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<DIV>My inclination is that this is the most correct of the suggested answers
and the one that came to my mind as well. It does also reinforce the
contention that the correct pronunciation of the thav is not "s." Had "s"
been acceptable, the transliterated name would have been written with a
samech.</DIV>
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<DIV>In a message dated 3/23/2016 6:04:23 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
micha@aishdas.org writes:</DIV>
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<P>On 2016-03-23 12:16 am, via Mesorah wrote:</P>
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<DIV>My husband, Michael Katz, wants to know why Bigsan in the Megillah
isn't Bigtan. Why isn't there a dagesh in the sav/tav of his
name? My husband thinks that after a shva nach (under the gimel) the
next letter should have a dagesh in it, as for example in the name
Ester. To me this seems a very Litvishe concern, where others might be
wondering something more interesting, like who was Bigsan anyway and why did
he want to bump off Achashverosh? But never mind, we'll just stick to
Mesorah territory. Anybody know why Bigsan isn't Bigtan? Thank
you.</DIV>
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<P>First reaction: Do transliterations need to conform to the rules of
grammar? Maybe the original simply had a <EM>thav</EM> sound there, for
reasons of its own language norms.</P>
<DIV><PRE><EM>Tir'u baTov</EM>!
-Micha
<SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'courier new', courier">--
Micha Berger Here is the test to find whether your mission
micha@aishdas.org on Earth is finished:
http://www.aishdas.org if you're alive, it isn't.
Fax: (270) 514-1507 - Richard Bach</SPAN></PRE></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>