Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Giuseppe Regalzi" <regalzi AT tiscalinet.it>]

Yigal Levin wrote:

> In most primts that I've seen, the second letter (Sin) of the first word
> of Lev. 25:34, "usedeh" is vocalized with a Hataph-Patah; in Brauer and
> BHS it has a Shewa. Any guesses about the source of the unusual spelling?

GKC (§ 10g, pp. 52-53) puts it this way:

"Hateph-Pathah is found instead of simple Shewa (especially Shewa mobile),
chiefly … (b) under initial sibilants after וּ copulative, e.g. וּזֲהַב Gn
2:12; cf. Jer 48:20; וּסֲחַר Is 45:14; וּשֲׂדֵה Lv 25:34; וּשֲׁקָה Gn
27:26; וּשֲׁמָע Nu 23:18, Is 37:17, Dn 9:18, cf. Ju 5:12, 1 K 14:21, 2 K
9:17, Jb 14:1, Ec 9:7—to emphasize the vocal character of the Shewa."

See also Joüon-Muraoka, § 8a n. 4, p. 51.

Hope this helps,
Giuseppe

--------------------------------------
Giuseppe Regalzi
regalzi AT tiscali.it
http://purl.org/net/regalzi/
http://www.orientalisti.net/