Shabbat Shalom! שבת שלום I am asking, not just because the written words/letters represent the sounds of the spoken ancient Hebrew language,
which is important to me, but also because I am teaching others how to read Hebrew for Torah/TNK study All the other "names" of the Hebrew "letters" are related to their sound, ב "bet" = "b" sound גַּ gimel = "g" sound, etc... so based upon the reply below what would be the actual pronunciation for the "names" of the א "alef" and the עָ "ayin" ?? (please pardon the nikkudot of some of the Hebrew font above, I copy/pasted them here from www.biblegateway.com Psalms/Tehillim 119:18,121 תהילים ) Thanks again! Eliora Bat-Tziyon אליאורה בת-ציון קָדושׁ קָדושׁ קָדושׁ יהוה צְבָאות מְלא כָל־הָארֶץ כְּבודו אֲנִי לְדודִי וְדודִי לִי אליאורה בת-ציון קדֶשׁה ליהוה Isaiah 6:3, The Ultimate Song 6:3, Exodus 28:36 (1 Peter 2:9) "They preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different... " Mark 6:12 MSG http://www.cafemom. com/home/ EileenMomGranny http://www.myspace. com/eileen_ mom_granny http://www.livingin blackandwhite. com/profile/ ElioraBatTziyon ________________________________ From: cohenizzy <cohen.i...@gmail. com> To: ancient_hebrew@ yahoogroups. com Sent: Fri, July 9, 2010 12:54:24 PM Subject: [ancient_hebrew] Re: Ancient Ayin and Aleph pronunciation? 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 or http://www.hebrew4c hristians. 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
