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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Initial "Beged Kefet" consonants always have a...

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Vadim Cherny <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Initial "Beged Kefet" consonants always have a...
  • Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 10:27:21 +0100

On 19/10/2005 10:00, Vadim Cherny wrote:

I suggest only one possible inaccuracy, in the transliteration of Keturah.



What's wrong with that? Kof aspirated in non-accented syllable. ...



My point is simply that this is the one exception to an otherwise simple rule, that qof is transliterated as kappa, and kaf as chi.


Simply the rule is defined too narrowly without considering the environment. (Joel doesn't see the environment, and reaches wrong conclusion on erratic differences between LXX and MT.)
Schwa in antepenult syllables is vocal (k(e)turAh) because of apportioning the air flow (pretonic schwa, on the contrary, is silent), and likewise consonants in antepenults are in a sense "vocal," aspirated. Thus kof as chi.


I was simply putting forward a provisional hypothesis. I found that this explained all of Joel's list (consonants only) except for this one case. At this point we have two alternatives: one is to refine the hypothesis, perhaps along the lines which you suggest; the other is to write off occasional exceptions as due to some kind of corruption. But my point remains, that my provisional hypothesis accounts for nearly all of the changes without requiring that Hebrew pronunciation has changed greatly since LXX times. You also don't seem to see any great changes in Hebrew pronunciation. So I think we can agree that there is no good evidence, at least that has been presented yet, to prove that the LXX translators pronounced Hebrew consonants very differently from the Masoretes.

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





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