Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk" <peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com>]

Thanks for the information about Greek.

As for Spanish: No, in fact I don't know much about Spanish, but it seems
unlikely given that this is a shift in progress in Romance (and other)
languages, in a region where aspirated voiced plosives are unknown. Of
course Greek has now undergone the same change - but as you say we can't
know for sure that there wasn't an aspirated plosive stage there as well.

I don't think you can assume that changes current in Pompeii were unknown in
the land of Israel at the same period. There would have been many
Greek-speaking Italians (for Greek was very widely spoken even in Italy in
this period - it was probably this spread that prompted the phonetic change
as westerners brought up on Latin would not have been able to pronounce the
aspirated versions) in the occupying forces - I note from Acts 10:1 that one
of the occupying regiments (probably in the 30's CE) was called the Italian
Regiment. Of course the conditions were not favourable for linguistic
cross-fertilisation. But I guess that people of that period transliterating
Hebrew into Greek, if peh, taw and kaf were at that time pronounced as
fricatives, would have chosen phi, theta and chi as the best fit. And it is
certainly not out of the question that the changes in Greek could have
prompted changes in how Hebrew was pronounced, but all the more so if Hebrew
was in fact dying as a spoken language.

Peter Kirk
peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com
http://web.onetel.net.uk/~peterkirk/
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-
> bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Shai Heijmans
> Sent: 02 June 2003 18:18
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Are peh, taw and kaf aspirated in Biblical Hebrew?
> 
<snip>

... And as for Spanish, are you *completely sure*
> there was no middle stage of aspirated plosives?
> 
<snip>