Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

Peter:

I noticed that in Hebrew poetry, the two letters are treated as the same 
letter. Second, there are lexemes in Tanakh which have two different 
spellings where the only difference is that one spelling has a sin, the other 
shin. Third, there are words apparently from the same root, but in one form 
written with a sin (e.g. ’siym‘ to place) and another form with a shin (e.g. 
’sham‘ there, that place). Fourth, the number of lexemes that have different 
meanings but the same spelling, assuming sin and shin are the same letter, 
appears no more commonly than for other letters, whereas if they had been 
separate phonemes from way back, I expected to find more, many times more.

It is for these four reasons that I say that sin and shin were the same 
phoneme, at least, in pre-Galut Babel Hebrew.

Karl W. Randolph.

----- Original Message -----
From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>

> On 19/02/2004 14:30, Karl Randolph wrote:
> 
> >Yigal:
> >
> >You bring up two issues:
> >
> >I do not deny that the Sin and Shin were different letters as early as 
> >late Second Temple period, but were they different letters in pre-Galut 
> >Babel Hebrew? I think the evidence is against it. ...
> >
> 
> What evidence?
> 
> 
> -- 
> Peter Kirk
> peter AT qaya.org (personal)
> peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
> http://www.qaya.org/
> 

-- 
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