Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] yhwh pronunciation

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Karl Randolph <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] yhwh pronunciation
  • Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 02:17:05 +0100

On 21/07/2005 20:37, Karl Randolph wrote:

I wonder if the furtive Petah is a vestage of an original pronunciation of
-Ha or -Xa, or in the case of Ayin -(a with a full glottal stop? It makes
those readings a lot easier.


The history of the furtive patah is interesting. But I don't think it is as you suggest.

It is helpful to look at old forms of names with furtive patah. For example, Yehoshua`/Yeshua`. The Greek form of this is almost always IHSOUS, with no trace of an "a" vowel; nothing like IHSOUAS is ever found, although the odd spelling IWSHE (W = omega, H = eta) is found in the Lucianic recension of LXX. But by the time of the Latin Vulgate Jerome writes IOSVE (and IESVS only for the New Testament character). This suggests a vowel glide in the pronunciation he heard, but not an "a" vowel. I think it was only with the Reformation that spellings like Joshua, with a final a, became standard.

Another name with a furtive patah is Noah. Here the Greek is NWE, and the Vulgate is NOE - so evidence of a vowel glide, but to "e" rather than "a".

Of course we cannot tell whether this final "e" was pronounced before or after the guttural consonant, because neither Greek nor Latin represented these consonants.

In fact it is part of the nature of sounds like het, ayin and (voiced) he that it is difficult to pronounce them with close vowels like "i" and "u". That explains the strong tendency throughout Hebrew grammar for "a" vowels before and after gutturals. And it explains why an "a" vowel was inserted to ease the transition from "i" or "u" to a word final guttural.


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



--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.9.2/54 - Release Date: 21/07/2005





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page