Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com>]

Uri,
remark: the pointing under the article 'he" is usually a 'patah'. But also a
'qamats' (as in 'hahag', the feast, 1K 8:65) and 'segol' (as in 'he(awon',
the iniquity, 1S 25:24) are found.

Hearty,

Pere Porta



On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 7:05 PM, Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com> wrote:

>   As mentioned, there is different pointing under the 'he'.
>
>   Under the interrogative 'he' is a 'hataf patah' as in the examples noted
> in Genesis 4:7 or Job 10 etc.
>
>   The pointing under the article 'he' is a 'patah'.
>
>   Historically before the consonantal text of the Hebrew Bible was written
> down, the proto-Semitic article must have had two letters in Hebrew just as
> the Arabic retains two letters in the article to the present day.
> Eventually, the second letter of the article assimilated with the first
> letter of the noun which it modified. A trace of this assimilation was
> preserved in the pronounciation still heard by the Masoretes and thus the
> 'dagesh' in the letter following the 'he'. Of course, if the first letter of
> the Hebrew word is a gutteral different pronounciation occurs.
>
>   It is of interest that the exact same process exists in Arabic to this
> day when the two letters of the article proceed certain letters of the
> alphabet.
>
>                    Uri Hurwitz
>                    Great Neck, New York
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Pere Porta
"Ei nekrói ouk eguéirontai, fágomen kai píomen áurion gar apothnéskomen"
(1Cor 15:32)