Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yohanan bin-Dawidh" <yohanan.bin.dawidh AT gmail.com>]

Dear Isaac,

You wrote, "I am just curious, but why do you write 'BIN' with an 'I'? Do
you come from a tradition where SEGOL and TSEREH are pronounced as a XIRIK,
or is it just in honor of YEHOSHUA BIN NUN? Then, why do you write 'dawidh'
(as in "Shlomo bin-Dawidh", apparently SHLOMO BEN DAVID) with a final 'h'?"

To be quite honest with you, I have never thought about the questions you
ask above. The only one that I have thought of, which you do not ask is why
I use "waw" verses "vav", because people have questioned me on this my whole
life.

I am not from a tradition where Segol and Tsereh are pronounced as a Hiriq,
but rather I have always written Hiriq, and pronounced Hiriq in the word
"bin". I know that in the Miq'ra such is not always the case with names,
actually it is rather rare, but it is the way that I have been
transliterating my name, and even writing my name in Hebrew for as long as I
can remember.

As to writing a dhaleth as "dh", this too is how I have always done, and I
have never thought about the reason why. And, yes, Shlomo bin-Dawidh is
"Shlomo ben David".

Yohanan bin-Dawidh