Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Pere Casanellas <pere.casanellas AT btlink.net>]

At 22:58 17/01/2004 -0500, Trevor Peterson wrote:

> I keep coming back to the issue of transliteration, mostly because I'm not 
> happy with any system I've come across so far. Some of the things that 
> bother me are
>
> 1) the problem of representing matres lectionis in a responsible manner
> 2) how to represent the vowels (according to a seven-vowel system)
> 3) balancing representation of the written signs with readability
>
> [...]
>
> 2) For the vowels, I do not represent length. I use seven distinct signs 
> and three subscripted vowels for the half-vowels. For the full vowels, I 
> use e for tsere, o for holem, u for kubbutz, i for hireq, and a for patah. 
> I use the combined ae symbol for segol and a with a circle overtop for 
> qametz (regardless of whether it comes from original a or u). This is 
> basically the system used in Saenz-Badillos. I represent half-vowels with 
> subscripted a, e, and o. (It might be more precise to use ae and circle-a, 
> but that seems needlessly complicated.) I don't represent shva at all, 
> regardless of whether it's so-called vocal shva or silent.

I use a system similar to the one used by the revue 'Biblica' (Rome) which 
has been adopted by the Associació Bíblica de Catalunya and the Institut 
d'Estudis Catalans. But as you do, we use the combined 'ae' symbol for 
segol and 'a' with circle overtop for qamets (not the length diacritics as 
in 'Biblica'). I do not like the 'e' grave for segol (as Peter Kirk 
suggests) because the accent in some languages, as Spanish, Catalan or 
Italian, is written always on the stressed syllable (and the segol is not 
always obviously stressed), and I prefer a simple character, without 
diacritics, for every basic vowel.

We represent the half-vowels with the vowel (a, e, o) + breve diacritic 
overtop.

We represent the vocal sheva with a superscripted 'e' (or with the 
superscripted circle º). In this way we can distinguish between "C, sheva, 
C" and "C, dagesh". We represent also the alef in any case. As Peter Kirk 
noted, we should represent every sheva (also silent sheva) in order to 
distinguish in every case alef quiescent and not-quiescent.

> 3) I represent doubling by writing the consonant doubled. Where necessary, 
> I represent spirantization of bgdkft letters with a horizontal stroke over 
> or under the letter. This is standard practice.

We use the same system.

> 4) I represent matres lectionis by writing the vowel according to the 
> equivalences given in #2 and following it with a superscript of the mater 
> consonant. This shows the reader both the consonantal writing and the 
> Masoretic vocalization while still facilitating readability. It has the 
> advantage over the SBL and CBQ system that it distinguishes between, for 
> instance, tsere-yod, tsere-he, and segol-he.

Your system is very clear and unambiguous, but maybe too complicated. We 
use the circumflex to represent some matres lectionis, as follows:

hireq + yod: î
tsere + yod: ê
segol + yod: aê
holem + waw: ô
qamets + he: â
shureq: û

tsere + he: eh
segol + he: aeh
holem + he: oh

The problem we have is that the ending '-eh' is ambiguous (the reader does 
not know whether the he has a mappiq or not). We could superscript the he 
when it is mater lectionis as you do.

> 5) I'm not sure what to do with quiescent alef and furtive patah. Right 
> now, my inclination is simply to write them as ' and a, respectively. 
> Anyone who knows Hebrew should be able to recognize where alef is 
> quiescent without needing it pointed out; since consonants are always 
> written, the only way to have a after another vowel is if the vowel is a 
> furtive patah. I don't want to write quiescent alef as a superscript, 
> because it is actually the opposite of a mater. I don't want to put either 
> one in parenthesis, because I think that looks ugly and is probably 
> unnecessary.
>
> [...]

We represent always furtive patah and alef.

Best wishes,

--
Pere Casanellas
E-mail: pere.casanellas AT btlink.net
        pcasanel AT pie.xtec.es
http://www.pere.casanellas.com/bible
Barcelona
CATALONIA (Spain)