What ⅏ means
It identifies a Samaritan text source in a scholarly note. A textual apparatus is a set of notes comparing readings across manuscripts or editions. There, ⅏ points to the Samaritan tradition behind a reading. In Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS), a study edition of the Hebrew Bible, it marks a Samaritan source.
The Samaritan script developed from linear Old Hebrew; early evidence includes seals dated to the late fourth century BCE.
Its glyph is drawn by the reader’s font, so its appearance can vary by typeface.
It labels a textual source, not a person’s identity.
Related characters
1
Questions people ask
1Why does ⅏ show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
More like this
11
How to type or find ⅏
- Search it as
- Samaritan text source · Samaritan Pentateuch mark · BHS Samaritan reading · Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia symbol
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
⅏\214FCodes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.