At 07:50 PM 4/23/2000, Raymond wrote:
>At 5:58 pm +0600 22/4/00, Eric Christopherson wrote:
> >AFAIK the spelling in most European languages has <s>, including British
> >English, but not American English. OTOH the British pronunciation uses /s/
> >just like the American, right?
[...]
>But I note that some modern translations, e.g. the 'Jerusalem Bible', spell
>it as 'Elizabeth' and IME the <z> spelling is more common this side of the
>pond. I've never heard it pronounced (and I've been around for just over
>60 years) any other way except with /z/, i.e. /I'lIz@bET/ or /I'lIz@b@T/.
Oops, I meant to say /z/.
>Back to Eric:
> >
> >I guess this would go well with Isabel, which my classicist friend tells me
> >is thought to POSSIBLY be a Punic (Carthaginian) name meaning "oath of
> >Ba`al."
[...]
>Is your classicist friend suggesting that a Punic name actually survived in
>Spain (not impossible) and was later substituted for the Biblical
>'Elisabeth'?
Yes, apparently that's one theory at least.
Eric Christopherson / *Aiworegs Ghristobhorosyo