Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

1. It should be on their website, or in their pamphlet on the KTIYB  
XASAR HANIYKUD. Where exactly I don't know since I never go there,  
but I have it from absolutely reliably sources. They also "mandate"  
$ERUT, 'service', to be spelled $YRUT with a yod. The end result of  
all this will be that people will start to pronounce these words with  
a xireq: HIYRAYON, $IYRUT.
2. All these "proposals" are mere silly games; it will never happen.
3. The moot (actually the mute), or Talmudic, question is this: There  
is a dagesh in the letter M of IMA, 'mother', implying, according to  
the prevailing wisdom, that this consonant should be "doubled". But,  
the addition of a yod to bring to the spelling IYMA removes the need  
for this dagesh. So, is it IMMA, but only IYMA, or what?

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Apr 18, 2011, at 7:21 AM, Pere Porta wrote:

> 1. Can you, Isaac, provide the exact place of the rule of the  
> Academy stating that "herayon"  (Rt 4:13) has to be written  
> "HYRAYON" (namely with included yod) in the hasar haniqud?
>
> 2. Remark that the proposal of a reform of the Hebrew script came  
> from a member of a quite "orthodox" institution, the Academy of the  
> Hebrew Language.
>
> Regards,
>
> Pere Porta
>
>
>
>
> 2011/4/18 Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
>
> Yes! In Rt 1:7 IMAH has a dagesh in the M instead of a yod. In Rt  
> 1:18 ITAH has a dagesh in the T instead of a yod. In 1Sm 1:13 LIBH  
> has a dagesh in the B instead of a yod.
> I find the spelling אימא with a yod not only offensive, but also  
> an insult to the human intelligence.
> The occasional "debates" within the Israeli society about reforming  
> the Hebrew script are exercises in futility; orthodoxy will never  
> allow it.
> There is this interesting instance of the spelling of HERAYON,  
> 'pregnency', that the Hebrew "Academy" "mandates" should be written  
> HYRAYON with a yod, an "edict" routinely spurned by the public.
>
> Isaac Fried, Boston University