Biblical Hebrew Forum

[furuli AT online.no]

Dear Joshua,

I have some comments on one of your questions, namely, regarding
Origen . I have added names in Josephus (which has vocal shewa in
their Hebrew form in the first syllable) and similar names in the LXX
Below is a table of how Origen transcribes the shewas and patahs and
how they are transcribed by Josephus and the LXX. Note particularly
that 68 % of vocal shewas has zero in Greek and that more shewas are
transcribed by alfa than by epsilon:


                    Origen     Josephus     LXX
Shewa > epsilon      33      20      26
Shewa > alfa 44      58      54
Shewa > Ø              184    0       0
Shewa > other         9      18      20
Patah > epsilon       86     21      18
Patah > alfa 212     66      68
Patah > other        33      13      14
Patah> Ø                  31  0       0

Shewa quiesc>Ø            181
Shewa quiesc>alfa       7
Shewa quiesc>epsilon   5

In Masoretic times shewa was probably pronounced as an "a"-sound
(according to Masoretic and Karaite tractates).  Thus, the worst
possible choice to make a semantic difference between verb forms was
the use of shewa versus patah (e.g. WEYIQTOL versus WAYYIQTOL). A
very strong case can be made for the view that the Masoretes were the
inventors of the difference between the "consecutive" forms and
YIQTOL and QATAL; thus the consecutive forms did not exist before the
Masoretes.


Best regards

Rolf

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo


> Shalom list :)
>
> snip
>
> My second question is, if there is a difference, how certain are we that the
> "rules" described in introductory grammars are the ones the Massoretes
> intended? Joüon §8b indicates the basic system we follow was explained in
> the 15th c., but he notes that even these were not absolutes. Further
> confusing the issue is that he notes that some would argue a shewa after a
> long vowel is generally silent also. Does the Hexapala and other ancient
> works throw any light on this issue and allow us to come to some basic
> conclusions, or are we in the dark at the present time?
>
>
>
> Thanks for reading my questions :) Sincerely, Joshua
>
> _______________________________________________