Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 27/02/2005 19:10, C. Stirling Bartholomew wrote:

> ...
>
> "Aleppo version is more likely to be original ... "
>
> Peter,
>
> What is the sense/referent of "original" here?
> "Original" pointing sounds like a oxymoron.
>
>  
Well, original pointing is that intended by the first Masoretes to point 
a particular text. Presumably there was some such group of people who 
were the first to write down any particular point, although the pointing 
system may have evolved over time.

So, the sense I intended was that at this point the Aleppo Codex 
represents the pointing originally heard by the Masoretes and recorded 
in the first ever pointed text - or the first which noted dagesh in this 
kind of context.

The alternative is that the Leningrad Codex pointing of this word 
represents what the Masoretes heard and originally wrote down, and that 
the Aleppo version of it is a regularisation of an originally anomalous 
form. This alternative is ruled out if Leningrad is in fact copied, 
directly or indirectly, from Aleppo.

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



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