I have not at hand now facsimiles of the L and Aleppo manuscripts, but I am nearly sure that the editors of the BHS just copied a distinction that already is in the manuscript.Thank you for these important details. It is clear to me now that this distinction has been significant for many centuries. In fact I suspect that the innovation is not making the distinction, and that may be quite recent, although it at least as old as Davidson's analytical lexicon, of which I have a facsimile edition from 1850 in which there is no distinction.
I have checked the facsimiles of the following manuscripts and editions that I have at hand and all of them differentiate clearly betwen holam + vav mater lectionis and vav consonant + holam:
Gottweig (Austria), Stiftsbibliothek, ms. 10 and 11 (883), XIV or XV century (Pentateuch + Prophtets, square Ashkenazic script)
Second Rabbinic Bible (Venice 1524-1525), by Jacob ben Hayyim.
Biblia Polyglotta Complutensis (Alcalá de Henares, 1514-1517)
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Pere Casanellas
E-mail: pere.casanellas AT btlink.net
pcasanel AT pie.xtec.es
http://www.pere.casanellas.com/bible
Barcelona
CATALONIA (Spain)
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