Gimel

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A letter in the Hebrew alphabet representing the sound 'g'
2. The third character of the Hebrew script, often symbolizing wealth or reward
3. In gematria, a system of assigning numerical values to letters, it has a value of three

Etymology: The Hebrew letter gimel, the third in the alphabet, began as a picture of a weapon. Its ancestor name traces back to a Proto-Semitic word for a weapon that scholars debate was either a staff sling or a throwing stick, so the letter's earliest meaning was an object used for hurling. Over time its shape and sound shifted, and it became the letter that, in gematria, stands for the number three. Gimel is a doublet of gamma, the third letter of the Greek alphabet. The two letters descend from the same Phoenician original, so they are cousins that took different paths: the Hebrew name kept its Semitic form, while the Greek letter passed into a different alphabet and sound system. Seeing the two side by side shows how a single ancient sign spread across cultures and kept its place in the third position.

Synonyms: third letter, Hebrew letter gimel