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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Initial "Beged Kefet" consonants always have a...

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  • From: "Dr. Joel M. Hoffman" <joel AT exc.com>
  • To: peterkirk AT qaya.org
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Initial "Beged Kefet" consonants always have a...
  • Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 18:11:46 -0400 (EDT)

>>It's not a prosodic rule. It's not hard to find examples in Tanach of
>>the same prosody with different trope types, and, hence, different
>>BEGED KEFET behavior. The Masoretes invented this arbitrary
>>inter-word rule (and, actually, for all we know, invented the entire
>>BEGED KEFET rule).
>
>[...]
>word within a short phrase. And there is surely pre-Masoretic evidence
>for the different pronunciations of begadkepat letters in
>transliterations into Greek, Latin etc.

There is considerable pre-masoreteic evidence, and none of it confirms
the Masoretic Beged Kefet rules. I go through the evidence in great
detail in my NYU book (_In the Beginning: A Short History of the
Hebrew Language), which is available from most libraries. "Rebekka"
demonstrates well, as the Masoretes recorded two syllables and a /v/
for the second consonant, while the LXX gives us three syllabes and a
/b/ for the second consonant. "Milcah" shows the same pattern, with
/k/ according to the Masoretes but /x/ according to the LXX.

>[...] The Masoretes recorded what they heard, in the tradition of
>chanting the Bible which they knew. So they

There is similarly little evidence that the Masoretes recorded what
they heard.

-Joel M. Hoffman
http://www.exc.com/JoelHoffman






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