[Avodah] R' Akiva

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Dec 05, 2008 at 07:32:55AM -0500, Cantor Wolberg wrote:
: It's brought down that there was a question how to spell Rabbi Akiva's  
: name. Do you spell it with an aleph at the end or with a hay at the end? In  
: the gemara it is spelled ayin, kuf, yud, veis, aleph....

In the Y-mi the spelling is (usually? always?) with a hei.

However, straight grammar... Aqiva is an Aramaic variant of "Ya'aqov".
Aramaic uses alef for the mater lexionis of a final qamatz. A hei would
be Hebrew.

And straight history.... The Y-mi was closer in date and geography to
Rabbi Aqivah. Their spelling is more likely to reflect the same culture
as R' Aqivah himself.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

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