Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

On another thread, Kenneth Greifer humorously wrote:  “I have been on 
B-Hebrew for a few years, and I know that you can never fail if you discuss 
dageshes and schwas. You should see how excited they get if someone asks why 
a 
dagesh is someplace….  Be careful about asking too many questions about 
dageshes because you don't want to overexcite some of the older B-Hebrew 
members.”
 
But all kidding aside, did the Hebrew dagesh concept originate from 
Hurrian?   
 
In Hurrian, Hebrew and Aramaic, and perhaps in no other languages, B and P 
soften when between vowels, except when doubled.  Did the Hebrew dagesh, 
which prevents such softening by doubling B or P, come from Hurrian, which 
has 
the same written phenomenon as to P?  That is the tentative suggestion at 
pp. 56-57 of Frederic William Bush, “A Grammar of the Hurrian Language” 
(1964) [where I will use <<…>> for the two footnotes, and anything in 
brackets 
represents my own comments]:
 
 “Hurrian did not tolerate doubled voiced stops [e.g., B] but only doubled 
voiceless stops [e.g., P]….  Now, the fact that the three fricatives of 
Hurrian (the labial [B and P], the dental and the velar) exhibit this exact 
same 
pattern is suggestive.  …This pattern of non-phonemic, inter-vocalic 
[between vowels] spirantization [softening, where B is pronounced V in 
Hebrew, and 
P is pronounced PH in Hurrian and Hebrew] which is lost when the consonants 
are doubled immediately brings to mind the very similar pattern of the 
Hebrew stops.  <<FN 59  The so-called begadkephat letters.  This is a feature 
of 
Aramaic as well.  Here [in Hurrian] it occurs in post-vocalic position 
also.>>  This is a pattern that is unique among the Semitic languages, and 
hence 
it seems likely that it is due to some exterior influence.  Perhaps this 
development is due to the influence of Hurrian during the formative period of 
the Aramaic and Canaanite dialects during the latter half of the second 
millennium.  <<FN 60:  It must be noted that the Hebrews [but Jim says:  No 
way! 
 The Hebrews’ experience with the Hurrians was in Canaan in the 14th 
century BCE] and the Arameans originated in just those areas of North Syrian 
and 
North-west Mesopotamia where Hurrian penetration was particularly strong.  
Although direct evidence is lacking, the close association of the Hurrians 
with other Semitic groups as at Nuzi and Alalah renders a similar 
relationship 
between the Hurrians and the ancestors of the Arameans and Canaanites 
entirely within the realm of possibility.>>   …This remains, however, the 
most 
tentative of suggestions.” 
 
Is this fundamental Hebrew grammar feature of doubling a P [i.e., using a 
dagesh] in writing to indicate the rare situation where P, even though 
surrounded by vowels, does not soften to PH, coming from Hurrian?  Apparently 
Hebrew and Aramaic are the only Semitic languages that have this Hurrian-type 
feature.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois