Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 29/09/2003 04:00, Trevor Peterson wrote:

> Good point. A couple of thoughts on the other hand. First, I don't know that 
> we could rule it out on this basis, since it's possible that there were 
> different ways of pronouncing it. Second, regarding your suggestion yesterday 
> about a furtive patach, I wonder how the evidence shapes up for Greek 
> rendering. The most obvious example that comes to my mind is IHSOUS from 
> yeshua, which doesn't seem to preserve the furtive patach. Is there any 
> evidence of a Greek preservation of this sound? For that matter, I would think 
> we'd want specific evidence of Greek epsilon for furtive patach, if we're 
> going to suppose that Liz's pronunciation is correct.
>
> (I don't know if this is at all relevant, but segol in Tiberian pointing often 
> corresponds to patach in Babylonian, which has no equivalent to segol. On the 
> other hand, it's Tiberian pointing that gives us the furtive patach, so if it 
> was a Western tendency to pronounce this glide element closer to epsilon, I 
> would think they'd have rendered it that way.)
>
> Trevor Peterson
> CUA/Semitics
>
>
>  
I thought of an example surprisingly quickly: Greek NWE from Hebrew 
NOXA, furtive patah. Also, conveniently on the same page of BDB, Greek 
MANWE from Hebrew MFNOWXA. But, oddly, YFNOWXA becomes ANIWX or IANWX. 
Also, according to BDB, Y:HOW$U(A becomes WSHE or IWSHE in some Greek 
MSS in 1 Sam 6:14,18, 2 Kings 23:8 when not assimilated to the more 
regular IHSOUS.

There are not many other proper names with furtive patah in the HB. Here 
are the other ones I could find, with their Greek versions (omitting 
obviously corrupt ones) according to BDB:

With ayin:

QFD"$ B.AR:N"(A > ... BARNH
YFPI(A > IAF(A)IE, IEFEIS, IABEG, FAGGAI, IAFAGAI, IAFFIE
)E$:T.:MO(A > ??
MAL:K.IY-$W.(A > MELCEISA, MELCESOUE (C = chi)
G.IL:B.O(A > ??
$AM.W.(A > SAMMOUS[E] (??), SAMOUEI, SAMOUE
HOW$"(A > AUSH, WSHE
B.AT-$W.(A > ??
T.:QOW(A > QEKWE, QEKOUE (Q = theta)
)A$:B."(A > ??
ZIY(A > ZOUE, ZEA
):ABIY$W.(A > ABESSOUE
T.AX:R"(A / T.A):R"(A > QEREE, QAREE, QARAA
):ELIY$W.(A > ??
YAD.W.(A > IEDDOUA, IADOU, IEDDOU
QOW(A > ??

With het:

CFP:NAT P.A(:N"XA > YONQOMPANHC, YOMQOMPANHC (Y = psi)
NEP:T.OWXA > MAFQW, NAFQW
B."YT T.AP.W.XA > ??
("YN T.AP.W.XA > ??
):APIYXA > ??
G.IYXA > ??
P.FRW.XA > FARROU, BARSAOUX
QFR"XA > KARHE
$W.XA >  SWUE, SWE, SOUE
B.FRIYXA > ??
P.FS"XA > BESSHE, FESSH, FASSA, FASEK, FESSE
YFROWXA > AROUE
T.OWXA > QEIE, QOOUE, QOKE, QOOU, QWE
):AXOWXA > ??
N:CIYXA > NASOUS, NEQIE, ASEIA, NEISEIA, NESIA
$ILOXA > S(E)ILWAM

With he with mappiq: none!

Some further evidence for furtive patah becoming alpha in Greek is 
MESSIAS from MF$IYXA, in the NT etc though not in LXX.

So it looks as if furtive patah sometimes became alpha, and was 
sometimes dropped, but most commonly became epsilon. All evidence for a 
theory of the divine name which I don't actually hold.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/