I was wondering if we can actually “know” the true pronunciation of any Hebrew name. For instance, is it like today someone names their child “lemonjello” (pronounced “lay mun cha loo” not like “lemon jello”)?<\/p>\n
I was wondering since I understand there were no vowels in Hebrew like in modern English. Is this correct? If so, are the Hebrew pronunciations just our best guesses?<\/p>\n\t
You are correct that original biblical Hebrew was written without vowels. People learned how to pronounce words verbally from generation to generation. Centuries after Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD and the Jews were scattered among the nations, scribes realized that the pronunciation of Hebrew was being lost because Hebrew was no longer a language Jewish children grew up speaking. They came up with a system of vowel pointers that allowed them to record the vowel sounds without having to alter the actual Hebrew text (the marks are placed above and below the letters in the text). Hence, the sounds have been preserved for us since about 900 AD.<\/p>\n
However, we have a secondary source for pronunciation. The Hebrew text has been translated into other languages. Names especially are moved over in a transliterated form (the word sound remains the same, but it uses the target language’s spelling to approximate the sound). Because of this, we can see how names were pronounced further back in time. For example, the Septuagint version contains Hebrew names transliterated into Greek. There are also old Arabic translations available.<\/p>\n
Sometimes we also find old commentaries on the Hebrews Scriptures written by Jewish rabbis but written in the language of their region. Again, the transliteration helps scholars learn how the names were pronounced at that time.<\/p>\n
Is it 100% accurate? No, because there are always regional dialects. Just has American English sounds different between New England, the Old South, and the Midwest, there were regional dialects of Hebrew. An example of this is found in\u00a0Judges 12:5-6, “The Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” then they would say to him, “Then say, ‘Shibboleth’!” And he would say, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites.<\/i>“<\/p>\nSuggested Resource:<\/h3>\n
Pronouncing Bible Names<\/i>\u00a0by W. Murray Severance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I was wondering if we can actually “know” the true pronunciation of any Hebrew name. For instance, is it like today someone names their child “lemonjello” (pronounced “lay mun cha loo” not like “lemon jello”)? I was wondering since I understand there were no vowels in Hebrew like in modern English. Is this correct?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1507],"class_list":["post-2826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-hebrew-language"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2625,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-ywhw-translated-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":2826,"position":0},"title":"Why is YWHW translated LORD?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know the New World Translation is not a reliable translation, but why have the other Bible translations changed the original YHWH to LORD? Answer: When a translator encounters a word, he is faced with two choices: he can translate the word or he can transliterate the word. To\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1393,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/understanding-the-tetragrammaton\/","url_meta":{"origin":2826,"position":1},"title":"Understanding the Tetragrammaton: How Is It Pronounced?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry In the religious world, there is much confusion about the Tetragrammaton (a Greek term meaning \"the four letters\"), referring to the name of God in the Old Testament, designated with the consonants YHWH. There are some religious organizations that place great emphasis on this name, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18670,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/which-is-the-better-way-to-pronounce-jesus-name-yahsua-or-yeshua\/","url_meta":{"origin":2826,"position":2},"title":"Which is the better way to pronounce Jesus’ name: Yahsua or Yeshua?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you very much for your article on\u00a0\"Understanding\u00a0the\u00a0 Tetragrammaton: How is it\u00a0Pronounced.\" I am in total agreement with your research and conclusion as to the\u00a0Tetragrammaton\u00a0yhwh\u00a0being pronounced as\u00a0yahweh. Can you share your thoughts and opinion as to the pronunciation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus? Which is more correct in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3321,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-jesus-the-name-used-in-the-new-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":2826,"position":3},"title":"Is “Jesus” the name used in the New Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you demonstrate that \"Jesus\" is a very old name mentioned by the writers of the New Testament? Answer: The New Testament was originally written in Greek. The name for our Lord was spelled \"Iesous\" in Greek (using English letters). Four people in the New Testament are mentioned having\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14721,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-mark-have-eloi-and-matthew-have-eli-for-the-same-statement\/","url_meta":{"origin":2826,"position":4},"title":"Why does Mark have “Eloi” and Matthew have “Eli” for the same statement?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I believe that Matthew's account lists Jesus's cry\u00a0from the ancient texts when he wrote \"Eli, Eli lama sabachthani\".\u00a0 This is not a quote from Psalm 22.\u00a0 The Hebrew in Psalm 22 is 'azab, not sabachthani.\u00a0 I've seen some stretches that try to link sabachthani with 'azab, but I believe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30894,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-syllable-should-be-stressed-in-the-name-jeshua\/","url_meta":{"origin":2826,"position":5},"title":"What syllable should be stressed in the name Jeshua?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 10, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a pronunciation question for you. \u00a0I did read\u00a0\"Understanding\u00a0the\u00a0 Tetragrammaton: How is it\u00a0Pronounced\"\u00a0on La Vista's web site, but it does not answer this question. Whether Aramaic, Hebrew or Greek, the name \"Jeshua,\" is the accent on the first or second\u00a0syllable? In the film \"The Passion of the Christ\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}