Darga () is a cantillation mark commonly found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books. The symbol for the darga resembles a backwards Z.Chanting the Hebrew Bible By Joshua R. Jacobson, page 45
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 translates into English as step.
Total occurrences BookNumber of appearancesTorah1091Concordance of the Hebrew accents in the Hebrew Bible: Concordance ..., Volume 1 By James D. Price, page 6 Genesis253 Exodus221 Leviticus171 Numbers237 Deuteronomy209Nevi'im710Concordance of the Hebrew accents in the Hebrew Bible: Concordance ..., Volume 1 By James D. Price, page 5Ketuvim637
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.
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