2727: ‘Hebrew’ and Why ע is Difficult to Transcribe Jun 8, 2024

The letter ayin ע in Hebrew is one that has led to a multitude of difficult transliterations, into Greek, Latin, and English that don’t have this sound traditionally. Historically the ע represented the voiced pharyngeal fricative ([ʕ]), as it still does in some traditional dialects, but in Modern Hebrew has become silent. It is usually ignored in transliterations therefore, as in the Biblical city of Ai (עַי) but there are a few notable exceptions. The word ‘Hebrew’ (language) is עברית (ivrit) but since the word starts with an ע ayin, it was transliterated into Latin with an H. Meanwhile, in the Biblical cities of Gomorrah and Gaza, these also start with an ayin but due to the pharyngealization were transliterated with a G, or in truth a Greek letter Γ gamma. In Arabic, these are written with a separate letter gayin غ‎ representing the sounds /ɣ/ also written with a G when transliterating Bagdad or /ʁ/. This letter is is unique to Arabic among other Semitic writing systems, but it’s unlikely that ayin ע used to represent both pharyngeal fricative and velar fricatives, since this was accomplished with the letter gimmel ג (not גּ). 

For clearer pronunciations, watch this post in video-form.