Biblical Hebrew Forum

[<yudickya AT bgu.ac.il>]

>  
> > ------------------------------
> > 
> > Message: 14
> > Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 09:30:34 -0500 (EST)
> > From: "Dr. Joel M. Hoffman" <joel AT exc.com>
> > Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "short vowels in hexapla"
> > To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > Message-ID: <m1FJX1G-000GhjC AT exc.com>
> > 
> > >Dear Joel,
> > >
> > >What is your opinion of the study cited here?
> > >http://hebphil.blogspot.com/2005/11/short-vowels-in-hexapla.html
> > 
> > I haven't seen the study (from Leshonenu), and I don't have a 
> > copy of
> > the Hexapla here, but if the blogger's description is 
> accurate, 
> > I have
> > some problems.  Just from the table in my NYU book 
> (which, 
> > BTW, just
> > came out in paperpack), I know:
> > 
> > 1.  HA'EL is Alpha-Eta-Lamed, with an Eta representing 
> Masoretic>     TZERE.  According to the 
> blog, SHMO "his 
> > name" is SEMO, with an
> >     Epsilon, not with an Eta.
> > 
> > 2.  Masoretic DARKO is DERKO in the Sec., with an Epsilon 
> > representing    Masoretic PATACH (or perhaps 
> > underlying SEGOL).
> > 
> > So it doesn't look like much of a pattern.
> > 
> > Also (again to judge by the blog), in "most instances" we see a
> > pattern.  The Sec. is so short and so riddled with errors 
> > that even
> > "most of the time" could be a coincidence.  This 
> > possibility becomes
> > even more likely if we conflate Eta/Epsilon and Segol/Tzere.
> > 
> > I also think that the statement, "He therefore suggests, that 
> in the
> > time of Origens [sic] the shwa mobile still had the quality of the
> > original vowels" (from the blogger) is at best 
> misleading.  
> > There was
> > no shwa until the Masoretes.  One interesting question is 
> > whether SHMO
> > was monosyllabic or bisyllabic, and during which periods of Hebrew,
> > but both the presentation and question mask the real question.
> > 
> > I don't know enough about Origen's Greek to know if his dialect
> > allowed words that begin SHM-, so it may be hard to learn much about
> > the word from the transliteration.  But I also maintain that
> > transliterations are inherently unreliable.  For example, 
> > the modern
> > English transliteration of "shema" for both Hebrew SHEMA ("perhaps")
> > and SH'MA ("hear!") is misleading.
> > http://www.exc.com/JoelHoffman/Excerpts/ITB-p88.pdf has some more
> > examples.
> > 
> > Still, I'm going to try to find a copy of the original paper.
> > 
> > -Joel
> > 
> > Joel M. Hoffman, PhD
> > http://www.exc.com/JoelHoffman
> > 
1. Epsilon reflects short e and eta reflects long e (or 
 prolongated by the accent).
 2. Derko reflects qitl pattern (also in babylonian tradition), 
 darko - qatl pattern (possibly).
 Indeed in my opinion there is no shwa mobile in second column 
 tradition.
 All the best 
 Alexey