Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Also remember, that the vocalization of the Babylonian is a standard 
vocalization of Akkadian used by modern scholars (based on 18th century BCE 
Babylonian), which does not really reflect they exact way in which the name 
would have been pronounced by a Chaldean Neo-Babylonian in the 6th century. 
The same is true for the Hebrew: the consonental spelling in the MT reflects 
the way the name would have been heard by a 6th century Judahite, but the 
vocalization is that of 10th century CE Tiberias (albeit reflecting an older 
tradition).

Think of the name Sargon. The Akkadian spelling of the name is "Sharru-kin", 
and of course this was the name of the famous king of Akkad (Agade) in the 
23rd century BCE. But the "biblical" spelling, which appears only in Isaiah 
20:1, is that of his 8th century Assyrian namesake. In Akkadian, the two are 
spelled the same, but by the 8th century, Assyrians apparently pronounced 
"Sh" like "S" and their "K" sounded (to a Judahite, at least) more like "G". 
And so "Sharru-kin" sounded like "Sarugin". Whether the change in vowels 
also occured in the Assyrian, or whether it happened later in the Hebrew, I 
do not know off-hand.

Yigal Levin


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary Hedrick" <garyh AT cjfm.org>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 9:14 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] UK Report: Archaeological Find Confirms HebrewText 
of Jeremiah


Although the article does mention a difference in "spelling,"
perhaps it's easier to think of it as a difference in vocalization. In
transliteration, a word in one language is expressed phonetically using
another language's characters. Ideally, it comes out in the other language
sounding at least roughly like it did in the original. But in this case,
there are slight yet distinct differences in vocalization, although the
similarity is close enough to make the match unmistakable (Nebo-Sarsekim vs.
Nabu-sharrussu-ukin).

Gary Hedrick
San Antonio, Texas USA

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Martin Shields
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 12:54 AM
To: b-hebrew Hebrew
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] UK Report: Archaeological Find Confirms Hebrew Text
of Jeremiah

An interesting find, but how could the name not be "spelled
differently" when one is written in Hebrew and the other in Akkadian?

Martin Shields,
Sydney, Australia.

On 12/07/2007, at 3:37 PM, Gary Hedrick wrote:

>             Listers, here’s an interesting story from today’s issue
> of the
> Daily Telegraph in the UK. It suggests that a recent archaeological
> discovery from 2,500 years ago may substantiate the existence of a
> minor
> character mentioned in the Hebrew text of Jeremiah 39. But the
> spelling of
> the name in the recently-discovered inscription is slightly
> different from
> the name as it appears in the MT. Interesting report, nonetheless.
> Regards
> to all.
>
>
>
> HYPERLINK
> "http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/11/
> ntablet111.
> xml"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/11/
> ntablet1
> 11.xml
_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.2/894 - Release Date: 7/10/2007
5:44 PM


No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.2/894 - Release Date: 7/10/2007
5:44 PM





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.2/890 - Release Date: 07/07/2007 
15:26