Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Rivka,

> This is the dagesh in words like eille (these), henna (hereto), lamma 
> (why, what for). The term used in Gesenius (#20k) is dagesh forte 
> FIRMATIVUM. I was hoping that there is a more “popular” term that can be 
> readable/pronounceable by lay people.  Do you (or someone else) know of 
> such term?

HH: Thanks for answering my question. No, I don't 
know of any other name. If it will do any good, 
here is some data from an online Latin dictionary 
about the Latin word. Perhaps you could use one of 
the English verbs in an -ed form, like 
"strengthened." "Strengthened" is the word that 
GKC #20k uses to describe this dagesh's function.

iv                   SUFFIX 

-ive, -ed; having the passive tendency; having 
been ...-ed;

firmativ.um          ADJ    1 1 NOM S N POS 

firmativ.um          ADJ    1 1 NOM S N POS 

firmativ.um          ADJ    1 1 VOC S N POS 

firmativ.um          ADJ    1 1 VOC S N POS 

firmativ.um          ADJ    1 1 ACC S M POS 

firmativ.um          ADJ    1 1 ACC S M POS 

firmativ.um          ADJ    1 1 ACC S N POS 

firmativ.um          ADJ    1 1 ACC S N POS 

firmo, firmare, firmavi, firmatus  V   [XXXBX]
strengthen, harden; support; declare; prove, 
confirm, establish;

Yours,
Harold Holmyard