Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Pawel Sajdek <pawel AT kul.stalwol.pl>]

Edward Andrews napisał(a):

> Pawell:
>
> As to the pronunciation “Jehovah;” as I brought out earlier, the origin of 
> the word Jehovah used to be attributed to Petrus Galatinus. 

Well, my intention was not to stick to the idea that Galatinus that 
Petrus Galatinus
was the first to use the 'Jehovah' version of the Name. All I meant was 
that Christians
(whom Shoshanna mentioned) would have welcomed ANY version of the Name
with the equal indifference. In the first editions of Polish official 
catholic Bible dating
back to early 1960s the translator used the 'Jahwe' version of the name. 
No one
cared, although people seemed to be more accustomed to 'Jehowa' (everybody
knows e.g. the 'Jehovah Witness' sect). I mean - the attitude of Jews 
towards the
Name does not resemble the Christians', that's it. But, by the way:

> In the Hebrew language, “There are, generally speaking, two main 
> pronunciations: the Ashkenazi, or German, originated by central and Eastern 
> European Jews and carried to all countries to which those Jews have 
> emigrated (Western Europe, America, etc.); and the Sephardi, or Spanish, 
> used by Jews of Spanish or Portuguese stock in Europe and America and also 
> by Jews from Oriental countries. 

That's right, I happen to live in the Ashkenazi area, though there are 
very few Jews left.
But those who are left gave me an idea of what Ashkenzi Hebrew sounds lke.

> It is a well known fact, that the Ashkenazi Jews had changed the 
> pronunciation of the jod to that of the “y” sound. However, the Sephardic 
> Jews have kept the original pronunciation of the jod as “j.”
>  

Known as th fact may be, it is the first time in my life I hear of it. 
What is the
difference in pronunciation between the two 'yod's'? I have always believed
at this point the two standards of Hebrew do not differ at all.

Best Wishes -

--
Pawel Sajdek
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