Q. I've been noticing that there are a wide assortment of siddurim that have the word Siddur printed either as סדור or סידור. At first I thought that it might be a difference between אשכנז or ספרד or even ספרדי or ארי or even a difference in publisher.
Then I noticed that some siddurim would say סדור and סידור on the front even being the same nusach and publisher.
Then I noticed the weirdest thing of all, my Artscroll Sfard Sidur had ספרד written on the cover and סידור written on the spine.
My question is what's up with the switching back and forth? What's with all the interchangeability?
A. The word siddur comes from the Hebrew root ס־ד־ר, meaning 'order.'
The most common way of spelling the name of our ordinary Prayer Book is Siddur is usually סידור with a letter Yud. This is the universally accepted ktiv malle used in most modern Israeli Hebrew, daily publications, and most printed prayer books today. The yud acts as a vowel writing implement to ensure the word is pronounced with an "ee" sound. However in older Prayer books you may find the title without a Yud.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Y. Hirshman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller and Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu, Horav Kalman Ochs, and Horav Dovid Bartfeld consulting in need Horav Hagaon Rav Yitzchak Berkowitz Shlit’a
Important Numbers
