Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Kevin P. Edgecomb" <kevin AT bombaxo.com>]

Yitzhak Sapir wrote: 
Where in the transliterations, though, do you see any example of this
shortening?

I write:
Merely generally, as the pronunciation in these appear to be very close to
the Masoretic, particularly in the Epiphanian list I presented.  This in
comparison with Jerome's transliterations (see in the Vulgate preface to
Kings: http://www.bombaxo.com/prologues.html) shows that vocalization had
evolved to almost identically the Masoretic pronunciation that we know.  The
peculiarities in them may be taken either as poor transcription, or as I
think, more likely some remaining slight differences before the Masoretic
standardization.  And these tend toward longer vowels in places where we
would expect in Masoretic pronunciation a shwa or seghol at times (as in
Jerome's "malachim").  It may well be that it's not the case, but it's
suggestive.

Regards,
Kevin P. Edgecomb
Berkeley, California