Biblical Hebrew Forum

[AMK Judaica <amkjudaica AT hotmail.com>]

Incidentally, for the semiticists/linhuists out there, I'm curious whether 
you think it is or easier (or fraught with greater pitfalls) to reconstruct 
an ancient language that still has a living tradition or one that is complete 
dead.

 

-Ari Kinsberg

Brooklyn, NY
 
> From: amkjudaica AT hotmail.com
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:21:09 -0400
> Subject: [b-hebrew] FW: Beit/Veit
> 
> 
> yigal,
> 
> 
> 
> how do we know the pronounciation of ugaritic and akkadian (or for that 
> matter, classical arabic)?
> 
> 
> 
> thanks,
> 
> ari kinsbeg
> 
> brooklyn, new york
> 
> > Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:18:23 +0300
> > From: leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il
> > To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Beit/Veit
> > 
> > Hi again,
> > 
> > That was exactly my point: as far as we can tell, Biblical Hebrew did not 
> > have a "v" sound. Not only doesn't Arabic, but neither did Ugaritc or 
> > Akkadian, which are much closer in time to Biblical Hebrew. So yes, 
> > Isaac's 
> > wife was something like "Reb'ka" (with what the Mesoretes called a 
> > Sh'va), 
> > which is how the Greek got "Rebekka".
> > 
> > 
> > The problem with D and Dh (Th as in "that") is just like B/V - since 
> > Greek 
> > does not have a Dh sound, we have no way of knowing whether when Greek 
> > wrote 
> > Delta, they heard Dalet or Dhalet or both. The only thing that we know is 
> > that in Biblical Hebrew the difference was not "regular" enough to 
> > warrent 
> > two letter-signs like in Ugaritic, but by the time of the Mesorets, they 
> > were able to include the differences in the BGDKPT rule. The same, BTW, 
> > is 
> > true for Gimmel, however it was "originally" pronounced.
> > 
> > Yigal Levin
> > 
> > 
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Yodan" <yodan AT yodanco.com>
> > To: "'b-hebrew'" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2009 8:56 AM
> > Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Beit/Veit
> > 
> > 
> > >
> > > Yigal, thank you and thanks to Karl and Kevin.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > A question to you and to others:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Does the fact that Arabic doesn't have a "v" consonant support the
> > > possibility that Hebrew too didn't have a "v" consonant (we know that 
> > > VAV
> > > was pronounced like WAW, and this is still the case in some Hebrew
> > > "dialects")? If so, perhaps what later became VEIT was pronounced like 
> > > BEIT?
> > > (e.g. Ribka later became Rivka?).
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > A somewhat related question: Does anyone know if DALED is believed to 
> > > have
> > > been pronounced as an emphatic consonant, like in Arabic, perhaps in
> > > addition to another pronunciation (like "d" or like "th" in "that", as 
> > > do
> > > Yemenite Jews)?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Thanks!
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Rivka Sherman-Gold
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > b-hebrew mailing list
> > b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
> 
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