How to Say: ‘Mary is Our Lady’ in Hebrew:

Figure 1: A rough pencil sketch of The Annunciation that I drew, some time ago.

“גְּבִירָ֫ה„ or, transliterated: ‘g͡ħəb͡hîyrấh’, in Hebrew, means: ‘lady’.

To say ‘Our Lady’, we put “גְּבִירָ֫ה„ or, transliterated: ‘g͡ħəb͡hîyrấh’ into the construct state. This yields: “גְּבִירַת„, or, transliterated: ‘g͡ħəb͡hîyrát͡h’, which means: ‘the lady of’. To the previous construct form, we then suffix the first person plural suffix: “נוּ ֵ-„ or transliterated: ‘-ḗ͡ínûw’. This yields: “גְּבִרַתֵּ֫נוּ„ or, transliterated: ‘g͡ħəb͡hîyrat͡ħ-t͡ħḗ͡ínûw’, which means: ‘The Lady of us’; or: ‘The Lady of Ours’; or’ ‘Our Lady’.

“מִרְיָ֫ם„, or, transliterated: ‘mirəyā́m’, is a Hebrew proper noun that means: ‘Mary’.

In Biblical Hebrew we can say:

‘Mary is our Lady.’

by saying:

“.מִרְיָ֫ם הִיא גְּבִירַתֵּ֫נוּ„

or, transliterated:

‘mirəyā́m hîyʔ g͡ħəb͡hîyrat͡ħ-t͡ħḗ͡ínûw.’

In Modern Hebrew we can say:

‘Mary is our Lady.’

by saying:

“מִרְיָ֫ם הִיא הַגְּבִירָ֫ה הַשֶּׁלָּ֫נוּ„

or, transliterated:

‘mirəyā́m hîyʔ hag͡ħ-g͡ħəb͡hîyrấh has͡h-s͡hel-lā́nûw.’

or, transliterated:

‘mirəyā́m hîyʔ g͡ħəb͡hîyrat͡ħ-t͡ħḗ͡ínûw.’

Duolingo Lesson: Wednesday 22nd July: Hebrew Determiners:

zeh_determiner_demonstrative_colon_this-copy-1.docx

zeh_determiner_demonstrative_colon_this-copy.pdf

Introduction:

At present, that I may one day be able to read the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, or “Old Testament” in its original Hebrew, I am studying Modern Hebrew, for free, via the Duolingo App. I employ this gamified app so as to learn a form of Hebrew that is more similar to Classical/Biblical Hebrew than it is dissimilar. I can, therefore, through the employment of Brown, Driver Briggs and wiktionary, leverage this addictive, and free gamified app so as to learn some Classical/Biblical Hebrew. According to Hector Avalos in The End of Biblical Studies (2007), even though biblical studies is both a dying and oversubscribed [1] profession, nevertheless there is a shortage of talent and competency for the few lecturing positions available. At PhD level, Avalos recommends that those wishing to lecture, should know at least four languages among the following:

 Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, Aramaic and Syriac,

to some degree of fluency, and that, ideally, one would also be able to decipher some French, Coptic, and Akkadian, as well.

Therefore, wishing eventually to lecture Philosophy of Religion[2] at a PhD level, some day, I am actively trying to learn Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German and Aramaic and Syriac. Aramaic and Syriac are dialects of the same language. The gamified nature of Duolingo is enabling me to build up competency in a lot of the above-mentioned languages.

In this article, I examine some instances of Hebrew determiners.

Body:

 

Masculine Singular Form:

The Hebrew word, infrā:

 

זֶה

is a ‘determiner,’ which means:

‘this (masculine, singular)’

. The Hebrew word, suprā, when transliterated into the alphabet used by English speakers, appears thus:

‘zēh.’

The word, suprā, when its phonemes be transcribed phonetically into the International Phonetic Alphabet appears thus:

/zeː/

The word, suprā, whenspelled with Hebrew letters, appears thus:

‘zayin, segol; hey.’

In Biblical Hebrew, we employ the phrase:

הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה

or, when transliterated into the alphabet that English speakers use:

‘had͡ħd͡ħāb͡hā́r hazzḗh;’

‘had͡ħ-d͡ħāb͡hā́r haz-zḗh;’

to mean:

‘this thing.’

