To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Cc: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: YHWH vs. Yahweh
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 11:47:45 -0700
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On Wed, 28 Apr 1999 12:54:15 -0500, Gregory and Carol Yeager wrote:
> As for the Waw, I always wondered what it was about waw that makes it a
> matres lectionis for both U and O. My mouth sort of forms the same
> shape for both, but that doesn't help me with a consonantal idea. Was
> it a liquid consonant?
Waw is not a liquid consonant; my understanding, subject to correction
by those more expert, is that waw represents a diphthong. Diphthongs
function in many languages as consonants. English "w", for example, is
a diphthong and often functions as a consonant.
------
Paul J. Bodin <pjbodin AT sirius.com> http://www.sirius.com/~pjbodin
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