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  • From: furuli AT online.no
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Pronunciation of Shewa
  • Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 21:39:05 +0100

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

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