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Nun is the fourteenth letter of many Semitic Abjads , including Phoenician , Aramaic , Hebrew and Arabic Alphabet (in Abjadi Order ). Its value is IPA . The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Nu (Ν), Etruscan , Latin N , and Cyrillic Н . ORIGINS Nun is thought to have come from a pictogram of a snake (the Hebrew word for snake, ''nachash'' begins with a Nun and snake in Aramaic is ''nun'') or eel. Some have hypothesized a Hieroglyph of a fish in water for its origin (in Arabic, ''nūn'' means large fish or whale). The Phoenician letter was named "fish", but the glyph likely descends from Proto-Canaanite "snake", ultimately from a Hieroglyph representing a snake, (see Middle Bronze Age Alphabets ). Interestingly, in modern Arabic literally means "bad luck". HEBREW NUN Pronunciation Nun is pronounced as a /), like the English letter N . Variations Nun, like Kaph , Mem , Pe , and Tzadi , has a final form, used at the end of words. Its shape changes from this: נ to this: '''ן'''. Significance In Gematria , Nun represents the number 50. Its final form represents 700 but this is rarely used, Tav and Shin (400+300) being used instead. Nun as an abbreviation can stand for ''neqevah'', feminine. In medieval Rabbinic writings, Nun Sophit (Final Nun) stood for "Son of" ( Hebrew ''ben'' or ''ibn''). Nun is also one of the seven letters which receive a special crown (called a ''tagin'') when written in a Sefer Torah . See Shin , Ayin , Teth , Gimmel , Zayin , and Tzadi . In modern Israel i slang, the word Nun has come to mean "failure" (from Hebrew ''Nichshal'', he lost). SEE ALSO |
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