Unicode character coding

The UXLC is an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) document with Unicode representation of the Leningrad Codex text. The XML markup can be deduced by viewing files with an ordinary text editor and is not described here. The biblical text is contained in one of 3 text tags, <w>, <q>, or <k>, corresponding to ordinary, qere, or ketiv orthographic words. Text tags may contain Unicode characters from a limited set of 82 characters. This set contains 591-5ae, 5b0-5c5, 5d0-5ea from the Unicode Hebrew block plus 3 special characters, called pseudo accents, 034f (CGJ), 200d (ZWJ), 20 (space). The nun hafukha, ׆, doesn't appear in text tags. Instead, it is displayed via the self-closing XML tag <reversednun/>.

The three pseudo accents are placed in text tags to improve the display.

A Combining Grapheme Joiner, CGJ (034f), is inserted in special cases to achieve the desired display.

A Zero Width Joiner, ZWJ (200d), is inserted to display central metegs correctly.

Each Unicode paseq ׀ (05c0) (which includes legarmeh) is preceded by a space (0020) to produce a more legible text.

These special characters are discussed at the bottom of this page.

Character table:

Current Hebrew font: Taamey D Web

Lower combining dots have been added to the 'h' in Unicode names to indicate a Ḥet, ח. They are not part of the formal Unicode names.

