19
votes
Zeicher vs Zecher
Essentially, a mistaken edition of the Radak was popular for a short time, leading to various changes by overzealous grammarians and confusing two very influential rabbis. See the extensive (hundreds ...
- 97.3k
12
votes
Accepted
Pronouncing "O" (Cholam) as "Oy"?
I've contacted Dovid Katz from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, a renown scholar of the Yiddish language (among others), who wrote numerous papers on linguistics, and his PhD dissertation ...
- 7,434
11
votes
Is it Rabbeinu Bachya or Bechaye?
In the introduction of the Chovot Halevavot published by Mosad Harav Kook, he brings that it is not known how to pronounce the name. He says that Ashkenazim pronounce it Bechaye, and Sefardim ...
- 43.9k
11
votes
Accepted
Why is a patach chet at the end of the word pronounced "sdrawkcab" (backwards)?
Essentially there should be no vowel, but for certain guttural consonants (specifically, Hei, Chet, and Ayin) it's hard to end a word like that ("NoH"?), so an extra half-vowel is placed before the ...
- 97.3k
10
votes
Is it Rabbeinu Bachya or Bechaye?
R. Reuven Margalios in his פנינים ומרגליות has a note on this name. His theory is that it is not an actual name, but a nickname which means "may he live long," like the (Yiddish) name "Alter." He ...
- 14.3k
10
votes
Is the shiur called a "k'beiah" or a "k'beitzah"?
Yam Shel Shlomo in chapter 4 of Bava Kamma says to pronounce it beya as the other word is not nice.
This is subsequently brought in the Magen Avraham in siman 156 which is probably where it picked up ...
- 33.4k
10
votes
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Ayin or Aleph, blessing or curse?
Rashi says why this change turns the blessing into a curse pretty clearly in his comment on Megillah 24b.
He says:
מפני שקורין לאלפין עיינין ולעיינין אלפין. ואם היו עושין ברכת כהנים היו אומרים יאר ...
- 18.5k
9
votes
Should you make an extra effort to pronounce prayers and blessings clearly?
Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 61:21-22:
צריך בכל אל"ף שאחר מ"ם להפסיק ביניהם כגון ולמדתם אותם וקשרתם אותם ושמתם את ... שלא יהא נראה כקורא מותם מת. אף בפסוקי דזמרה ובתפלה צריך לדקדק בכך
[During ...
- 41.7k
9
votes
Accepted
If a Mesorah for letter pronunciation is rediscovered, would we have to change our pronunciations?
כִּי-אָז אֶהְפֹּךְ אֶל-עַמִּים, שָׂפָה בְרוּרָה, לִקְרֹא כֻלָּם בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה, לְעָבְדוֹ שְׁכֶם אֶחָד. (צפניה ג:ט)
For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call ...
- 97.3k
8
votes
Accepted
Chassidish pronunciation: הוא and היא
Most American and European Chassidim use what is often (wrongly) called Chassidish pronunciation. However, Hungarian is probably a more precise term, as even non-Chassidim that stem from parts of ...
- 6,676
7
votes
Pronunciation of חשמונאי
Josephus transliterates the name as Ἀσαμωναίος. The transliterated form ω corresponds to long o (see Brønno, "Some nominal types in the Septuagint" in Classica et Mediaevalia 3 and Studien über ...
- 3,546
7
votes
Reading zeicher, zecher, or both during the regular Torah reading
The Mishna Berura (685 sk 18) only recommended this practice for Parashat Zakhor, seemingly because it may be a biblical obligation (ShA OC 685:7). Betzel HaChokhma (6:50) said this applies to any ...
- 97.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Tehillim (Psalms) 27:2 -- Is it כָּשְׁלוּ or כָשְׁלוּ?
The Aleppo, Leningrad, and Damascus Codices all have it Rafeh. Even the original Bomberg Mikraot Gedolot has it Rafeh! Minchat Shai ad loc. comments that it should be Rafeh. I did find that the Codex ...
- 97.3k
7
votes
How do we know how to pronounce God's name?
The Gemara in Pesachim 50a brings a verse that Hashem's name is not pronounced the way it is written.
ר' אבינא רמי כתיב {שמות ג-טו} "זה שמי לעלם וזה זכרי לדור דור".
אמר הקב''ה: לא כשאני ...
- 42.8k
7
votes
How to pronounce ישראל - Yisroel or Yisrael?
