word Hebrew: נֵר, meaning 'a light'.[9]
The tractate Shabbat in the Talmud says regarding the inverted Hebrew: nuns: