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  • From: "Ian Hutchesson" <mc2499 AT mclink.it>
  • To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Zion
  • Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 18:29:33 +0200


>Why is Zion transliterated with a non-consonantal yud; Zion instead of
>Ziyon?

As no-one has responded, here's a rough guess. Most initial yods are
transliterated
as a consonant, usually with a "j" as in "Jeremiah" (with exceptions such as
before
sibilants, "Isaiah", "Ishmael" and "Israel"). The others are normally
translated
vocalically (with some exceptions of the theophoric element -yh, like Elijah,
Abijah).

At least this is how it appears with the English translations from the time
of the
AV onwards. The AV set a "standard", which all readers accepted and have used
from
that time onward, influencing all subsequent translations. How many
English-speaking
people would now ever accept, say, "Yirmiyahu" instead of "Jeremiah"? Zion has
always been (using phonetic represntation) /zaijon/ and I can't see many ever
attempting /tsijun/.

(It's a bit like the fact that Windows is rather mediocre, but everyone knows
it and
loves it.)


Ian






  • Zion, Silberman, Alfred, 08/07/2001
    • <Possible follow-up(s)>
    • Re: Zion, Johannes Hellberg, 08/07/2001
    • Re: Zion, Johannes Hellberg, 08/08/2001
    • Re: Zion, Ian Hutchesson, 08/08/2001
    • Re: Zion, Henry Churchyard, 08/10/2001
    • RE: Zion, Peter Kirk, 08/11/2001

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