The phrase suprā—when its phonemes be transcribed, employing, in so doing, the International Phonetic Alphabet—appear thus:

/had.daː.ˈvaːr haz.ˈzeː/

The phrase, suprā, when spelled using Hebrew letters appears thus:

‘hey, pathach; daleth, dagesh forte, qamats; veith, qamats; reish. hey, pathach; zayin, segol; hey.’

Feminine Singular Form:

The Hebrew word, infrā:

זֺאת

is a determiner which means:

 ‘this (feminine, singular).’

The Hebrew word, suprā, when transliterated into the letters of the alphabet used by English speakers, appears thus:

‘zōʔt͡h.’

. The Hebrew word, suprā, when the phonemes, which comprise it, are transcribed into the International Phonetic alphabet, appears thus:

/zoˑʔθ/

/ˈzoˑʔ.θə/

. The word, suprā, when spelled using Hebrew letters, appears thus:

‘zayin, defective cholam; aleph; tau.’

.

Conclusion:

Having examined these Modern-Hebrew determiners—encountered by means of the Duolingo app—and thereupon examining the Classical-Hebrew equivalents of these two determiners, we can now confidently proceed in our studies of Modern Hebrew, employing Duolingo as an instrument in this endeavor.

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[1] That is to say that there are many more post-graduates who wish to lecture biblical studies than there exist accredited universities, colleges, and seminaries with lecturing positions available.

[2] I prefer to call this field: “Philosophy of Religion” rather than to call it: “Theology.” Philosophy of Religion does not assume the existence of God, whereas Theology does. ‘Philosophy of Religion’ is a more neutral term for this field that both theists and atheists can accept.

The Classical Latin Alphabet:

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You may view the SVG vector code for the Latin portico image at my Codepen account

Here is a Microsoft Word version of this blogpost:

the_latin_alphabet_my

Here is a pdf version of this blogpost:

the_latin_alphabet_my

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Figure 1: The Latin Alphabet. The word ‘abecedarium,’ in English, can mean ‘an alphabet inscribed into stone.’ Hence, this portico, with the Latin alphabet inscribed onto its frieze, is a diagram of an ‘abecedarium,’ in the English sense of the word, as well.

Introduction:

In beginning our study of the Classical Latin language, we shall begin with its alphabet. We shall learn the Latin name of its letters, and how these letters ought to be pronounced.

The Latin word for ‘alphabet’ is ‘abecedārium.’^[i]

Body:

Classical Latin possesses an alphabet that contains twenty-three letters. These letters are as follows:

Table 1: The Classical Latin Alphabet. The diligent student will pronounce the letters of this alphabet, aloud, over and over again; and shall write them out, over and over again; until he/she will have committed this alphabet, and the names of its letters, to memory.

The Classical Latin Alphabet:
Latin Lowercase Letter:	Latin Uppercase Letter:	Letter Name in Latin:	How to Pronounce the Letter’s Name in Phonemic Transcription:
a	A	ā	/aː/
b	B	bē	/beː/
c	C	cē	/keː/
d	D	dē	/deː/
f	F	ef	/ɛf/
g	G	gē	/geː/
h	H	hā	/haː/
i[ii]	I	ī	/iː/
k	K	kā	/kaː/
l	L	el	/ɛl/
m	M	em	/ɛm/
n	N	en	/ɛn/
o	O	ō	/oː/
p	P	pē	/peː/
q	Q	qū	/kuː/
r	R	er	/ɛr/
s	S	es	/ɛs/
t	T	tē	/teː/
u[iii]	V	ū	/uː/
x	X	ix	/ɪx/ /ix/
y[iiii]	Y	ī Graeca	/iː ˈgra͡ɪ.ka/, /iː ˈgra͡ɪ.kɑ/
z	Z	zēta	/ˈsdeː.ta/, /ˈzdeː.ta/, /ˈsdeː.tɑ/, /ˈzdeː.tɑ/

Conclusion:

In this chapter have examined the alphabet of the classical Latin language. We have committed the knowledge:

• that the Latin word for ‘alphabet’ is ‘abecedārium;’
• that the Latin Alphabet comprises twenty-three letters;
• which letters comprise the Latin Alphabet;
• the names of the Latin letters;
• how the names of the Latin Letters are pronounced in Latin.

to memory. Our now having acquired the above-listed knowledge, we can now move forth to following chapters that will treat of the pronunciation of Latin in greater detail.

