Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>]

The examples you give are of similar letters interchangeable BETWEEN 
languages, not interchangeable IN Hebrew.

Shoshanna



What I mean by "interchangable" is that we find the a very similar 
word with the same or a very similar meaning either in Hebrew itself 
or at least in cognate languages. In many cases this can be 
understood as an indication that the letters used in both were 
pronounced the same, in others it has to do with the sound that was 
used in the "original" (usually reconstructed) form, which was 
expressed with different letters in different but related languages. 
Hebrew (&R (Ayin-Sin-Resh) and Aramaic and Arabic Ayin-Samekh-Resh 
both mean "ten". This is because Samekh and Sin are "interchangable" 
when transferring between the languages. The same is true of Hebrew 
Zayin in "Zahav" and Aramaic "Dh" in "Dahab" and so on. I know of no 
case in which Xet becomes Khaph (which is just a "soft" Kaph anyway).

I know that this contradicts your own personal theory, but so does 
all the rest of what most linguists think.

Yigal Levin
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Isaac Fried
  To: Yigal Levin
  Cc: b-hebrew
  Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 5:19 AM
  Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "Salt" Statue: Lot's Wife


  Yigal,


  You write:


  "Although the sounds of Het (X in the trasliteration used on this 
list) and Khaph seem similar to most western ears, and are in fact 
pronounced the same by many Israelis as
  well, historically they are not, and the two letters are NEVER 
interchangeable".


  Could you tell us, please, what does it mean that letters are 
"interchangeable", and how you decide which letters are 
"interchangeable" and which are not?


  Isaac Fried, Boston University


  On Oct 20, 2007, at 4:17 PM, Yigal Levin wrote:


    2. However in this case - your suggestion does not work. Although 
the sounds

    of Het (X in the trasliteration used on this list) and Khaph seem 
similar to

    most western ears, and are in fact pronounced the same by many Israelis as

    well, historically they are not, and the two letters are NEVER

    interchangable. So there is no way in which anyone would use Melax (salt)

    and Melekh (king). As far as Mal)akh (messenger/angel), the Aleph 
is part of

    the root (Lamed-Aleph-Kaph), and not just a "vowel-like letter" that can 
be

    ignored, although a pun here might work.





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