schwa

The story

1. Classical Syriacܫܘܳܝܳܐ (š'waya)
2. Hebrewשווא (š’wā)
3. GermanSchwa
4. English todayschwa

Borrowed from German Schwa, from Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (shva, šəwā, “(mark indicating reduction or absence of a vowel)”), borrowed from Classical Syriac ܫ̈ܘܰܝܳܐ (š'wayyā, literally “even, equal”), in Syriac a term for a sign consisting of two vertical dots used to separate parts of a sentence. Doublet of shva.