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[1] ‘The Classical Latin Alphabet’ can also be referred to as ‘the Classical Roman Alphabet.’

Endnotes for the Chapter, ‘The Classical Latin Alphabet:’

^[i] The Latin, ‘abecedārium,’ genitive singular: ‘abecedāriī,’ is a 2^nd-declension neuter noun. The first four letters of the Latin alphabet are:

‘ā,’ ‘bē,’ ‘cē,’ ‘dē

.

Hence from the first four letters of the Latin alphabet we derive the word:

‘“ā,”-“bē,”-“cē,”-“d’”-“-ārium.”’

The 2^nd-declension neuter nominal suffix: ‘-ārium,’ genitive singular: ‘-āriī,’ denotes ‘a place where things are kept.’ Where do we keep our letters? We keep our letters in an ‘alphabet,’ or, in Latin, in an ‘abecedārium.’

Hence, etymologically, in Latin, an ‘abecedārium,’ can be defined as: ‘a place where we keep the Latin letters, “ā,” “bē,” “cē,” “dē,” etc.’

^[ii]Properly speaking, there is no ‘j’ or ‘J’ in Latin. However, one will often see this character’s being employed—usually in Church texts and other works composed later than the Classical epoch—to denote a consonantal ‘i,’ or ‘I.’ In Latin, ‘i,’ as a vowel, is pronounced, when short, as /ɪ/ or /i/; and when long as /iː/.

In Latin, consonantal ‘i’ can be represented by the IPA symbol, /j/. The consonantal ‘i,’—or ‘j,’ as one sometimes sees (in Church texts)—represents this very /j/ sound. The consonantal ‘i’ in the Latin word, ‘iugum,’ or ‘jugum,’ /ˈjʊ.ɡʊm/ that means ‘yoke,’ is pronounced as the ‘y’ in the English word, ‘yurt,’ i.e. as: /jεːt/.

^[iii]In Classical Latin, properly, ‘u,’ and ‘v’ are the same letter. Properly, a ‘V’ is nothing more than the capital form of the lowercase ‘u.’ Therefore, strictly speaking, the presence of a lowercase ‘v,’ in a classical Latin text, is an aberration. Oxford University Press wishes, eventually, to strike this aberration from all of its Latin publications, and I wish them well with this endeavour. Hence, the word ‘verbum,’ that one may observe in present O.U.P. Latin texts will eventually become ‘uerbum.’ However, this practice, today, is far from standard. I prefer this practice, and this is the practice that is employed by Peter V. Jones and Keith C. Sidwell’s Reading Latin: Text Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986. However, these texts—although I deem them more correct—are still in the minority. At present, in most Latin texts, a ‘u,’ or a ‘U,’ is employed to represent the letter ‘u,’ as a vowel; and a ‘v’ or a ‘V’ is employed to represent the letter ‘u,’ as a consonant. Hence, the letter ‘u,’ or ‘U,’ when short, can be said to represent the phonemes: /ʊ/ or /u/ and, when long it can be said to represent the phoneme /uː/. The letter ‘v’ or ‘V’ can be said to represent the phoneme /w/. This will be the practice employed in this present work. Although not our focus, in Church texts, the letter ‘v,’ or ‘V’ can be said to represent the phoneme /v/.

The technical name for the phoneme, /v/, is ‘voiced labiodental fricative.’

The Phonetics term, ‘voiced,’ informs us that vibrating air from the vocal chords is involved in the pronunciation of /v/.

The Phonetics term, ‘labiodental,’ informs us that both the lips and the teeth are involved in the pronunciation of /v/.

The English adjective, ‘labiodental’ is derived from the New Latin 3^rd-declension adjective, ‘labiōdentālis, labiōdentāle,’ genitive singular: ‘labiōdentālis,’ genitive plural: ‘labiōdentālium,’ base: ‘labiōdentāl-.’ This New Latin word is derived from the Classical Latin 2^nd-declension neuter noun, ‘labium,’ genitive singular: ‘labiī,’ which means ‘lip;’ and from the Classical Latin 3^rd-declension masculine noun, ‘dēns,’ genitive singular: ‘dentis,’ genitive plural: ‘dentium,’ which means ‘tooth;’ and from the 3^rd-declension adjectival suffix, ‘-ālis, -āle.’

