[Mesorah] Ngayin

[Minden]

R' Akiva Miller wrote:
>> The other day I heard the idea that the ng pronunciation of Ayin might be the one the massoretes had in mind.
>
> My understanding has been that the massoretes merely tried to record sounds in a consistent manner, in writing, so that (for example) one could easily be sure which words have a kamatz and which have a patach, or which have a esnachta and which have a sof pasuk.
>
> I am troubled by RLPM's use of the phrase "had in mind". He seems to suggest that the massoretes were attempting to change pronunciation towards a particular direction. Am I mistaken? Did they try to change the way the ayin was pronounced?

-- all-clear, all-clear --

What I meant was not that the massoretes wanted to change the pronunciation. I have no reason to doubt that they, as you wrote, developed or refined a system to note down exactly their knowledge of the tradition, in order for others to reproduce the sounds. When I wrote "had in mind" I meant the sound they knew as the correct one, which in theory could have been similar to Arabic Ayin, to Arabic Ghayin, or to English ng. I wasn't implying they had a tradition of, say, Arabic-style Ayin, but changed it to Ng or vice versa.

ELPhM
http://lipmans.blogspot.com