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b-hebrew - Nothing ordinary about these ordinals

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  • From: "Jeremy" <jnorthct AT hotmail.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Nothing ordinary about these ordinals
  • Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 06:08:02 -0400


Does anyone know the rationale behind the use of shorter and longer forms
for ordinal numbers (that is, those numbers that are expressed in the form
of: "in the nth year")? The short form (e.g., Jer 36:9 masc., Jer 52:4
fem.) adds the letter 'yod' to the end of the number or a 'yod' + 'tau' in
the case of the feminine, while the longer form (e.g., Jer 36:22 masc.,
Jer 39:1 fem.) adds a 'yod' between the second and third letter, plus the
extra letter(s) added for the shorter form. There is also a third form of
ordinal (e.g., Lev 25:22) that, in the case of the feminine cases, adds
the 'yod' after the second letter and adds only a 'tau' to the end. What
are the rules governing these different spellings??

Jeremy




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