The Ashkenazi pronunciation of Hebrew distinguishes seven different vowels. They can be arranged more or less as follows (first represented in Hebrew orthography under the letter א, then in IPA if you ...
- 24k
6
votes
Have any of you ever heard anyone pronouncing ayin as "ng"?
In proper Dutch-Ashkenazi pronunciation, "ya'akov" would be "Yang'akouv", as not only the ayin is pronounced as an 'ng' sound, but the cholam is pronounced as 'ou'. As a kid I was ...
6
votes
What is the origin of Hasidic pronunciation?
This was not in opposition to Maskilim, and is not specific to Hasidim. In fact, dialectic variation in Yiddish (whence the Hebrew pronunciation) predates the Haskalah. Max Weinreich, on page 16 of ...
- 9,777
6
votes
Accepted
Why is hebrew, the holy language, so messy?
Many of your point are only relevant to Modern Hebrew, which is a distinct language from Biblical Hebrew, only the latter being a holy language. In fact, many orthodox Jews distance themselves from ...
- 6,676
6
votes
Accepted
What is the dot in this vav?
It's a Dagesh Forte which indicates gemination of the consonant "w". So the word would be read something like Yiwwadha' with a prolonged /w/ sound.
The word is in passive future third-person ...
- 97.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Don't have to articulate hataras nedarim?
The barebone Halacha is in Yoreh De'ah 228 - סימן רכח - דיני התרת נדרים - where it says that all that the 3 people need to say is מֻתָּר לָךְ - preferably thrice.
So I'm not sure what the others ...
- 42.8k
6
votes
Are there any recordings of the Tanakh read or chanted according to reconstructed Ancient Hebrew pronunciation?
It's a very difficult task to reconstruct the way Hebrew was pronounced in ancient times. As you might know, the Hebrew alphabet is an abjad, which marks consonants in most of the cases, and the ...
- 7,434
6
votes
Similarity between atonement in Leviticus 4:20 & cover in Genesis 6:14 in terms of semantics, wording/phrasing, lettering/grammer, pronunciation?
I'm not a Biblical Hebrew linguist at all but I hope this helpful.
All Hebrew words have a two or three letter root .
There are many Hebrew words with כפר as their roots. Some are listed below
• ...
- 4,903
5
votes
Why are identical words pronounced differently at certain locations of the Shema?
The two passages are from Deuteronomy 6:7 and 11:19, respectively:
וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם לְבָנֶ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ֖ בָּ֑ם בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֤ בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ֙ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ֣ בַדֶּ֔רֶךְ וּֽבְשָׁכְבְּךָ֖ וּבְקוּמֶֽךָ׃
...
- 47.8k
5
votes
How do we know how to pronounce God's name?
The word you're referring to is not actually a pronunciation of the tetragramaton; it's a substitution. Traditionally, the tetragramaton was pronounced (with its real pronunciation, I mean) by the ...
- 56.4k
5
votes
Why is hebrew, the holy language, so messy?
The Hebrew language is considered the holy tongue, but not because it is ascetically pleasing from a grammarian's view point. It is holy because holy people use it to convey holy ideas, and it is ill ...
- 1,497
5
votes
Accepted
Dageish in bin Nun
The masoretic treatise Kitāb al-Khilaf (ספר החילופים) by Misha'el ben `Uzziel records the differences (and similarities) between the famous masoretes Ben Asher and Ben Naftali. The book records that ...
- 3,546
5
votes
Articulation of resh with dagesh
There was a geminated resh at least during the Second Temple Period. In fact, there was a time where even the gutterals were geminated. Resh eventually became unable to receive dagesh (in the Tiberian ...
- 3,546
5
votes
Accepted
Rosh Hashanah Amidah - Neshama be-apo or neshamah ve-apo?
In Biblical Hebrew if an open syllable is followed by a begadkefat letter, the initial letter of the syllable loses dagesh, unless it is separated by a divider trop (e.g. tifcha). Please refer to the ...
- 7,434
5
votes
nach nistar yud, followed by a yud
(I have to correct one point: the י here isn't a Nach Nistar but an Eim Mikra, like the ה at the end of תורה, the א at the end of ברא or the ו at the end of בו. A real Nach Nistar י would definitely ...
- 97.3k
5
votes
Accepted
Kamatz with yod in פָּנָיו?
The yod is a mater lectionis and is not pronounced at all.
You can tell that this is the case because there is no vowel mark on the yod.
(This rule of thumb does have one exception: the last letter of ...
- 41.7k
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