Hence, etymologically, in this instance, the English adjective, ‘labiodental’ denotes ‘the use of the lips and the teeth in the articulation of a phoneme.’

The Phonetics term, ‘fricative,’ informs us that turbulence, caused by the air escaping from a narrow channel—in this instance, the mouth and lips—is involved in the pronunciation of /v/.

^[iiii]As with ‘i,’ the Latin letter, ‘y,’ can function as a vowel or as a consonant. Its name in Latin is ‘ī Graeca’ which means ‘Greek “i.”’ When the character, ‘y,’ functions as a consonant, it is said to represent the phoneme, /j/, and on the occasions that ‘y’ functions as a vowel, when short it can be said to represent the phonemes: /ɪ/ or /i/ and when long—i.e. when a macron should appear above it, as: ‘ȳ’—it can be said to represent the phoneme: /iː/.

The Elements of Euclid in Greek and Latin

I was trying to parse my way through an edition of The Elements in Greek and Latin:

https://archive.org/details/euclidisoperaomn01eucluoft/page/x

The name of The Elements in Ancient Greek is:

Στοιχει̃a

or, when transliterated:

Stoicheĩa

.

The Ancient-Greek word, τὰ στοιχει̃α or, when transliterated ‘tà stoicheĩa,’ is a plural form of the 2nd-declension neuter verb, τὸ στοιχει̃ον genitive: του̃ στοιχείου or, when transliterated: ‘tò stoicheĩon,’ genitive: ‘toũ stoicheíou.’

The Ancient-Greek word, ‘tò stoicheĩon,’ can mean ‘an element in a set.’

Figure 1: The elements of this set are alpha, beta, gamma and delta.

The Ancient-Greek word, ‘tò stoicheĩon,’ is formed from the Ancient-Greek masculine noun, ὁ στοι̃χος genitive: του̃ στοίχου or, when transliterated, ‘ho stoĩchos,’ genitive: ‘toũ stoíchou,’ which means ‘steps,’ or ‘a flight of stairs;’ and the Ancient-Greek 2nd-declension neuter nominal suffix, ‘-eĩon,’ genitive: ‘-eíou’ which denotes ‘a means (of),’ ‘an instrument of;’ etc.

Figure 2: a ‘stoĩchos’ or ‘series of steps.’

The term, ‘stoĩchos,’ according to Wiktionary, may be traced back to the indo-european word:

*steigʰ

, which means:

‘climb.’

Hence, etymologically, the Ancient-Greek term, ‘stoicheĩa,’ can be said to mean: ‘the means of climbing up;’ ‘the means of stepping up;’ ‘the means of ascent;’ etc.

This is highly instructive, as, in truth, Elements is a book that is a Jacob’s ladder, of sorts, by which one can ascend, element by element, into the heavens of mathematical knowledge.

Figure 3: With The Elements of Euclid, we advance in our mathematical knowledge element by element. Each element is, conceptually, like a rung, heaving us upwards to Mathematical prowess; to an implicit knowledge of Euclidean Geometry.

The Shiyn

 

Figure 1: This is the ‘Shiyn’, the 21st letter of the Hebrew abjad. Its Aramaic name is שִׁין or ‘shīyn’ or ‘shîn’. It is spelt ‘shiyn,chiriq; yod; final nun;’ I drew this shiyn with gel pens. I then scanned it into Vector Magic, and then I tweaked it in Inkscape with the Typography extension.

This is the 21st letter of the Hebrew abjad. An ‘abjad’ in linguistics is an alphabet comprising only consonants and no vowels. The word ‘shiyn,’ is Aramaic for ‘teeth.’ In Proto-Sinaitic, or “Paeleo-Hebrew” this character looks like a pair of incisors.

Figure 2: This is what a ‘shiyn’ looks like in Phoenician or Proto-Sinaitic or Pale-Hebrew.

שֵׁן or ‘shē(i)n’ is ‘tooth’ in Hebrew.

Figure 3: I drew this tooth in Assembly, an app-store app. שֵׁן or ‘shē(i)n’ is ‘tooth’ in Hebrew. It is spelt ‘shiyn,tseire; final nun;’ It is a feminine noun.

Should the dot be placed over the left horn, then this character is pronounced like a clean ‘s’ would in English. The IPA symbol that represents this sound is /s/.

