Biblical Hebrew Forum

[KELowery AT cs.com]

On 28 Mar 2000, at 14:01, Glenn Cook wrote:

> I have just found this service and have enjoyed your arguments, but need
> enlightenment on your transliteration.

You can get all the details from our list's charter: 
<http://metalab.unc.edu/bhebrew/>

For you convenience, I've copied the transliteration scheme to the end of 
this 
message.

> When I read Joseph's letter, for instance and he says: 1. In 1 Sam 1:28 some
> manuscripts read YI$:T.AX:AWW,

The Y is yodh, I is hiriq, $ is shin, . is dagesh, X is heth, :A is 
chatef-patah, W 
is waw, etc. Other people use modified versions of this. On our list, we 
don't try to 
enforce a single transliteration scheme (especially as we expect to leave 
transliteration behind us in email software in just a couple more years...). 
Just 
keep the Hebrew text by you as you read, and most of the time it will be 
clear.

It is a visual way of transliteration, which was developed in the early days 
of 
computing, when ASCII was all we had. The day is soon approaching when we as 
a list 
can assume everyone has an email client which can handle MIME, fonts, rich 
text 
formatting codes, etc. Then we'll have real Hebrew text! But we're a couple 
of years 
away from that, yet.

> I'm just an old man that sets in his study and reads and you are very busy
> students, so don't worry about this and only answer if you have the time.

Welcome aboard! We hope you enjoy the discussions and, even more, that you 
will 
profit from them!

Blessings,

Kirk
B-Hebrew Co-Chair

Consonants   
Aleph  ) or '  
Beth  B  
Gimel  G  
Daleth  D  
Heh  H  
Waw  W  
Zayin  Z  
Cheth  X  
Teth  +  
Yod  Y  
Kaph  K  
Lamedh  L  
Mem  M  
Nun  N  
Samek  S  
Pe  P  
Ayin  ( or `  
Tsade  C  
Qoph  Q  
Resh  R  
Sin  &  
Shin  $  
Tav  T  
    
Vowels   
Patah  A 
Qamets  F 
Segol  E 
Tsere  " 
Hireq  I 
Holem  O 
Qamets Chatuf F 
Qibbuts  U 
Shureq  W 
.  Shewa  :  
Hatef Patah  :A 
Hatef Segol  :E 
Hatef Qamets  :F 
    
Miscellaneous   
Ketiv  *  
Qere  **  
Dagesh  .  
Meqqeph  -  

________________________________________________________
Kirk E. Lowery, Ph.D.             Email: KELowery AT cs.edu
Associate Director                Phone: 215-572-3854
The Westminster Hebrew Institute    Fax: 215-887-5404
Westminster Theological Seminary
P.O. Box 27,009
Philadelphia, PA 19118