Darga
Hebrew cantillation mark
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Darga (Hebrew: דַּרְגָּא) is a cantillation mark commonly found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books. The symbol for the darga resembles a backwards Z.[1]
| Darga | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| cantillation | |||||||
| Sof passuk/Sof aliyah | ׃ | 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 darga is a conjunctive (mesharet) which precedes disjunctives (mafsikim) Tevir, Mercha kefula and Revia, but the cases in which it appears differ dependig on the disjunctive:
- Before a Tevir, the conjunctive is a darga only when there is at least four syllables between the conjunctive and the disjunctive (both included) as in וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים (Genesis 1:4). Otherwise it is a Mercha
- When there is two conjunctives before a Revia, the first one is a darga (the second one is a Munach as usual)
- The conjunctive which precedes a mercha kefulah is always a darga
The Aramaic word דַּרְגָּא translates into English as step.
Total occurrences
Melody
The Ashkenazic darga is recited in a fast, downward slope, as follows:
The Sefardic darga is ascending, and the Moroccan darga is descending with a waver in the middle.[4]
