Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

What is a "long vowel"?

Isaac Fried
Boston University

On Jul 1, 2009, at 8:05 PM, Randall Buth wrote:

> > Dear people,
> >
> > 1) In verse three we have the word אֶת-חֲמֹרוֹ. Why does  
> > the waw-cholem
> > gets replaced with a cholem?
>
> Spelling in the First Temple had a tendency to only use one long  
> vowel marking
> with a vav, yud, or he. When Hamor 'donkey' is alone it can take a  
> holem-vav,
> but when it has a suffix, they tended to write the suffix and then  
> they didn't
> write any more vowels with helping consonants.
>
>
> > 2) In verse 5 of Genesis 22 we have the cohortatives נֵלְכָה  
> > and
> > וְנָשׁוּבָה. I am not sure if  
> > וְנִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה is one, it has a segol, but it
> > is surrounded by other cohortatives. Who can clarify this?
>
> Yes, lamed-yud verbs do not mark the volitional -a ending, so in
> context the verb ve-nishtaHave is volitional/cohortative
>
>
> > I have Joüon/Muraoka (English version) and J.M. Lettinga (Dutch  
> > grammar),
> > so you can reference those if you want.
> >
> > Kind regards,
> >
> > Michiel Borkent
>
>
> --
> Randall Buth, PhD
> www.biblicalulpan.org
> randallbuth AT gmail.com
> Biblical Language Center
> Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
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