Why Is ‘Aza’ Called ‘Gaza’?

Hi, this is David Alowski with that question and answer program. Anonymous asks, "How come certain Hebrew words that start with an in get a G in the front when translated into English? For example, Gaza and Gamora, like Sodom and Gomorrah, right? So, this is a question because you're obviously Ashkanazi. [laughter] Ashkanaz make no difference between an alf and an ayen. We pronounce them both the same way as a silent letter. But in fact, is a guttural letter. And so the G at the beginning is there to capture the guttural sound in the throat of the G that uh that's over there. And that's why certain I in words get a G in the front. Uh it's uh an interesting thing because you know Arabs um uh can't pronounce the letter P. I don't know why that is. So in the north of Israel is of course the Bas. Banas was originally an altar to the Roman god of springs Pan and it was called Panas and they pronounced it as Banas. And uh the Romans made a city called Naples after Naples in Italy. And the Arabs called it Nabilus because they couldn't pronounce the P. Different cultures are able to pronounce different words and different sounds. And that's why the G is there to try to capture that. offer.