Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Methinks that when the NAKDANIM removed this ancient, initial dagesh  
(as the writing techniques improved and it became superfluous ) they  
left it only where it mattered. There are punctuated Hebrew books  
nowadays, for instance the Oxford Hebrew-English dictionary, without  
any dgeshim, except in ב כ פ .

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Apr 4, 2010, at 9:57 AM, AMK Judaica wrote:

> "4. The dagesh in an initial בגדכפת letter is a vestige of a dot  
> that used to mark the beginning of a word."
>
> why only these letters?
>
> kol tuv,
> ari kinsberg
> brooklyn, new york
>
> > CC: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > From: if AT math.bu.edu
> > Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2010 19:55:15 -0400
> > To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > Subject: [b-hebrew] dagesh forte and dagesh lene
> >
> >
> > Here are some of my thoughts on the Hebrew dagesh:
> >
> > 1. The dagesh "forte" appears after patax, xirik, qubuc, (segol). In
> > my opinion, it preceded the NIKUD, and served to provide hints as to
> > the proper reading of the consonantal text. It has nothing to do  
> with
> > "gemination".
> > Examples:
> >
> > אַקּוֹ, גִּבֵּן, חֻפָּה
> >
> > 2. The dagesh forte is not placed in the letters אהחרע nor in a
> > letter marked by Schwa. in the latter case it is transported forward
> > to become the dagesh lene.
> >
> > 3. Because it is otherwise redundant, the moved dagesh is kept only
> > in the influenced בגדכפת letters.
> > Examples:
> >
> > אַמְתַּחַת, אֶצְבַּע, גִּזְבָּר,
> > עֻלְפֶּה, שָלַחְתְּ
> >
> > Counter examples:
> >
> > רִכְבוּ, מִקְּדָשׁ, עִנְּבֵי,
> > יָשְפֶה, צָרְפַת, קָרְבָּן, קִרְבָה
> >
> > 4. The dagesh in an initial בגדכפת letter is a vestige of a dot
> > that used to mark the beginning of a word.
> >
> > Isaac Fried, Boston University
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