The Gutturals Aleph,
He, and ḥeth
The gutturals א and ה have no
consonantal value, but serve only to carry a vowel sign or to act as a mere
orthographic indication of a preceding vowel. With regard to pronunciation it
may be remarked that א is the weakest of the gutturals; it corresponds to the spiritus
lenis of the Greeks and is actually pronounced only in a syllable that is
closed in one way or another. The letter ה, on the other hand, corresponds to
the spiritus asper of the Greeks and is pronounced at the end of a
syllable and before a vowel as a light guttural; at the end of a word it is
inaudible. In the Greek transliteration of Hebrew proper names contained in the
Septuagint and other Bible translations A is always considered merely as the
bearer of the respective vowel: אבימאל (Gen 10:27)—‘Αβιμαελ, Vg. Abimahel; אלמוֹדד (Gen
10:27)—‘Ελμωδαδ, Vg: Helmodad; יזרעאל (1 Chr
4:3)—‘Ιεζραηλ, Vg: Phanuhel. How can the
insertion of an /h/ before the radical א be explained? Since this happened only
in compound names, we may assume that the purpose was to indicate that the two
vowels are to be pronounced separately: Bahalmeon, Behelfegor, Behelsefon,
Beselehel, Iamuhel, Israhel, Misahel, Raguhel. In transliterated proper names
into Greek ה is fairly often dropped; rarely is it rendered by the spiritus
asper. In transliteration into Latin this letter is sometimes retained and
rendered as h: אברהם (Gen 17:5)—‘Αβρααμ,
Vg. Abraham; אהרוֹן (Exod 4:14)—‘Ααρων,
the syncopated form ‘Αρων
(A Exod 6:26; 7:8; Num 12:10; Sir 45:6), Vg: Aaron ני-הנֹם (Josh 15:8)—‘Εννομ, Vg: Gehennom; חוֹשׁע (Hos 1:1)—Ωσηε, Vg: Osee; הימם (Gen 36:22)—Αιμαν, Vg: Heman; הלם (1 Chr 7:35)—‘Ελαμ, Vg:
Helem; יהורה (Gen 29:35)—‘Ιουδας, ‘Ιουδα, Vg: Iuda; יהוֹשע (Exod 17:9)—‘Ιησους, Vg: Iosue. We may conclude that
Jerome transliterates ה at times with h on the basis of Hebrew grammar. An
especially conspicuous example of this kind is the name Abraham as explained by
Jerome in his discussion of the changes in the name forms Abram/Abraham (see S.
Hieronymus, Hebraicae quaestiones in libro Geneseos, in S. Hieronymi
presbyteri opera, Pars 1/1/ 21 [on Gen 17:5]).
Greek could not convey the
guttural sound of the Hebrew letter ח. In a number of names it is
transliterated with the letter χ,
in Latin with the letter h; for instances: אחאב (1 Kings 16:28)—‘Αχααβ, Vg: Ahab; חברוֹן (Gen 13:18)—Χεβρων, Vg: Hebron. More often the
letter is not expressed at all either in Greek or in Latin, or it is
transcribed with a vowel: אחשׁורוֹשׁ (Ezra 4:6)—‘Ασσουηρος, Vg: Asuerus; חנוֹך (Gen 5:21)—‘Ενωχ, Josephus: ‘Ανωχος, ‘Ανωχης, Vg: Enoch; חצוֹר (Josh 11:1)—‘Ασωρ, Vg: Asor; חרמוֹן (Deut 3:8)—‘Αερμων, Vg: Hermon; יוֹחנן (2 Kgs 25:23)—‘Ιωαναν (A)A, ‘Iωνα (B), in many other biblical places and in Josephus ‘Ιωαννης, Vg: Iohannan. A good number of
names are transliterated without considering this sound or with a semi-vowel,
indicated with the spiritus asper, חגי (Hag 1:1)—‘Αγγαιος, ‘Αγγαιος, Vg: Aggeus; חוקיק (Hab 1:1)-‘Αμβακουμ, Vg: Abacuc; חוּה (Gen 4:1)—Ευα, Ευα, Vg: Hava; חזקיהוּ (2 Kgs 16:20)—‘Εζεκιας, Vg: Ezechias; חנה (1 Sam 1:2)—‘Αννα, ‘Αννα, Vg:
Anna; חנניה (Jer 28:1)—‘Ανανιας, Ανανιας, Vg: Ananias.
Medial ח with a vowel, when it
represents a laryngeal rather than a velar, is variously rendered: as a single
or double vowel with omission of the sign, and so on. Note, for instance: יחלאל
(Gen 46:14 A)—‘Αλοηλ, Vg: Iahelel, but in Num 26:26 (22)—‘Αλληλ, Vg:
Ialel; יחצאל (Gen 46:24)—‘Ασιηλ,
Vg: Iahelel, Iessihel (Num 26:46); מחלי (Exod 6:19)—Μοολι, Vg: Mooli; נחבּי (Num 13:14
[15])—Ναβι, Vg: Naabbi; נחלאל (Num 21:19)—Νααλιηλ, Vg: Nahalihel; נחשׁוֹן (Exod
6:23)—Ναασσων, Vg: Naasson; רחב (Josh 2:1)—‘Ρααβ, Josephus ‘Ρααβη, Ραχαβη, Vg: Raab; רחֹב (Num 13:21
[22])—‘Ρααβ, Vg: Roob. (Jože Krašovec, The
Transformation of Biblical Proper Names [Library of Hebrew Bible/Old
Testament Studies 418; London: T&T Clark, 2010, 2019], 97-99; this might
have implications for the NHM/NḥM
debate about Book of Mormon Nahom [1 Nephi 16:34])
