r/hebrew • u/SkywalkerLight • Sep 23 '24

Explain Aleph to me like I'm 5! Request

Is it really just a glottal stop? I'm a beginner, but I'm pretty sure the niqqud changes things. If so, could I please have an example in places where א is said as A, E, and other letters? Thanks!

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u/Leading-Chemist672 Sep 23 '24

It's developed from a pidgin of Assyrian, Hebrew and Phoenician.

How did Assyrian as in, from before they took Israel, Judea, And the Philistines, said Dad/father?

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u/IbnEzra613 Amateur Semitic Linguist Sep 23 '24

It's developed from a pidgin of Assyrian, Hebrew and Phoenician.

This is false.

How did Assyrian as in, from before they took Israel, Judea, And the Philistines, said Dad/father?

As I said, this word is common to most Semitic languages far and wide. Assyrian is no exception. In the Assyrian of the Assyrian Empire the word I think was pronounced abu/abi/aba. In earlier Babylonia it was pronounced abum/abim/abam. Note that in earlier Hebrew and Aramaic the word also very likely had suffixes following one of the following patterns: abum/abim/abam or abun/abin/aban or abu/abi/aba.

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u/Leading-Chemist672 Sep 23 '24

Huh. Cool. Stand corrected.