Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

   The form Kalev most proabaly preserves the original pronounciation of the 
name.  The Segholites prounounciation in the MT follows the dialectic changes 
in the original nouns.

    This is clearly evident in the declensions of the Segholites, in our 
case: "Kalbi" "kalbekha" etc, and in the pulural "Klavim" which preserves the 
ancient plural *KLAB plus the regular Hebrew ms. plural ending - ym.

   This is found in Arabic to this day: e.g. "kalb" in singular.

   Therefore the biblical personal name Kalev is very close to the original 
pronounciation, except that the original short vowel 'a ' lengthened in the 
MT.

   Uri Hurwitz                          Wilmington, VT