hamza
/ˈhamzə
/noun
1(In Arabic script) a symbol representing a glottal stop.The sign hamza also represents a glottal stop and is transliterated in the same way....
- Historically, qaf merged with the hamza (the glottal stop), except in some restricted domains mainly religious ones.
- Ibrahim Jaafari in Arabic begins with an alif for Ibrahim, the first letter of the alphabet (alif supports the glottal stop, hamza, which can serve as a chair for any of the three vowels, the equivalents of a, i or u).
1.1A glottal stop.Once again we see the the "q" becoming a glottal stop sound like "hamza."...
- I discovered that my students pronounce Latin "La'in," with a glottal stop as intense as any Cockney's, or as any Arabic hamza.
Origin
Arabic, literally 'compression'.