i j!t mm liP,:i:n if ' ^ 'a/ ,^ 2*e.y .a^U^^^ /a^>^^ ^^m*i^ E6war6 Mailer dlagpole ^Zti^tJ^tm/^ ^^> GIFT or Pm^.E^/tlKAT3, differ in length from each other. But, in neither of these cases does he present the Learner with any thing beyond ingenious theory, of which no possible use can be made ; and, in the last, he has no means of knowing whether his statement be true or not. I am sorry to dissent from authorities so respectable; the desire to advance the truth is my only reason for doing so. PREFACE. VU for all the varieties found to affect the forms of words by the accidence of Grammar. The new names proposed by me were. Perfect^ and Imperfect^ Votoels : not because one Vowel was, as such, more perfect than another : but because the one class had, when preceded by a consonant, the property of constitutmg a complete, or ptrfect, syllable in Hebrew orthography : the other, that of forming syllables, which were incomplete, or imperfect (see the Gram., Artt 29. 3*2. 33. seq.) ; and which, therefore, required either the addition of a subsequent consonant, or else of an accent, to terminate them. By this means the Learner is enabled to see at once, where every syllable ends ; and consequently, where any subsequent one, contained in the same word, ought to begin (see Gram., Artt. 67. 68.) ; and, in the same way, whether a Vowel ought to be of the Perfect, or Imperfect, class upon any increment, either syllabic or asylhbic, being attached to a word by the accidence of Grammar (see Gram., Artt. 92 102.); and, indeed, to see the entire groundwork, on which the whole of the changes of the Vowels rests. I was myself most agreeably surprised when I found this to be the case. I was astonished to find, that the system which had hitherto appeared to be the most intricate, irregular, and difficult imaginable, was as easy, regular, and obvious, as was perhaps discoverable in any language under the sun. It is true a few anomalies are visible in it, as occasionally noticed in the Grammar; but this cannot be surprising in a language so very ancient as that of the Hebrew Bible is, and upon which so very little attention has been bestowed : but, when we compare these with what is found in most other languages? and in the English in particular, we cannot but be compelled to confess that they are as nothing. Under this system all syllables, in the Hebrew, are what the Latin and Greek Grammarians would term long : i. e. whether we take such syllable as bd, bad, Heb. S, WS, n2, or "TS3; with what I have termed Perfect vowels ; or, as bad, bed, Heb., 12, 1^, &c., or i?, bd ; i. e. each having an Imperfect vowel, and teraiinating either in a consonant, or else with an accent without a consonant. In every case the syllable will be long : and, so far, Vlll PREFACE. every syllable in any word, equal to one another. The syllable on which either a Tone-accent^ or Euphonic-accent, rested, or which involved a quiescent letter, &c., might indeed, when the language was vernacular, have had a greater length of time allowed for its enunciation than any other in a given word.* But, of this we now know nothing ; and, from the nature of the case, can know nothing. But this is of no importance. All we want now to know is, how to understand with accuracy and precision, the manner in which words have been derived and varied ; and thence the force of the declarations of the Sacred writers. And, for this, I think enough has been placed within our power. The Learner cannot do better, in the first place, than to make himself familiar with this system of syllabication; which he will find sufficiently unfolded in our first, and second, Lectures. The next thing to which my attention was turned was, the Analogy, by which the defects visible in Hebrew words appeared to have arisen : a subject entirely untouched, as far as my know- ledge goes, by any Grammarian either Jewish or Christian up to the time in which this work first appeared in 1827. In Mr. Ewald's Grammar, indeed, which appeared in the same year, the same thing was done; but in a manner (according to its Re- viewer, Mr. de Sacy),f not very well adapted to the use of begin- ners. This the Reader will find, from Art. 72. to Art. 77. of the present work, as to the Consonants; and from Art 86. to Art. 87. 