In New Testament studies, one indication that the Byzantine tradition may be
older than the Coptic tradition that underlies most scholarly editions of
the New Testament is that it preserves what seem to be regional variations
of Hebrew names: for example, Bethlehem in Judea, was spelled with a theta,
while Nazareth in Galilee is consistently spelled with a tau as Nazaret. I
noticed a couple of other similar differences in transliterations. Both New
Testament traditions spelled Kapernaum with a pi instead of the modern phi
that would have been used.
I have not made a detailed study of the matter, but I wonder if these
variations indicate that there was a change in pronunciation going on at
that time, a change that was not reflected in the spelling as the spelling
was frozen to the Biblical norm.
Karl W. Randolph.
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