Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

On 10/19/07,Pere Porta wrote:

> >The only way to get a short [o] vowel is in a short open syllable before a
> >guttural.  A short
> > open syllable is designated by a schewa or hataf patax.
>
> PP- A qamats qaton is not too itself a short 'o' vowel?

The Tiberian pronunciation of qamats was rounded, sort of like the vowel in
caught.  It was not a long [a:], nor an [o].  It could be open or
short, depending
on whether it was in an open or stressed syllable.  Spanish scholarship
beginning with the Kimhi's began to view the vowels differently.  This may be
due to both or either of linguistic influences of European languages (such as
Spanish) and/or an independent reading tradition.  However, such an
independent tradition must be read on its own, not by re-interpreting a text
vocalized according to the Tiberian tradition.  Therefore, if you read a text
vocalized in the Tiberian tradition, you should read it the way that
the Tiberian
scholars intended.  According to this system, each vowel is of different 
quality
and could theoretically be long or short, although tsere and holam happen to
be always long in the Tiberian tradition, except for the condition
noted earlier.

> >Thus, the word
> > thwm is pronounced toho:m with a short [o] after the t.
> ___________
>
> PP - Are you sure that "thwm" (Gn 1:2) is pronounced with a short [o] after
> the t?

That is how Aharon ben Moses ben Asher and his friends would have you
believe.  But what do they know?  (In other words, yes, I'm sure).

Yitzhak Sapir