Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

   The Mapiq in some final 'He' letters in the Heb. bible indicates that 
these are a fully pronounced consonants .  
   This can be concluded from  Arabic forms such as "beha". Notice the  
vowelled ...ha. The final vowell Alif ( = Aleph ) is the marker of all 3.f.s. 
pronominal suffixes in Arabic.
   This can further be observed in the the qamatz under the 'He' in all 
3.f.plural Heb. declensions : e.g..   "dodeyha" "suseyha" .  

   Since the Massoretes marked such forms with a Mapiq, they heard in their 
time the distinction in pronounciation between the regular 'He' at the end of 
a word, say, "Na(arah" (girl), and - on the other hand -  "Lah(.)" (to her). 
   
   Uri Hurwitz                          Wilmington VT


 

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Hi Berel,

On Mon, 18 Jun 2012 11:35:30 -0400, Berel Beyer <berelbeyer at gmail.com> 
wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I wonder if I could impose upon you for help pointing me in the right
> direction.  I understand that there are people who claim that the
> masoretes intended the mappiq he to be an orthographic distinction
> rather than one of actual pronunciation.  Can anyone point me to an
> article (for a non-expert like myself) that summarizes the argument?

I have seen that claim also, but have never seen any evidence to back
it up.  Until I see such, I think the most natural course is to take
the mappiq at face value, and take it to indicate a pronounced [h] at
the end of a word.

-- 
William Parsons
μη φαινεσθαι, αλλ' ειναι.