Karl seems to want this discussion confined to pre-Exilic evidence. The
Amarna letters are the only evidence I know of - and Ugaritic if the longer
alphabet includes shin and sin, as I believe it does. As Karl excludes both
because they are *not Hebrew*, we are left with no acceptable evidence.
Without some discovery of a manuscript/inscription that is pre-Exilic and
includes a distinction of sin and shin, or a translation of names into a
language that clearly differentiates /s/ and /S/, it is unlikely there will
be evidence. Otherwise it remains a matter of one person asserting that
there was no distinction and another asserting there was. That seems like a
waste of time, IMO.
Kevin Riley
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