Version 4.1, 21 May 2015
Version history:
- Version 1.0, 26 January 2012
- Version 2.0, 21 November 2013
- Version 2.1, 19 September 2014
- Version 3.0, 30 October 2014
- Version 4.0, 15 January 2015
- Version 4.1, 21 May 2015
Fonts
In Brill publications, Hebrew text occurs frequently; in some cases the language is Aramaic, but this usually has no consequences for the choice of fonts. As a member of the SBL Font Foundation, Brill has acquired the right to use SBL fonts, the most important of which is SBL Hebrew. SBL Hebrew is one of the few fonts to fully support biblical Hebrew including not only vowels but cantillation marks as well. As an extra, SBL Hebrew also provides support for display of Dead Sea Scrolls texts, which exhibit rare diacritics not found in other Hebrew fonts.
Marking Emphasis
The Hebrew script does not use a “cursive” type form to mark text as emphasized. Instead, bold type is used. There is no bold version of SBL Hebrew, so an entirely different font must be used: Guttman Mantova Bold, a font that is bundled with the Adobe InDesign ME (Middle East) software used by typesetters. Note that in Guttman Mantova Bold some Dead Sea Scrolls diacritics and other characters are absent and need to be typeset using SBL Hebrew, most frequently:
dot above a letter: U+0307 COMBINING DOT ABOVE
circle above a letter: U+030A COMBINING RING ABOVE
inline circle: U+25E6 WHITE BULLET
The dot above and the circle above need to be repositioned above the letters to which they belong using OpenType Diacritic Positioning; both the dot and the circle above need to appear centered above the letter to which they belong. A PDF file showing the result is available: Hebrew_diacritics_DSS_plus_bold.pdf. Note also that Guttman Mantova Bold needs to be set slightly smaller than SBL Hebrew. See immediately below.
SBL Hebrew and Guttman Mantova Bold font sizes correlated with “Brill” font sizes
SBL Hebrew: 10.25 pt ~ Guttman Mantova Bold: 9.5 pt ~ Brill 11 pt
SBL Hebrew: 9.32 pt ~ Guttman Mantova Bold: 8.64 pt ~ Brill 10 pt
SBL Hebrew: 9.32 pt ~ Guttman Mantova Bold: 8.64 pt ~ Brill 9 pt
Chapter/journal titles: Guttman Mantova Bold: 13.5 pt ~ Brill 16 pt
Another distinction: use a light font (Narkiss Classic Light)
In some instances another typographically distinct Hebrew typeface is needed. For instance, a Dead Sea Scrolls text may be very fragmentary, but a redaction of the same text exists in another document (or a text quite close to the one in question). In the past, the other redaction which supplied the text absent in the document quoted was often typeset using a screened font (for instance SBL Hebrew set 20% black); this is not really a good solution. In such cases, the use of a typeface lighter than SBL Hebrew, set 100% black as usual, is far better. Brill has acquired a user license of MFT Narkiss Classic Light which fits in well with both SBL Hebrew and Guttman Mantova Bold. The font sizes to be used for Narkiss Classic Light are the same as the SBL Hebrew sizes. The MFT Narkiss Classic fonts have the full Biblical Hebrew glyph complement, so they have vowels and accents; but no Dead Sea Scrolls diacritics. Follow the same procedure for DSS diacritics and characters as mentioned above in connection with Guttman Mantova Bold. If you need a copy of Narkiss Light, please contact Pim Rietbroek.
Windows and macOS
Windows fonts, as long as they are TrueType fonts (.ttf) or TrueType Collections (.ttc), or CFF-flavoured OpenType fonts (.otf) can also be used on macOS.
The Hebrew script and Encoding
Basic information on the encoding of Hebrew text
Please consult Hebrew: the alphabet, the vowels and diacritics.
Dead Sea Scrolls diacritics and characters
The authoritative document on encoding Dead Sea Scrolls diacritics and characters can be found on the Brill website. Page 2 of the document “Manuscript Submission: Use of Hebrew (including transcriptions of Dead Sea Scrolls)” found there lists all relevant characters and provides a short explanation about the meaning of each character.