6. as to the Vowels. It will be seen that, by the operation of these laws, which * In all cases, therefore, the syllables in Hebrew are to be accounted long, whether involving ^er/ec^, or imperfect Vowels; as, |, ^|, ^^Ij C^I^; \, ''S> ?,^) &c. Neither the Shevd, simple or compound (Gram., Art. 40. seq.), nor the Furtive Pdthakh (Art. 45.), is ever allowed to constitute a syllable. What the different lengths of such (long) syllables were, when the Hebrew was a living language, it is as impossible as it is useless now to ascertain. Nor can the purity, or impurity, of the Vowel sounds be turned to any good account whatsover. Some of the Grammars published in England since the appearance of mine in 1827, have adopted this method of viewing the Vowels, without, however, acknowledging the source from which it was taken. t Journal des S^avans, December, 1828. PREFACE. IX owe their origin entirely to euphony, every defective form of word in the Hebrew may be satisfactorily accounted for ; that all such defects^ governed as they thus are, are regular and constant : and, therefore, that they present to the Learner any thing but the difficulties which had hitherto been supposed: that, not only every defective noun and particle may now be reduced to some one measure or other of the term, "^pO; (taken as a mere measure of words: see Gram., Art. 146. 8. seq.) but also, every defective verb, to that of the regular triliteral one : the Learner having been apprised where, and why, every possible defect can, and does, arise. This the Reader will find discussed and reduced to practice under the various forms of the nouns segolate and otherwise, as well as under those of the different sorts of defective verbs.* By this, much time and perplexity have been spared to the Learner : and, unless I am greatly mistaken, the character of the Hebrew language has been vindicated from that mass of unsightly, and almost tmconquerable disorder and difficulty, into which the Grammarians had un- happily thrown it. The next question which engaged my best attention was, that of the laws by which the Tenses of the Hebrew Verbs ivere governed. And, I think I may affirm, that in this I succeeded. The results at which I arrived, are those given in the seventeenth Lecture of the present Work ; and which appeared to me fully and easily to meet every case occurring in the Hebrew Bible. When I had thus far completed my system, I had recourse to the Arabic Grammars, and Commentaries written on them, by native Grammarians of the East ; and was most agreeably surprised to find that my conclusions were those, at which they had arrived long before me. Extracts from these Writers will be found in their proper places, on every particular essential to this question : and which, I think, cannot but afford proof sufficient against Gram., Artt. 148 198. seq. Mr. Nicholson speaks of the Grammar of Ewald (preface, pp. xiv. xv.), as if no other exhibited the forms of nouns, with the variations of the Vowels, analytically. See my Gram., Art. 148. 4. &c. X PREFACE. every thing short of long-standing and inveterate prejudice, that, in this respect, I have had the good fortune to have fully succeeded. Under this system we have two Tenses, a Preterite^ and a Present^ just what we have in the English, the German, the Persian, and many other languages.* This Preterite is (gram- matically) taken universally as a Preterite : but is applied also as a Future in strong -prophetical and imperative declarations ; intending thereby, according to Arabian usage, to intimate the highest degree of certainty or necessity, respectively, that such thing shall be, or ought to be done. This, indeed, had long ago been seen by Grammarians and Commentators. The other Tense which I have termed the Present Tense, was, after the Jewish Grammarians, termed the Future, But, as it was occasionally found to designate the Past Tense; and, in this case, was often preceded by the particle 1; i. e. Vaiv with Pdthakh, it was con- jectured, and then laid down as a law, that this particle had the absolute poioer of converting this Tense into a Preterite : whence it received the honourable appellation of " Vaw conversivum" Heb., tl^Snn 1J. Of the many instances occurring, which militated directly against this doctrine, no account was made ; f some even affirming, that these, as exceptions, afforded ample proof of the truth of the rule ! * E. g. Love, pres. and Loved, pret. are the two English Tenses. All the rest are made by auxiliaries : as, fut. / ivill love ; i. e. I will to do so ; imply- ing not expressing a futurity in the action named. So the German, Ich lobe (praise) pres : Lch werde lohen, fut. implying, as before, not expressing by any particular grammatical form, the futurity of action intended. So the Persic, Ci^ , pret. did. '^y *^^^ , L desire, (to) do, fut. The Latin and Greek futures are, apparently, made in a similar way. f It has appeared doubtful to me, whether the best Grammarians among the Jews ever held this doctrine. All they seem to have taught was, that, as this conjunction usually connected what was in reality a present tense, with the past action of some other verb, or narrative, it had the effect of making this present tense contemporaneous with such action, and thus relatively, not ahso- liitely, changing its tense. See Gram., Art. 231. 10.; 233. 5. with the notes, and my Hebrew Lexicon, under the letter i, pp. 1G3. 