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  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Re: masoretes (Matres Lectionis)
  • Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 02:24:37 -0600

Chris asks:
> So how do the analysts know
> that these four consonants were then later inserted
> to be used as vowels?

Since they are now used (quite prolifically) in Modern Hebrew to represent the location of certain vowels, it could be stated that certainly it was "later inserted to be used as vowels". Not trying to be an arse, just covering one end of the givens as part of explanation.
On the other end (the more ancient end), Phoenician and other Semitic languages started out not using matres lectionis (essentially, not literally, consonants used to represent the place for vowels), including early Hebrew. But as the first millennium BCE progressed, they became more prolifically used. First, they were used for dipthongs (<aw>, <ay> etc) and for terminal (end of word) vowels, but transitioned to also being used for long vowels (and occasionally where a confusion of vowels was desired to not exist). There was no clear-cut divide between not-using and using, but a long, gradual transition at different paces among different regions and different Semitic languages (Hebrew used it more broadly and quicker than Phoenician, for example).

--
Ratson Naharädama




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