According to Zevit, the Hebrew letter ayin ([), the first letter of Ai in Hebrew, was polyphonous in Biblical times—that is, it had two sounds, a guttural sound and a g-type sound, as in Arabic gazza (English, Gaza). The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible known as the Septuagint distinguishes between the two sounds and uses a gamma to translate the Hebrew ayin. Thus, concludes Zevit, the Hebrew name was pronounced Gai, not Ai, probably referring to some topological feature of the site.
