ANewModelofTransliteration

x silentbreath(h inFr.homme)
3 B
3 V (nearly;asoftB)
?, . G
, D
H
1 V,O,W
* Z
0 Ger. ich,Scot. loch;~Eng.school
D T
Y
J K
J softK(Kh)
7 L
C M
1 N
J S
V (glottalstop)
D P
D softP(ph =f)
2 Tz (sibilantbetweens andz)
Q
, R
C Sh
U S
n T
n Th
ThesevenDoubleLetters(3,.,,J,D,,n)eachhavetwo
sounds,onehardandonesoft.
Shin(U orC)alsohastwosounds,butisntaDouble.(C is
aMotherLetter,ahigherclassificationthattrumps
Double.)
General rule:
Theselettersatthebeginning ofaword(orfollowingan
internalpausesuchasx),arehard.
Otherwise,theyaresoft.
ThusnoBiblicalnamesbeginwithourletterF: NogodFred.
Butthereareexceptions:thisruleisonlyaguideline.
Thedoublesoundhasntbeenpreservedforallseven
DoubleLetters,anddoubleusagecanvarysignificantly
acrossdialects.
3AllHebrewdialectsusetwosoundsforBeth.
HardBeth3 =Englishb.
SoftBeth3 hasasoundresembling Englishv, butmadewithlipsinsteadof
teeth.(Labial,notdental.)Softenedb.
.WemakenodistinctionbetweenthehardandsoftGimel.
. =Englishg.
OtherthanamongYemeniteJews,thereisnoused differencebetweenthe
hardandsoftGimel.
ToYemenites,thesoft. =Englishj.
WemakenodistinctionbetweenthehardandsoftDaleth.
=Englishd.
OtherthanamongYemeniteJews,thereisnoused differencebetweenthe
hardandsoftDaleth.
ToYemenites,thesoftDaleth=thesoftEnglishth, asinthis.
JAllHebrewdialectsusetwosoundsforKaph.
HardJ =Englishk.
SoftJ isnearlythech orkh soundof0.(J =Englishk withheavybreath.)
WelldistinguishtheJ and0 morecarefullylater.
DAllHebrewdialectsusetwosoundsforPeh.
HardD =Englishp.
SoftPehD =Englishf.
NoHebrewdialectpreservestwosoundsforResh.
Englishr sound(currentlyusedinSephardicHebrew)isprobablythe
originalsoft.
Theveryrarehardsound(14occurrencesinO.T.)hasbeenlost,possibly
identicaltoGreekr& (usuallytransliteratedrh asintheletternameRho).
Inpractice,both and =Englishr.
CNotadoubleletter,butincludedherebecauseofitstwosounds.
Shin(U orC)hastwosounds,butisntcalledaDoubleLetter.(Its
categorizationasaMotherLetterisahigherclassification.)
C =Englishsh. U =Englishs,justlikeJ.
nAllHebrewdialectsusetwosoundsforTav,butdifferingacrossdialects.
Hardn =Englisht,justlikeD. (Thatstheeasyone.)
Softn variesmorewidelyacrossdialects:
AshkenaziJewspronouncen likeEnglishs.
SomeSephardicdialects(includingmodernHebrew),pronounceitlikeat, just
likehardn
Themoreancientusage,stillcommoninsomemodernSephardicdialects,isn =
Englishhardth, asinthanks.Weadoptthis.
Sephardicth vs.Ashkenazis isthesamelinguisticmigrationthatoccurredfrom
OldEnglishtoModernEnglish:sayeth becomessays, ordoethbecomesdoes.
All22Hebrewlettersareconsonants (evenx,,1,V,
whichwesometimestransliterateasEnglishvowels).
Hebrewvowels areindicatedbydiacriticalmarks
calledpointings. Theseareplacedusuallybeneath(but
sometimesbeside,between,orabove)theconsonants.
Intheexamplesfollowing,x =anyHebrewletter.
Pointingshavebeengroupedtogether(e.g., allthat
approximateanEnglisha)becausetheirdifferences
dontmatterfortodaysimmediatepurposes.
