I thought the literal definition was a verb like "Gasping" or "to grasp". Was I misinformed? :o (And no, I'm not in any way Jewish, sadly. I know some Jews though, does that count?)
Actually, the medieval pronunciation as codified in the Tiberian Masoretes, was like "aw" - /ɔː/. This became /ɔː/ in Yemenite Hebrew, /a/ in Sephardi Hebrew, and /o/ in Ashkenazi Hebrew.
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