Just kidding. I came across a very interesting blog called
Treasures of Ashkenaz. The blogger states that he is "trying to spread the word about some of the treasures of the Ashkenazic Jewish tradition, that are not as widely known" today. It seems that most of the posts are based on the writings and lectures of R. Binjamin Salomo Hamburger. Have a look.
Interesting post he has regarding RSRH that the name should be pronounced Harsch. I'm commenting here and not there because he requires email.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm surprised that he doesn't mention that "hart" is an English word for deer.
I'm far from convinced that it *should* be pronounced Harsch. At most there was a dialect in which it was pronounced Harsch.
ReplyDeleteSome German Jews named Hirsch used the shem chol Hartwig (or Hartog in Danish).
Come on -- what does "should" mean, in a linguistic context?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post and the comments.
ReplyDeleteIn the post under discussion, I just reported what the sefer said was the pronunciation in אשכנז, as the חת"ס stated. It was acknowledged that elsewhere it was otherwise.
It may have been a local pronunciation, or a pronunciation at one time, which later changed.
Alexander Beider's dictionary of Ashkenazic given names has a lengthy piece on the moniker.