Lamedh#Hebrew lamed

{{Phoenician glyph|letname=Lamedh|previouslink=Kaph|previousletter=Kaph|nextlink=Mem|nextletter=Mem|archar=ل|sychar=ܠ|hechar=ל|amchar=𐡋|gechar=ለ|phchar=𐤋|grchar=Λ|lachar=L|cychar=Л|ipa={{IPAlink|l}}, ({{IPAlink|ɫ}})|num=12|gem=30}}

Lamedh or lamed is the twelfth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Hebrew lāmeḏ {{Script|Hebr|ל}}, Aramaic lāmaḏ 𐡋, Syriac lāmaḏ ܠ, Arabic lām {{Script|Arabic|ل}}, and Phoenician lāmd 𐤋. Its sound value is {{IPAblink|l}}. It is also related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪁‎‎‎, South Arabian {{lang|sem-x-oldsoara|𐩡}}, and Ge'ez {{lang|gez|ለ}}.

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Lambda (Λ), Latin L, and Cyrillic El (Л).

Origin

The letter is usually considered to have originated from the representation of an ox-goad, i.e. a cattle prod, or a shepherd's crook, i.e. a pastoral staff. In Proto-Semitic a goad was called *lamed-.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HOTejRVNP8C&q=*lamed-+goad+%22proto+semitic%22|title=The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology|date=March 3, 1916|publisher=Egypt Exploration Society|via=Google Books}}

Arabic lām

{{Infobox grapheme

| name = Lām لام

| letter = ل

| script = Arabic script

| type = Abjad

| language = Arabic language

| phonemes = {{IPAlink|l}} ({{IPAlink|ɫ}})

| alphanumber = 23

| number =

| fam2 = 𐤋

| fam3 = 𐡋

| fam4 = 𐢐‎, 𐢑‎

| direction = Right-to-left

}}File:Iron Double Plowshare, Saw, & Cow Goad, 9th-7th Century BC (29346426748).jpg (lower right, 9th-7th century BC)]]

The letter is named لام {{lang|ar-Latn|lām}} {{IPA|/laːm/}}.

= Orthography =

Its form depends on its position in the word:

= Grammatical functions =

{{lang|ar-Latn|Lām}} has functions as a grammatical particle when used as a prefix:

Prepositional {{lang|ar-Latn|lām}} ({{lang|ar|لام جارة}})
{{lang|ar-Latn|Lām}} of ownership ({{lang|ar|لام المُلك}})
{{lang|ar-Latn|Lām}} of association ({{lang|ar|لام الاختصاص}})
{{lang|ar-Latn|Lām}} of purpose ({{lang|ar|لام التعليل}})
{{lang|ar-Latn|Lām}} of absolute negation ({{lang|ar|لام الجحود}})
Imperative {{lang|ar-Latn|lām}} ({{lang|ar|لام الأمر}})
{{lang|ar-Latn|Lām}} of affirmative emphasis ({{lang|ar|لام التوكيد}})

{{lang|ar-Latn|Lām-kasra}} ({{lang|ar|لـِ}}, {{IPA|/li/}}) is essentially a preposition meaning 'to' or 'for', as in {{lang|ar|لِوالدي}} {{transliteration|ar|DIN|liwālidī}}, 'for my father'. In this usage, it has become concatenated with other words to form new constructions often treated as independent words: for instance, {{lang|ar|لِماذا}} {{transliteration|ar|DIN|limāḏā}}, meaning 'why?', is derived from {{lang|ar|لـِ}} {{lang|ar-Latn|li}} and {{lang|ar|ماذا}} {{transliteration|ar|DIN|māḏā}}, meaning 'what?' thus getting 'for what?'. A semantically equivalent construction is found in most Romance languages, e.g. French {{lang|fr|pourquoi}}, Spanish {{lang|es|por qué}}, and Italian {{lang|it|perché}} (though {{lang|it|ché}} is an archaism and not in current use).

The other construction, {{transliteration|ar|DIN|lām-fatḥa}} ({{lang|ar|لَـ}} {{IPA|/la/}}) is used as an emphatic particle in very formal Arabic and in certain fixed constructions, such as {{lang|ar|لَقد}} {{lang|ar-Latn|laqad}} (itself an emphatic particle for past-tense verbs) and in the conditional structure {{lang|ar|لو...لَـ}} {{lang|ar-Latn|law...la}}, effectively one of the forms of 'if...then...'.

Hebrew lamed

class=wikitable style="text-align:center;" !colspan=5\|Orthographic variants
colspan=3\|Various print fonts !rowspan=2\|Cursive Hebrew !rowspan=2\|Rashi script
\|Serif	Sans-serif	Monospaced
width=20%\|ל \|width=20%\|ל \|width=20%\|ל \|width=20%\|File:Hebrew letter Lamed handwriting.svg \|width=20%\|File:Lamed (Rashi-script - Hebrew letter).svg

class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"

!colspan=5|Orthographic variants

colspan=3|Various print fonts

!rowspan=2|Cursive
Hebrew

!rowspan=2|Rashi
script

|Serif

Sans-serif

Monospaced

width=20%|ל

|width=20%|ל

|width=20%|File:Hebrew letter Lamed handwriting.svg

|width=20%|File:Lamed (Rashi-script - Hebrew letter).svg

Hebrew spelling: {{lang|he|לָמֶד}}

=Pronunciation=

Lamed transcribes as an alveolar lateral approximant {{IPAslink|l}}.

=Significance=

Lamed in gematria represents the number 30.

With the letter Vav it refers to the Lamedvavniks, the 36 righteous people who save the world from destruction.

As an abbreviation, it can stand for litre. Also, a sign on a car with a Lamed on it means that the driver is a student of driving (the Lamed stands for {{lang|he|lomed}}, learner). It is also used as the Electoral symbol for the Yisrael Beiteinu party.

As a prefix, it can have two purposes:

It can be attached to verb roots, designating the infinitive (Daber means "speak", Ledaber means to speak).
It can also act as a preposition meaning "to" or "for".