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  • From: tedbro AT aol.com
  • To: nebarry AT verizon.net, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Vowel Subsitution
  • Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:28:37 EST

Hi, Barry:

Others on this list (such as Yigal) are surely more capable, I'd be glad
to take a stab at explaining the slight difference between the vowels of
Adonai and the pointing of YHWH in the majority of its occurrences in the MT.

The only difference is the presence of a simple shva on the yod of YHWH and
a compound shva (patach hateph) on the initial aleph of Adonai.


When words are lengthened in Hebrew, the vowel in the beginning often
weakens and becomes a shva.

Thus the word for prophet, navi becomes nebiim. The qamatz that stands
under the nun in navi weakens and is replaced with shva, a non-vowel. But
since
the combination nun bet is hard to say, the shva takes on a touch of vowel
coloring and become a vocal shva. In practice is it pronounced as an "e".
But it is not that the "a" become an "e" in the plural, rather that the "a"
disappears as the accent in the word shift toward the back in the plural.

Likewise for the word El (God), the initial aleph, takes a sere, a long e
sound. But when el is lengthened into a plural, and becomes elohim, the
accent shifts to the end of the word and the vowel at the beginning of the
word
is weakened into a shva.

Further since the first letter of elohim is aleph, it follows special rules
for the gutterals, (Gesenius explains this) and becomes a seghol hateph,
one of the three special forms of shva used with gutterals. Ditto with
Adonai. Adon has a qamatz under the initial aleph, but Adonai has a compound
shva (patach hateph).

Non gutterals never take compound shvas. Not patach hateph, not seghol
hateph, not qamatz hateph.

Likewise, yod never carries a compound shva. Yod always takes a simple
shva.

The fact that Adonai has a compound shva and the MT texts of YHWH have a
simple shva is not evidence of a different vowel. It is the same vowel,
applied to a different letter.

Hope that helps...
Ted Brownstein


In a message dated 12/28/2009 8:50:18 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
nebarry AT verizon.net writes:

--------------------------------------------------
From: <tedbro AT aol.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 26, 2009 10:36 PM
To: <dbelot AT bigpond.net.au>; <jaihare AT gmail.com>;
<b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Vowel Subsitution

This message is in response to Ted Brownstein, but first a brief
introduction:

Barry Hofstetter. I have been a member of b-Greek for several years now,
as
well as owning and moderating the bibexegesis and b-Latin lists at
yahoogroups. When perusing the archives, I recognized some names from
those
lists, as well as the Biblical Studies list! I currently teach Classics
and
Bible-Catechism at The American Academy, and Roman Civilization at
Montclair
State University. More information can be found at my web and blog sites,
listed in my sig below.

Ted, thanks for your clear explanations concerning the tetragrammaton and
the ketiv-qere. Nehemiah Gordon, in the online text that the earlier
poster
linked, makes a big deal out of the fact that the actual pointing for YHWH
is different from that for the actual noun Adonai. Now, my reading
ability
in Hebrew isn't too shabby, but I'm a bit fuzzy on the rules for vowel
pointing in every context. Could you, or anyone else, explain the reason
for this particular difference?

Thanks,

N.E. Barry Hofstetter






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