Inverted nun
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Inverted nun (נו"ן מנוזרת "isolated nun" or נו"ן הפוכה "inverted nun" or "׆" in Hebrew) is a rare glyph used in classical Hebrew. Its function in the ancient texts is disputed. It takes the form of the letter nun in mirror image, and appears in the Masoretic text of the Tanakh in nine different places:
The images at right show three common variants of the inverted nun – vertically flipped, horizontally flipped, and Z-shaped. Other renderings exist, corresponding to alternative interpretations of the term "inverted". It may also occur with a dot above.
Inverted nuns are found in nine passages of the Masoretic Text of the Bible. The exact shape varies between different manuscripts and printed editions. In many manuscripts, a reversed nun is found—referred to as a "nun hafucha" by the Masoretes. In some earlier printed editions, they are shown as the standard nun upside down or rotated, because the printer did not want to bother to design a character to be used only nine times. The recent scholarly editions of the Masoretic text show the reversed nun as described by the Masoretes. In some manuscripts, however, other symbols are occasionally found instead. These are sometimes referred to in rabbinical literature as "simaniyot" (markers).
In the Torah, the inverted nuns frame the text
Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, "Rise up, Lord! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you." Whenever it came to rest, he said, "Return, Lord, to the countless thousands of Israel."
The nuns are generally positioned close to, but not touching, the first and last words of the couplet. They are supposed to be positioned between the gaps in between the paragraphs, but there is disagreement as to how this should be done. Some texts invert the existing nuns in the Torah text and don't add inverted nuns before and after it.
Rashi's commentary states that the name of the city of Haran at the end of the Torah portion Noach also occurs with an inverted nun, but this is not found in existing texts.
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