re: elysian- fullguy changes his name by deed poll
Snooker, you as a Jew, should know much better than me, an Australian Hebrew-phile, born and raised in Greece..... However, with your permission, I would like to add the following (to what you have already stated). I may be wrong. Therefore (please) I stand to be corrected. The Hebrew alphabet was composed of 22 consonants. Some of these consonants can represent 2 sounds, thus giving 28 sounds in total. As you corectly stated, the vowel sounds are (were) supplied by the reader, guided by the context. A good example in English are words that are abreviated, i.e, Bldg=building, hgt=height etc... It is well known that the traditional pronunciation of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) was kept alive and handed down by those specialising in reading the Law, Prophets and Psalms for the instruction of the people. Then, in the second half of the first millenium CE. the Masoretes (Jewish Scholars) devised a system of dots and dashes (as you wrote) called Vowel Points and these were inserted in the Consonantal text. The earliest Hebrew inscriptions known, are recorded in an ancient script, different in form from the square shaped style, which we often call Aramaic, and was used in the early centuries of our Common Era (and some years before).....
