Talk:Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles

Judaism B‑class High‑importance

	Judaism portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Judaism, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Judaism-related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.JudaismWikipedia:WikiProject JudaismTemplate:WikiProject JudaismJudaism articles
B	This article has been given a rating which conflicts with the project-independent quality rating in the banner shell. Please resolve this conflict if possible.
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Obadja Sforno[edit]

I have confirmed, at least to my own satisfaction, that this is an alternate spelling.

I have made a fragmentary, unwikified article of this name a redirect to the current article. It included the following discussion of the alternate spelling. Is this of any value? If it is, could someone with more knowledge in this area than myself incorporate it into the article?

Obadja is an esoteric spelling the Hebrew name "Ovadia." In somme Sephardic pronunciations, the soft "bet" sound is a unique sound, neither "B" nor "V." To produce this sound, tighten the opening of the lips as in producing a W, hold it there, and let air out slowly so that the lips vibrate slightly. To an untrained ear, the sound is close to a B.

In Ashkenazic pronunciation, and in many Eastern pronunications, the soft bet is a V sound (the letter is pronounced vet, or vais/veyz). Moving Ashkenazic V to Sephardic B-V, onoe moves from Ovadia to Obadia.

In addition, classic German transliterations use a J to represent a Y (as in Y[es]) sound. Phonetically, Ovadia is O-vad-ya, so the German transliteration would be Ovadja.

Combining the two, one gets Obadja. On the face of it, this spelling is weird, because Germanic transliteration is by definition an Ashkenazic one, so Obadja is a mish-mash of odd Ashkenazic-German and incorrectly-heard-Sephardic.

Thanks Cje 21:12, 23 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Source for Henry II story[edit]

What is the source for the story about Sforno and King Henry II?

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.132.181.209 (talk) 09:45, 8 March 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Look at his book? The dedication is printed there.129.98.208.176 (talk) 17:42, 23 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]