Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jason Hare" <jaihare AT gmail.com>]

Raoul,

Indeed, it is silluq. If meteg ever indicates a secondary stress, it
is only in the way that it makes a syllable long as opposed to short
-- that is, in regard to the length of a vowel or syllable. It is not
a stress marker in the Biblical system, IMHO.

Yours,
Jason Hare

On 8/6/07, Dr Raoul Comninos <capechurch AT gmail.com> wrote:
> I Quote Seow (Grammar, 66): "The meteg is a short vertical stroke
> appearing under a consonant....It serves primarily to indicate a
> secondary stress in a word." Seow goes on to document four other uses
> but he does not indicate when the meteg indicates secondary stress.
> Also, as far as I know, the mark before a sof pasuq is not a meteg but
> a silluq and the two should not be confused. A silluq is an accent,
> but the meteg is not. See also Muraoka pages 59ff.
>
> Kind regards
> Raoul Comninos
>
>
> On 8/6/07, Jason Hare <jaihare AT gmail.com> wrote:
> > I have never read anything that indicates this, and it has never had an
> > effect in my understanding, reading, or pronunciation of the text of the
> > Bible. I would be interested in hearing a source for this idea, but I 
> > don't
> > think it is true that meteg functions in this way. It changes the length 
> > of
> > a syllable from short to long. Example:
> >
> > חָכְמָה XfK-MfH (wisdom :: choch-MAH) > חָֽכְמָה Xf-K:MfH (she was wise ::
> > cha-ch[e]MAH)
> >
> > It is called a bridle (meteg) because is opens the syllable. It does not
> > indicate a secondary stress, for how can you have a secondary stress in a
> > word of two syllables such as the one above? It only indicates vocal 
> > stress
> > when joined to Sof Pasuk.
> >
> > In non-biblical text, the 'meteg' is sometimes used to indicate stress, 
> > but
> > this is not part of the Biblical trope system. לָמַֽדְתִּי la-MAD-ti.
> >
> > Yours,
> > Jason Hare
> >
> >
> > On 8/6/07, Dr Raoul Comninos <capechurch AT gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Although meteg is not an accent, it does serve, as far as I know, to
> > > indicate secondary stress. This is its primary function, rather than
> > > help distinguish qamets from qamets hatuf.
> > >
> > > Kind regards
> > > Raoul Comninos
> > >
> > > On 8/5/07, Jason Hare < jaihare AT gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > Dr. Comninos:
> > > >
> > > > I went to the B-Hebrew archives and found the message that you were
> > > > talking about. Sorry that it was overlooked the first time. Here is my
> > > > own take on it:
> > > >
> > > > > In my reading of the Hebrew Bible I am unsure when to read the 
> > > > > metheg
> > > > > as a secondary stress. I have read through Gesenius' section on the
> > > > > metheg but found it unintelligible. Perhaps someone could provide me
> > > > > with some specific rules as to when it is not stressed. (Original
> > Message)
> > > >
> > > > The metheg is *not* an accent and does not receive a vocal stress.
> > > >
> > > > When the metheg appears in the final position of a verse, it does so
> > > > with sof pasuk, which *is* an accent, and it is written on the tone
> > > > syllable. Otherwise, it serves to mark a syllable as open rather than
> > > > closed, which specifically affects the pronunciation of the vowel
> > > > kamats.
> > > >
> > > > Hope this helps.
> > > >
> > > > Jason Hare
> > > > Rishon leZion, Israel
> > > > (Oleh Chadash)
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Dr Raoul Comninos
> > > 93 Wagenaar Street
> > > Monte Vista
> > > 7460
> > > South Africa
> > > capechurch AT gmail.com
> > > Fax: (086) 6544615
> > >
> >
>
>
> --
> Dr Raoul Comninos
> 93 Wagenaar Street
> Monte Vista
> 7460
> South Africa
> capechurch AT gmail.com
> Fax: (086) 6544615
>