Samekh

Samekh is the fifteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician sāmek 𐤎, Hebrew sāmeḵ ס‎, Aramaic samek 𐡎, Syriac semkaṯ ܣ, and Arabic sīn س (in the Mashriqi order) .

Samekh represents a voiceless alveolar fricative /s/. In the Hebrew language, the samekh has the same pronunciation as the left-dotted shin.

The numerical value of samekh is 60.

The Phoenician letter may continue a glyph from the Middle Bronze Age alphabets, either based on a hieroglyph for a tent peg or support, possibly the djed "pillar" hieroglyph 𓊽^{[clarification needed][1]} (c.f. Hebrew root סמך s-m-kh 'support', סֶמֶךְ semekh 'support, rest', סוֹמֵךְ somekh 'support peg, post', סוֹמְכָה somkha 'armrest', סָמוֹכָה smokha 'stake, support', indirectly s'mikhah סמיכה; Aramaic סַמְכָא samkha 'socket, base', סְמַךְ smakh 'support, help'; Syriac ܣܡܟܐ semkha 'support').

The shape of samek undergoes complicated developments. In archaic scripts, the vertical stroke can be drawn either across or below the three horizontal strokes. The closed form of Hebrew samek is developed only in the Hasmonean period.^[2]

Phoenician/Paleo-Hebrew (c. 1000 BC)	Imperial Aramaic (c. 800 BC)	Greek Chi (letter)(750 BC)	Hebrew (from ca. 350 BC)

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek xi (Ξ),^[3] whereas its name may also be reflected in the name of the otherwise unrelated Greek letter sigma.^[4]

The archaic "grid" shape of Western Greek xi () was adopted in the early Etruscan alphabet (𐌎 esh), but was never included in the Latin alphabet.

Based on Semitic linguists, Samekh has no surviving descendant in the Arabic alphabet, and that sīn is derived from Phoenician šīn 𐤔 rather than Phonecian sāmek 𐤎, but it corresponds exclusively to Arabic س Sīn when comparing etymologically to other Semitic languages and is placed in the same position in the abjad sequence based on the Mashriqi order.

In the Mashriqi abjad sequence:^[5]

• س Sīn is at 15th position and acquires the numerical value of 60 and corresponds to Phoenician sāmek 𐤎;
• ش Shīn is at the 21st position and has the numerical value of 300 and corresponds to Phoenician šīn 𐤔;

The Nabataean alphabet, however, which is the immediate predecessor to the Arabic alphabet, contains the letter Simkath .

In the Maghrebian abjad sequence (quoted in apparently earliest authorities and considered older by Michael Macdonald):^[5]

• ص Ṣād replaces Samekh at 15th position and acquires the numerical value of 60;
  • ض Ḍād, a variant of ص ṣād, is at the 18th position and has the numerical value of 90;
• س Sīn is still at its original 21st position and retains the numerical value of 300.

The Syriac letter semkaṯ ܣܡܟܬ develops from the Imperial Aramaic "hook" shape 𐡎 into a rounded form by the 1st century. The Old Syriac form further develops into a connected cursive both in the Eastern and Western script variants.

Aramaic	Old Syriac	Eastern	Western

Hebrew Samekh develops a closed cursive form in the middle Hasmonean period (1st century BC). This becomes the standard form in early Herodian hands.^[2]

Orthographic variants
Various print fonts			Cursive Hebrew	Rashi script
Serif	Sans-serif	Monospaced
ס	ס	ס

In Talmudic legend, samekh is said to have been a miracle of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 32:15 records that the tablets "were written on both their sides." The Jerusalem Talmud interprets this as meaning that the inscription went through the full thickness of the tablets. The stone in the center parts of the letters ayin and teth should have fallen out, as these letters are closed in the ktav ivri script and would not be connected to the rest of the tablet, but miraculously remained in place. The Babylonian Talmud (tractate Shabbat 104a) also cites the opinion that these closed letters included samekh, attributed to Rav Chisda (d. ca. 320).^[6]

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