The Guttural Letter
Ayin
Jerome notes in his explanation of the place names
Gomorra and Gaza that the G-sound does not exist in Hebrew, but it is rendered
as the vowel ע. It is true that the strongest sound of ע is a guttural g, an
ancient consonant which is preserved only in Arabic. In transliteration of this
letter from Hebrew/Aramaic into Greek and Latin it may be remarked that the
sound is often not expressed at all, while it is sometimes transliterated with
the Greek letter y and Latin g, at other times indicated by the spiritus asper,
and in Latin it can occur as some other guttural, for instance h. This fact
allows the conclusion that the spelling of the ע was something between the
Greek spiritus lenis and the letter y. The most probable reasons for
transliterating the letter with y and g are: the initial position of the letter
ע, the position of the letter between vowels and phonetic similarity between
Hebrew proper names. Examples include: עַזָּה (Gen 10:19)-Γάζα, Vg: Gaza;עַי
(Gen 12:8)-Άγγαί, Vg: Ai; עֲמֹרָ֛ה (Gen 10:19)-Γóuop(p)a, Vg: Gomorra as against אֱמֹרִי (Gen
10:16)-Άμορραϊος, Vg: Amorreus; כְּדָרְלָעֹמֶר (Gen 14:1)-Χοδολλογομόρ (ΑΕ),
Χοδολλαγόμορ (D), Josephus: Χοδολάμορος, Vg:
Chodorlahomor; צֹעַר (Gen 13:10),צֹעַר (19:22)-Ζόγορα (13:10), Σηγώρ (19:22),
Josephus: Ζόαρα, Ζωώρ, Σήγωρα, Vg: Segor (in both places); צוּעָר (Num 1:8)- Σωγάρ,
Vg: Suar; רְעוּ (Gen 11:18)-Ραγαύ, Josephus: Ρεούς, Ρούμος, Vg: Reu; רְעוּאֵֽל
(Gen 36:4)-Ραγουήλ, Ραγουήλος (Tob 6:11 in B S), Josephus: Ραούηλος, Ραγούηλος,
Vg: Rauhel. Jerome explains the Latin forms Seor/Segor by referring to the
transliteration of the Hebrew vowel » with the consonant y. It is striking that
the guttural ע is exceptionally transliterated with h in the Latin form of the
name עֵיטָם (1 Chr4:3)-Αίτάμ, Vg: Hetam. (Jože Krašovec, The Transformation of
Biblical Proper Names [Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 418;
London: T & T Clark, 2010], 99-100)
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