AlittledigressiontoancientRome
(onna counta theiralphabetlookslikeours)
Likea inago
Likea infather
Likee inpet
Likea inlate
Likei inhit
Likeee inkeen
Likeo inoften
Likeo inhope
Likeu input
Likeu inrude
ae Likey inby
ai Likey inby
au Likeow innow
ei Likeey ingrey
ui Likeuey ingluey;
afterq, likewee
A=ahx,x,x
E=ehx,x,x
I=ih x
O=oh1,x
U=oo 1,x
x ey they
x iy knee,Ni
x ay my,aye
1 oy toy,oil
1xx ow cow
Anunaccented vowel(anyvowelwilldo!)
Kinda sorta likeuh whenyourunpastitreallyfast
InEnglish:alone,sofa,seven,lesson
InHebrew:
x asin13
bney, notBenny
Sometimesrushedpast:x3,Briah.7x3? ,Gabriel.
Sometimespron0unced:71? ,Gdulah.1J ,Ysod.
Formally: Sounded@start ofsyllable,silent@end.
TheHebrewwordsthatwefindinbooksoftendont
lookverymuchliketheirHebrewpronunciations.
xVn throa?tRAa!
n17 Leviathan?LivyaTHAN!
0J cock?koakh!
And,whenthesetypicalbookspellingsdohelpyou
pronounceitright,theyoftendontmakeitclearwhat
theHebrewspellingis.(AsQabalists,wewanttoknow
theHebrewletters!)
IsetouttofindawaytotransliterateHebrewwordsinto
Englishcharacterswiththefollowinggoals.
1. Simplecharacters:Youcoulddoitonatypewriter!
2. Aftertransliteration,anativeEnglishspeaker
wouldintuitivelyknowhowtopronouncethe
Hebrewword.
3. Aftertransliteration,theHebrewspellingwould
stillbeobviousataglance.
Isucceededinfindingamethodthatmetthese
goalsabout99%ofthetime.
3 B
. G
D
H
* Z
D T
Y
J K J Kh
7 L
C M
1 N
J S
D P D F(Ph)
2 Tz
Q
R
C Sh
n Th
3 B SignalsthatnonEnglishsoundhalfwaybetweenB&V
U S C issh butU iss justlikeJ.Italicsdistinguish.
n T n isth butn ist justlikeD.Italicsdistinguish.
x Alephisanunsoundedbreath,asilent exhalationthat
makesnosound.This coversit!
V Aayinisaglottalstop,abriefhiccoughinthemiddleofaword.
Usingahyphenmakesthisobviousandeasy!
Bothx andV gettheirvowellike
soundsfromtheirpointings.
1isconfusingbecauseofhowthealphabetdeveloped.
Thatis,theproblemisthatEnglishhasmorediverseand
complicatedwaystomakethissoundset.
Mostsimply,1 isU.Butitsaconsonant,notavowel.
OurU,V,Wallemergedfromasingleletter,theLatinV
(which,er,istheirletterUbutjustlookslikeaV).
Uatthebeginningofawordhasaconsonantalquality
justlikeourW.Infact,doubleUisaU.(ButinFrench
itsstilldoubleV,whichitlookslike.ButtheRoman
VwasreallyaU,so) [CONT.]
Yeah,so,Uatthebeginningisaconsonant,W.Ifwe
writeWaldo asUaldo, youllprobablypronounceitmore
orlesscorrectly(atleastbeascloseasOoaldo).
InGerman,theVhasourWsound.(Seehowitsall
mixedup?DontblametheJewsjustbecausethe
Germansdid!)
So,thewaytosolveallofthisconfusionaboutwhetherit
isourWorourUorourV,thesolutionistotransliterate
1 asaVatthebeginning,aWwhenwehaveto,andthe
restofthetimeas
O
Yes:O.
(DonthitmewhenItellyouitsstillnotavowel.Itsa
quasivowelrenderingoftheconsonantweknowasW.
Dontsweatit,justknowthatshowyoupronounceit.)
Butwhatab0utthatUsound?WheredidtheUgo?
Itsallinthedagesh.(ThatsHebrewforadotstuckin
themiddleoftheletter.)Moreonthatlater.Mainpoint
is,itdoublestheOintoOO.InstantU sound!
(Ono!EnglishdoubleUisFrenchdoubleV,andnow
itsreallyadoubleOanditsnotevenadoubleletter!)
Hangingmyheadinshameandmovingon
0canbewrittenonastandardtypewriterasCH.
