Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Joe Baker <joebaker AT cygnus.uwa.edu.au>]

Hi Karl

Regarding
<quote>
    the transliteration of Artaxerxes: the first Xi in the name 
corrosponds
    to the Hebrew and Aramaic X$ ... but the second one in Hebrew, such 
as
    all the times in Nehemiah and in Ezra 7:7, 11 were written with a 
samekh,
    while Ezra in his Aramaic portions, e.g. Ezra 4:4, 7:21 
transliterated
    the /x/ with a sin/shin.
</quote>

Problem here is you are trying to compare a Greek form with 
Hebrew/Aramaic - whereas you should be trying to compare them with the 
original Persian (Old Iranian). As you say - the first X$ in 
Hebrew/Aramaic is a match for the first Persian sibilant. But the 
second Persian sibilant had no corresponding sound in Greek, Hebrew or 
Aramaic. So each  substituted the nearest available sound in their own 
language. In Persian, the original sound was like a sibilant version of 
-thr- (as in three). (In Babilian the first sibilant was written "k$" 
and the second as "ts", in Egyptian the first was X$ the second "s$").

Regards
Joe Baker ===========\
Perth                |
Western Australia ===/