Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dr. Joel M. Hoffman" <joel AT exc.com>]

>> > [...] all the letters which are both Hebrew shin and Aramaic shin,
>> > are sin in Arabic. [...]
>> 
>> Interesting indeed.  Can someone recommend a good and accurate history
>> of Arabic.
>
>I suppose you are curious why there is a change between Arabic and Hebrew
>as to which root letter represents an $ sound and which an s sound.  Well, 
>my 
>understanding is that originally $ and & were very similar to an /s/ sound,
>and in fact, Samekh was not an /s/ sound.  The three similar s sounds 
>simply merged differently, and in each case a different branch developed
>to an $.  I'd suggest you look up the following:
>[...]

Thanks.  I'm curious about a lot of things, and I'm particularly
ignorant about Arabic, so I want to learn it's history anyway.  I
don't even know when it first surfaces, or what is known about it
before the classical period.

But I also know that a lot of what is generally accepted about Hebrew
is simply wrong, and much of what is generally accepted about ancient
sounds is likewise mere hypothesis.  Furthermore, Arabic (like Hebrew)
is religiously charged, a state of affairs that makes it's harder to
get reliable information.


-Joel Hoffman
 http://www.exc.com/JoelHoffman