Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <davidlwashburn AT gmail.com>]

I wasn't aware that matres lectionis made a script syllabic rather
than alphabetic. That wasn't the point of the discussion.

On Sun, Jul 15, 2012 at 8:41 PM, Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il> wrote:
> And your Arabic, which makes liberal use of matres lectionis.
>
> Yigal Levin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Uri Hurwitz
> Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 1:41 AM
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [b-hebrew] historical question with linguistic import
>
>
>     Check your Ugaritic
>
>     Uri Hurwitz
>
>
>
>    > ... There are lots of other languages whose written representations
> only cover the consonants. Arabic comes to mind, as well as Ugaritic.
> ....
>
>
> Dave Washburn <
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 14, 2012 at 2:30 PM, K Randolph <kwrandolph at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Thank you, Dave:
>
>> I see what you mean. If it were a complete syllabary, it would have a
>> different symbol for each of the consonant - vowel pairs. Just like
>> Hiragana in Japanese. As it is, it is an incomplete syllabary, listing
>> only the initial consonants.
>
> Exactly. I suspect that ancient Hebrew had more than 22 C-V sounds.
>
>> Similarly, if it were an alphabet, it would list all the sounds,
>> including the vowels. But as the vowels were added as an afterthought,
>> a thousand years after Hebrew ceased to be used in daily life, it
>> could not be called an alphabet as well. At best maybe an incomplete
> alphabet.
>
> I'm not so sure about this. There are lots of other languages whose written
> representations only cover the consonants. Arabic comes to mind, as well as
> Ugaritic.
>
>> Of the two possibilities, an incomplete syllabary appears more and
>> more likely to have been the case. And with Thutmosis III identified
>> as Shishak, that would include the Hebrew spoken up to the time of the
> Babylonian Exile.
>
> I don't really have an opinion on this. My goal was just to answer the
> question about vowels etc. :)
>
>
> --
> Dave Washburn
>
> Check out my Internet show: http://www.irvingsplace.us
>
> Now available: a novel about King Josiah!
>
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-- 
Dave Washburn

Check out my Internet show: http://www.irvingsplace.us

Now available: a novel about King Josiah!