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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Dagesh
  • Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 04:57:55 +0200

Jim,

Since you are the only Hurrian expert on this list, we will all have to take
your word for it.

Yigal Levin

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of JimStinehart AT aol.com
Sent: Monday, October 25, 2010 4:20 PM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] Dagesh


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
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