Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

  Randal is right.

  While no reconstruction of Iron Age pronounciation
  is unquestionable, in this instance the final
  long O of the F. plural may indeed be pre-exilic.

  There is evidence of a change from an early long A
  to a long O in what became biblical Hebrew. An example:
  "Tsan" (Ts = Tsadi) became "Tson", i.e. flocks of sheep
  or goats in BH. In both cases the vowel is long.
 
   Also, Cf. the plural "Barakat", where last vowel is
   long in Arabic.

   Kol Tuv,

  Uri Hurwitz                  Wilmington, VT
  






  > b(e)rakot [not ever berakawote !]
> Randall
>

Because of the dropped unstressed vowels and changes over the centuries, we
don‘t know what was the pronunciation of ברכות. But we know it was not
‘b(e)rakot’.

ברכות

Karl W. Randolph.