Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

In connection with the ET question, I will reiterate my conjecture  
that the three-point segol niqud (which is a Tiberian invention,  
absent in the Babylonian punctuation system) is but a notational  
compromise between the two-point cere (schwa?) and the one-point xiriq.
This explains the presence of the dagesh in such words as E$KAR  
אֶשְׁכָּרֵךְ of Ez. 27:15, punctuated with a segol under  
the aleph in our books, but with a xiriq in the Babylonian system.
Also, of ECAQ and ECOK of Is. 44:3, where the segol seems to mean  
that the suggested reading is E, but that the "original" reading was  
I, with a xirik, and hence the dagesh in the letter C.

Isaac Fried, Boston University