Due to limitations of the Greek
and Latin alphabets, the three Hebrew letters, ס, צ and שׂ / שׁ
can be rendered only as one character, namely, σ/s. The incompatibility of the
Hebrew, Greek and Latin alphabets for rendering Hebrew wounds results in a
situation in which two entirely different Hebrew/Aramaic proper names are
identical in transliteration. Examples include סַבְתְּכָ֑א סַבְתָּ֥ה (Gen 10:7)—Σαβαθα . . .Σαβαθακα, Vg. Sabatha . . . Sabathaca; צִיּ֑וֹן
(2 Sam 5:7)—Σιων, Vg.: Sion; צוּרִֽישַׁדָּֽי (Num
1:6)—Σουρισαδαι, Vg: Surisaddi; שְׁלֹמֹֽה (2 Sam
5:14)—Σαλωμων, g: Salomon. Jerome remarks on
this phenomenon in his introduction to those explanations coming under the
letter S (See Liber interpretionis hebraicorum nominum, 71). He attempts
to explain the pronouncation of Hebrew sibilants while explaining names or
other words (S. Hieronymi presbyteri commentariorum in Isaiam). It is
obvious that Jerome was unfamiliar with the differentiation between שׂ and שׁ.
(Jože Krašovec, The Transformation of Biblical Proper Names [Library of
Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 418; London: T&T Clark, 2010, 2019],
100)
