Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>]

At 03:05 AM 6/20/99 -0700, you wrote:

>
>The "a" sound is the Aramaic form for a noun with the definite article
>suffixed (aleph and sometime heh), called the emphatic/determinative state
>vs BH where the article is prefixed.

Yes indeed--- but would you show an example of the determinative suffixed to
the word 'elah?  I dont recall any examples of it in aramaic- and I know it
does not occur in the example we have been discussing which has no
determinative but a personal pronoun suffixed.  In any event, even if the
determinative suffix were affixed to eloha it would have nothing to do with
the pronunciation of the first syllable of the word, since it would only
affect the syllable to which it would be attached- i.e., the last.

>
>Syriac also has the emphatic state which has the "a" sound (with Syriac alaf
>suffixed) but it had by that time weakened so that whether the noun is
>determinative  or not is ambiguous (p. 40, Muroaka, _Classical Syriac for
>Hebraists_). Though in Joosten, _Syriac Language of Peshitta and Old Syriac
>Versions of Matthew_, the use of pronouns can help to distinguish a
>determinative noun.

Again, suffixed to the end of the word- which has nothing to do with the
pronunciation of the first syllable.

Best,

Jim
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
email- jwest AT highland.net
web page-  http://web.infoave.net/~jwest