The Pronunciation of Hebrew in the Western Sephardic Settlements (XVIth-XXth Centuries). First Part: Early Modern Venice and Ferrara (1)

Abstract

In or around 1552, Isac Cavallero in Venice and Yomtob Atias in Ferrara published various Spanish translations of the Hebrew prayer-book. Almost at the same time in Ferrara, Abraham Usque produced some new vulgarizations of the Hebrew ritual. These works were conceived mainly for the former Marranos who had embraced the Jewish religion but were still unfamiliar with Hebrew. In order to enable them to recite at least a part of the most important prayers, the authors of these vulgarizations transliterated into Latin characters some passages of different prayers and blessings. These translations of the prayer-book were repeatedly reprinted throughout the following centuries in Venice, Amsterdam and in several North-European cities. The subsequent editions followed very closely the pattern of the Ferrara prototypes, however several re-issues bore different additions. Of particular interest are the transliterations of new and wider passages from various prayers and hymns. By carrying on an extensive graphematic analysis of these prayer-books as well as of other texts such as grammar-books, registers of the deliberations of the Sephardic communities, notarial deeds and other documents, it was possible to ascertain the features of the Sephardi pronunciation in the early modern communities of Venice and Ferrara and in the West-European settlements. The main differences and analogies between the Sephardi, the Judeo-Italian and the Ashkenazi pronunciation were also examined. Special attention has been paid to the consonant 'Ayin which, in the 16th century, had a phonetic value equal to zero or tending to zero.