According to the linguistic reconstructions, samekh (=Arabic seen) and sin (=Arabic sheen) were originally two quite separate sounds; /s/amekh, at least in Proto-Semitic, started out as /s/ or /ts/, while /s/in started out as a lateral sibilant like the 'slushy' Welsh consonant "LL".

Early on, though, the Sin sound merged into Samekh, and you start seeing words formerly written with Sin being written with Samekh more and more often.
Steg (dos iz nit der šteg) | Homepage | 11.29.06 - 3:39 pm | #

Interesting.
Liorah | Homepage | 12.01.06 - 9:12 am | #