Biblical Hebrew Forum

[<pporta AT oham.net>]

> "Their mouth" is usually spelled pay yud hay mem or pay yud mem vav, and
> "their fruit" is spelled pay resh yud hay mem (Amos 9:14) and pay resh yud
> mem (Isaiah 65:21). Is there some kind of a grammatical reason why "their
> mouth" is not spelled pay yud mem?

Dear Kenneth,

Pay yud mem is absolute plural: 'mouths' (1Sa 13:21), togheter with the more 
usual form found in Pr 5:4.
I think a good reason why "their mouth" is written "pay yud hay mem" and not 
"pay yud mem" is to avoid confusion between 'their mouth' (Jdg 7:6) and 
'mouths' (1Sa 13:21).
In the case of  "their fuit" things are quite different because the normal 
plural (both absolute and construct) of "pay resh yud" is ending in 'oth' 
("peroth")

Does this explanation make an answer to your question?

Pere Porta