112 G. MAsrEUO, 



_^1'^^]^1^iSlf]^^^^ M^ hcufva-fit-iaomlia. 

 The name presents a rather curious peculiarity. ^-^ \ is here 

 for I ^^l by substitution of a ;^ , v. f. for J "^ ^: Ave shall 



see further on that the ^ is transcribed -^ oua iti several 

 Avords. These variants are not due to the caprice of the 

 Egyptian scribe. I tliink they reveal to us a new fact in 

 phonetics. It should seem, according to them, that in the 

 Hebrew of the race of Simeon the ^ was weakened to v, f, 

 at least in certain cases. Fit-iaousha is then the transcription 

 of a niT'VTl''^ Beth-Ioshah, of which the former element is 

 slightly disfigured by a pronunciation Vit, Fit, for Bit. The 

 term joined with Ti'^^ is not, as I have believed, tTSl/re; 

 The division ^^ J (] Fiti, (j \ JoT^T \ \^ aousha* which 

 supposes this identification, is not admissible in our list, 

 Avhere J ^^ | is always written without (1 final. I divide 

 2; ;^ I jt^if M ^ J^T^T f| "^ louslia, and take laousha for the 

 transcription of HUJV loshah. This name designates, in the 



first book of Chronicles f one of the Simeonite chiefs who, 

 in the time of Hezekiah, emigrated to the East from the 

 town of Gedor in search of pasturage for his herds. What- 

 cA^er may be the A^alue of the information furnished by the 

 Chronicles, it shoAvs us at least that the name laousha Avas 

 used in the tribe of Simeon, and confirms the legitimacy of 

 the transcription nilJ^Tl"^!! Beth-Ioshah which I have adopted 



for Flt-Taonsha. To recover in the present nomenclature 

 an equivalent of this locality, Ave must not forget that 

 the dialectic plienomenon caught by the ear of the men 

 of Sheshonq's time, must haA^e perpetuated itself among 

 all the populations AA'ho have succeeded in these parts. 

 A name once adopted in one pronunciation passes Avitli 

 this pronunciation to different generations Avho have 

 used it daily. The Arabic equivalent of "Jl"';)! initial 

 ought then to be something analogous to the Egyptian 

 5!L=^ \ vlt, fit, either t-^^-^ or ux-^i . I find, in fact, a little 

 to the south of the Oued esh-Sheriah, a oned and a ruin Avhich 



* Maspero, in the Z<-itschrif(, 1880, p. 47. 

 1 1 Chi'ouicles iv, 35, 



