χαίρετε, ὦ μαθητάς ταῖς τῶν ἑλλήνας γλῶσσας! Salvate! Another new face on Textkit. But why, and for what?
I was going to write this in Latin or Greek, but I’ll break it with English as both languages are rather weak! Nauta sum/ναῦτη εἰμι, or at least I work at sea. Having lots of leisure time, I thought I’d do some study, and am doing a post-grad degree in Classics, one of those that don’t need Greek or Latin. But, of course, I do, so I’m here!
I’m also a student of Arabic, Persian and other languages of the near east and central Asia (and Hebrew years ago). I’ve just moved back to England from Italy (but may change my mind), so my Late Latin is q. good
Right, off to bed - it’s 4.30!
Johannes Vigorniae or ἰωάννης οὔστερος (Where is the digamma when you need it?)
Thanks, Eurika! So the city would be Vούστηρ or πόλις Vούστερος, I guess (I’d rather Graecize from English than mediaeval Latin, I think).
Tov m’od, Yad! Sadly my Hebrew is strictly classical, and my friend Gil, a Hebrew teacher, laughs out loud if I try to speak any. Worse, I don’t have Hebrew fonts on this (borrowed) machine. Hey ho!
Biblical Hebrew is easier to deal with, I’ve found, when you’re also learning the modern dialect - the binyanim will stay with you better and shared vocab is easier to remember - I’m working my way through הארי פוטר וחדר סודות right now, slowly but surely, and my Biblical is improving along with it. Modern Hebrew also uses some of the less common (in BH) binyanim more often (Pi’el and hitpa’el come to mind immediately), so you’ll be able to remember them more often.
Do you use one of the Religious Pronounciations (Ashkenazi, S’fardi, Temani, etc), Modern Israeli or Reconstructed Biblical? And, if you use a scheme that pronounces them, how do you deal with the problem of ayinim?
Best of luck with it - you’re joining an even more elite Chavurah of philologists than mere Hellenists and Latinists. hatzlakhah rabah l’kha!
I remember first coming across that damned word in my A-Level Hebrew exam for the first time. I hadn’t a clue what it meant!
I use an odd pronunciation all my own… well, I’ve basically adopted Gesenius/Cowley/Kautsch’s descriptions, so I use Arabic-style 'ain, Heth (Arabic Ha’ rather than kha’) and qoph, use aspirates for all the beghadhkephath letters withouth daghesh (/dh/ as in English the, /gh/ as in Southern German sagen and /kh/ as in German ich). My qamets is a back /a as in Southern English after, but I’m sure it should be a more open vowel like that in English fair.
Cheers! Are you an Arabist too? The richness and clarity of Classical Arabic makes a wonderful counterpoint to the sonority of Hebrew. I was seduced by Brown, Driver and Briggs’ etymologies into Arabic and Syriac. And it gives one such a different perspective on Biblical Hebrew (it most have coloured Ibn Ezra’s and Maimonides’).
Yeah. I actually knew most of them before I learned the word for them.
I use an odd pronunciation all my own… .
Sounds like reconstructed Medieval. Qametz is usually listed as “aw” like in “aw, how cute!”
[quote=“yadfothgildloc”]
Best of luck with it - you’re joining an even more elite Chavurah of philologists than mere Hellenists and Latinists. hatzlakhah rabah l’kha!
[/quote]
Cheers! Are you an Arabist too? The richness and clarity of Classical Arabic makes a wonderful counterpoint to the sonority of Hebrew. I was seduced by > Brown, Driver and Briggs’ > etymologies into Arabic and Syriac. And it gives one such a different perspective on Biblical Hebrew (it most have coloured Ibn Ezra’s and Maimonides’).
Not yet. Right now, University classes in Greek and Latin, next semester I start formal classes in Hebrew (which have to start at intro level, though I might be doing an indie study, rather than relearning everything all over again), and right now, my indie study in Hebrew and Aramaic have me set.
Soon, though, I’ll learn Arabic. I also want to learn Ancient Persian - I read a bit of the Shah Nah Meh and I liked it alot.
Hmm, why did I say /air/ - you’re quite right, /aw/, like the Western Syriac zqopho (usu. transcribed /o/). How else can qamets Hatuph represent the same quality of sound as qamets?
Well, with your Latin and Greek, you’ll be well placed to do proper Ancient Persian - Avestan ideally needs Greek or Sanskrit, from what I understand. Something a bit nearer Proto-Indo-European than modern European languages, in any case, would be a help. But you’ll find Persian a romp - it’s so elegantly simple, and with a bit of Arabic to make sense of the loan-words, you’ll have it in no time. You can even do Judeo-Persian and ease things even further, having a more legible script to read!
I learned quametz hatuf as an /o/ like a holem, but shorter, if you’re counting length.
Well, with your Latin and Greek, you’ll be well placed to do proper Ancient Persian - Avestan ideally needs Greek or Sanskrit, from what I understand. Something a bit nearer Proto-Indo-European than modern European languages, in any case, would be a help. But you’ll find Persian a romp - it’s so elegantly simple, and with a bit of Arabic to make sense of the loan-words, you’ll have it in no time. You can even do Judeo-Persian and ease things even further, having a more legible script to read!
I was considering Semetic Linguistics for grad school. I think you made up my mind.
To go ahead or to do Iranistica instead (which leads you to the rather trendy field of Central Asian studies, with lots of odd languages from Sogdian to Pashto , the need to learn Russian as an academic language and the delights - real delights - of the Turkic languages , which are far more different to Indo-European languages than the Semitic languages…)? Semitic linguistics was the subject I’d been going to do as an undergrad course, though. I didn’t in the end: I did Arabic as a post-grad diploma instead after having done a completely different subject , but I’ve somewhat regretted that decision .
These emoticons are q. fun! I’d probably best not overdo them, though.
I already have a reasonable amount of Hebrew and Aramaic. Learning a whole new slew of langauges in an entirely different family isn’t high on my priority list - Classics or Semetic Linguistics it is.
those languages.
and the delights - real delights - of the Turkic languages 
, which are far more different to Indo-European languages than the Semitic languages…)? Semitic linguistics was the subject I’d been going to do as an undergrad course, though. I didn’t in the end: I did Arabic as a post-grad diploma instead after having done a completely different subject 
, but I’ve somewhat regretted that decision 
.
I’d probably best not overdo them, though.