What is the consensus opinion of the original functioning of begedkefet
pairs:
1. A difference in aspiration b/bh, or
2. Completely different sounds b/v ?
Even the question, as posed, prejudices the answer. Just becuase in
English and similar languages B/V are more distinct than B/Bh doesn't
mean that the same is true in every language. The stop/fricative
difference can be just as (un)important as aspiration.
The second supposition runs against our understanding of alphabet.
Presumably, letters were introduced to reflect sounds, and it is rather
unlikely that two very different sounds, b/v, were recorded with the
same letter.
Using the same letter for B/V is essentially the same as using the
same letter for B/BH, to say nothing of S/Z (as we do in English), or
S/K (also in English), G/X (some Russian words), etc.
If we take dagesh as post-LXX phenomenon, we're still faced with the
Surprisingly, while the Dagesh as a diacritic is post-LXX, it more
than any other Masoretic symbol finds support in the LXX, at least as
a marker of double letters.
-Joel
Joel M. Hoffman, PhD
http://www.lashon.net
Author of And God Said: How Translations Conceal the Bible's Original Meaning
http://www.AndGodSaid.com
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