Using Tyndale Greek & Hebrew Unicode font keyboard layouts

The Tyndale Unicode Font Kit can be downloaded here:

For Mac (http://legacy.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Fonts/download/TyndaleUnicodeMac.zip)

For PC (http://legacy.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Fonts/download/TyndaleUnicodePC.zip)

The kit provides:

• Hebrew font and keyboard including full pointing with automatic positioning
• Greek font and keyboard including breathing and accents with automatic positioning
• Transliteration font and keyboards for Greek, Hebrew and manuscript markups
• Masoretic punctuation font and keyboard for punctuation in the Hebrew Old
Testament

To start typing in Greek or Hebrew:

1) Turn on the keyboard at "EN" on the taskbar or toggle through keyboards with Alt-Shift
2) Change the font to Cardo

(On a Mac, click on the flag at top right)

Most word processors on a PC will work OK with Greek & right-to-left Hebrew. A few word
processors (eg Word Perfect) may never convert to Unicode. On the Mac, Word does not
cope with writing Hebrew right-to-left or pointing, but NeoOffice (free) writes Hebrew well
and Melel (cheap) does it perfectly.

Keyboards:

This summary keyboard layout is useful to remind you where everything is. But before you
go there, follow the rest of these instructions so you know which will show you how to
touch-type in Hebrew & Greek will all Biblical accents etc.
 Tyndale House Hebrew Unicode Keyboard

Caps Lock turns on Masoretic

punctuation on the top-row.

Type dagesh after letter

OR
press Rt-Alt with letter

Colon is Shewa and

right-Alt with vowels
make composite shewa

Shift for final forms

or for long vowels

Consonants and vowels are in sound-alike and look-alike positions.

Note that aleph = x ; ayin = y ; yod = j ; het = H ; and tet = f.
Shift is used for final forms and for pointed sin/shin (Q & W).
Short vowels are in lower case and long vowels in upper case.
Vowels are typed like they are pronounced - after the consonants.
Sheva = ";" and dagesh = "=", and automatically adjust for different letters.
Right-Alt (or Control+ left-Alt) adds sheva to vowels, and adds dagesh to other letters.
Masoretic punctuation is on the top row with Caps Lock. Add shift for symbols above letters.
Mac keyboard is identical, but use Option for Right-Alt and Option for Shift with Caps Lock.

Tyndale House Greek Unicode Keyboard

Caps Lock turns on Transliteration

Type top-row accents after letters.
Shift puts them above letters.

Set Greek breathing and

accent before typing vowels.

Right-Alt adds breathing

to accents (with Shift for
rough breathing)

The letters are in sound-alike and look-alike positions with upper case on Shift.
Note that theta = q; psi = y ; phi = f ; and final sigma = v.
Type breathing and accents on \ / = ’ and shift-‘ before letters.
Add breathing to accents with Right-Alt (plus Shift for rough breathing).
Add iota subscript (on the top-left key) after the letter.
For Transliteration switch on Caps Lock. Add shift for accents above letters in top row.
Mac keyboard is identical, but use Option for Right-Alt and Option for Shift with Caps Lock.

Keyboards © David Instone-Brewer of Tyndale House, Cambridge, 2008

These keyboards are free. If you feel grateful, you may donate $5 or $10 to my favorite Biblical Studies charity, Tyndale House.
Go to www.PayPal.com and donate to PayPal@Tyndale.cam.ac.uk. I programmed them in my spare time, so they are my donation.
Greek:

Turn on the Greek keyboard by setting the Language bar to EL

For a high-quality font, switch to Cardo, especially for accents & breathing.

Most of the alphabet is mapped to phonetic equivalents (ie similar sounding letters), and
others are mostly mapped to similar looking letters.

Most letters are on phonetic equivalents, with upper case on Shift eg:

• to get α type a • to get a Γ type Shift G

• to get a β type b • to get Δ type Shift D

There are a few non-phonetic letters are, ie:

• to get θ type q • to get ω type w

• to get ψ type y • to get η type h
• to get ς type v • to get ῳ type w ‘

Breathing & Accents Summary:

Type accents and breathings BEFORE the letter. If you just want an accent, press \ or / or =

• to add dots over them, hold Shift

For all breathing, press AltGr

• if you want just a soft breathing, press AltGr + ‘

 • if you want a soft breathing with an accent, press AltGr + \ or / or =
• if you want a harsh breathing with any of these, add Shift

In more detail:

Accents are on the keys with \ and / and ~ . They are typed before the letter. Only valid
accents are available.

