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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
  • To: "b-hebrew-lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Was Schewa really silent?
  • Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:26:44 -0500

Hi, Joel,
I am having difficulty accepting this theory of shewa. How do you
account for the fact that ancient Greek and Latin transliterations of
Hebrew names often render the shewa as a full vowel?

If we are to go by the LXX, we have to throw out a lot of the
Masoretic grammar.

Still, the most commonly cited example of a vocal shewa is S'DOM,
which becomes SODOM in the LXX. It's a bad example, beause SD--- is
an impossible start to a Greek word. (We see similarly issues in the
American pronunciation of "Sri Lanka." Almost everyone says
"Shree..." because Enlglish words cannot start with the sounds SR---.)
This shows us how nuanced the evidence can be.

It is certainly possibly for English words to begin with the sound "sr." I just listened to the American Heritage Dictionary pronunciation of Sri Lanka, and it does not use an "h." It is not hard to say "sree."

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




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