Comments on What sound did the letter ℵ encode in ancient Hebrew, and why did it morph into the greek vowel Α?
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What sound did the letter ℵ encode in ancient Hebrew, and why did it morph into the greek vowel Α?
Here are two claims I've often heard or read:
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The Hebrew language originally did not write down vowels.
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The Greek (and subsequently the Latin) alphabet developed from the Hebrew alphabet. In particular, the letter ℵ (aleph) developed into the Greek Α (alpha) and finally the Latin A.
Now I noticed some apparent contradiction in this: The Greek Α as well as the Latin A both encode a vowel. So if it evolved from the Hebrew ℵ, it seems that this should also encode the same vowel. But that cannot be if there were no vowels in ancient Hebrew.
Therefore I guess that not only the letter, but also the sound associated with that letter changed. Therefore my question:
What sound did the letter ℵ encode in ancient Hebrew, and why did it morph into the greek vowel Α?
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