Taw

The twenty-second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Its name is connected with "taw" = "sign" ( see Alphabet). "Taw" has a twofold pronunciation: (1) a soft, lisping sound uttered with a gentle expiration, like the Greek "theta" and the English "th" in "thin," and (2) a hard, attenuated sound without expiration, like the English "t"; the latter pronunciation is indicated by a "dagesh lene" in the letter. In the classification of letters (consonants) as it is found for the first time in "Sefer Yeẓirah" (4:3), the "taw" is included in the group of linguals