Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Isaac Fried" <if AT math.bu.edu>]

Uri,



The Arabic LAHU = LA-HU, ends in the personal pronoun HU that is contracted 
in Hebrew to a mere O, as in BO and BO), that are both BA-HU, corresponding 
to the English 'be-he'.



Isaac Fried, Boston University



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Uri Hurwitz" <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 12:37 AM
Subject: [b-hebrew] final alef


>   As to the relationship between the two homonyms   LO   (lamed aleph -
>   "NO"),  and  LO  (lamed waw -- "TO HIM"),  here again it pays to consult
>   Arabic , because,  like in so many other cases, it preserves earlier 
> stages
>   of the language. The spelling of  "NO" in Ar.-- "LA,"  is the 
> equivalent of the
>   Heb.lamed aleph, while the spelling of  "TO HIM"  is --LaHW   pronounced
>  "Lahu". Obviously the "H" was dropped by the time of the consonsntal text
>   of the HB.
>
>
>     Interestingly the same occurs in some spoken Arabic dialects.
>
>    Uri Hurwitz
>
>
>
>            Yigal Levin wrote:
>
>   I tend to agree - the aleph is there because it was
>
> meant to be pronounced as a gluttal stop (not as a
>
> "silent letter"). From both the Bible and especially
>
> inscriptions, it would seem that the mater lectionis
>
> that was used for the final "O" (once these entered
>
> Hebrew orthography) was actually he (as preserved
>
> in names such as "Shiloh" and "Shelomoh"). Also,
>
> what's the relationship between l) (lamed aleph)
>
> and l)w (lamed aleph waw)? Is the former an
>
> abbreviation of the latter? Or was l) spelt with
>
> an aleph to distinguish it from its homonym lw
>
> (lamed waw) - "for/to him"?
>
>
>
>
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