Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Sesamo m. <sesamox AT hotmail.com>]

Hello all,
 
I'm no expert and so would like to know your opinion about a point that is 
just intuitive on my part.
I guess that when Hebrew proper names are transliterated into Greek (in the 
LXX version or in the NT), that transliteration reflects to a certain extent 
the pronunciation of Hebrew in that time.
 
For instance, Moses' sister is "Mariam" in the LXX, and that name is the same 
in the NT. But in the Masoretic text, she is "Miryam". This would mean that 
by the 2nd century b.C. and 1st century A.D. the first sillable of at name 
had a vowel sound "a" that had changed into "i" by the 7th century. 
 
Accordingly, the son of David was called "Salomon" by the 2nd cent. b.C., but 
"Solomon" in the 1st cent. and then "Slomo" by the 7th cent.
 
The prophet who annointed Saul and David was called "Samuel" by the 2nd cent. 
b.C. and 1st cent. A.D., but "Semuel" by the 7th cent.
 
2 Chro 17:7 includes the name "Nathanael" in the LXX, just like the apostle 
in the NT, but in the Masoretic text he is called "Nethanel".
 
Considering these former examples, it seems that the first vowel had a 
tendency to be weakened. Another example that seems to agree with this is 
Capernaum. The name Capernaum seems to be a transliteration of "Kefar Nahum". 
This might indicate that the word "Kefar" was pronounced "Kafar" in the 1st 
cent. at least in Galilee. 
This makes me wonder if the names beginning with "Yeho-" could have been 
"Yaho-" originally. But in this case, the LXX puts "Yo-" which doesn't seem 
to support my suspicion. Any ideas? 
 
The name of Moses' succesor was pronounced "Yesu" by the 2nd cent. b.C., or 
maybe "Yesua", if the Greeks considered the final sound just as a gutural 
consonant (the final -s is just a peculiarity of Greek, it was added to any 
name ended in a vowel), and that seems to be the pronunciation in the 1st 
cent. A.D. And it was "Yehoshua" by the 7th century (it seems strange to me 
the change from "Ye" to "Yeho"; could it be a kind of archaization on the 
part of the Masoretes?).
 
One of Jacob sons was called "Sim'on" in the 2nd cent. b.C. (since the "e" in 
"Simeon" seems to be a representation of the sound of the "ayin"). In the 
first cent. it was pronounced "Simon", but there is at least one example in 
Acts of "Simeon". This could miean that the pronunciation of "ayin" was 
dissappearing by then, at least among Galileans. And the Masoretic text is 
not relevant in this case.
 
The capital city of Judah was pronounced "Yerushalem" in the 2nd cent. b.C. 
and 1st cent. A.D. but "Yerushalaim" by the 7th cent.  This seems to mean 
that the vowel sound "e" in that position had dipthongized by the 7th cent.
 
 
What do you think about this? Am I making mistakes in these suppositions?
 
Thanks,
Sergio Saavedra (Madrid)