The form Kalev most proabaly preserves the original pronounciation of the
name. The Segholites prounounciation in the MT follows the dialectic changes
in the original nouns.
This is clearly evident in the declensions of the Segholites, in our
case: "Kalbi" "kalbekha" etc, and in the pulural "Klavim" which preserves the
ancient plural *KLAB plus the regular Hebrew ms. plural ending - ym.
This is found in Arabic to this day: e.g. "kalb" in singular.
Therefore the biblical personal name Kalev is very close to the original
pronounciation, except that the original short vowel 'a ' lengthened in the
MT.
Uri Hurwitz Wilmington, VT
[b-hebrew] Kalev and Kelev,
Uri Hurwitz, 09/14/2011