OK, so now I'm just bothering you with silly questions - what is "a mater lectionis"?Basically, it is a Hebrew letter which represents a vowel, rather than a consonant, in an unpointed text. The name means "mother of reading", and there is an equivalent Hebrew term which I forget. The letters used as matres lectionis are yod representing an "i" or "e" vowel, vav for "u" or "o"; also he for "e", "a" or "o" but only at the end of a word. In post-biblical Hebrew alef is also used for "a".
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