Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Glenn Cook" <pule67 AT hotmail.com>]

Dear Jason Hare

Thank you so very much for your kindness in taking time to answer my
question about VAV.

As you are using a W and pronouncing it like a V,  It sounds like you are
using a German W, as the German W sounds a little like the English V. Is
that the case? If so, it makes sense, as so much of the early work on
transliteration, etc. was done in Germany. And, many of the words we use are
German transliterations of the Greek or Hebrew. For example, JESUS, but we
have given up the German pronunciation and use an English pronunciation
instead. Too bad, as the German pronunciation of these letters would get us
closer to the Greek. But, I don't think our Savior will hold the fact that
we mispronounce the Greek form of his name against us. Especially when I
don't think his mother called him by the Greek form of his name anyway.

If it is not offensive to anyone, I think I will stay with VAV, as we are
working in English and it seems a little less confusing that using a W and
trying to remember to pronounce it like a V.

It has been a great blessing finding this list. I didn't realize how starved
I was for intellectual intercourse until I started reading and enjoying you
discussions.

Glenn Cook

----- Original Message -----
From: Jason Hare <parousia_occ AT yahoo.com>
To: Glenn Cook <pule67 AT hotmail.com>
Cc: Biblical Greek <b-greek AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 6:48 AM
Subject: Re: VAV


> Greetings,
>
> Although we write WAW, we pronounce it like a V.  The
> reasoning is that the pronunciation of WAW used to be
> like a W instead.  The Sephardic pronunciation (I
> believe) is that of a V.  This is the one used in
> Israel today.  Before modern Hebrew was used and chose
> this pronunciation the WAW was a W sound, therefore
> for the sake of consistency most continue to use WAW
> and say V.  I hope this helps.  (Well, actually, I
> hope my understanding of the situation is accurate.)
>
> Blessings be yours,
>
> Jason Hare
> Ozark Christian College
> parousia_occ AT yahoo.com
>
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