Nun (letter)

Nun is the fourteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Nūn , Hebrew Nun נ, Aramaic Nun , Syriac Nūn ܢܢ, and Arabic Nūn ن (in abjadi order). It is the third letter in Thaana (ނ), pronounced as "noonu".
Its sound value is [n].

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek nu (Ν), Etruscan , Latin N, and Cyrillic Н.

Origins

Nun is believed to be derived from an Egyptian hieroglyph of a snake (the Hebrew word for snake, nachash begins with a Nun and snake in Aramaic is nun) or eel. Some have hypothesized a hieroglyph of fish in water as its origin (in Arabic, nūn means large fish or whale). The Phoenician letter was named nūn "fish", but the glyph has been suggested to descend from a hypothetical Proto-Canaanite naḥš "snake", based on the name in Ethiopic, ultimately from a hieroglyph representing a snake,

(see Middle Bronze Age alphabets). Naḥš in modern Arabic literally means "bad luck". The cognate letter in Ge'ez and descended Semitic languages of Ethiopia is nehas, which also means "brass".

Nun

A nun is a member of a religious community of women, typically one living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. She may have decided to dedicate her life to serving all other living beings, or she might be an ascetic who voluntarily chose to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent. The term "nun" is applicable to Catholics (eastern and western traditions), Orthodox Christians, Anglicans, Lutherans, Jains, Buddhists, Taoists, Hindus and some other religious traditions.

While in common usage the terms "nun" and "sister" are often used interchangeably (the same title of "Sister" for an individual member of both forms), they are considered different ways of life, with a "nun" being a religious woman who lives a contemplative and cloistered life of meditation and prayer for the salvation of others, while a "religious sister", in religious institutes like Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, lives an active vocation of both prayer and service, often to the needy, ill, poor, and uneducated.

Aryika

Aryika is the term used to refer female monastic (nun) in Jainism.

Gyanmati

Gyanmati Mataji is a Jain nun having the rank of Ganini Pramukha.

See also

Notes

References

Nun pigeon

The Nun is a breed of fancy pigeon developed over many years of selective breeding, was also known as the Dutch Shell Pigeon in continental Europe. Nuns, along with other varieties of domesticated pigeons, are all descendants from the rock pigeon (Columba livia). The Nun is one of the oldest breeds and was originally a flying tumbler before being developed for exhibition. It is a mostly white breed, with a hood of feathers which gives the name to the breed.

Description

The Nun is given its name by the raised feathers which form a kind of hood which covers the back of the neck and head. Continental Europe previously referred to the Nun as the Dutch Shell Pigeon during the early part of the 20th century. It resembles the tumbler, from which this breed of pigeon originated; although as with all domestic pigeons they are descended from the rock pigeon (Columba livia). They have mostly white bodies and are designated according to the color of their head, i.e. a black headed Nun, or a yellow headed Nun. Only the head, tail and the flight feathers should be so colored. Nuns are one breed in a group of pigeons who fly at high altitudes, along with types of tumblers and the Magpie breed.