Pronounciation of PNEUMA
Trevor Peterson
06PETERSON at cua.edu
Fri Jan 10 05:52:57 EST 2003
Bert,
Regarding Bet Zata, a couple of thoughts. First, if it's easier for you, the
distinction between tau and theta was quite likely one of spirantization,
rather than friction. In other words, th was supposed to be an easy equivalent
for students to learn, but it's actually the difference between saying a t
with and without a release of air. (In English, the difference usually arises
without the realization of the speaker between t following a vowel and
following a consonant.) Maybe that would be easier for you, and if so, it
would be more accurate anyway :-)
My other thought was that this is not a Greek word at all, so maybe you have
nothing to worry about. It appears to be Aramaic, which would be perfectly
acceptable, if you feel inclined, to pronounce like Modern Hebrew and treat
the thetas as taus. Problem solved :-) (It might help, too, that there are
actually two words--bet, meaning house, and zata, meaning olive.)
Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list