MM

On the exercise for lesson three Kaph, Tau, and Resh, are given as an example.

Why did you not use Theth instead of Tau, and how do you determine which one to use.

Thanks
Ravenbat

MM Ravenbat,

I could be wrong but I think Tau is used because of the pronouncation. Tau (with the dot) make a 'th' sound as in 'think'. Teth is more a dull 't' sound.

BB
Enchanted Dancer

Hey, Enchanted,

Ok with that in mind, Tiphareth, Tau, at the beginning and Teth at the end?
Tau, Peh, heh, Alph,Resh, Teth ???? or Tau, Peh, Alph, Resh, Teth????
I would have went by the spelling but that don’t work because ThPhARTh is the Hebrew spelling where as English is as above.
The Th in Teth is throwing me off.

Well I was going to do all the Letter so I could look at the corresponding tarot cards and hopefully gain a better understanding of each of the Sephiroth.

Thanks for the reply
Blessed be.
Ravenbat

Hey Ravenbat

Well, Hebrew has no vowels, so more recently in history, writers of Hebrew used points, dashes and dots on and inbetween the consonants to indicate how to pronounce the words. Other than that, as it is a spoken language, you'd simply learn the pronounciations as you learnt the language! So, the language has only consonants, and the word that we spell in English as "Kether" is composed of the letters:

Kaph (K)
Tau (Th)
Resh (R)

But this is often pronounced "Keter" with a 'hard' 'T' in the middle, even though it is a Tau, which is most often pronounced a soft "th" sound. Sometimes it depends on whereabouts the letter is in the word - for example, five letters have different shapes when written at the end of a word.

It is best to keep it simple to begin with, and stick closely to the usage I've adopted throughout the course, where I've used "Th" for Tau and "T" for Teth. I understand that you'd think "Th" should be for "TeTH" but it's how it is pronounced, not how the word is spelt (again, in English) that counts, if that makes sense!

Thus, Tiphareth is spelt with the letters:

Tau - Peh - Aleph - Resh - Tau

Which means I transliterate it as "ThPhARTh" even though according to my Hebrew-English dictionary is pronounced "tifereth" as the first Tau has a dot in the middle of it to indicate it is a hard 't' and the last Tau doesn't, meaning it's a "th" as in "thing". The Peh is pronounced as "f" but if it had a dot in the middle it would be "p".

As this course is intended to be basic, I've not even attempted to touch on Hebrew language, grammar, spelling - and certainly not pronounciation as I'm no language expert! But if it interests you, there are some good books I can recommend on the roots of the language.

I hope that helps keep it simple by adding more complexity!

In the Great Work

TemplumKat

_________________
----------
Learn Tarot - http://www.tarotprofessionals.com
Learn Witchcraft - http://www.farawaycentre.com
Learn Kabbalah - http://www.kabbalahcourse.com
http://www.westernesoterictradition.com

MM Ravenbat,

I've been surfing and found some web sites that have sound to the Hebrew letters. The first one is ... Hebrew Alphebet at

www.njop.org/jsAlehet/sounds_main.html

The second is The Mystical Significance of the Hebrew letters at

www.inner.org/hebleter/default.htm

Hope these help you, have fun.

BB Enchanted Dancer

...sorry misspelled a site, try
www.njop.org/jsAlephet/sounds_main.html

BB, Dancer