• to get ὰ type \ a • to get ᾶ type = a

• to get ά type / a • to get ί type / i

Diaresis (dots) is shift-hyphen then υ or ι, or with shift plus normal accents, eg:

• to get ῢ type Sh+\ u • to get ῗ type Sh+= i

• to get ΰ type Sh+/ u • to get ϋ type Sh+- u
• to get ῧ type Sh+= u • to get ϊ type Sh+- i

Add breathings to accents by holding AltGr, and add Shift for harsh breathings.

(AltGk is the Alt on the right of the space bar. On a Mac, use the Alt Option key.)

Simple breathings are produced by holding AltGr with ' . Add Shift for harsh breathing, eg:

• to get ἀ type AltGr+' a • to get Ἁ type Sh-AltGr+' A

• to get ἁ type Sh-AltGr+' a • to get ῥ type AltGr+" r
• to get Ἀ type AltGr+' A • to get Ῥ type Sh-AltGr+' R

Breathing combined with accents are produced by holding AltGr with those accents, eg:

• to get ἂ type AltGr+\ a • to get ἃ type Sh-AltGr+\ a

• to get ἄ type AltGr+/ a • to get ἄ type Sh-AltGr+/ a
• to get ἆ type AltGr+= a • to get ἇ type Sh-AltGr+= a
• to get ἶ type AltGr+= i • to get ἷ type Sh-AltGr+= i

Transliteration:

This is included in the Greek keyboard so set the Language bar to EL

To turn on the Transliteration font, turn on Caps Lock.

Switch to the font Cardo to ensure all the symbols are available.

The letters are now in normal Roman font while the numbers are symbols, ie:
Type transliteration symbols AFTER the letter. Press numbers to put symbols above letters,
and Shift-number to put them above letters (on Mac, use Option-number), eg:

• to get s̮ type s 4 • to get s̆ type s $

• to get s̬ type s 7 • to get š type s (
• to get s͔ type s 9 • to get s̄ type s _
• to get s̱ type s - • to get s̊ type s @
• to get s̥ type s 2 • to get ṡ type s *
• to get ṣ type s 8

As a guide, the SBL system of transliteration is:

1 SBL Academic style

2 SBL General purpose style

Hebrew:

Turn on the Hebrew keyboard by setting the Language bar to HE

For a high-quality font, switch to Cardo, especially for pointing & punctuation.

Most of the alphabet is mapped to phonetic equivalents (ie similar sounding letters), and
others are mostly mapped to similar looking letters.
Most letters are on phonetic equivalents, with final forms on Shift.

• to get ‫ כ‬type k
• to get ‫ ך‬type Shift K
• to get ‫ מ‬type m
• to get ‫ ם‬type Shift M

There are a few non-phonetic letters are, ie:

• to get ‫ א‬type x • to get ‫ ע‬type y

• to get ‫ ט‬type f • to get ‫ י‬type j
• to get ‫ ח‬type H • to get ‫ ש‬type w `
• to get ‫ ׂש‬type Q • to get ‫ ׁש‬type s 4

Vowels are on normal vowels, with strong vowels on Shift vowels, ie:

• to get ַ type a • to get ָ type A

• to get ֶ type e • to get ֵ type E
• to get ִ type i • to get ‫ ִי‬type I
• to get ֹ type o • to get ‫ ֹו‬type O
• to get ֻ type u • to get ‫ ּו‬type U

Right-to-left is automatic, and vowels are AFTER the letter, just like in English, so to get ‫ֶמלֶ ך‬
type meleK.

Shewa and dagesh can be added after letters by using " ; " and " = ". Or add them to letters
by holding AltGr. (AltGk is the Alt on the right of the space bar. On a Mac, use the Alt Option
key.)
So AltGk with a vowel makes a composite shewa.

• to get ‫ ּב‬type b = or type AltGk+b • to get ֲ type AltGk+a

• to get ְ type ; • to get ֳ type AltGk+A
• to get ֱ type AltGk+e
Shewa, dagesh and other pointing are correctly positioned automatically, eg:

• to get ‫ ְב‬type b ; • to get ‫ ְך‬type K ;

• to get ‫ ִב‬type b i • to get ‫ ִד‬type d i
• to get ‫ ּפ‬type p = • to get ‫ ּי‬type j =
• to get ֹ‫ י‬type j o • to get ֹ ‫ ל‬type l o

Simple punctuation is on the main keyboard, ie

• to get ‫ ב‬type b ` • to get ‫ ־‬type ‫־‬

• to get ְ type ‫׃‬ • to get ֯‫ ב‬type b ~
• to get ‫ ׳‬type ‫׳‬ • to get ‫ ״‬type “

Masoretic punctuation

The Masoretes tried to eliminate ambiguity in the Hebrew Old Testament by indicating which
words form phrases together and which words did or did not act on each other. In order to
do this they created a complex system of punctuation.

