The N'w Y'r of th' Tr's
The Gaza conflict, like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whole, has no easy answers; there are many competing narratives and competing values. At uncertain times like this, it is comforting to fall back on simpler issues, where there is a clear right and wrong, and anyone who thinks otherwise is simply wrong. And so it seems like fortuitous timing that, as the Gaza war stretches on to uncertain duration, we have reached the time of the year when I start getting emails advertising “Tu B’Shvat” this and “Tu B’Shevat” that.
They’re wrong.
It’s “Tu Bishvat”. The vowel on the bet is an “ee”, not a sheva (schwa). Read this old post to find out why. This is not a matter for differences of opinion; it’s a simple matter of right and wrong.
THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
I personally spell it “Tu biShvat”, to emphasize that the month is a Proper Noun.
if they’re both pronounced the same way why in the hell do you care?
I don’t give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way. ~Mark Twain
They’re not pronounced the same way.
Gach, gach, gach!
You’re an American Jew, BZ. How many Americans do you know who pronounce “i” as anything other than a sheva? Yeah, the “‘” is pretty clearly a sheva, but transliteration is so slippery that I would contend that the only “correct” spelling is ?”? ????. Beyond that you are straying into “how do you spell Chanukah?” territory. The LeeVees song really strikes at the root of the problem of transliteration with the line “when I was in elementary school a Spanish kid said to me it starts with a silent ‘J’/but Julio was wrong.”
One more question – you’ve lived in Israel – how many Israelis pronounce the hiriq under a proclitic bet as anything other than a shewa?
Rich – Just to jump in and answer your last question – when it is a hiriq, it is usually pronounced as such in Israel. Two examples: ????? bimkom (or beemkom – instead of), I don’t think I have ever heard the vowel under the bet pronounced as anything but a hiriq.
Another example is ????? – if pronounced letzapot (with a shwa, meaning to expect), then the meaning is clearly drastically different from the word litzpot (hiriq, meaning to view).
if they’re both pronounced the same way why in the hell do you care?
Their not pronownced the same whey, but even if they where it matters!
Why do you think it’s such a bizarre thing that people might care about grammar in any language?
Rich writes:
You’re an American Jew, BZ. How many Americans do you know who pronounce “i” as anything other than a sheva?
If the argument is “let’s transliterate things the way we pronounce them, regardless of grammar”, then that may be defensible in the case of “Tu B’Shvat”, but how many Americans, Israelis, or anyone else pronounce the “e” in “Tu B’Shevat”?
Beyond that you are straying into “how do you spell Chanukah?” territory.
Not really. You can transliterate chet with “ch” or “h”, and you can transliterate a dageish chazak by doubling the letter or not – that’s just a stylistic difference. But no one would make a general claim that you can represent chirik with an apostrophe, or a sheva nach with “e”.
it’s TRANSLITERATION. i for one am anti semantics but they are pronounced the same way in english.
Massacre shmassacre. We will always be able to argue over shtuyot (that’s shtoo-YOTE) and that above all is what makes us Jews.
Yasher Koach…You are right, since there is a shvah under the shin, the prior shvah must, perforce, be a chiriq.
However, since Sh’vat is a cognate, and not a native Hebrew word, we can expect differences in pronunciation.
But, it is nice to hear it pronounced correctly. And it is really nice to read a posting on it.
L’shalom,
Meir