Gol he, also called choṭī he, is one of the two variants of the Arabic letter he/hāʾ (ه) that are in use in the Urdu alphabet, the other variant being the do-cas͟hmī he (ھ), also called hā-'e-mak͟hlūt.[1] The letter is named for its shape in the isolated form, gol meaning "round" in Hindustani, to distinguish it from the do-cas͟hmī he, which is really a calligraphic variant of the "two-eyed" regular he in the medial position (ﻬ). Its various non-isolated forms originated in the Nastaʿlīq script or calligraphic hand,[2][3] though various zigzag (medial) and hook (final) forms of hāʾ have existed before the script was developed.[4]
Use in Urdu
editThe letter ہ (encoded at U+06C1) replaces the regular he ه (encoded at U+0647) in Urdu (as well as the Punjabi Shahmukhi alphabet) for the voiced glottal fricative [ɦ] but is usually pronounced [ɑː] in the word-final position (exception include certain two-letter words such as وہ /ʋoː/ or کہ /keː/) while the do-cas͟hmī he ھ is used in digraphs for aspiration and breathy voice and hence never used word-initially.
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naskh glyph form: (Help) |
ہ | ـہ | ـہـ | ہـ |
| Nastaʿlīq glyph form: | ہ | ــــہ | ــــہــــ | ہــــ |
For comparison, the do-cas͟hmī he (not used word-initially) and the regular Arabic letter:
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naskh glyph form: (Help) |
ھ | ـھ | ـھـ | ھـ |
| Nastaʿlīq glyph form: | ھ | ــــھ | ــــھــــ | ھــــ |
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naskh glyph form: (Help) |
ه | ـه | ـهـ | هـ |
| Nastaʿlīq glyph form: | ه | ــــه | ــــهــــ | هــــ |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Roman to urdu meaning of hay | Urdu English Dictionary | Urduinc". www.urduinc.com. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ "gol he". Glosbe. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ "Two-Eyed He in Urdu". www.win.tue.nl. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ Grob, Eva Mira (2010). Documentary Arabic Private and Business Letters on Papyrus: Form and Function, Content and Context. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-024704-6. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
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