Biblical Hebrew Forum

["jeremy N" <jnorthct AT hotmail.com>]

> From: "Peter Kirk" <Peter_Kirk AT sil.org>
> Subject: RE: Matres Lectionis and Ordinals
> Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 12:46:50 +0100
>
> I have noticed in passing that the plural ending -IM, generally >written 
> with a yod mater, is found without that yod mostly in the >plurals of words 
> which end in a yod mater and a final consonant, and (from memory) 
> especially if that final consonant is guttural. There >seems to be a 
> similar pattern with the waw mater in -OT plurals after >a waw mater in the 
> final syllable.  Perhaps there was some reason, >whether phonological or 
> purely orthographic, for a reluctance to write >two identical maters in 
> adjacent syllables.

Yes, this is what James Barr (1989, pp25ff) refers to as the "affix effect," 
but he notes that there is little consistency in its occurrence, with many 
plurals containing only one yod in some instances and two yods in others.  
Also, in those cases where a mater is dropped, it may be dropped from the 
root or it may be dropped from the plural suffix.  The feminine ordinals 
display the same characteristics, sometimes dropping the yod from the root, 
sometimes from the suffix, sometimes not all.  I don't know about anyone 
else, but Barr's explanation for such variations as "scribal artistry" (that 
is, the aesthetic tastes of scribes for different orthographic patterns) 
does not seem very convincing to me, although he makes a good case against 
historical and phonological explanations.

Jeremy

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp