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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Vowel Subsitution

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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 11:35:06 EST

Barry:

I gather that you are saying: If the pronunciation of the qere is adonai,
Why not write the patach hateph to reflect what is actually read rather
than changing the vowel to conform to the yod that is not pronounced?

Good question. The only answer may be that that's the way they chose to do
it out of scribal habit.

There is one case in the Leningrad Codex where the seghol hateph is
written under the Y of YHWH (where the qere is elohim). Why in this one place
and
not in the other 300 qere elohim occurrences? Why not write the compound
shva where the qere is adonai? Other less well known manuscripts also
occasionally show the same phenomenon. A similar inconsistency exists with
regard
to the holem. It is usually missing orthographically but does pop up once
in a while. I don't think these minor variants have any special
significance.

Regards,
Ted

Ted wrote (in part):
> 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.

Barry responded:


Ok, maybe I'm failing to make a connection here. We pronounce the qere.
Are you saying because the initial vowel for Adonai, the patach hateph, is
written under the yod for YHWH, it changes to a simple sheva? It sounds
like you are saying that even though the qere is Adonai, the visual
orthography trumps the actual pronunciation, as though the initial vowel
of
Adonai were a yod rather than an aleph?

N.E. Barry Hofstetter




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