Kaf alternates with kof (qof) and gimmel

The connection of kaf to kof is rather clear, but how is kaf related to gimel?
Liorah | Homepage | 10.17.06 - 4:18 am | #

Kaph and Gimel in Hebrew are voiced and unvoiced equivalents. There are some interchanges between the two, e.g. זכוכית "glass" (Job 28:17) but זגגין "glassmakers" (m. Kelim 8:9).

In the Dead Sea Scrolls we find for example אגזרי "cruelty" (1QIsa a 13:19) for the Massoretic אכזרי.

In m. Shabbat 2:1, the Palestinian Mishna tradition reads בַלֶגֶש "wtih pine-needle wool" while the Babylonian tradition (which is not common in our Mishna editions and prayer books) reads בלגש.
Moshe Morgenstern | 10.17.06 - 8:18 am | #

Thank you for the examples. Now I see the precedents for the equivalency between kaf and gimel, but I'm not making the connection as to why the equivalency is so, other than they are both double letters. ????
Liorah | Homepage | 10.17.06 - 9:17 am | #

In my previous post read "which is common" for "which is not common".

As I mentioned, since gimel and kaph are voiced and unvoiced consonants pronounced in the same part of the mouth, they are subject interchange.
Moshe Morgenstern | 10.17.06 - 10:31 am | #

Liorah, for an example from another language, consider how many ways the name of Libya's dictator has been spelled and pronounced. A column by Cecil Adams (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/ a2_264b.html) lists 22 ways that the Library of Congress spells the man's last name: for its first consonantal sound, seven of those transcriptions use G or GH, seven use K or KH, and eight use Q - so you see the same kind of alternation there between these sounds.

(In English, too, you have words like "example," where "x" - which normally is pronounced "ks" - becomes "gz," with both unvoiced sounds changing to their voiced equivalents.)
Alex | 10.17.06 - 7:50 pm | #

Wow, you guys really don't need me here...
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 10.18.06 - 12:14 am | #

Another well-known example of the interchangeability of gimel and kaph can be seen in the two words "לרכל" and "לרגל", both of which concern a person who walks among people and either spreads rumors about or spies on them. Both words derive from the root word "רגל".
Zvi Paltiel | 10.22.06 - 6:17 pm | #

Tzvi - Very true (I actually mentioned the connection here:

http://balashon.blogspot.com/200...6/10/ regel.html

)
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 10.23.06 - 11:29 pm | #