To: "Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>, "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Age of consonantal text, vocalization, and cantillation
Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:37:58 -0400
Yitzhak Sapir wrote:
> I
> am not sure how you go about deciding that the vocalization
> tradition is somehow not as earlier as the consonantal text.
I would think such things as perpetual Qere, the vocalization of the
Tetragrammaton, and the vocalization of Qal Passives as Puals would indicate
the vowel points are not as ancient as the consonantal text. My work with
Qumran texts has increased my confidence in the antiquity of the consonants
of the MT and decreased my confidence in the antiquity of the vowels.