Barleywine's Astrological Correspondences (split from Astrology & Tarot in TB&M)

Aeon418

But, if we're really getting down and dirty, in a discussion about the letters of Keter I would use KTR, since Hebrew has no vowels.
Do you spell that with a Teth or a Tau? ;)

KTR or KThR.
 

Aeon418

He has many examples of what you're talking about (he spells Beth "BYTh" in the numerical correspondences section), but otherwise seems to mingle both approaches.
The letter Yod can be transliterated as either I or Y (and even J). It's the sound that is important. The spelling of a transliteration is more like a sound-picture than a real word.

Believe it or not but the letter Beth itself is sometimes pronounced like a soft V. Thus words like "Geburah" actually sound like "Gevurah". The Hebrew spelling is GBVRH, so I prefer the phonetically incorrect Geburah to avoid confusion.
 

Barleywine

The letter Yod can be transliterated as either I or Y (and even J). It's the sound that is important. The spelling of a transliteration is more like a sound-picture than a real word.

Believe it or not but the letter Beth itself is sometimes pronounced like a soft V. Thus words like "Geburah" actually sound like "Gevurah". The Hebrew spelling is GBVRH, so I prefer the phonetically incorrect Geburah to avoid confusion.

I've seen it spelled both "Geburah" and "Gevurah," and figured it was a pronunciation-based distinction. The other one I often wonder about is "Ch-" as in "Is it "K" or is it "Ch"? Or is it either one in different contexts?
 

Aeon418

The other one I often wonder about is "Ch-" as in "Is it "K" or is it "Ch"? Or is it either one in different contexts?

The Ch is pronounced a bit like the ending of the word "loch". But not as sharply as in "lock". It's pronounced from the back of the throat.

It's hard to reproduce the sound in text but:

Chokmah sounds more like Hhokmah.

Cheth is like Hhet.

Zeph might be able to describe it better than I can.
 

Zephyros

Zeph might be able to describe it better than I can.

It isn't a sound that's easily translatable. The closest I can think of is the ending of Bach, which doesn't help much because that's a name in a foreign language, too. There's also the Spanish J, like in Marijuana or Tijuana, but most Americans pronounce that like ee-a.
 

Nemia

How about listening to some Hebrew music?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1S5kM8nMLY

c. 1.10 Ken hayu ele CHaim tovim... (yes, that was the good life...)

That's how it sounds. Very much like the German CH after dark vocals (ach, och, uch).

And the word chochma is also there - 0.27. Ha-chochma hi kmo mayim - the wisdom is like water.

And concerning Geburah: in Hebrew, we proncounce it gvura, emphasis on the -a.

B and V are phonetically close. Under certain conditions, the letter for both phonems, ב, gets a little dot inside and is pronunced as B and not V. In the case of gvura, the case is clear: it has to be pronounced as V. But since the letter ב is well-known as beit and not veit, and non-Hebrew speakers might mix it up with Vav, it was transcribed as Geburah. Just like the name Dvora is translated as Deborah.

And if anyone wants to know how to properly pronounce Tiferet: it's tif-Erret. Take a little break after the tif - and then start anew with -Erret. It's a girl's name, albeit a rare one, in Israel. You can hear it pronounced here very nicely at 2.44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlsLcb4AHDg
 

Barleywine

How about listening to some Hebrew music?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1S5kM8nMLY

Ken hayu ele CHaim tovim... (yes, that was the good life...)

That's how it sounds. Very much like the German CH after dark vocals (ach, och, uch).

Thanks! If you're talking about that little, burred, glottal sound at the end of some of the words, I see what you mean.
 

Michael Sternbach

Seems like the Hebrew sound transcribed as 'ch' is even closer to the Swiss German 'ch' (which is 'harder') than to the High German version. I once heard a Hebrew pronounce my first name and it sounded a lot like the way Swiss Germans pronounce it too.