4., with the notes. PREFACE. XI It was well known, moreover, that this Future tense^ as it was called had occasionally the force of a Present It was therefore found in all the three tenses, Past, Present, and Future, Various expedients were had recourse to, for the purpose of accounting for this: and among these, those adopted by Koolhaas,* and after him by Schrcederus,f and thence, slightly varied by some others, were certainly the most successful ; but still, they all fell short of the truth. The system adopted by me, and shown to be that of the Grammarians of Arabia, makes this a Present Tense, Present, in the first instance, to the time in which any declaration is made or committed to writing : in the second, to any time or event, introduced into the context ; and in this last case, it is identical with what has usually been termed among ourselves, the historical Tense,% * Willi. Koolhaas Dissertt. Gram. Sacrae, quibus analogia temporum et modorum Heb. Ling, investigatur, &c. Amstel. 1 748. f Institutiones ad Fundamenta Linguae Hebraeae. X Mr. Ewald tells us (p. 135 Heb. Gram., Nicholson's Translation), that " the names preterite and future are inappropriate ; it appears most correct to call them perfect and imperfect.'' By the terms perfect and imperfect^ he further tells us, \\\a.\, finished^ and unfinished, are to be understood, as it respects the action of the verb. Which, however, will not hold ; for he himself tells us (p. 137), that the force of this imperfect (unfitiished action) " may be conceived " . ..." in an event that has simply happened, and is past." By which he must have meant, is finished. The fact is, these distinctions are both unnecessary and untrue here ; the preterite tense, not necessarily implying finished aciiony nor the present, unfinished. Mr. Ewald, however, is quite right when he makes this Tense (our present) equal to o. present or b, future, ]visi as the circumstances of the context may require, and as the mind of the writer, viewing things, in either j)ast, present, or future time, with reference to that in which he writes, conceives. This is just what the Grammarians of Arabia teach. If Mr. Ewald had kept simply to this point, and shown that the Tenses (preterite and present) are used both absolutely and relatively, and omitted every thing about finished and unfinished, imaginative, external spheres of thinking, &c. &c., I do not think his Grammar would, on this question, have differed at all from mine. Nor, in fact, does it essentially differ on this question, in Mr. Nicholson's trans- lation, although in Mr. Ewald's original work of 1 827 it does. How is this to be accounted for ? It is not improbable, I think, that Mr. Ewald might have ploughed a little with my heifer. I have been both amused and gratified in observing the progress of Mr. Ewald's mind on this subject. In his Grammar, as it Xll PREFACE. This will easily, and fully, account for the various usages of this Tense ; as it exhibits, in fact, nothing beyond the usages found to appeared in 1827, he treats the two Tenses as Aorists ( 277. seq.), and as capable of being used in the past, the present, or the future, time : very much as Jahn, Gesenius, and others, had done before him. He rejects the notion, however, of the ^' Faw conversivum," as adopted by Gesenius (ib. 284. pp. 538 9. seq.), and adopts that of its ha\'ing a Relative conversive power only. He tells us, moreover (ib. p. 529), that the Poets often use (what I term) the Present tense, as a present tense, in their more lively manner of exhibiting past things as present to the mind.* This was, indeed, making considerable progress towards the truth. Its only fault was, that it was defective, ascribing to the vivid imagination of the Poets only, as Mr. Ewald was pleased to style the Prophets, &c., what indeed was found to prevail in every other Writer of the Old Testament. In the Edition, however, of Mr. Ewald's Grammar of 1835, as translated by Mr. Nicholson, t the case is quite different. Mr. Ewald has here entirely rejected the doctrine about the Aorists ; and has adopted the whole doctrine respecting the Tenses, as published in my Grammar of 1827; and of this the following extracts will afford sufficient proof. In p. 135 we are told, that "The distinction of tense and mode is still very simple in Hebrew, since the full sense is rather contained in the vivid feeling of the speaker.'' Here, I remark, no exception is made in favour of "the Poets." It is added, "The conception of the time of an action is first twofold : it is either considered as already finished, done, and therefore as definite and certain, or, as not yet finished and done, as being done merely." These distinctions it is Mr. Ewald's object to apply to the Preterite, and Present tense, respectively. But they are ground- less, as Mr. Ewald himself has indirectly allowed a little lower down, where he tells us, that the force of such imperfect (i. e. unfinished action) " may be conceived ... in an event that has