Figure 4: Should we place the dot over the left horn, then we pronounce this character as a clean ‘s’ or /s/.

Should the dot be placed over the right horn, then this character is pronounced like an ‘sh’ would in English. The IPA symbol that represents this sound is /ʃ/.

Figure 4: Should we place the dot over the right horn, then we pronounce this character as a “soft-‘s’” sound; as we would pronounce the digraph ‘sh’ in ‘shop.’ The IPA symbol that represents this phoneme is /ʃ/ or ‘esh’.

One word with which this character is associated is the Hebrew word for fire, which is אֵשׁ or, when transliterated: ‘ē(i)sh.’

Figure 5: It is as though a fire bites into whatever it is consuming. Hence the shiyn, as a pictograph, is said to represent fire, or passion etc.

Figure 5: What the Hebrew word, ‘ē(i)sh’ means when spelled with Proto-sinaitic or Paleo-Hebrew characters. The pictographic meaning of this word seems to be ‘the strength of consuming,’ or ‘strong consuming,’ or ‘leading to consuming,’ etc.

The word for ‘man’ in Hebrew is אִישׁ or, when transliterated, ‘īysh,’ or ‘îsh.’ Man has, as it were, the fire of life inside of him, the götterfunken, or ‘divine spark,’ as Schiller put it. His internal body temperature is 37 degrees celsius. Also, man – if not careful – can be utterly consumed by his appetites and passions.

Figure 6: Ecce homō! Behold the man! It is as though he is animated by some divine flame. However, he is also a collection of passions and appetites, and – if not careful – he can be destroyed by these.

Esse est Perspicī: to be is to be perceived:

Figure 1:  “Of infinite scope.”  I drew this in Inkscape.

Figure 2:  ‘ho skopós’ in Ancient Greek is whence we derive the programming term, ‘scope.’

At present, I am writing an article on ‘scope’ as it pertains to programming.  I am going to try to explain it with Berkeley’s:

“esse est perspicī;”

which means:

“to be is to be percieved.”

, which some suggest to be a foreshadow of  the scientific phenomenon known as:

“quantum observation.”

How far can the quantum observer, as regards the world or universe of the program see, as regards a variable’s declaration and initialisation?

If the quantum observer can see all things; perceive all things; like the omnivident ^[1] “watcher” portrayed in Figure 1, then the variable is said to be of global scope.

However, as regards the world or universe of the program; should the quantum observer be a little myopic; should his field of perception be limited to a function or an object or some other code block, then the variable in question is said to be of local scope.

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^[1]  I invented this theological term, as it is convenient.  It describes the ability of a deity to see all things.  From the Latin adjective, ‘omnis,’ which means ‘all;’ and the Latin 2nd-conjugation verb, ‘videō,’ which means ‘I see.’  Incidentally, Goerge Berkely (1685 – 1753) was an Irish Anglican Clergyman.

The Triplet as an Analogy to Ancient-Greek pronunciation.

Figure 1: A triplet that I scripted in SVG. I can import these svg “primitives” into Inkscape, and then write music, therewith. You may view the SVG code for this at my codepen account.

A triplet symbol that I drew in SVG. I need this so as to visually explain how to pronounce syllables marked with the circumflex accent, or the:

περισπωμένη

, or – when transliterated:

perispōménē

, to give it its Greek name. I am writing a chapter on this.  I should like to write an e-book entitled My First One-Hundred Ancient-Greek Words.

In music theory, the triplet denotes three notes sounded with the length, or duration, of two.  For instance, 3 crotchets, that, together, only possess the duration of two crotchets.

The circumflex, or perispōménē denotes – as regards the tonality of the syllable marked with it – a beginning on middle C, a rise to G, and then a falling of tone back to Middle C, and all of this occurs within 2 morae… which is like a minim in duration.

Some Greek primers on the market today downplay the significance of the polytonic pronunciation.

They inform the reader to simply stress the syllable accented, or – worse still! – to ignore the accents altogether, and to apply the penult-antepenult pronunciation rules of Latin to Ancient-Greek words!

However, I find that learning both the rhythm and pitch of Greek words makes them a lot more memorable.  We, native English speakers, do not have a tonal language however, other cultures, such as the Chinese, do.  A Chinese person would have zero difficulty with learning the polytonic pronunciation of Ancient Greek. There are more fluent English speakers in China than there are in the United States of America…[1] so it is important to bear them in mind when writing a book such as this.