• English has five or six ways to provide internal structure to sentences, while Masoretic
Hebrew has fourteen common ways and several rarer ones.
• English has only one way to make a compound word (using a hyphen) while
Masoretic Hebrew has eight major and several rarer ways of conjoining words.

An explanation of this system is installed with the Tyndale Kit.

Masoretic punctuation is on the number line when Caps Lock is turned on, eg:

• to get ‫ ב‬type b 1
• to get ‫ ב‬type b 2
• to get ‫ ב‬type b –
• to get ֯‫ ב‬type b 9
• to get ֯‫ ב‬type b !
• to get ֯‫ ב‬type b @
• to get ‫ ֿב‬type b _
• to get ‫ ֯ב‬type b 0

This punctuation is normally omitted when quoting the Hebrew OT.

Problems:

I can't remember all this!

Don't worry – use it for a little, and you'll soon be touch-typing.

Print the summary page and pin it up in front of you.

How do I copy and paste Bible texts without typing them?

You can do this in various ways, eg:

1) copy and paste from Crosswire.org

2) tell your Bible program (Accordance, Logos or BibleWorks) to export in Unicode

For example, in BibleWorks:

- click on Tools: Options: Fonts and select "Export Fonts"
- for Greek & Hebrew tick "Unicode" a choose a Unicode font such as Cardo

Hebrew accents are not working correctly.

• Perhaps you have not turned on the Cardo font?

Cardo contains positioning data which is not available in some Unicode fonts containing
Hebrew. Other good academic fonts include SIL Hebrew, SBL Hebrew, Code 2000 and TITUS.

• Perhaps you are trying to write Hebrew in Word on a Mac before Word2016?

Unfortunately Word on the Mac lagged years behind the PC for Unicode.

• Perhaps you are using a non-standard keyboard (Croatian or whatever)?

Keys such as single quote may not be indicated the same — try the key at the bottom left of
the Enter key.

Other keys may also need to be found by hunting around!

How do I insert the rare accents missing from the keyboard?

The Hebrew keyboard can’t contain all the Masoretic punctuation,

though the common punctuation is available on the top number line

when you turn on Caps Lock — use Shift to put the mark above a letter.

Punctuation which isn’t there has to be inserted manually, ie click on menu “Insert”, then
“Symbol”, find the character and click “Insert”.

For example, the Hebrew Accent Zarqa' or “sinnor” is code 05AE.

Right-to-left does not work in Windows XP:

Open the Control Panel for "Regional and Language Options" (click on "Start", "Control
Panels")

Click on tab "Languages" If there is no tick on "Install files for... right to left languages", tick it
and restart the computer (you may be asked for your Windows installation discs).
How do I move a furtive patach and other accents left or right?

The furtive patach and a few other accents should not be central.

To move an accent in Word, highlight just the accent (ie the left half of the character),

then press Ctrl-D (to edit the font), click on “Character Spacing”, and set Scale at 130%. Or
use a font that does this automatically such as SBL Hebrew.

Hebrew and Greek on my Mac insists on being Times New Roman or a Logos font!

I don't know why this happens, but if you reinstall Cardo it seems to cure it.

How do I write a diaresis?

To get a simple diaresis, type shift-hyphen before the letter.

To type a diaresis combined with an accent, type the same as you would for the accent by
itself, plus shift

eg type shift with forward slash then u to get a lightly quizzical smiley.

How do I stop sigma changing to final sigma before an accent?

If you try to type type ησὴ you can get ηςὴ. This is due to an auto-correct in Word.

In Options, untick “Ordinals (1st) with superscript”

How do I stop line spacing from growing when I write Hebrew?

Set the Line Spacing to an "Exact" (ie a fixed) amount.

You can do this for individual paragraphs or styles, but if you set the "Normal" style, this
should mean that everything else inherits it,

though you may wish to set footnotes to a smaller Line Spacing.

To set fixed line spacing for "Normal":

- Click on menu "Format", "Styles",

- right-click on "Normal", "Modify",

- click on "Format", "Paragraph", and set "Line spacing" to "Exactly"

- 12pt or 14pt should look good - try it and see

This setting will also fix a common problem with footnotes which sometimes don't appear
on the same page as the footnote marker without setting "Exact" line spacing. I don't know
why this should fix it, but it does.

How do I type common transliteration characters like e or ( ?

A transliteration keyboard is included: turn on Greek and click on Caps Lock

(see the details above)

However, this doesn’t include simple things like superscript "e" and "(".

Partly I didn't include these because I don't use transliteration much, and partly because you
already have them.

First, a rant about why I don't like transliteration:

Real Hebrew is written in Hebrew, or in simple transliteration such as or 'ayin (sing. 'eye') or
'eimim (dual 'eye')

- ie no superscripts or accents or curly breathings to indicate which sound you are not
pronouncing.

