RULES FOR THE PRONUNCIATION OF SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. Abridged from Walker's Key. 1. IN the pronunciation of the letters of the Hebrew proper names, we find nearly the same rules prevail as in those of Greek and Latin. Where the vowels end a syllable with the accent on it, they have their long open sound, as Na'bal, Je'hu, Si'rach, Go'shen, and Tu'bal. 2. When a consonant ends the syllable, the preceding vowel is short, as Sam'u-el, Lem'u-el, Sim'eon, Sol'o-mon, Suc'coth, Syn'a-gogue. 3. Every final i forming a distinct syllable, though unaccented, has the long open sound, as A'i, A-ris'a-i. And every unaccented i ending a syilable, not final, is pronounced like e, as A'ri-el, Ab'di-el; pronounced A're-el, Ab'de-el. 4. The vowels ai are sometimes pronounced in one syllable, and sometimes in two. In the one case they are pronounced like our English diphthong in Ben-ai'ah, Hu'shai, Hu'rai, &c.; and in the other they are pronounced in two syllables, as Sham'ma-i, Shash'a-i, Ber-a-i'ah. The principal point necessary to be observed in the sound of this diphthong is, the slight difference we perceive between its medial and final position; when it is final, it is exactly like the English ay, without the accent, as in holyday, roundelay, galloway; but when it is in the middle of a word, and followed by a vowel, the i is pronounced as if it were y, and as if this y articulated the succeeding vowel: thus Ben-ai'ah is pronounced as if written Ben-a'yah. 5. Ch is pronounced like k, as Chebar, Chemosh, Enoch, &c. pronounced Kebar, Kemosh, Enock, &c. Cherubim, and Rachel, seem to be perfectly anglicised, as the ch in these words is always heard as in the English words, cheer, child, riches, &c. The same may be observed of Cherub, signifying an order of angels; but when it means a city of the Babylonish empire, it cught to be pronounced Ke rub. 6. Almost the only difference in the pronunciation of the Hebrew, and the Greek and Latin proper names, is in the sound of the g before e and i: in the two last languages this consonant is always soft before these vowels, as Gellius, Gippius, &c., pronounced Jellius, Jippius, &c. ; and in the first, it is hard; as Gera, Gerizim, Gideon, Gilgal, Megiddo, Megiddon, &c. 7. Gentiles, as they are called, ending in ines and ites, as Philistines, Hivites, Hittites, &c. being anglicised in the translation of the Bible, are pronounced like formatives of our own, as Philistins, Whitfieldhites, Jacobites, &c. 8. The unaccented termination ah, so frequent in Hebrew proper names, ought to be pronounced like the a in father. The a in this termination, however, frequently falls into the indistinct sound heard in the final a in Africa, Ætna, &c.; nor can we easily perceive any distinction in this respect between Elijah and Elisha: but the final h preserves the other vowels open, as Colhozeh, Shiloh, &c. pronounced Colhozee, Shilo, &c. The diphthong ei is always pronounced like ce: thus Sa-mei'us is pronounced as if written Sa-mee'us. But if the accent be on the ah, then the a ought to be pronouneed like the a in father; as Tah'e-ra, Tah'po-nes, &c. 9. It may be remarked, that there are several Hebrew proper names which, by passing through the Greek of the New Testament, have conformed to the Greek pronunciation; such as Aceldama, Jenazareth, Bethphage, &c. pronounced Aseldama, Jenazareth, Bethphaje, &c. Rules for ascertaining the English Quantity of the Vowels in Hebrew Proper Names. 10. With respect to the quantity of the first vowel in dissyllables, with but one consonant in the middle, the accent is to be placed on the first vowel, which should be pronounced long, as Koʻrak, and not Kor'ah Moʻlock, and not Mol'och. 12. When the accent is on the antepenultimate syllable, whether the vowel end the syllable, or be followed by two consonants, the vowel is always short, except followed by two vowels, as in Greek and Latin proper names. Thus Jehosaphat has the accent on the antepenultimate syllable, according to Greek accentuation by quantity, and this syllable, according to the clearest analogy of English pronunciation, is short, as if spelt Je-hos'a-phat. The secondary accent has the same shortening power in Othonias, where the primary accent is on the third, and the secondary on the first syllable, as if spelt Oth-o-ni'as. |