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Mappiq
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The mappiq (Hebrew: מפיק, also mapiq, mapik, mappik) is a diacritic used in the Hebrew alphabet. It is part of the Masoretes system of niqqud (vowel points), and was added to Hebrew orthography at the same time. An identical point with a different phonetic function (marking different consonants) is called a Dagesh.
The mappiq is used to mark the letter He (and rarely Aleph), indicating that it is to be pronounced as a consonant, although in a position where the letter usually indicates a vowel.
Before the vowel points were invented, some consonants were used to indicate vowel sounds. These consonants are called matres lectionis. The letter he (transliterated H) at the end of a word (Hebrew is written from right to left) can indicate the vowel sound a or e. When it does, it is not acting as a consonant, and therefore the Biblical name Zechariah (among others) actually should not be spelled with a final H, it should be spelled Zecharia.
The divine name Yah has a mappiq (a dot inside the last letter), so the last letter shall not be read as a vowel a, but as the consonant H - and therefore Yah (and not Ya).
In Masoretic manuscripts the opposite of a mappiq would be indicated by a rafe, a small line on top of the letter. This is no longer found in Hebrew, but may still sometimes be seen in Yiddish.