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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] final alef

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  • From: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
  • To: "Uri Hurwitz" <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] final alef
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 11:12:25 -0700

Uri:

On 8/18/07, Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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

If you look at the earliest Hebrew, particularly Genesis, there are
several cases where the third person singular masculine suffix was
written with a heh; could the pronunciation have been "-ahu"? Later
contracted to -W to differentiate it from the feminine?

Karl W. Randolph.




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