Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Methinks that:

1. There is no such thing as a kamatz "katan" and a kamatz "gadol". If you (not personally) prefer to pronounce a certain kamatz AOUEI and wish to call it a kamatz beynoni you (not personally) have my permission to do it.

2. The dagesh is a vestige of a pre-NIKUD reading prop which became obsolete upon the introduction of the punctuation. Its only purpose now is to bedevil the Hebrew language with bizarre rules (courtesy of the Hebrew "Academy") on reading the BKP letters. 

3. In Nu. 23:27 it is W-QAB-OTO with a dagesh in the letter B following a patax, as expected. In Nu. 22.7 it is QABAH with no dagesh in the letter B, following a kamatz, as expected. In Nu. 23:25 it is TI-QAB-ENU with a dagesh in the letter Q, following a xiriq, as expected.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Sep 19, 2012, at 3:18 PM, Yodan wrote:

If it’s a real dot, it’s an interesting situation because this is a “strange” word that may be more properly KOBAH (with a Kamatz Katan) than KAVAH. (Yes, I know that the Masoretes used the same vowel sound for each Kamatz and that the classification into K Gadol and K Katan are later…).