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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "th" and "b"
  • Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 23:42:10 +0300

Dear Yakov,

I'll try to re-phrase Yitzhak's answer. Since the earliest translation of the Bible that we know of was into Greek, names and phrases that were transliterated were done so in a way that matched how the Greek of the time "heard" the way Hebrew was pronounced at the time. Since Hebrew at the time pronounced a "soft" Tav as "th", and Greek had an equivalent sound (theta), this is what was used. Thus: Beth-lehem, Sabbath (Greek does not have a "sh") etc. Greek did not have a "v" sound, so "soft" Bet remained "b". Thus Ya'akov became Iakob, which eventually became Latin Jacob. These forms became standard in the English speaking world.

Jewish pronunciation of Hebrew, however, also changed over time. As Yitzhak mentioned, there are communities that did retain the "th". Ashkenazi communities at one point shifted to "s" (as in "Shabbos"). Over the past generation, many communities have adopted the modern Israeli pronounciation, itself based on Sephardic pronounciation. Here, "soft" Tav is still "t".

In the past, it was very common for Jews in the English-speaking world to use the standard English forms when writing in English, even if these did not represent the way they actually pronounced the Hebrew. You mentioned a "Temple Beth Shalom" - I also know of at least one "Beth Jacob". In today's more multi-cultural climate, many communities actually do spell their transliterations the way they pronounce them, so that it would be either "Bet Ya'akov" or "Beis Yakov".

Academia, on the other hand, has its own rules, based on modern scholarly conventions. Here the "soft" forms are often considered to be secondary and historically late, and are often ignored.

Yigal Levin





----- Original Message ----- From: "Yakov Hadash" <yakov.hadash AT gmail.com>
To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2008 5:54 PM
Subject: [b-hebrew] "th" and "b"


Hi everyone. Sorry if this question has been discussed many times or
if everyone already knows the answer already but this is something
I've been wondering about for YEARS and I think you guys probably
know the answer...

Two transliteration things I see a lot are:
-Taf without a dagesh transliterated as "TH" as in "B'nai BriTH,"
"Temple BeTH Shalom" - I see this most often in names of older Jewish
organizations
-Bet without a dagesh transliterated as "B" as in "JacoB" (for my
name) - I see this a lot in "scholarly" and non-Jewish contexts

I've spent my whole life going to synagogues around the world as well
as speaking Modern Hebrew and I've never encountered anyone who
actually pronounces Hebrew this way ("...mekadesh eTH haShabbat?"
"Haaretz hayita tohu vaBohu?) so where does this transliteration come
from? Is there someone, somewhere, who actually would say "tohu
vabohu" or lisp his soft tafs?

THANK YOU,
Yakov Hadash.
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