Re: Jewish names

Earlier today (1 Aug), I wrote:

>On 1 Aug, Steg wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 31 Jul 2000 11:31:34 -0400 Vasiliy Chernov <bc_@...> writes:
>>> What stands in Hebrew for the Greek <o:> in Io:nas, Io:se:ph,
>>> Abessalo:m,
>>> etc.?
>>>
>>>
>>> Basilius
>>-
>>
>>Yonah is spelled with a hholam-malei (carrier "vav" with a hholam /o/ dot
>>on top).
>>Yoseif is also spelled with a hholam-malei.
This is true.

>>Avshalom as well.

Well, yes and no.

Actually, upon further checking, it turns out that the name "Avshalom"
is spelled in the Hebrew both with "hholam-malei" _and_  with
"hholam-hhaser"! Samuel 2 has many examples of both spellings:
for example, "hholam-malei" -- chap 3, verse 3; "holam hhaser"--
chap 13 verse 4. In the Septuagint, they're both spelled with the "o"
represented by the Greek letter "omega" (no upsilon).
 Thus, it looks as if no difference
in pronounciation was implied by "hholam" being either "malei" or "hhoser".


Basilius, quoting me, asked:

>> The, earlier,  Septuagint version,
>>as I understand it, seems to always have "omega-upsilon"
>>where the Masoretic formulation uses "cholam".
>Any other examples, BTW?
Actually, I got it backwards. I should have said that, as I
understand it, the (later) Masoretic formulation uses "cholam"
where the (earlier) Septuagint has omega-upsilon.

I'm not an expert on the Septuagint, and thus don't know if other
names with the "omega-upsilon" pair exist. I did check out the
name for "Solomon", though. In Hebrew, it's "Shlomo" with both "o"s
being "hholam-hhaser" (just the dot, no "vav", as in the Hebrew
spelling of "Moshe"). In the Septuagint,
it is written sigma-alpha-lamda-omega-mu-omega-nu: i.e. no upsilon.

Dan Sulani
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