Hex	Char	Unicode name Hebrew name	Accent type^*	UXLC content type	Equivalent	Notes
0591	ס֑	Etnaḥta אֶתְנַחְתָּ֑א	D-1	Accent
0592	ס֒	Segol סֶגוֹל֒	D-2	Accent	Segolta	Postpositive. This is the ACCENT Segol, not to be confused with the vowel (POINT) Segol.
0593	ס֓	Shalshelet שַׁלְשֶׁ֓לֶת	D-2	Accent
0594	ס֔	Zaqef Qatan זָקֵף־קָט֔וֹן	D-2	Accent
0595	ס֕	Zaqef Gadol זָקֵף־גָּד֕וֹל	D-2	Accent
0596	ס֖	Tipeḥa טִפְּחָ֖א	D-2	Accent	Tarḥa
0597	ס֗	Revia רְבִ֗יעַ	D-3	Accent
0598	ס֘	Zarqa זַרְקָא֮	D-3	Accent	Tsinorit	This Unicode character is used for a Zarqa appearing directly above a letter, a 'stress helper' Zarqa. A true Zarqa is postpositive and is shown by a Unicode Zinor. (!) The Hebrew name shows a Unicode Zinor.
0599	ס֙	Pashta פַּשְׁטָא֙	D-3	Accent		Postpositive.
059a	ס֚	Yetiv יְ‏֚תִיב	D-3	Accent		Prepositive.
059b	ס֛	Tevir תְּבִ֛יר	D-3	Accent
059c	ס֜	Geresh גֶּ֜רֶשׁ	D-4	Accent
059d	ס֝	Geresh Muqdam גֵּרֵשׁ־מֻ֝קְדָּם		Accent		Occurs only in the Sifrei Emet. Prepositive.
059e	ס֞	Gershayim גֵּרְשַׁיִ֞ם	D-4	Accent
059f	ס֟	Qarney Para קַרְנֵי־פָרָ֟ה	D-4	Accent	Pazer gadol
05a0	ס֠	Telisha Gedola תְּלִישָׁה־גְּ֠דוֹלָ֠ה	D-4	Accent		Prepositive.
05a1	ס֡	Pazer פָּזֵ֡ר	D-4	Accent
05a2	ס֢	Atnaḥ Hafukh אַתְנָח־הָפ֢וּךְ	Sifrei Emet only	Accent		The accent should appear as an inverted Etnaḥta.
05a3	ס֣	Munaḥ מוּנַ֣ח	C	Accent		In a word with a Munaḥ ending with a Unicode Paseq, the Unicode Paseq is often interpreted as a Legarmeh accent (D-4).
05a4	ס֤	Mahapakh מַהְפַּ֤ךְ	C	Accent
05a5	ס֥	Merkha מֵרְכָ֥א	C	Accent	Yored
05a6	ס֦	Merkha Kefula מֵרְכָא־כְפוּלָ֦ה	C	Accent
05a7	ס֧	Darga דַּרְגָ֧א	C	Accent
05a8	ס֨	Qadma קַדְמָ֨א	C	Accent		Easily confused with Pashta, which is postpositive.
05a9	ס֩	Telisha Qetana תְּלִישָׁה־קְטַנָה֩	C	Accent		Postpositive.
05aa	ס֪	Yeraḥ Ben Yomo יֶרַח־בֶּן־יוֹמ֪וֹ	C	Accent	Galgal	The name means "new moon"; the accent should appear as a semi-circular cup. Displayed as an Unicode Atnah Hafukh, x05a2, with most fonts.
05ab	ס֫	Ole עוֹלֶ֫ה	Sifrei Emet only	Accent
05ac	ס֬	Iluy עִלּ֬וּי	Sifrei Emet only	Accent
05ad	ס֭	Deḥi דֶּ֭חִי	Sifrei Emet only	Accent		Prepositive.
05ae	ס֮	Zinor צִינּוֹר֮	D-3	Accent	Zarqa	This character is used for real (postpositive) Zarqa as opposed to 'stress helper' Zarqa which is implemented as a Unicode Zarqa. The transliterated name should really be Tsinor.
05b0	סְ	Sheva שְׁוָא		Vowel
05b1	סֱ	Ḥataf Segol חֲטַף סֶגוֹל		Vowel
05b2	סֲ	Ḥataf Pataḥ חֲטַף פַּתָּח		Vowel
05b3	סֳ	Ḥataf Qamats חֲטַף קָמָץ		Vowel
05b4	סִ	Ḥiriq חִירִיק		Vowel
05b5	סֵ	Tsere צֵירֵי		Vowel
05b6	סֶ	Segol סֶגוֹל		Vowel		This is the Vowel (POINT) Segol, not to be confused with the ACCENT Segol.
05b7	סַ	Pataḥ פַּתָּח		Vowel		Furtive pataḥ is not a distinct character.
05b8	סָ	Qamats קָמָץ		Vowel
05b9	וֹ ,סֹ	Ḥolam (dot) חוֹלָם		Vowel
05ba	וֺ	Ḥolam ḥaser for vav (dot) חוֹלָם חָסֵר בְּוָי״ו		Vowel
05bb	סֻ	Qubuts קֻבּוּץ		Vowel
05bc	סּ	Dagesh דָּגֵשׁ		Vowel	Mapiq, Shuruq dot	Falls within base letter.
05bd	סֽ	Meteg מֱתֶג		Accent	Siluq	Serves often as the Hebrew accent Siluq (D-1). A center meteg is preceded by a ZWJ (x200D) for positioning.
05be	ס־	Maqaf מַקֵּף		Vowel		The UXLC displays this accent in the Vowels content mode.
05bf	סֿ	Rafe רָפֶה		Accent		Indicates the absence of a dagesh. The UXLC shows only "important" rafes.
05c0	ס ׀	Paseq פָּסֵק		Accent		This character functions as a Legarmeh (D-4) in some contexts and as a true Paseq in others. Each Unicode Paseq is preceded by a Space (x0020) for positioning.
05c1	שׁ	Shin Dot		Vowel
05c2	שׂ	Sin Dot		Vowel
05c3	ס׃	Sof Pasuq סוֹף פָּסוּק		Vowel		The UXLC displays this accent in the Vowels content mode.
05c4	סׄ	Upper Dot		Accent
05c5	סׅ	Lower Dot		Accent
05d0	א	Alef אָלֶף		Consonant
05d1	ב	Bet בֵּית		Consonant
05d2	ג	Gimel גִימֵל		Consonant
05d3	ד	Dalet דָלֶת		Consonant
05d4	ה	He הֵא		Consonant
05d5	ו	Vav וָו		Consonant
05d6	ז	Zayin זַיִן		Consonant
05d7	ח	Ḥet חֵית		Consonant
05d8	ט	Tet טֵית		Consonant
05d9	י	Yod יוֹד		Consonant
05da	ך	Final Kaf כַּף סוֹפִית		Consonant
05db	כ	Kaf כַּף		Consonant
05dc	ל	Lamed לָמֶד		Consonant
05dd	ם	Final Mem מֵם סוֹפִית		Consonant
05de	מ	Mem מֵם		Consonant
05df	ן	Final Nun נוּן סוֹפִית		Consonant
05e0	נ	Nun נוּן		Consonant
05e1	ס	Samekh סָמֶךְ		Consonant
05e2	ע	Ayin עַיִן		Consonant
05e3	ף	Final Pe פֵּה סוֹפִית		Consonant
05e4	פ	Pe פֵּה		Consonant
05e5	ץ	Final Tsadi צַדִי סוֹפִית		Consonant
05e6	צ	Tsadi צַדִי		Consonant
05e7	ק	Qof קוֹף		Consonant
05e8	ר	Resh רֵישׁ		Consonant
05e9	ש	Shin שִׁין		Consonant
05ea	ת	Tav תָו		Consonant
Pseudo accents
0020		Space		Accent		Space appears in an XML tag only before a Unicode Paseq.
034f	͏	Combining grapheme joiner (CGJ)		Accent		Improves browser display of Decalogue/Reuven saga, Jerusalem, and leading Metegs.
200d	‍	Zero width joiner (ZWJ)		Accent		Center Meteg is a ZWJ + Meteg.

