Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Steve Miller" <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>]

In Ps 22:17, if the correct reading is karu according to the 2 DSS witnesses
+ LXX, then is it possible to explain the extra aleph in the MT as a
"prosthetic aleph"?

 

The Pocket Dictionary for the Study of Biblical Hebrew by Todd J. Murphy
defines a prosthesis as 

"The addition of a phoneme (usually a vowel) in BH and the Semitic languages
to a word-initial consonant cluster in order to smooth pronunciation, which
by itself tends to run contrary to the regular rules of Semitic
pronunciation (e.g., BH zroa, "arm", becomes ezroa or zeroa). Prosthetic
vowels compensate for a consonant cluster at the beginning of a word, and
anaptyctic vowels compensate for consonant clusters at the end of a word.
See also prosthetic aleph."

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=SMO30y-G2HMC
<http://books.google.com/books?id=SMO30y-G2HMC&pg=PA139&lpg=PA139&dq=aleph+p
rosthetic&source=bl&ots=77khGVGxWE&sig=reXXZpckymtD0pEfJfO2q5uVYQY&hl=en&ei=
M7oZS5mBOoGuNvH_lN0C&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#
v=onepage&q=aleph%20prosthetic&f=false>
&pg=PA139&lpg=PA139&dq=aleph+prosthetic&source=bl&ots=77khGVGxWE&sig=reXXZpc
kymtD0pEfJfO2q5uVYQY&hl=en&ei=M7oZS5mBOoGuNvH_lN0C&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=re
sult&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=aleph%20prosthetic&f=false) 

 

Would the words surrounding kari in Ps 22:17 in MT qualify as a "consonant
cluster"?

 

Thank you.

 

Sincerely,

-Steve Miller

www.voiceInWilderness.info

All of the fat upon the earth,
they shall bow down before Him,
all that descend to dust.
And there's none can keep alive
None can save his own soul life.
All must in the Lord's work trust.. (Psalm 22:29)