how do you pronounce Naphtali

[christianmomof3]

as in the tribe. I worked at a Jewish Day Camp as a teenager and the groups were named after the tribes of Israel and we pronounced it as Nahf tah lee with the accent on the middle syllable - sorry - I don't know the proper pronounciation symbols - I taught reading, not english grammar. Anyway, now as a Christian I keep hearing it pronounced Naf ta lie with the accent on the Naf and a short a in the naf and a long I sound at the end. Every time I hear it I think it is wrong. But perhaps I learned it wrong. I heard it said today at the conference I was at, which was wonderful and I'll have to share from it later.
But, how is it supposed to be pronounced?
Thanks, Dana

 

[BarbB]

Dana - I've heard both ways and even used both ways! So I certainly can't advise one or the other!

 

[Sephania]

This is how I pronounce it,

Nahf tah lee with the accent on the middle syllabl

but I am not a modern hebrew scholar ( I study the ancient Hebrew) so that doesn't mean much. I was hoping Sch'muel would stop by and give his educated opinion, he is quite good with the vowels and such.

 

[ChavaK]

The only way I have ever heard it pronounced is as you learned...Naph TAHl ee. I have an Israeli friend who named their daughter Naphtali and that is also how they
pronounce it....

hope this helps!

chava

 

[ChavaK]

I just looked in a Tanach, and it actually should be pronounced Naf TOO lay....but I have never heard
it said that way.....

 

[jgonz]

I've heard it both NAF ta lee and naf TA lee, but I've never heard it pronounced naf TOO lay... Interesting.

I usually say it NAF ta lee, probably out of laziness. lol

 

[christianmomof3]

Thank you - I think the way I learned it is probably pretty correct then.