Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Polycarp66 AT aol.com]

In a message dated 1/6/2002 9:59:54 AM Eastern Standard Time, hebrew2day AT hotmail.com writes:


> When the vowel sign for (Qames or Qames-Hatuph) is right before a sheva ,
> how does one know if the vowel is a Qames or Qames-Hatuph?
> Also please list some extra rules if they apply.


Weingreen (p. 12) states, 

"Since the vowel-sign [omitted] is used to represent both Qames 'a' and Qames-Hatuph 'o', we have to determine when it is (long) 'a' and when (short) 'o'.  The rule enunciated on p. 7 is her applied thus:--If the vowel-sign [omitted] occurs in a closed unaccented syllable it must be short and is therefore (short) 'o' = Qames-Hatuph.  If, on the other hand, it occurs in an open syllable, or in a syllable which, though closed, is accented, then it is long and therefore (long) 'a' = Qames. [Examples omitted] 

gfsomsel