Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jason Hare <jaihare AT gmail.com>]

Thanks, Kirk.

I think there's another example from the siddur. I'll pull it when I
get home. It's in the morning blessing for Torah study, where it says
toraTEcha rather than toratcha, meaning that there's a segol
(lengthened vowel) where we wouldn't expect it. It's only like this in
the Ashkenazi version. I'll give better details when I get home.

Regards,
Jason Hare

On Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 5:07 PM, Kirk Lowery <klowery AT whi.wts.edu> wrote:
> Jason Hare wrote:
>
>> I had thought it might be pausal, which I would also expect to be 
>> /yishpOtu/,
>> but it's not in final position. The pronoun HM follows it. Would this not
>> limit the use of syllable lengthening? Wouldn't we expect to find this only
>> if Y$PW+W came final in the clause?
>
> Yes, this is why GKC calls it "anomalous," and so "explains" it as the
> "retrogressive" effect of the silluq. He describes what is going on, but 
> doesn't
> really explain anything.
>
> What's interesting is that it's not the only case: there are two others. 
> That
> suggests something actually is going on and that its not some sort of 
> spelling
> error or textual transmission error.
>
> And while pause does bring lengthening of vowels, this situation doesn't 
> require
> "pause" as the explanation. It is indeed a lengthening of the vowel, but 
> there
> could be some other cause; in fact, since the word is not in fact in pause, 
> we
> ought to look to some other factor first.
>
> But there's too little data for a real explanation. "Anomalous" it remains. 
> As
> happens so often in the Hebrew Bible. :-)
>
> Blessings,
>
> Kirk