Figure 2: The polytonic nature of Ancient-Greek is a thing of beauty. To learn it need not be a chore.

For a Chinese person to develop an interest in Western Culture – such as learning Ancient Greek, say – is to project affluence, education and refinement.

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[1]. I fact-checked this on Wikipedia. The United States has more fluent speakers of English, than does China, however, China has more people learning English than what the United States does.

Addendum

Below is the SVG code wherewith I scripted the triplet image depicted in Figure 1.

https://ideone.com/e.js/PUdPZ2

Beyond the Scope of this Blogpost:

ὁ σκοπός ho skopós

Figure 1: We derive the English term, ‘scope,’ from the Ancient-Greek word discussed in this blogpost. The term, ‘scope,’ is relevant to the fields of programming and mathematics. Currently, I am working on an article concerning scope as it pertains to programming.

Introduction:

In Ancient Greek, the term:

ὁ σκοπός

or:

‘ho skopós’

is a 2^nd-declension masculine noun.

Body:

Declension:

The following is the declension of the word:

‘ho skopós’

.

ὁ σκοπός or: ‘ho skopós:’
	Singular:	Dual:	Plural:
Nominative:	ὁ σκοπός	τὼ σκοπώ	ὁι σκοποί
Genitive:	τοῦ σκοποῦ	τοῖν σκοποῖν	τῶν σκοπῶν
Dative:	τῷ σκοπῷ	τοῖν σκοποῖν	τοῖς σκοποῖς
Accusative:	τὸν σκοπόν	τὼ σκοπώ	τοῦς σκοποῦς
Vocative:	σκοπέ	σκοπώ	σκοποί

ὁ σκοπός or: ‘ho skopós:’
	Singular:	Dual:	Plural:
Nominative:	ho skopós	tṑ skopṓ	hoi skopoí
Genitive:	toũ skopoũ	toĩn skopoĩn	tō̃n skopō̃n
Dative:	tō̃i skopō̃i	toĩn skopoĩn	toĩs skopoĩs
Accusative:	tòn skopón	tṑ skopṓ	toũs skopoũs
Vocative:	skopé	skopṓ	skopoí

Definition:

• ‘watcher;’
• ‘lookout,’ ‘protector,’ ‘guardian;’
• ‘spy,’ ‘scout;’
• ‘mark,’ ‘target;’
• ‘goal,’ ‘aim.’ [1].

Conclusion:

It is from the Ancient-Greek word,‘ho skopós:’ that we derive English words such as ‘scope,’ ‘telescope,’ ‘microscope,’ and even ‘bishop.’

Figure 2:  I drew this mitre in Inkscape.

We derive the English noun, ‘bishop,’ from the 2nd-declension Ecclesiastical-Latin noun:

‘episcopus, episcopī,’

which is further derived from the Ancient-Greek:

ὁ ἐπίσκοπος genitive: τοῦ ἐπισκόπου

or, when transliterated:

‘ho epískopos,’ genitive: ‘toũ episkópou’

, which means:

• ‘watcher-over’
• ‘overseer’
• ‘bishop.’

In this context, the Ancient-Greek preposition:

επί

or, when transliterated:

‘epí’

means:

‘over;’

and the Ancient-Greek second-declension masculine noun:

ὁ σκοπός

or:

‘ho skopós’

means:

‘watcher,’ ‘seer.’

Hence, etymologically, it is the Bishop‘s duty to oversee the administration of a diocese, and to watch over the inhabitants of a diocese.

‘

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[1]. Wiktionary definition. Wiktionary [website], 2018, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/σκοπός#Ancient_Greek , (accessed 10^th June 2018).

The Quantity of Syllables in Ancient Greek:

Here is a .docx of the following article:

the_quantity_of_syllables_in_ancient_greek_binary_sixty_four

Here is a pdf of the following article:

the_quantity_of_syllables_in_ancient_greek_binary_sixty_four

 

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Figure 1: Ancient Greek is an extremely musical language, possessing both pitch, and rhythm.

Introduction:

In Ancient Greek, syllables are either:

1.  long;
2.  short;
3. . or obscure.

