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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] dagesh in two root nouns with patah

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  • From: K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
  • To: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] dagesh in two root nouns with patah
  • Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:28:27 -0800

George:

On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 12:58 AM, George Athas
<George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>wrote:

> The noun אף is a geminate noun, which basically means that it consists of:
> consonant – vowel – double consonant. However, one of the basic rules of
> Hebrew is that it cannot begin or end a word with a doubled consonant. So in
> its absolute state, you don’t notice its doubled second consonant because
> the dagesh forte cannot be placed. However, as soon as you add anything to
> the noun, like a plural ending or pronominal suffix, the doubled consonant
> is no longer the last item in the word, and so the doubling reappears with a
> dagesh forte.
>
> There are many such nouns in Hebrew: אף, חץ, עם, גן, אשׁ, חק, to name but a
> few.
>
> (Isaac, this is time for you to chime in with a statement about how there’s
> no such thing as doubling.)
>
>
> GEORGE ATHAS
> Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
> www.moore.edu.au
>

I would argue that the doubling by use of the dagesh is a post-Biblical
practice. Before the Babylonian Exile, there were no BGD-KPT softening of
consonants, so any doubling would have to be explicit, rather than implicit
using a dot.

Now when we explicitly double the ending consonant in the examples above,
almost all show very different meanings, making the claimed doubling very
questionable at best.

Karl W. Randolph.




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