Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On 1/15/07, Oun Kwon wrote:
> Please clarify for me.  Someone wrote:
>
> There is no "w" in Hebrew. The so called waw to which so many
> non-Hebraicists make reference is pronounced vav, and should, in fact,
> be written that way, and usually is. Yahweh is not even a possible
> pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton.

In the Tiberian tradition, w is pronounced [w] only when it occurs before
or after an [u] vowel.  Elsewhere, it is to be pronounced [v], the same as
a bet without dagesh.

For example, Gen 1:9 should have:
[vaj-'jo:-mɛr]
[yiq-qɔ:-'wu:]
and Gen 1:10:
[ul-miq-'ve:]

However, [v] is most likely a later development from an original *[w] which
was realized in all situations.

Yitzhak Sapir