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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Qamats gadol <> qamats qaton

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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org list" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Qamats gadol <> qamats qaton
  • Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:17:41 -0500

I don't believe, not even for a moment, that there are "two different" kinds of qamats.

The "rule" to the effect That

הברה סגורה לא מוטעמת שמנוקדת בקמץ - רוב הסיכויים שזה קמץ קטן

is, in my opinion, not worth the ink spent to print it.

When we judge it expedient (this is possibly an ancient opposition to some aspects of the Tiberias NIKUD) we predictably replace (we override) the qamats by a xolam, say OREK - ORKO, ROXAB - ROXBO, KTOBET - KTOBTIY, and many more.

I am not sure why XAKMAH (Yiddish: xoxme, as in: a groisse xoxme), is pronounced XOKMAH, possibly because XOX sound better than XAX.

On the the hand we say CAHARAYIM, TAHARAH, MIMAXARAT (and not MIMAXORAT. see Lev. 23:15) etc., to the great consternation of the YIDONIYM who admonish us that we are in the wrong, as we subvert their "rules".

You may want to look here http://www.saad.org.il/elihu/questions.html for an example of the theological-gramatical quibbles arising from the uncertainty of a gadol versus a qatan.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jan 23, 2012, at 10:04 AM, Pere Porta wrote:

Do you then think that there is only a qamats which depending on the place where it is placed has sound "a" or sound "o"? (the same graphical sign to designate two different phonemes)





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