Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 20/09/2003 14:03, David P Donnelly wrote:

> On Fri Jul 25 05:02:08 EDT 2003,
> Peter Kirk said:
>  
>
> I received the following from a contact in Israel:
> Vav Holam may convey two meanings, 
> either just a vowel 
> or a consonant Vav with the vowel Holam. 
> Some typographers differentiate these two meaning, many do not. 
> I don't know if there is any Masoretic basis for the distinction 
> or if it is late, 
> And whether it is consistently used 
> in those texts that do make the distinction.
> I don't know either. Can someone answer this? 
> There is a typographical distinction in the printed BHS…
>  
>
> Dave says:
> I noted the typographical distinction in my printed BHS,
> by examining the plene form of Strong’s Hebrew word #5771(b) [Avown]
> and 
> by examining the defective form of Strong’s Hebrew word #5771(a) [Avon] 
> ……………………………….............................................................
> ............
> Avown--Strong’s Hebrew word #5771b can be found at II Kings 7:9
> The holem is written at the top right of the 2nd vav in “Avown”
> The Hebrew spelling of_Avown_is ayin-qamets-waw-holem-“silent waw“-nun
> ……………………………….............................................................
> ............
> The 1st vav in Avown is a consonantal vav.
> The 2nd vav in Avown is a Holem vav functioning as the vowel “o”
> [James Strong seems to transliterate the 2nd vav as a silent “w”]
> ……………………………….............................................................
> ............
> Avon--Strong’s Hebrew word #5771a can be found at Numbers 14:18
> The holem is written at the top left of the vav in “Avon” 
> The Hebrew spelling of_Avon_is ayin-qamets-waw-holem-nun
> ……………………………….............................................................
> ............
> The only vav in “Avon” was the first letter of the 2nd syllable,
> so it had to be consonantal vav. 
> The holem was written at the top left of this consonantal vav.
> The holem written at the top left of the vav,
> appears to be a holem written defective,
> and becomes the vowel “o”,
> a-f-t-e-r the consonantal vav.
>
> Dave Donnelly
>
>
>  
Thank you, Dave. Actually the discussion has moved on quite a lot since 
I asked this question, though not on this list. See the document "Issues 
in the Representation of Pointed Hebrew in Unicode" at my web site.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/