The purpose of transliteration used to be to represent the Hebrew letters when we didn't
have a Hebrew font,

or to help those who don't know how to pronounce the Hebrew,

or to quickly write some Hebrew without bothering to change font.

The first reason is no longer needed, and the other two are best done without accents and
curlies.

But if you do need transliteration, (ie if your old-fashioned publisher insists),

the Transliteration font in the Tyndale Unicode kit does most things, and here is how to do
other simpler things:
To write a superscript "(" without leaving the keyboard:

- press Ctrl+Shift+"="

- press "("

- press Ctrl+Shift+"=" again

If this becomes tedious, or if you want something a little more nuanced, create an auto-
correct, eg:

(the following assumes you have a menu bar, which was standard upto Word 2003 and an
optional extra there-after)

- make a superscript "(" as above, then highlight it and:

- click on "Format" > "Font" > "Character Spacing" tab

- change the "Scale" to "80%" (to make the curlie smaller)

- increase the "Spacing" to "1 pt" (to increase the gap before the next character)

- and increase the "Position" to "1 pt" (to increase the vertical position)

- click OK and see it if is as you want it. If it isn't, adjust some more.

- highlight your perfect curlie and click on Tools > Auto-correct options

- in "Replace" type ".("

- select "Formatted text" instead of "Plain text" and click OK

From now on, whenever you type ".(" it turns into your perfect curlie.

You can do this for a whole bunch of different characters.

I can’t see the Language Bar (the EL or EN etc) in Win.XP

This happens sometimes, the the following may fix it.

Go to Control panel>Regional and Language Options>Languages>Details

- you should see that the EL and HE fonts are installed. If they aren’t, re-run the installation.
In the Details tab, click on "Language Bar" - make sure "Show the Language bar..." is ticked.

Now untick it.

Now click on "Langauge Bar" again" and tick "Show the Language bar..." AND tick "Show text
labels on the Language bar"

If you still can't see it, right-click near the Task Manager (on the bottom-right of the screen
by default)

till you get the option for "Toolbar", and tick "Language bar"

Nomina Sacra in Unicode:

Use Unicode char 0305 (recommended by SBL)

- this is typed after a letter, but in some fonts it looks better if you also add a preceding char

̅θ̅ς̅ = θεος

̅ι̅η̅λ̅ = ισραηλ

̅υ̅ς̅ = υιος

̅χ̅ς̅ = χριστος

θ̅ς̅ = Cardo

θ̅ς̅ = Times New Roman

θ̅ς̅ = Arial

θ̅ς̅ = Tahoma

θ̅ς̅ = SBL Greek

To type it, change to TH Greek keyboard, and

1) type the letter (eg "a" for α)

2) press Alt-Gr (to the right of the space bar) with "-" (the hyphen key)

3) press any other key – ie the next letter or space

Special Text Cricial Symbols:

There are a few symbols which are available in the latest copy of Cardo from

www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/Cardo

If you already have the font you should be able to see an ornate P here: 𝔓

You may not see them in the Symbol Insert tool in Word because their number is

higher than Hex FFFF, so enter them manually, ie:

eg to insert the Majority Text symbol:

hold down Alt and type “120080″ (all on the number pad) then let go of Alt

(remember to use the + on the number pad)

Papyrus symbol = 120083

Septuagint, Greek Old Testament = 120086

Lectionary symbol = 119897

Some symbols for textual criticism aren’t available on any free Unicode font I know of.

(Even the SIL Apparatus font doesn’t have the Gothic M etc for OT TC)

The best commercial fonts are probably those from Linguist Software.

The only free alternative I know of is the non-Unicode font Garys.ttf from CSNTM

but even that isn’t perfect. I think it is time for OT TC to move on and use MT, LXX, and SP.

Why do I get a curly circumflex instead of a rounded one?

Originally the Greek circumflex was a combined acute + grave, ie

nóòs → nóùs → noûs or noũs

The two forms of the accent ( ^ or ~ ) are a matter of style or taste.

Cardo (which is installed with the Tyndale Unicode keyboard) has the style ~ like most Greek
fonts. Galaxie Unicode Greek has a rounded ^
So, if you like that style, you could use that font instead of Cardo.

How can I make nice dots under Greek to indicate uncertain characters?

The dot-under character is on the top left of most keyboards. Try this:

Change to the Tyndale Keyboard, then type "a" and Shift+"¬" (ie press Shift + the key to the
left of "1" in the top row)

You should get α̣

This works fine for characters that don't have a descender but not with eg γ̣

To make it look better, try using New Athena font (from

http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/New-Athena-Unicode)

This makes all the characters look good on printout, (though on the screen it still doesn't
look perfect).