ButthatdoesntmeetoneoftheothercriteriaIset:that
anativeEnglishspeakerwouldintuitivelyknowhowto
pronouncetheHebrewword.
AnativeEnglishspeakerwouldnormallypronounceCH
notasinSCHOOL,butasinCHICKEN!
IfIhad$100foreverytimeIveheardChokmah
pronouncedchokema,wecouldpayourrentfor
months.
Somethinghadtobedoneaboutthat
Gottagetawayfromchokemahandchia[likethe
plant]andcheth[likechess withabadlisp].Anddont
getmestartedonthe4
th
Sephirah,Cheesehead.
Thereisaninternationalstandardcharacterforthe
desiredsound.Youcantmakeitonatypewriter,butits
auniqueandspecificcharacter:
or
Worstproblem(besidescantmakeitwithatypewriter,
whichnobodyusesanymoreanyway)isthatyoumight
mistakeitfortheletterH.
Ofallthe0 sins,thatstheleastoffensive.
SixHebrewlettersstartdeepinyourthroat&work
theirwayforwardtowardyourlips.(Igagyounot!)
x 0 J J
Inonesense,theseareallthesameletter!Themain
differenceisthattheyfalladifferentplaceinyour
mouth.
Deepinthethroat,withoutsound
Deepinthethroat,allowingsound
Topbackcornerofthethroat
Softpalate
Frontofsoftpalate
Slightlyforward
x
3 B
3 B
?, . G
, D
H
1 V,O
* Z
0
D T
Y
J K
J Kh
7 L
C M
1 N
J S
V
D P
D F
2 Tz
Q
, R
C Sh
U S
n T
n Th
Hebrewhasdozens ofrulesforwhatsyllableto
accentinaword.Youonlyneedtoknowafew.
ALLHebrewwordshavetheaccenteitheron
thefinal(ultimate)syllable,orthenexttolast
(penultimate)syllable.Noexceptions.
Thesearecalledbelowandabove,respectively.
Mostofthetime,itsonthefinal(below).
Ifthelasttwosyllablesbothhavetheevowel
x,accentthepenultimate syllable(above).
Examplesfollow
Familiarwordswherethelasttwosyllablesboth
havetheevowelx.(Icalltheseeheh words.)
nJ Kether nxDn Tifereth
|x Eretz j7C Melek
CD1 Nephesh 2 Tzedek
nC Qesheth CCC Shemesh
J0 Chesed 021 Netzach
Oops! Netzach? Thatsnoteheh, itsehah, right?
Sorta
Nextrule:
IfintheROOTofaword,thelasttwosyllablesboth
havetheevowelx,accentthepenultimate (above)
theaccentiskeptasintheroot.
021,netzach, comesfrom
theroot021,netzech.
Similarly,whenprefixingthearticle (ha) to
|x ,eretz, thevowelchanges itbecomesha
aretz buttheaccentstaysabove.
Nextrule(advanced):
IfyoulearntheHebrewvowels,itwillbeobvious
whentheultimate hasashortervowelandthe
penultimate hasalongervowel.Thepenultimate
thenhastheaccent.
17x Eloah q7x Aleph
C7 Lamed jCJ Samekh n7 Daleth
AsinEnglish
justlearntheexceptions!
1. ALLHebrewwordshavetheaccenteitheronthe
final(ultimate)syllable,orthenexttolast
(penultimate).Noexceptions.
2. Mostofthetime,itsonthefinal.
3. Ifthelasttwosyllablesbothhaveanevowelx
(eheh words), accentthepenultimate.
4. IftheROOTofawordhasthelasttwosyllablesboth
anevowelx,accentthepenultimate.
5. Whentheultimate hasashortervowelthanthe
penultimate, thepenultimate hastheaccent.
6. Learntheexceptions.
DAGESH:Thedotinthemiddleoftheletter
3 ? J D n
Theprimaryuseistodistinguishhardvs.soft
soundsindoubleletters.(Dagesh =hard.)Thisis
calledaweakdagesh.
Additionally,thedagesh indicatesthataletteris
doubled.Forexample,1 =n but? =nn (asin
Italian).Thisiscalledastrongdagesh.
x,,0,V nevertakeadagesh.(Youreallycant
doubletheirsounds.)
