Wednesday, April 01, 2009

The voiced "H" sound

I've commented before about the "H" sound at the beginning of words in English. Here's another interesting example, again from the Authorized Version ("KJV").

Matt. 18.17 has "let him be unto thee as an heathen man," which seems to imply that the "h" at the beginning of "heathen" was not voiced. In other words, reading it in 1611, it might have been read "as an 'eathen man" (a long "e" sound, in other words).

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