[Avodah] Ashkenazic Pronunciation of "HaShem"

[Minden]

> How did those Ashkenazim who don't normally use Israeli pronunciation come to pronounce the last syllable of "HaShem" as a segol and not a tzeire?

It's in a closed syllable, where in most cases you don't have a difference between segol and tzeire. I think in closed syllables, tzeire was never diphthongised in Ashkenazzi Hebrew except in the most formal stratum, that is in laaying, and even there I'm not sure it's older than 150 or years.

There are exceptions even in non-formal environments like with Hebrew everyday words in Yiddish, where there *is* a diphthong for some reason. These exceptions concern words like 'chein' (never "chenn"), for instance.

Lipman Phillip Minden
http://lipmans.blogspot.com