Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On 10/17/07, Pere Porta wrote:

> > Thus, the word
> > thwm is pronounced toho:m with a short [o] after the t.
>
> This word thwm ---- where does it appear (book, chapter, verse)?

Gen 1:2.  Let me also point out that above where I said hataf patax, I meant
any kind of hataf.

> Finally, you do not answer to my question: is there any especial reason to
> the fact that in Job the male is used instead of the defective?

I did.  I said there is no difference between them.

Specifically, the question cannot be answered without looking at the exact
verbs which are so denoted, and without recourse to Qumran Hebrew and
other Northwest Semitic languages, and a detailed analysis of the
development of Hebrew from a historical perspective.  Such an analysis
can clarify whether there are indeed originally phonetic reasons involved.
Even then, the answer might end up being, there is no difference and the
two forms are simply spelling variants.

Yitzhak Sapir