Peshitta canon

[Paul Younan]

Also was Alaha pronounced Elaha in the first century? If so this would make it easier to explain mistaking Elia with "My God."

Shlama, Craig

Shlama Akhi Craig,

The first letter of the Alap-Beth is not really an English "A", although it is most often written that way.

The only real "a" sound in Aramaic comes from vowel points. But the 22 letters are all consonants, there are no vowels.

Have you ever seen "Alaha" spelled 'laha ? That's somebody who knows the pronunciation and knows it's not an "A" like the English "A" (which also happens to be classified as a vowel.)

Likewise, it's not an English "E", either.

The proper pronunciation is somewhere between those two English sounds, but more of a gutteral.

If you want to know the original pronunciation, see http://www.assyrianlanguage.com and click on the image of the speaker in Lesson 1 next to the letter Alap - you will hear an audio sound which is the perfect ancient pronunciation.

Also, click on some words that begin with Alap and you can hear how they are pronounced.