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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] gutturals and composite shewa

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • Cc: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] gutturals and composite shewa
  • Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2005 13:08:01 +0100

On 06/09/2005 13:35, Yigal Levin wrote:

----- Original Message ----- From: <davedonnelly1 AT juno.com>

Kelton Graham asked:

Hey is there a rule that only gutterals can have composite shewa?

Then check the second occurrence of YHWH in Judges 16:28,
and you will find that there is a composite shewa [e.g. Hatef-Segol]
under the yod,
which is not a guttural letter.

Apparently rules were meant to be broken.

Dave Donnelly



This is because this particular instance of YHWH, like most others that
follow the word Adonai, is meant to be vocalized "Elohim" (traditionally
translated "Lord God"). The hataph-segol under the yod represents the
hataph-segol under the aleph in elohim, which is guttural.


But in that case why are only three examples of YHWH to be pronounced Elohim pointed in this way?


Yes, rules are meant to be broken. This is simply not a good example.


For what it's worth, in the Westminster Leningrad Codex text I found:

9 cases of hataf segol (4 excluding Aramaic)
166 cases of hataf patah (160 excluding Aramaic)
235 cases of hataf qamats (177 excluding Aramaic)

following non-guttural consonants in the Hebrew Bible. But I understand that different Hebrew texts differ significantly on this.

Of the 9 cases of hataf segol, three are the divine name (Gen 15:2,8, Jdg 16:28), five are in Aramaic, and only one, $E/$.:EZFPA73T/:NIY in Song of Songs 1:6, is an actual Hebrew word.

So, it seems that, at least in the Leningrad text, Dave's rule is fairly commonly broken by hataf patah and hataf qamats, but not by hataf segol.

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



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