Names

I have been working on Joshua and I see in my work the traditional transliteration of Rahab -- to Raxab. This is a transliteration of ket ח to x that I must have made in very early days, like 15 years ago. I want now to change the transcription to Rakab (SimHebrew k) rather than the usual Rahab. It doesn't affect much and I can make the changes in the database and in some existing book drafts globally. But it opens a can of worms in the semantic domain of Names. Such a can could occupy a year of discussion so I move slowly. 

But it is an utterly glorious can of worms. I shows how flexible is our use of the Latin letters. There are about 500 changes from x to k if I follow this first lead up and don't stop there, but what about a common word like Hebron? That should be Kebron. That would produce another host of changes from h to k. The letter ket ח (traditionally chet) is the second 'h' type letter in the Hebrew Alphabet. Neither the 'h' nor the 'x' is entirely out of place as a transcription. English translations of Biblical Hebrew are equally inconsistent with this process. E.g. 'x' is commonly used for Artaxerxes.

This pronunciation of 'x' is Spanish -- I learned that tidbit on YouTube from the Monty Python skit on the Spanish Inquisition! No one is ever expecting the Spanish Inquisition! There they reference the later grand inquisitor, cardinal Ximenes (Jimenes). Curious how many letters of the Latin alphabet over its usage in several languages, can carry the voiceless velar fricative, often represented for the English speaker as ch as in Loch. Hebrew ket, and caf, very close in sound, and Spanish x or j for similar sounds.

I have come to the conclusion that there are enough clues in my transcriptions for the music for a beginner to figure out the potential sounds. They have whatever letter I chose for ket, and then the SimHebrew and the lyrics to compare. And this need would remain true whatever strategy I use for names. And I have used many and varied strategies!

I made a dozen or so changes in the database and a few changes in volumes I had already done in the music. Most of the names seem to be in the books I haven't yet done: Joshua, Judges, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles. Some day I will update the concordance. Given that 'x' is a standard phonetic sign for the voiceless velar fricative, I probably won't change the transcription for the rest of them.