simply happened, and is past:" i. e. completed and finished. His rule, however, is more completely unfolded, as follows (ib. p. 137) : " But the imperfect may be used with .... propriety to denote a happening (the present) in the past, as soon as the thought is engaged in that sphere . . . and thus placing the hearer at once in the time in which it happe7ied: this the poets especially can do with great ease," &c. Again (p. 138), "Even with t?ie usual present time, the imperfect is always used to express this idea, and not the perfect, as, 1Q'., dicitur, dicunt : . . . but quite as often for the past, the idea of which arises from the connexion of the sentence only;" . . . also permitted for the future in the past, as, '^'), should have reigned, 2 Kings iii. 27. ... " The future may be prominent ... as something intended ... to be put in execution from the point of view of the speaker" . . . * Gesenius, too, appears to have got thus far, Conant's Translation, London, 1840, p. 113. t Whittaker and Co., London, 1836. PREFACE. Xlll prevail, to some extent, in perhaps all Languages, and certainly in the Arabic. It furnishes us with a key, moreover, to the expedient had recourse to by the Hebrews, as well as by the Arabs even now, by which every variety of Tense, necessary to the purposes of Language, could be formed : and all without calling in anything like a Conversive Vatv, or dealing out, as it was the case with Buxtorf and his followers, the never-ending doctrine, entitled, '^ Enallage Temporumr (See Gram., Lecture XVJL) The next thing to be done, and to which my attention was turned, was, to ascertain the use and powers of Apocope^ and the terminations said to be Paragogic and Epenthetic, as found as, "^NH, shall I go? &c in narration " of the past" (i. e. '^/^^^ of my Gram., p. 339 note, et seq.) Again in p. 166 seq., where Mr. Ewald discusses the subject of the " Faio consequutivum" Conversivum of others, the same doctrine is fully propounded : e. g., " On the one hand, the imagination sets out from what is distant and past, descends into the present, &c.; on the other, it sets out from what is near . . . mounts up into the distant reality, and cahuly anticipates their consequences as sure and certain." Excluding, therefore, Mr. Ewald's doctrine res^ecimg finished, and unfinished, which is perfectly ground- less, all the rest is neither more nor less than what had been detailed in my Grammar (Art. 231. 9 14, seq.), and there shown to be the doctrine of the Grammarians of Arabia ! How far Mr. Ewald may have availed himself of these resources it is not, perhaps, for me to say. I cannot help thinking, however, that if he has not actually availed himself of my discoveries, he certainly has succeeded in a marvellous degree in arriving at precisely the results that I had, and of which not a trace is to be found in his Grammar of 1827. In the preface to his " Hebr. Gramm. in vollstandiger Kiirze neu bearbeitet," published in 1828 (just one year after the appearance of mine), he says (Nicholson's Translation, pp. xi. xiii.), " I have always investigated it (i. e. the Hebrew Language) by means of itself, without knowing the opinions of former Grammarians ; ... it was necessarily indifferent to me, as to the results of my investigations, whether any fact had been observed before or not.'' I can hardly suppose Mr. Ewald not to have known in 1828, what my Grammar had put forth for the first time in 1827 : nor can I bring myself to believe, that it was a matter indifferent to him, as to the results of his investigation in this respect. The probability appears to me to make for the contrary conclusion in each case. At any rate, I cannot but rejoice in finding authority so respectable for my doctrine of the Hebrew Tenses, as that of Mr. Ewald. XIV PREFACE. aiFecting the verbs, and particularly, their Present Tenses. Some light on this subject had been discovered by Dr. Gesenius. Much, however, still remained to be done ; which, by the help of the Arabian Grammarians, I trust I have been fortunate enough to have effected. By this it will now be seen, which could not by the influence of the Accents, how the leading, and consequent, parts of hypothetical and other similar constructions are tied, as it were, and bound together : and thence, why these apocopated^ paragogic, and epenthetic forms, have in innumerable instances been adopted : cases, which up to this time could not be accounted for. By the former expedient we perceive, how every possible variety of Tense was obtained in the Hebrew : by this latter, how Subjunctive, Conditional, and Optative, constructions and expressions were : the want of which, ignorance had charged upon this Language as a grievous defect ! This insight into the principles which regulate the use of the Tenses, and, in some degree, of the modes of the Verbs, has likewise this further advantage, that it enables us to