NodoublingatSTARTofawordorafterschwa.
D?D1xOfanniym
xx Imma
13? Gibbor
7J Kallah
Also,itturnsaVav(asanO sound)intoaU sound
bymakingitOO:
1 =o,but 1 =oo =u
EXAMPLES
7xD RFL RaFaeL
7x3? GBRYL GaBRiYeL
7xJC MYKhL MiYKhaeL
7x1xORYL OoRiYeL
Rafael~Gabriyel ~Miykhael ~Ooriyel
nJ KThR KeTheR
CJ0 KhMH aKhMaH
13 BYNH BiYNaH
J0 SD eSeD
13? GBORH GBOoRaH
nxDn TFRTh TiFeReTh
021 NTz NeTza
1 HOD HOD
1J YSOD YSOD
n1J7C MLKhOTh MaLKhOoTh
Dx DM aDaM
1x DNI aDoNaI
D?D1x OFNYM OFaNniYM
1x OR OR
nCx MTh eMeTh
Cx MN aMeN
xx YM iYMma
xx M iMma
7x L eL
17x LOH eLOaH
D7x LHYMeLoHiYM
n172x TzYLOTh aTziYLOoTh
|x RTz eReTz
Cx Sh eSh
DCx ShYM eShiYM
Cx ShR aSheR
x YN aYiN
q1J SOF SOF
1x OR OR
Ayin Sof Or
3 BN BeN
D7x 13 BNYLHYM
BNeY eLoHiYM
x3 BRYH BRiYaH
13? GBOR GiBbOR
71? GDOLH GDOoLaH
q1? GOF GOoF
10? GYON GiYON
nV DTh DaaTh
7x1x HNYL HaNiYeL
D1x V* ZYRNPYN
ZaiYR aNPiYN
0 YH aYaH
C n10 YOTh HQDSh
aYyOoTh HaQoDeSh
YH YaH
0 YYDH YiYDaH
2 YTzYRH YTziYRaH
3J1J KOKB KOKhaB
7J KLH KaLlaH
31J KROB KROoB
D31J KROBYM KROoBiYM
137 LBNH LBaNaH
n17 LVYThN LiVYaThaN
D71V7 LOLM LOLaM
DxC MDYM MaDiYM
DC MYM MeYM
DC MYM MaYiM
j7C MLK MeLeKh
J7C MLKH MaLKaH
0CC MShY MaShiYa
C01 NSh NaaSh
CD1 NFSh NeFeSh
CC1 NShMH NShaMaH
7xCJ SML SaMaeL
DJ SFYRH SFiYRaH
n1DJ SFYROTh SFiYROTh
D71V OLM OLaM
UV SYH aSiYaH
UV SR eSeR
x32 TzB TzaBa
n1x32 TzBOTh TzaBaOTh
2 TzDQ TzeDeQ
7x2 TzDQYL TzaDQiYeL
7xD2 TzFQYL TzaFQiYeL
73 QBLH QaBbaLaH
D7 QLPH QLiPpaH
n1D7 QLPOTh QLiPpOTh
VC QMY QaMeYa
nC QShTh QeSheTh
D7?7? nCx
RShYTh HGLGLYM
ReShiYTh HaGaLGaLiYM
01 RO ROoa
7x* RZYL RaZiYeL
xn3C ShBThI ShaBThaI
1JC ShKhYNH ShKhiYNaH
VC ShR ShaaR
1C ShRON ShaRON
qU SRF SaRaF
DDU SRFYM SRaFiYM
xVn TR TRaa
SOMENEWSPELLINGS
TOGETUSEDTO?
Kether Tifereth
akhmah Netza
Biynah Hod
esed Ysod
Gboorah Malkhooth
Rafael~Gabriyel ~Miykhael ~Ooriyel
Ofanniym Elohiym
Ayin Sof Or Daath
Iymma&Imma Kroob
Atziylooth Briyah Ytziyrah Asiyah
Eshiym Goof ayah
Gdoolah Yiydah Lolam
Meym Mayim Malkah
Naash Nefesh Nshamah
Tzadqiyel Tzafqiyel Raziyel
Qlippoth Rooa Traa
Shkhiynah Srafiym Shaar
x3xxx3x
*1DCx1 1V
(eNiY QOoeShTNZ?)