=====Hebrew Pronunciation=====


As discussed elsewhere (see [[vowels]] and [[diacritics]]), there is some variance in the vowel sounds found within [[Hebrew]] words and no small amount of uncertainty around the correlation between Modern Hebrew, Medieval Hebrew, and the Ancient [[Hebrew]] in which our biblical texts were originally written.

As a few examples of widespread pronunciation range, consider שבת "sabbath", commonly pronounced "shabbos", "shabbess", "shabbot", depending on what geographical region or semitic cultural segment one finds themselves in. 

This example shows that even the relatively stable consonant sounds are subject to variance and shift as the words travel through time and across cultures.

Even in ancient times, regional dialects had developed, as exemplified by the use of the word [[sebel]] in the book of Judges.

====Latin Influence====
During the Roman Empire, much original Hebrew pronunciation was lost, being overwhelmed by Latin convention. 

For example Classical Latin relied on the letter 'V', which stood for both the /w/ and /u/ sounds. We can see the influence of this in the Hebrew letter 'ו' which is often pronounced /w/, /u/, or /o/.

In Classical Latin 'b' and 'v' are pronounced the same. This is still the case in Spanish which derived from Latin.

====Standardized Simplified Hebrew Pronunciation====
Despite the wide variance in extant Hebrew pronunciation, we are attempting to present a somewhat standardized pronunciation across the lexicon, based primarily on internal [[consistency]].

It is our aim to ensure that each Hebrew word can be interpreted as a single word with a single spelling and a single pronunciation. Only in this manner can an accurate analysis of any given word occur.

To this end we have developed a [[transliterative alphabet]] which has a one-to-one correspondence in both Hebrew and English, and is relatively readily pronounceable to an English speaker, without straying too far from the probable Hebrew pronunciation.


Where deemed appropriate, to assist in searching, we will endeavor to include some of the more widely known common pronunciations within our standardized dictionary entries.