That explanation doesn't sit well with me, since the sere vowel is reducible,
and under normal conditions, it would be the first sere in חֵרֵשׁ that gets
reduced. Why does the first remain, and the second get reduced?
Do you happen to have a reference to which you could direct me?
GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au
This is not a morphological "oddity"; this is the usual plural form of words
like "heresh". For instance, of "qereaH", bald (Lv 13:40).
The form with hatef patah in the first syllable and tsere in the second one
is ONLY for adjective "aher", other (look at Gn 23:13) and for words having
(in the singular absolute) qamats in their first syllable plus tsere in their
second one and whose first root consonant is guttural: haber, friend (Jd
20:11), arel, uncircumcised (Jr 9:25), ayef, tired (Jd 8:4)