Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

Dear Jason,

The blessing you quote is found already in the Mishneh Torah:
http://mechon-mamre.org/i/2207n.htm#10 (ch 7 vs 10)
Here, you see the vocalization as provided by the Baladi
Yemenite community: http://www.mechon-mamre.org/about.htm

You can see they read the saw for $mk but differently for twrtk.
$mk with a seghol is in a pausal position.

On the other hand, twrtk is interesting.  Rinat Yisrael has the
schewa in this case.  What you might be seeing is an attempt
to represent the vocal schewa.  In Ashkenazi (non Tiberian)
pronunciation, the schewa following the long qamats under the
resh was pronounced vocal and began a new syllable.  This
qamats was usually pronounced as an [e] in Ashkenazic
pronunciation and the interchange between vocal schewa and
seghol appears even in early prayerbooks.  Ilan Eldar notes
this for the beginning of a word in Edah veLashon 4, The
Hebrew Language Tradition in Medieval Ashkenaz (ca 950 -
1350 CE), vol I. Phonology and Vocalization, p. 73, with
examples.

Yitzhak Sapir