The Masoretes, I believe, wrote a chanting guide for liturgy rather
than grammar. The concept of grammar was largely unknown then. So they
wrote together what is sung together. Naturally, an open-syllable
particle became concatenated to the next world.
Vadim Cherny
James Christian wrote:
What did they perceive as
'words'? Why did they write wayiqtol and not wa yiqtol?