ש The twenty-first letter of the Heb. alphabet. The name of the letter ‘shin’ is prob. derived from שֵׁן (= tooth), and so called in allusion to the ancient form of this letter. In PBH it has the numerical value of three hundred. The letter ש marks two different sounds: שׂ (‘sin’) and שׁ (‘shin’). Heb. שׂ corresponds to Aram. שׂ and ס, Syr. ס, Ugar. sh, Arab. sh, Ethiop. sh, Akka. sh. cp. e.g. Heb. נָשָׂא, BAram. נְשָׂא, Aram. נְסָא (= he lifted, took, carried), Ugar. nsh (= to lift), Arab. nasha’a (= he rose, was high, grew up), Ethiop. nash’a (= he lifted; he transferred), Syr. מַסַּאתָא (= scales), Akka. nashū (= to lift; to carry). There are exceptions to the rule according to which Arab. sh corresponds to Heb. שׂ and vice versa. These exceptions are due mainly to assimilation, partly also to the circumstance that Heb. שׂ sometimes stands for orig. ס (see שׂכך, שׂבר ᴵ, שׂתם). In earlier Aram. and in BAram. שׂ is generally preserved, but many words that have שׂ in Biblical Heb. are regularly spelled in MH with ס. Heb. שׁ corresponds to Aram.–Syr. שׁ, Ugar. sh, Arab. s, Ethiop. sh, Akka. sh. cp. e.g. Heb. שָׁלוֹם, Aram.–Syr. שְׁלָם, שְׁלָמָא, Ugar. shlm, Arab. salām, Akka. shalāmu, shulmu (= peace). The s in Arab. shams (= sun) is due to dissimilation (see שֶׁמֶשׁ). In many cases Heb. שׁ corresponds to Aram.–Syr. תּ, Arab. th, Ethiop. s. cp. e.g. Heb. שָׁלשׁ, Aram.–Syr. תּֽלָת, Arab. thalāth, Ethiop. shalās (= three). As shown above, the Akka. equivalent of Heb. שׁ is sh. However, in some rare cases Heb. שׁ corresponds to Akka. s (as in sābu, ‘to draw water’, which corresponds to שׁאב). Akka. sh may become l before a dental. cp. e.g. ḫamishtu and ḫamiltu (= five; see חמשׁ), lubushtu and lubultu (= dress; see לבשׁ); mashtītu and maltītu (= drink; see שׁתה).