Re: Etrscan alphabet (was: Value of Latin _x_)

On Tue, 17 Apr 2001 21:28:47 +0000 Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>
writes:
> Did the corresponding letter have two sounds in ancient Phoenician
> and
> other related Semitic languages?  It would seem odd to have one
> symbol only
> if this were so.
>
> Ray.
-

I assume so, i'm pretty sure that grapheme had two sounds in Aramaic but
i can't think up an example of <ssin> at the moment... maybe _`arsa_
"bed"?  They might have abandoned the letter in favor of <samekh> since
their sounds converged into /s/, there's a similar but weaker tendency in
Hebrew.  There were also other double-letters in the past.  According to
the descriptions of Biblical Hebrew that i've seen, the letters <`ayin>
and <hhet> originally stood for two sounds each, one velar and one
pharyngeal:

<`ayin> = /3/ and /G/
<hhet> = /H/ and /x/

Until the /bgdkpt/ spirantization developed, when the [G] and [x]
allophones of /g/ and /k/ 'pushed out' the original /G/ and /x/ phonemes,
which merged with their similarly scribed pharyngeal counterparts.  If
they had survived as independent phonemes, it's conceivable that there
would be rightdot/leftdot markers on <`ayin> and <hhet> too, as well as
on <shin>.


-Stephen (Steg)
 "...and do not be surprised, for behold
 one can sleep here and see a dream in España..."
     ~ the Talmud