^* The "Accent type" column gives accent types for accents appearing in Tanach books other than Job, Proverbs, and Psalms. These 3 books are called the Sifrei Emet, where the Emet, אמת, comes from the Hebrew initials of the books: איוב משלי תהלים. That is, the listed accent types, and the comments below, apply only to Tanach books other than those of the Sifrei Emet.

The accents consist of 8 conjunctives, marked with a 'C', and 18 disjunctives, marked with a 'D-N'. The disjunctive accents have 4 levels indicated by a number after the 'D-'. Two disjunctives are not in the table. The level 1 disjunctive Siluq (D-1) is represented graphically by a Meteg. A word having the level 4 disjunctive Legarmeh, (fully: munaḥ legarmeh) has two accents, a Munaḥ and a final Unicode Paseq. One disjunctive, Zarqa, occupies two code points depending on positioning: Zarqa or Zinor.

Special characters

CGJ - Combining Grapheme Joiner:
Operating systems and applications may or may not normalize the order of Unicode character sequences as they convert these sequences to visual displays. So a given Unicode character sequence may appear differently in different browsers, text editors, and operating systems. Ben Denckla has suggested a judicious use of CGJs that achieves correct and consistent visual displays by guarding against certain types of harmful reordering.
Three important cases are:
1. The Decalogues ( Exodus 20:2-17, Deuteronomy 5:6-21) and the Saga of Reuven (Genesis 35:22) have a double set of accents on many words called lower/upper accents. Without special treatment, the display of the vowels and accents on some words is incorrect.
2. Various forms for the word Jerusalem also pose display problems because a yod seldom follows the lamed as in יְרֽוּשָׁלִָ֑ם (Joshua 15:8.11) or יְרוּשָׁלַ֛͏ְמָה (Isaiah 36:2.8).
3. Further, the original biblical text contains leading metegs, that is, metegs that occur before any vowels or accents on a consonant. Modern browsers may not always show the meteg-then-vowel ordering, however.
Other CGJs are added as needed by specific changes.
1138 CGJs for the above cases are inserted automatically by the InsertCGJs module of the ScanReplace application before Changes files are applied to the text.
Change items in the Changes files add to this count.
Thus the total number of CGJs in the text exceeds the 1138 added automatically.

ZWJ - Zero Width Joiner:
Although the original WLC 4.20 text specified three types of meteg (left (75), center (35), right (95) ) Unicode has a single symbol for all metegs. The decoding of the WLC 4.20 text adds CGJ and ZWJ markers to the Unicode meteg based on the specified meteg type so that the Unicode output achieves reliable visual positioning. An example of ZWJ positioning occurs in Psalms 5:11.2 which has a ḥataf segol and a central meteg on the alef אֱ‍ֽ (alef hataf-segol zero-width-joiner meteg, 05d0 05b1 200d 05bd).

space:
Each Unicode paseq ׀ (05c0) (which includes legarmeh) is preceded by a space (0020) to produce a more legible text. An example of the addition of the space before the paseq occurs in Genesis 1:29.8עֵ֣שֶׂב ׀ (ayin tsere munah shin sin-dot segol bet space paseq , 05e2 05b5 05a3 05e9 05c2 05b6 05d1 0020 05c0). This is the only instance in which a space appears in a text tag. Thus the number of spaces in the text must equal the number of paseqs in the text.

27.6