[B-Greek] Pronunciation of Abraham
R Yochanan Bitan Buth
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
Fri Jun 24 14:57:56 EDT 2005
BrianW
XAIREIN
>Over the past year I have been learning to read
miniscule handwriting. While looking at various
manuscripts, I noticed that several (many?) of these
manuscripts appear to have hABRAAM (with a rough
breathing mark) rather than ABRAAM as it appears in
most texts today. The examples I've noted most often
are in Matthew 1:1 and 1:2.>
Your title said 'pronunciation of Abraham'. You might reconsider as
simply an arbitrary spelling phenomenon.
Greek NT scribes did not pronounce a rough breathing. And Abraam is a
loan-name, Semitic and not Greek. Perhaps some scribes wanted to
compensate for the lack of 'h' in the middle of the name. Perhaps some
added 'h' because it was a Semitic name. In any case, it did not
affect their pronunciation. (There are dialects of Greek that had not
been pronouncing 'h' since Homer, but it only dropped out of general
usage during the Koine.) If you are reading manuscripts, you will do
well to acquaint yourself with the way that Greek was being pronounced
in the Roman period of the Koine ( seven vowels, fricative voiced
consonants) late Roman period (six vowels, fricatives = modern) and
Byzantine (five vowels, fricatives = modern). You will naturally read
the texts like the scribes. PEILATOS will sound right whether spelled
PILATOS or PEILATOS.
ERRWSO be well, 'av a nais de
Randall Buth
Randall Buth, PhD
Director, Biblical Language Center
www.biblicalulpan.org
and Director, Biblical Studies in Israel
Hebrew University, Rothberg International School
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
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