Body:

We shall now examine each class of Syllable Length in turn:
Long Syllables:
In Ancient Greek, a syllable is considered long, by nature, should it contain one of the vowels:

η, ω

; or long:

ᾱ , ῑ , ῡ ,

; or diphthongs:

αι , ει , οι , αυ , ου , υι , ευ , ηυ

. Syllables that are long by nature [1] are held for the length of two morae [2], which is analogous to a minim or a half note in music.

Figure 2: The minim is analogous to a syllable of length two morae.

Short Syllables:

In Ancient Greek, a syllable is considered short by nature should it contain one of the short vowels:

α , ε , ι , ο , υ[3]

. Syllables that are short by nature are held for the length of one mora, which is analogous to a crotchet, or a quarter note, in music.

Obscure Syllables:

In Ancient Greek, iota subscripts are considered to be obscure syllables:

ᾳ , ῃ , ῳ

. In Ancient Greek, the above iotas are pronounced:

/ˈaː.ɪ/ , /ˈeː.ɪ/ , /ˈɔː.ɪ/

, or:

/ˈaː.(ɪ)/ , /ˈeː.(ɪ)/ , /ˈɔː.(ɪ)/

, or:

/ˈaː.ɪ/ , /ˈeː.ɪ/ , /ˈɔː.ɪ/

. Obscure syllables are so short, that their value – in terms of morae – is not reckoned. Obscure syllables are zero morae in length. This is analogous to a grace note in music.

Figure 4: The grace note is analogous to a syllable of length zero morae.

Conclusion:

Knowing how to identify long and short syllables in Ancient Greek will aid us in our study of accentuation – which is the study of which syllables to stress, and which syllables to leave unstressed – and contonation – which is the study of the rise and fall of pitch across Ancient-Greek syllables.

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[1].  There also exist syllables that are long by position, however these syllables are only considered long for the purposes of contonation, i.e. figuring out which type of accent to use and upon which syllable to use it.  A short vowel, such as α , ε , ι , ο & υ, can become long by position, should they procede two or more consonants, or should they procede the double-consonants : ζ , ξ & ψ.  However, syllables that are long by position, are still only held for one mora.

[2].  The English grammatical term, ‘mora,’ is derived from the Latin 1^st-declension feminine noun, ‘mora, morae,’

, which means ‘delay,’ or ‘duration of time.’  In English, we derive such words as ‘moratorium’ from this.  Hence the etymological meanings: ‘for how long ought we to delay upon this syllable;’ ‘for what duration of time ought we to sustain [the pronunciation of] this syllable.’  etc.

[3].  One very often observes the short syllables , a, ι , υ written with breves, so as to distinguish them from their long counterparts: ᾰ , ῐ , ῠ.  However, it is safe to assume that when these three vowels do not have a macron or a tilde atop them, that they are short. The English grammatical term, ‘breve,’ is derived from the Latin 3^rd-declension adjective, ‘ brevis, brevis, brevium,’ which means ‘short.’  This breve diacritic – as well as the vowel that it is applied to – is also sometimes termed a ‘brachy;’ derived from the Ancient-Greek 1^st/3^rd-declension adjective, ‘βραχύς’ or, when transliterated: ‘brachús’ which means ‘short.’

Classical Hebrew and a Galaxy Far Far Away.

I never got into the Star Wars franchise of films. I believe that the only Star Wars film that I have ever watched from start to finish was Phantom Menace. I know that Star Wars aficionados detest this film, but I remember really enjoying it.

Like most writers, I hope to, one day, complete a screenplay. I saw the Phantom Menace screenplay in a charity shop and bought it for dirt cheap.

Figure 1: The Phantom-Menace screenplay that I bought, a while back, in a charity shop.

I am teaching myself Classical Hebrew at the minute. The O’Reilly Dictionary asserts that Irish-Gaelic and Classical Hebrew are related languages. This would be a fascinating thing to research.

Figure 2: The O’Reilly Irish-English Lexicon from 1864.

A friend of mine has asked my help in writing a book that explores the linguistic and cultural similarities that existed between the Ancient Gaels and the Ancient Hebrews.

The way that I teach myself Classical Hebrew is by following a course on Youtube. In particular, I am following a course taught by Doctor Bill Barrick. Dr Barrick really gets into the nuts and bolts of Hebrew Grammar, which is what I like about his course in preference to many others.

Learning a dead language is difficult. Learning a dead language that has practically zero words in common with English – unlike Greek and Latin, say – is doubly difficult.