see the exact position in which the Sacred Writers placed themselves, when committing to writing any given portion of Holy Writ; and, consequently, it affords means of ascertaining their intentions, not otherwise available. In detailing the various forms of the nouns, I have endeavoured to trace them from the simplest, to the most largely augmented forms ; and to account for their shades of meaning, as couched under these forms, in the most easy and natural way I could : calling in, at the same time, such assistance from the Sister dialects, as appeared useful to the Student, and referring to such other Treatises on this subject as appeared most worthy of notice; particularly the Onomastica of Simonis and Hiller. Having so far laid down, and accounted for, the forms and peculiarities of force exhibited in the nouns; I deemed it the most natural way of proceeding, to consider these as the ground- forms assumed in the various inflexions of the Verbs. Verbs, in the state of conjugation, are certainly compound terms, involving the Syntax of the Language to some extent They cannot, therefore, be fairly considered as containing, in their own right, PREFACE. XV any claim to originality, as it respects the derivation of this Language. I have, therefore, considered them as compound forms ; and these I have endeavoured to deduce from the Nouns by the process either of reduplication, or addition, as found to prevail in the nouns of Language generally. By these means, I think, I have ascertained the precise force of what are termed the Passive conjugations ; which I have endeavoured to establish by an appeal to Oriental usage, and the nature of the Context. (See Gram. Artt 157. 12. 13. seq.; lb. 18. 19. seq.) In con- sidering the Forms, too, I cannot help believing, I arrived at a most important result, grounded on the usage of the Arabians, by which the true force of such passages as, " God hardened the hearty made it fat^ closed the eyes^ ears, 8^c.^^ has been ascer- tained. (Gram., Artt. 154. 7 9; 157.27.) In laying down the Syntax generally, I have endeavoured to ascertain what the nature of each particular case demanded, as in the construction of Propositions ; the requirement of words, as depending on one another, whether under the names of Nouns, Verbs, or Particles : and then to confirm the rules so given by citations from the Native Grammarians of Arabia : endeavour- ing, in this way, to propose Oriental usage alone for the adoption of the Student, and showing how this comported with the nature of each individual case. Such a method of investigation, I have thought, could not but be both safe and interesting. But the greatest advantage held out is this : To accustom the mind of the Learner to inquiry, in the very first stages of his progress in this important line of Literature ; and thence to remove, as far as possible, from authority often merely conjectural and false, the first principles of interpretation applied to the Sacred Text of the Old Testament, and to place these on the only foundation that can safely be relied on, viz., that of the nature of things^ considered in conjunction with real Oriental usage. To the Syntax is attached a Lecture on the Rabbinical use of the Accents.* This was thought necessary, not so much to give * Mr. Ewald, too, has to his Grammar, translated by Mr. Nicholson, added a similar, but still shorter, view of their use. And, in this case, I think, he has also been indebted to me. XVI PREFACE. currency or support to the authority of those marks, as to enable the Student to see their force and bearing. The rules given on this subject by Buxtorf and his followers were, it must be con- fessed, very defective, leaving the Learner, very much as they found him, with every thing to learn, and nothing on which he could pronounce with certainty. Still, it must be confessed this question involves much that is far from obvious and certain ; and this, I think, no length of Treatise, or time consumed in its investigation, will remove. Such as it is, however, the Student ought to be acquainted, to some extent with its laws: and this is all that I have intended to supply him with. The additions made to this Edition of the Grammar are con- siderable and extend to several pages. The use of the single Epenthetic 3, is given here for the first time (Art. 235. 