îàú: àáðø øîå
The largest Palestinian city on the eastern Mediterranean shore is named in Arabic غزةý “Raza.” Its English name - Gaza follows the Septuagint name Γάζα for the Hebrew: òæä (a’za). It is not certain why the Greek translators substituted here “g” for the Hebrew ò (a’), while they translated òæ÷ä (a’zeqa) as Αζηκα (Azeka). Similarly, the Greeks translated òé(a’i) as Γαι (Gai and once as Haggai), òîøä (a’mora) as Γομορρας (Gomorrah), and öòø (tsoa’r) as Σηγωρ or Ζογορ (segor or zogor), while òîåï (a’mon) appears as: Αμμανιτῶν (Ammon).
The Hebrew name ôòåø (peo'r) - “Peor” appears in Greek as: φεγωρ (Phegor) while áòåø (beo'r) - “Beor” appears as: Βεωρ (Beor). The Hebrew names òúìéä (a’thaliah) - “Athaliah” and òúðéàì (a’thniel) - “Othniel” were translated to the Greek Γοθολια (Gotholiah) and Γοθονιηλ (Gothoniel), respectively, while the names òãä (a'adah) - “Adah” and òèøä (a’tarah) - “Atarah” were translated as Αδα (Ada) and Αταρα (Atara) respectively.
In the Book of Chronicles we find the name éòáõ (ya’avets) - “Jabez” (1 Ch 2:55), and this name was translated to Greek as: “Iabes. However, two chapters later the same Hebrew name was translated to Greek as “Igabes” (1 Ch 4:9, 10).
A place named îâãì-òãø (migdal-e’der) - “Migdal-eder” appears in the Bible twice. When it appears in the Book of Micah (4:8) the Greek translated it as “tower of the flock” which is the exact meaning of these Hebrew words. However, when this place-name appears in the Book of Genesis (35:21) they wrote: “tower from Γαδερ (Gader). In another place I suggest that in some of the biblical texts the letter ò (a’) serves as a vowel letter, and that there are several instances (e.g. the roots âøù and äøù) when another vowel letter ä (h) exchanges with a â (g).
However, it appears that such exchanges occur also within the Hebrew texts of the Bible.
The Psalmist wrote: ëé òåðúé òáøå øàùé; ëîùà ëáã éëáãå îîðé - “For my iniquities are gone over my head; as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me” (Ps 38:5).
Yet he also wrote: ãáøé òåðú âáøå îðé; ôùòéðå, àúä úëôøí - “The tale of iniquities is too heavy for me; as for our transgressions, You will pardon them” (Ps 65:4).
The Greek translator wrote here “overpowered” and it appears that he believed that òáøå (a’vru) is the same as âáøå (gavru) - “overpowered.” This may be related to the fact that many Hebrew names that contain the letter ò (a’) were translated to Greek as containing the letter â (g) instead.
Similarly, we read in the Book of Genesis: åäîéí âáøå îàã îàã--òì-äàøõ - “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth” (Gen 7:19; see also: Gen 7:18, 20, 24).
Yet the Psalmist wrote: ëì-îùáøéê åâìéê òìé òáøå - “all Your waves and Your billows are gone over me” (Ps 42:8; see also: Jon 2:4).
However, the comparison between these verses suggests again that òáøå (a’vru) is the same as âáøå (gavru) - “overpowered.”