The eighteenth letter of the Arabic alphabet called _`ayn_ belongs to a class of consonants called Voiced Pharyngeal Fricative (termed in Arabic "majhuwrah" or vocal i.e. pronounced equally with the voice, and the breath). By contrast, the corresponding sixteenth Hebrew letter `ayn ( pronounced ah-yeen) is silent.
In that respect it is said that the Hebrew `ayn sees but does not speak. The Arabic `ayn is produced by stopping the airflow in the back of the mouth combined with a pharyngeal sound. It is a little like the sound "aaah" produced by pulling the back of the tongue back into the throat a bit.
Hence, I propose that the English aspirated letter haitch (heɪtʃ), which is treated as a phantom consonant, may have stood for the Semitic letter `ayn. A simple example can be found in the case of the term `briy (initial `ayn in both Hebrew and Arabic) for Hebrew (initial heɪtʃ in English).
Another case is the Arabic _h2nd_ which has been discussed in my earlier posts. Among its' many meanings, the following for hand stands out ( see the various Arabic and English definitions below). Among Afro Asian languages, the _h2nd_ term is unique to Classical Arabic .
In the above example, a comparaison between Classical Arabic and Germanic included Old English, where the primary sense of Hand is described in both as: Side, power and possession. A perfect match with a minor difference, in that the Old English term hand is treated as a noun, while the Arabic term `nd is a verb (conjugated as `andiy, `andak, `anduh etc. , translated as: have in my hand, have in your hand, has in his hand etc.)
For those of you who might be skeptical regarding these correspondents, I offer the additional example below where the English aspirated letter haitch [heɪtʃ] stood for Arabic `ayn.
Ishinan
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(this posting was posted later than the previous posting, but written earlier than that)
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(this posting was posted later than the previous posting, but written earlier than that)
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