Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Vadim Cherny <him AT vadimcherny.org>]

The answer is, no. Words are fixed by letters rather than dagesh.
Dagesh is a byproduct of word structure rather than a cause of its 
semantics.
IMO, dagesh is a purely phonetic device:

- dagesh hazak prevents post-tonic vowel reduction (hitlAb'sh - hitlA.bbesh)
- dagesh kal prevents jamming of consonants in clusters by artificial 
syllabification (nizchar - ni'char, but niz.char or later nizcar).

Basically, dagesh is a stop. More here 
http://vadimcherny.org/hebrew/dagesh_stop.htm

Vadim Cherny


Brak wrote:
> I was wondering, does the presence/absence of the dagesh alone change 
> the meaning of the word in any way?
> Now I understand that sometimes when words changed form that a dagesh 
> may be added/removed - but as far as I know it is always accompanied 
> with vowel changes as well.
> So I am wondering if there is ever a case where you have the exact 
> same letters and vowels, but different Dagesh configuration which will 
> have different meanings?
>
> To give an example of what I mean:
> B.:R")$IYT
> B:R")$IYT
> Different Dagesh configuration - same meaning.
>
> At anytime will the result ever be a change of 
> form/voice/meaning/translation/etc?
> Or will it the only difference being made is how the word is pronounced?
>
> So basically, for the purpose of translation, are the Dagesh useless?
> Could I remove all the Dagesh from the Bible and have it cause no 
> effect whatsoever on how it is translated?
>
> I apologize in for the redundancy of my questioning, but I just want 
> to make sure my question is clear.
>
> Thanks in advance.