Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Kevin Riley <klriley AT alphalink.com.au>]

What does a 'vanishing yod' have to do with the presence of an aleph?  I 
don't see why the occasional loss of a Y leads you to assume the aleph 
must therefore be a vowel.  And why would Hebrew represent any vowel by 
(Y?  Is there any evidence at all that Biblical Hebrew ever represented 
vowels with digraphs?

Kevin Riley

On 10/05/2011 10:34 AM, jimstinehart AT aol.com wrote:
> Kevin Riley:
> You wrote:“You might notice, just in passing, that all the Semitic 
> languages except Akkadian start words with a consonant.Therefore only 
> Akkadian has an initial A.Does that not suggest, especially when you 
> take into account everything known about Akkadian, that perhaps there 
> was no initial 'true vowel A', but in fact an ) ?”
> That seems to make sense, but if you are right about that, then how do 
> you explain the “vanishing yod” phenomenon?I had tentatively thought 
> that perhaps a true vowel A could be represented in Hebrew 
> alternatively by )Y or just ).But if you’re saying that the aleph we 
> see in these words is a true consonantal aleph, then how do you 
> explain the fact that most of these words, although their full form 
> begins )YL, can alternatively be spelled in shortened form beginning 
> with )L?That’s what I’m struggling with.HALOT gives at least 7 
> examples of that widespread phenomenon regarding these words:
> (1)p. 48:“I )L > I )YL ram, tyrant”
> (2)p. 48:“II )L > II )YL big tree”
> (3)p. 48:“III )L > III )YL pillar”
> (4)p. 51:)LH is a “unitary noun from II )YL”
> (5)p. 54:Regarding )LWN at Judges 4: 11, “MSS )YLWN”.That is to say, 
> many manuscripts have an interior yod, though the Masoretic text does not.
> (6)p. 40:The words for both “ram” and “deer” (or “stag”) in Hebrew are 
> )YL.But the Ugaritic cognate for “ram” is il, with no yod whatsoever, 
> whereas the Ugaritic cognate for “deer” is ’yl, with a yod, and in 
> Syriac “deer” is ’iyyala, with a consonantal yod.
> (7)p. 41:)WLM vs. )LM vs. )LM:“orthography varies”.
> Why does that interior yod seem to be optional in so many of these 
> cases?My main problem is not so much with the initial aleph, but 
> rather is how to explain the “vanishing yod” in so many of these words.
> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
>