[Avodah] R' Akiva

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Dec 08, 2008 at 6:47am EST, R Zev Sero replied to me:
:>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.

: However in the time of the Y'mi they spoke Aramaic in EY as well as in
: Bavel -- just a different dialect of Aramaic.

True, as Mel Gibson knew as well.

You eliminated the possibility that in EY they did it because Hebrew words
end "-ah" for a qamatz. I wasn't suggesting that possibility, since I
opened with the notion that "Aqiva" is an Aramaic derivative of "Ya'aqov".

Last time I posted I was just trying to give sevaros to either side: The
Y-mi is more likely to reflect how Yosef and his wife would have spelled
their son's name. And the Bavli reflects the norm for Aramaic. However,
I found a rationale for ending in a hei even in Aramit.

The name Aqivah (with a hei) is described by some to be a reduced version
of Aqavyah, as in Aqavyah ben Mehallalel. Much like the Hebrew example
of my own name (Mikhah), as opposed to Mikhayahu (and the two are used
interchangably in the navi).

Apparently the rav RAM spoke to recognized his inherent G-dliness and
couldn't see that his parents would have omitted it from his name.
(Whether the rav realized that's what he was doing or not.)


: Consider that in the Y'mi Yehuda is spelled with an alef at the end
: (and there are those who spell it that way today, based on this Y'mi).

I think that's entirely different, and more along the lines of my
chassidishe melamedim who spelled Yehudah without the second letter
(c.f. "Judah"), and often with a final alef (yud-vav-dalet-alef). Yehudah
is very close to sheim havayah.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where
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