tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Apr 21 12:22:39 1995
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Re: Easter translation
- From: [email protected] (Jonathan Kallay)
- Subject: Re: Easter translation
- Date: Fri, 21 Apr 1995 12:22:30 -0700
As a Hebrew speaker, I should be able to shed some light on the subject.
Hallelujah (or however you prefer to spell it) does indeed start with a 'h'
sound, the Hebrew letter 'hay'. However, the Halelu is pronounced with the
'e' sound, like in the word 'yet'- phonetically "ha-leh-loo". The 'h' at the
end of 'yah' is NOT pronounced.
>The Hebrew is "hal'luyah", with an h at the beginning. Argh, I don't have
>a text with me to verify the precise pointing, but I think I can work it
>out grammatically.
>
>"Hal'luyah" is a compound of "Hal'lu" + "yah". The first word is a plural
>command: "Praise!" I believe it's spelled h, then "a" (qamatz), then l
>(single l), then a "moving" shwa (i.e. sounded, not silent), then another l
>and u. "Yah" is a name of God, a contraction of the tetragrammaton. It's
>spelled "y" and "a" (qamatz), followed by a *consonantal* h. The final h
>in this word (unlike most in Hebrew) is *pronounced* (and written with a
>dot in it).