Illuy (cantillation)

This article is about the Torah trope. For a young Torah prodigy, see Illui.

Illuy
עִלּוּי ֬ דָּבָ֬ר
cantillation
Sof passuk	׃		Paseq	׀
Etnakhta/atnakh	֑		Segol	֒
Shalshelet	֓		Zakef katan	֔
Zakef gadol	֕		Tifcha/tarkha	֖
Rivia	֗		Zarka	֘
Pashta	֙		Yetiv	֚
Tevir	֛		Geresh	֜
Geresh muqdam	֝		Gershayim	֞
Karne parah	֟		Telisha gedola/talsha	֠
Pazer	֡		Atnah hafukh	֢
Munakh/shofar holekh	֣		Mahpach	֤
Merkha/ma’arikh	֥		Mercha kefula	֦
Darga	֧		Qadma	֨
Telisha qetana/tarsa	֩		Yerah ben yomo	֪
Ole	֫		Illuy	֬
Dehi	֭		Tsinnorit	֮

The Illuy or Iluy (Hebrew: עִלּוּי) is a Trope (from Yiddish טראָפּ "trop") in the Judaic Liturgy. It is one of the cantillation marks used in the three poetic books: Job, the Book of Proverbs, and the Psalms. Accordingly, it is a special mark belonging to the Ta'amei Sifrei Emet (meaning, the accent signs of the books of truth).

Symbol

The symbol of Illuy ( ֬ ) is the same as that of Munach ( ֣ ), except that the Illuy is positioned above the Hebrew letter, while the Munach is positioned below it.

In the Yemeni tradition the Illuy is also called the "Shofar illuy" (Hebrew: שׁוֹפָר עִלּוּי). However, "Shofar illuy" means Munach in the Italian tradition.

Description

The Hebrew word עִלּוּי is a derivative of the word עִלִּי (meaning "upper" or "top"), hence its position above the letter.

Occurrences

The Trope Illuy occurs in only three books.

Part of the Tanach	Illuy
Book of Job	20
Proverbs	14
Psalms	146
Total	180

Literature

• William Wickes: A treatise on the accentuation of the three so-called poetical books on the Old Testament, Psalms, Proverbs, and Job. 1881 (Illuy (cantillation) at the Internet Archive).
• William Wickes: A treatise on the accentuation of the twenty-one so-called prose books of the Old Testament. 1887 (Illuy (cantillation) at the Internet Archive).
• Arthur Davis: The Hebrew accents of the twenty-one Books of the Bible (K"A Sefarim) with a new introduction. 1900 (Illuy (cantillation) at the Internet Archive).
• Francis L. Cohen (1906). "Cantillation". In Isidore Singer (ed.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. III. New York: KTAV Publishing House. pp. 542–548.
• Solomon Rosowsky (1957). The Cantillation of the Bible. The Five Books of Moses. New York: The Reconstructionist Press.
• James D. Price (1996). Concordance of the Hebrew accents in the Hebrew Bible. Vol. I: Concordance of the Hebrew Accents used in the Pentateuch. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellon Press. ISBN 0-7734-2395-8.
• Joshua R. Jacobson (2002). Chanting the Hebrew Bible. The art of cantillation (1. ed.). Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society. ISBN 0-8276-0693-1.
• Joshua R. Jacobson (2005). Chanting the Hebrew Bible. Student Edition. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society. ISBN 0-8276-0816-0.