I recently saw the Hebrew name יעקב transliterated into (American) English by Persian Jews as Yaghob. I find this curious (because the ע isn't transliterated, but that's a question for another time, and) because the ק, which afaik is voiceless, is transliterated gh. Do Persian Jews pronounce Hebrew ק voiced? If so, how did that come to be? If not, why might they transliterate יעקב with gh in English?
1 Answer
The name Jacob is well-known among Jews, Christians and Muslims. In Iran this name is known in all communities in the Arabic/Qurʼanic form Yaʻqūb يعقوب but in Persian the Arabic letter q ق is pronounced as a fricative /γ/. The Arabic ʻ ع is silent in Persian.
