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  • From: Kevin Riley <klriley100 AT tpg.com.au>
  • To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Masoretic transmission of pronuncation
  • Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 09:27:47 +1000

The evidence seems to suggest that, where there is a 'classical' form of the language (Greek, Latin, Arabic, and if used loosely, Icelandic and Irish) that the tendency was/is to use the current pronunciation rather than some 'preserved' pronunciation. I know in the case of Irish that this went as far as 'updating' the spelling when manuscripts were copied - but how much depended on the individual scribe, and, as in Greek, there were also periods of 'archaising' as well when spellings and forms (although probably not pronunciation) of former periods were introduced. It is, of course, impossible to prove, but I suspect that 'classical' forms of a language are viewed by native speakers more as a dialect or register of their language rather than as a 'foreign' language, so why would they have a special pronunciation? The quest for 'historical accuracy' seems to be largely a modern academic concern. Today we insist on portraying Biblical or historical characters in 'correct' costume, but until a few centuries ago, almost every depiction in European art depicts these characters in contemporary clothing, and usually with contemporary backgrounds. I believe the language would have been treated similarly.

Combined with the evidence from Hebrew manuscripts (Babylonian/Tiberian/Palestinian pointing, as well as the Samaritan manuscripts) and the pronunciations of contemporary communities (Sephardi, Ashkenazi, Yemenite and the other scattered groups from Morocco to Iran) all of which show the influence of surrounding languages, I believe it is unlikely that Hebrew was different to other languages in this regard. I don't believe a case can be made for the Masoretic pointing preserving the exact pronunciation of 'biblical' Hebrew, but I also would hesitate to say it is any more 'wrong' than any other. Together, they reveal a fairly clear picture of the history of Hebrew pronunciation, even if we have some difficulty with assigning exact dates to changes. If the Masoretic pointing is more a 'snapshot' of a Hebrew pronunciation that equates to Medieval (or Ecclesiastical) Latin rather than providing us with the exact pronunciation used by Isaiah or other speakers of 'classical' Hebrew, what have we lost that we would have had if the 'classical' pronunciation had been preserved?

Kevin Riley

On 15/07/2013 9:47 PM, Barry H. wrote:
On 7/14/2013 8:08 PM, Jerry Shepherd wrote:
> Hi Barry,
> Thanks for this. But allow me to press a distinction I'm thinking of in
> asking the question. In your last sentence you said, "I have no doubt
> that an 11th century French speaker would have pronounced Latin
> filtered through medieval French."
> I agree with this to a large extent, and understand that, for
> example, Latin words would have been "Frenchized" in normal
> conversation, sermons, and even liturgy. But it also seems to me that
> this would have been less true for the professional academics who were
> working with the Latin texts, copying them, and doing hermeneutical and
> commentary work on them. So, going back to Will's example, a scholar
> may have well "Frenchized an original Iulius to Julius in normal
> conversation, but would still have recognized that the actual
> pronunciation was I rather than J, and would have used the more accurate
> pronunciation in a more scholarly context. But maybe I'm out to lunch.
> Thanks and blessings,

Jerry, with regard to Latin, I just don't think this is true. Now, I'm
not anywhere near an expert in Latin manuscript copying and
transmission, but one way to check this would be through copyist errors.
I seem vaguely to remember reading or hearing in a lecture that there
was some actual evidence of this sort, but have no idea of the details
anymore. If you have any actual evidence that "professional academics"
during the medieval period actually pronounced Latin differently than
their local languages and dialects, I'd very much like to see it.

And, of course, the The Masoretic context could be quite different.
Wasn't a deliberate effort made to preserve proper pronunciation? When
did that start? But even today, Sephardic and Ashkenazi often sound
quite different.

Enjoy your lunch...






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