‖ sheva
(ʃəˈvɑː)
Also shewa (ʃəˈwɑː), shva; schwa.
[a. Rabbinic Heb. sh⊇ˈwā, app. an arbitrary alteration of shāw', emptiness, vanity. (In German books spelt schwa, whence schwa.)]
1. Hebrew Gram. a. The sign {sheva} placed under a consonant letter to express (what Jewish grammarians regard as) the absence of a following vowel sound. In certain positions the sheva (called quiescent sheva) has really no sound; but in others it is sounded as the neutral vowel (ə), and is then called movable (or vocal) sheva. compound sheva: any of the signs ֳ, ֲ, ֱ, which represent the neutral vowel with a colouring of ŏ, ă, ĕ respectively. b. The sound of ‘movable sheva’.
| 1582 Mulcaster Elementarie xvii. 113 Like to a silent Hebrew Scheua. 1818 P. S. Duponceau in Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. I. 241 A small vacant space, as it were, between the consonants, like the Sheva of the Hebrews. 1827 S. Lee Hebr. Gram. 19 On Sheva and its Substitutes. 1837 G. Phillips Syriac Gram. 3 When no vowel is expressed, then as in the Hebrew, a Sheva..will be implied and read accordingly. 1853 J. R. Wolf Pract. Hebr. Gram. 10 Hence, when Sheva is placed under such a consonant at the beginning of a syllable, it is sounded like a short e, and is called movable Sheva. Ibid., When two Shevas stand in the middle of a word, the first is a resting, and the second a movable. 1914 Davidson & McFadyen Introd. Hebrew Gram. (ed. 19) 23 The place of sh⊇wa vocal, simple or composite, is under the first of two consonants that begin a syllable. 1939 J. Weingreen Pract. Gram. for Classical Hebrew 9 The shewa is not a vowel. The quick vowel-like sound is like the ‘e’ in ‘because’. 1965 Language XLI. 543 The shva is a masoretic grapheme. |
2. Phonetics. The neutral vowel-sound; esp. in comparative grammar, the obscure vowel resulting (in primitive Indogermanic) from an original ā, ē, or ō, by loss of accent. More usually schwa.
| 1818 [see phonologist s.v. phonology]. 1888 J. B. Bury in Class. Rev. Oct. 251/2 The π by labiation for q, and the second ᾰ a sheva. 1939 E. Prokosch Compar. Germanic Gram. 94 IE ə and ь are distinguished as ‘shva primum’ and ‘shva secundum’, but the term ‘shva’ alone always refers to ə. |