Re: Same name (was Re: Brithenig-heads)

On 15 April, Ray wrote:
<snip>
(Re: "Elisheva"  ending in ayen, a pharyngeal sound)

>
>The Greek form ends in tau, not theta. Why -h got added in the Latin
>'Elisabeth' is problematic.  Maybe it was the influence of 'beth' in some
>well-known place names.  Anyway, the -h was silent.
Which still leaves the question: how did a pharyngeal sound
in Hebrew get to a "tau" in Greek?
>
>>I don't know. I do seem to recall that the development
>>from /h/ to /s/ is attested to in some languages
>>(sorry, I forget which). Perhaps something similar
>>occurred.
>
>Change from [s] to [h] is common enough; change in the other direction is,
>if it occurs, much rarer.
>
>But I think we're looking in the wrong place.  The assumption being made is
>that the name is borrowed directly from Hebrew; I doubt it.  IIRC the name
>occurs only in the New Testament as the mother of John the Baptist.  The
>Greek 'Elisabet' would surely be transcribing an _Aramaic_ form of the
>name, would it not?
>
>Does anyone know what the Aramaic form of would be, corresponding to Hebrew
>/eliSeva/ ?
In Exodus chap 6, verse 23, Aaron (brother of Moses)
is recorded as having married a woman named
Elisheva. Onkelos, the Roman-era commentator,
who translated the first 5 books of the bible into Aramaic,
spells it exactly as it is in the Hebrew:
aleph-lamed-yod-shin-vet-'ayen.
But I don't know how much this proves, since Onkelos
generally uses the names in their original Hebrew spellings.
    But you still may be on the right track, Ray.
IIRC, the Aramaic word for "oath" is spelled
shin(with schwa)-vet-vav-'ayen-tav-aleph. "Shvuata"
(I would have tried to write this more phonetically,
but I'm not sure how to write 'ayen in IPA)
Anyhow, using this form in the name would get us
from the pharynx to the front of the mouth, where
Greek could render it with a tau (the aleph being silent).


Dan Sulani
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likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.