Eliora asked:
> what are the original sounds of Aleph and Ayin?
Aiyin
It is generally accepted that the aiyin (written below as 3) had a velar
G/K-sound as in 3aZa = Gaza.
I find that words containing an aiyin are sometimes cognate with Greek
and Latin words containing a hard CR-sound. For example, 3oFaL (Ophal,
the high fortified area at the southern end of the Temple mount) seems
to be cognate with Greek acropolis = high (fortified area) of the city.
BTW, the Hebrew word 3aiYiN = eye also means color. That is
"What eye?" = "What color?". Treating the 3 in 3aiYiN = color as CR
produces "crayon". Compare the standard etymology for crayon from Latin
creta = chalk (which is usually white).
Aleph
I think the aleph originally had a northern GHT and Mediterranean
CHS-sound. You can hear a similar sound in German words containing CHT,
such as Licht = light, Nacht = night, and Macht = might (strength).
Evidence for this original sound is contained in
1. ancient toponyms (place names) 2. Rashi script 3. current
Hebrew words where het+shin seems to have replaced an aleph in order to
retain the original sound. 4. cognates where aleph is parallel to
GHT/CHT in Germanic languages.
1. The area now called (the) Ukraine had been known as Roxolania and
later as Rus (south of Belarus = White Russia). Compare R CHS Slania and
RuS with resh-aleph-shin = head. Then compare Ukraina with Greek kranion
= skull, cranium.
(I do not agree with the opinion that Ukraina is derived from Slavic u
kraina = at/to the border.)
2. The Rashi-script aleph looks like a het + chupchik. The
Rashi-script shin looks like a tet turned 90 degrees clockwise. The
modern hand-written shin looks like a closed tet. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashi_script
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashi_script> or
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Rashi_Script/Summary/s\
ummary.html
<http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Rashi_Script/Summary/\
summary.html>
3. MakHSHeV = computer and kHeSHBoN = bill, account are based on the
root het-shin-bet. This root has the meanings "to think" (in a logical
sequence) and "to count" (1, 2, ...) ... that is, to aleph-bet
something.
kHaSHMaL = electricity occurs in Tanakh only in Ezekiel with the meaning
"color of amber". In many languages, the concept "electricity" is
derived from amber (which evidences static electricity). This word is
sometimes translated as Latin electrum, an alloy of gold and silver with
the same color. If you replace the het+shin with an aleph whose sound is
lost and replace the mem with an MB-sound, kHaSHMaL sounds like ambal or
amber.
4. The second word in Tanakh, bet-resh-aleph = created, seems to be
cognate with BRouGHT (forth). LiGHTS (OE for lungs) seems cognate with
resh-aleph-oh-sof = lungs.
In many Hebrew words, the aleph seems to have moved to the beginning of
the word after it lost its sound. If the aleph is moved back to the end
of the word, aleph-oh-resh = light (radiation) seems cognate with LiGHT.
Giving the shin its earlier D/T-sound (see 2 above), aleph-shin-heh
=wife seems cognate with DauGHTer. Among the ancient Hebrews, the wife
went to live with the tribe of her husband. For her husband, she was a
wife. For everyone else she was like another daughter.
Ciao, Izzy