Classical Hebrew is a useful language to learn, even for purely secular purposes. As a Canaanite Language (1.) it is related to other Ancient Canaanite languges, such as Egyptian Hieroglyphics, and Classical Arabic, and Modern languages spoken in the Middle East, such as Modern Arabic.

For example, the Hebrew word for ‘head’ is ‘rōsh.’

The Aramaic (2.) word, the for ‘head’ is ‘rēsh.’

The Arabic word for ‘head’ is ‘ra’as.’

But learning a dead language, like Classical Hebrew, a language that one, especially in Ireland, is very unlikely to use, ever, in conversation, is extremely difficult. I remember when in Switzerland, on holiday, I was immersed in French and German. At night, prior to drifting off to sleep, I would hear the phonemes of French and German re-echo in my mind. A few months in such an immersion, and I would have become fluent. Such an immersion, although not totally impossible in Classical Hebrew (3)., is still not an easy task.

Modern Hebrew, from what I can gather, is a totally artificial construct. It was invented in the 1800s. They pronounce some phonemes in an Ashkenazic style, and other phonemes in a Sephardic style. Modern Hebrew uses an artificial compromised pronunciation. They have also, largely, abandoned the syntax of Ancient Hebrew. Modern Hebrew is essentially Hebrew words arranged in English syntax. English is very prepositional, so Modern Hebrew had to invent a load of prepositions, in the 1800s, that were never used, neither amongst the Ancient Hebrews, nor in Contemporary Jewish Ghettos. Certain Orthodox Jews find Modern Hebrew, for all the reasons listed above, blasphemous, and refuse to speak it.

So learning a dead language, such as Classical Hebrew, is a difficult task. One method that Doctor Bill Barrick has so as to overcome some of these difficulties, is to relate Ancient Hebrew words to modern-day entities.

I had been doing this myself, independently, with Ancient Greek.

I have a JVC cinema system, for example, and, thereupon, I fastened a sticker with the Ancient-Greek word:

κίνημα

or ‘kínēma,’ the Ancient-Greek word for ‘motion’ whence we derive the English word ‘cinema’ which describes ‘motion pictures.’

Doctor Bill Barrick would relate Ancient-Hebrew terms with the phenomena of modernity.

One phenomenon of Modernity to which he attached a Classical-Hebrew term just so happened to be Star Wars.

Figure 3: C3PO.

Doctor Bill Barrick theorised that the planet ‘Endor,’ the planet infested with Sasquatches known as ‘Ewoks,’ derived its name from the Ancient-Hebrew words, ‘Ayin’ and ‘Dor.’

Ayin Dor would translate to ‘Eye/Spring of Generation.’

The Ancient Hebrews used the term ‘eye’ so as to mean ‘natural water-spring.’ To the Ancient Hebrews, the earth, or ‘Ha-arets (4.) ‘ was a big eye, that would well up with water in places.

This is another benefit to learning languages. Not only does one learn the language itself, but one is also acquainted with the concepts of the culture that gave rise to that language.

Speaking of American Sci-Fi franchises, although I am a man, soon to be thirty, who is single, and who lives, for the most part, with his parents (5.) , I never got into Star Trek either.

Recently, prior to passing away, Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played, Spok, said that the Trekker live-long-and-prosper hand symbol was based on the Hebrew character, shin.

Figure 4: Leonard Nimoy giving the live-long-and-prosper handsign.

Figure 5: The 21^st character of the Hebrew Alphabet, Shin. Shin means ‘teeth.’ The shin symbol represents that which devours, especially fire and romantic love.

Below are links to Word documents that contain the words, ‘Ayin’ and ‘Dor’, their spellings, and their meanings.

ayin_eyes_spring

dor_generation

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(1.) Classical Hebrew’s linguistic classification.

(2.) The language of ancient Babylonia and Persia.

(3.) Modern-day Samaritans, for example, speak a form of Hebrew very close to Classical Hebrew, but I have no interest in packing my bags to go off to Samaria to see them.

(4.) ‘Erets’ in Hebrew means ‘land, country, earth, planet earth.’ It is ‘Haarets’ in its definite form. Hence the newspaper, Haaretz.

(5.) I am alluding to a quip made by Patrick Stewart in Ricky Gervaise’s sitcom, Extras.