Darga (
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: ) is a
cantillation mark commonly found in the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
,
Haftarah
The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', he, הפטרה) "parting," "taking leave", (plural form: ''haftarot'' or ''haftoros'') is a series of selections from the books of ''Nevi'im'' ("Prop ...
, and other books. The symbol for the darga resembles a backwards Z.
The darga is usually followed by a
Tevir. It is most often found in places where a Tevir clause has two words that are closely related. The Hebrew word דַּרְגָּא translates into English as ''step''. With the Hebrew word ''tevir'' meaning "broken," the combination of darga tevir means ''"broken step."''
Darga can also be followed by a
Munach Rivia, and can (rarely) be followed by a
Mercha Kefula, an altogether rare trope.
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.
References
Cantillation marks
{{Hebrew-Bible-stub