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In the Alte-Neu (Old-New) Synagogue in Prague, there are several inscriptions on the wall (see here) - for example this (this one is said to be an acronym of: אך טוב לישראל סלה):

אטליס with gerhsayims above all letters but yod

Is it semantically correct to write it with U+059E HEBREW ACCENT GERSHAYIM marks, i.e.:

א֞ט֞ל֞יס֞

(might not be rendered correctly in all browsers, but it's a different issue)

Or is there a more correct way how to represent it?

(I should also note that these are not to represent numbers/years, which are in the same synagogue marked with dots above)

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    That letter at the end looks an awful lot like a ם (mem sofit) rather than a ס (samech)...
    – Harel13
    Mar 4, 2021 at 22:57
  • Hi @mykhal and welcome to Mi Yodeya - could you perhaps provide some more contextual information for us please? What Synagogue are you referring to? where are these inscriptions etc.
    – Dov
    Mar 4, 2021 at 22:58
  • @Dov it's אלטנוישול
    – mykhal
    Mar 4, 2021 at 23:03
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    @Dov Yeah, here's a pic of the wall. And I guess that really is a samech.
    – Harel13
    Mar 4, 2021 at 23:10
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    @Harel13 samech or mem sofit… never mind, this is a different issue as well – the meaning of the inscription is not the main topic of my question…
    – mykhal
    Mar 4, 2021 at 23:14

2 Answers 2

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This can be done by editing a font to "straighten out" the gershayim, but I don't recommend this implementation for public consumption, since this is not the purpose of this Unicode character. I did this for a project: I "straightened out" a geresh into a (single acute accent) stress marker, but it's not a method I'd release.

Some longer-term solutions that use the Unicode characters as intended:

  • Create (or edit) a font with ligatures for Hebrew letter + Hebrew punctuation gershayim (U+05F4).

  • Alternatively, make a combined glyph for Hebrew letter + combining double acute accent (U+030B).

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Generally speaking, gershayim or quotation marks are used somewhat like italics in English. They are universally used to point out an abbreviation, and often to point out a pun (notably in the Chida's works). Generally there is only one per word, before the last letter, but occasionally you see more than one per word. See for example Bava Kama 22a in Rabbeinu Chananel (in older editions of Gemara.)

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    Tantzevah is another example, as it is often written out ת"נ"צ"ב"ה" rather than תנצב"ה on most matzeivot. See also siddurim which only print the final passuk of Tehillim once, which often print the second as כ"ה"ת"י"ה"
    – Noach MiFrankfurt
    Mar 5, 2021 at 1:31
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    The OP was about how to represent this on the computer.
    – magicker72
    Mar 5, 2021 at 1:55

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