ה The fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Its name, ‘He’, is of uncertain origin. In PBH it has the numerical value five. ה often alternates with other gutturals, as with א (see the introductory entry to letter א), and with ח if it corresponds to Arab. ḥ (see introductory entry to letter ח). Heb. ה corresponds to Akka. א; cp. e.g. Heb. הָלַךְ (= he went) with Akka. ’alāku (= to go). Rarely Heb. א corresponds to Akka. sh; cp. הוּא (= he), הִיא (= she), with Akka. shū, resp. shī. For the interchangeability of the gutturals cp. also in the conjugational system Heb. הִפְעִיל, BAram. הַפְעֵל, Aram. אַפְעֵל, Arab. ’af‘ala, OSArab. הפעלה. In ע״ו stems sometimes secondary forms develop with the change of ו to ה. cp. מהל, a secondary form of מול (= to circumcise), נהר (= to shine), which is related to נור (= to shine). cp. also the bases כון and כהן, קהל and קול, Heb. בושׁ and Aram.–Syr. בְּהֵת (= he was ashamed), Heb. רוּץ (= to run) and Aram. רְהַט, Syr. רְהֵט (= he ran), Heb. דּוֹר (= generation, period, age) and Arab. dahr (= long time, age), Heb. נהק (= to yawn) and Syr. פָּק, Arab. fāqa (= he sighed).]