Biblical Hebrew Forum

[<pporta AT oham.net>]

> Can anyone explain the word  הַצְּפִינוֹ֒ "hacepino" - why is there a 
> dagesh in the sade and not in the pe?


This is an exceptional case. The normal pattern for hiph'il construct 
infinitive + personal pronoun is without dagesh in the 1st root consonant. 
We find an example in Jr 31:2 (word last but one in the verse) though it is 
true that a resh does usually take no dagesh...

Now, I should rather say that there is here not a plain mistake of someone 
(an early vocalizer...) but a clear case of unaware imitation of the several 
cases of letter Tsade written with strong dagesh we find here and there in 
the bible because it is (or they are) from a verb either peh"nun or peh"yod 
with Tsade as 2nd root consonant.

Let us look at these examples (I do not write the vowels):

1. )CYL -------- Zc 11:6
2. LHCYB ---------- 1Chr 18:3
3. HCYB -------- 1Ki 16:34
4. YCYB -------- Js 6:26

Pere Porta