3.). I may now offer a few words of advice on the use of this Grammar. In the first place then, as the whole is made matter of analytical investigation, nothing need be committed to memory at all. To engage the mind, for some time, so as to familiarize it with each particular, will, if I mistake not, tend more effectually to fix the whole in the memory, than any method of learning by rote ever can : not to insist on the very irksome pro- cess thus to be avoided, and on the advantage of thus exercising the judgment in philological inquiry. In studying the Letters of the Alphabet with the vowels and accents, the most effectual method will be, to wTite them over again and again, until the eye is familiar with them. And, in doing this, it would be well, not only to form a syllabarium, as recommended in Art. 31, or to transcribe large portions from the Hebrew Bible, as in Art. 70; but to proceed to write out the forms of the nouns (Art. 148. seq.), turning back to the places referred to, on every occasion : and thus mixing up the theory with the practice, until the Learner sees, to some extent, the nature and character of these, as found in their simple and aug- mented forms ; in the singular, dual, and plural numbers ; and as augmented either by the Paragogic Letters, or the affixed pro- nouns. And, in doing this, the text printed in a smaller letter in this work, may in the first instance be passed over. The Learner may, in the next place, pass on to the Verbs, PREFACE. XVU (Art. 182. seq.) which, according to my views, are nothing more than nouns of one form or other compounded with fragments of the personal pronouns, so prefixed or postfixed as to form their conjugations, and to give at once both the forms and significa- tions found to prevail in them. When he has familiarized his mind in some degree with these, and acquainted himself with the causes of their several inflections, defects, &c., so as to be able to trace them in the general Paradigm (Art. 211.), which cannot fail to fix the whole eifectually in his memory ; he would do well to acquaint himself with the particles. Art. 171. seq., up to Art. 181. And, if he copied these out once or twice, reading the text at the same time, as to their theory ; my opinion is, that he would never regret the trouble so taken. In doing this he should, as before, turn back to the laws on which the defects they exhibit are founded; which will at once so interest him, and give him such an insight into the nature of this Language, as no other method can, and such, I think, as he never can forget. The numerals (Art. 181. seq.), and Proper names (Art. 170. seq.), need not detain him long. It will be enough now to read over the Syntax carefully, and to make such notes on the rules, examples, &c., as he may deem necessary. This he should do, in order to familiarize his mind with this part of the Grammar, and to enable him to turn again to it, as occasion may require. And here, as before, let him not be tempted to imagine that he will in a few months, a year, or so, become an adept in this species of Literature. If indeed all he aims at is, merely to be able to make out a Chapter or a Psalm, with the aid of the Dictionary and a Translation, an undertaking, as far I can see, of no use or value whatsoever, then he may give himself as little trouble as he pleases in studying the elements of this language. But if he wish to ascertain for himself, what the real drift and scope of the declarations of the Sacred Writers of the Old Testament is, then he v/ill find that a thorough knowledge of the elements is almost every thing : and, that it has been from a want of this that Commentators, Preachers, and others, have so frequently and so fatally erred; and, generally speaking, that at this day, the Scriptures of the Old Testament are so little understood. b XVIU PREFACE. The best thing now to do, in order to save time, would be to get a copy of Mr. Ollivant's " Analysis of the History of Joseph,"* and carefully to read over that portion of the Book of Genesis, referring constantly to the Grammar as there directed. When this is done, the "Clavis Pentateuchi of Robertson "f had better be obtained, and the whole Pentateuch be read over carefully with its assistance. With this, as with the " History of Joseph," the Dictionary may be had recourse to, as may the Hebrew Con- cordances, both of the words generally, and of the Particles.f The ancient and modern versions may also be consulted. The Arabic, Syriac, and Ethiopic, words and usages corresponding to those of the Hebrew, carefully considered. And thus gradu- ally the range of study enlarged, or to use the terms of the Prophet, the cords (of the Learner) be lengthened, and his stakes strengthened. In the higher style, as exhibited in the Psalms, Job, the Prophets, &c., the "Lyra Prophetica of Bythner" may be used : the " Scholia " of the younger Rosenmiiller : the " Synop- sis " of Poole, or the " Critici Sacri," and such other Works as the Student will find pointed out in these. The Translation and Notes on the Book of Job, as published by myself, will perhaps be found of some service, as will my Sermons and Dissertations on the Rationalism of Germany, and on the Interpretation of Prophecy generally. On the exegetical interpretation of the Old Testament, let it never be forgotten, the New Testament is the first, the autho- ritative, and the best, guide. Next to this, the parallel passages in both Testaments should be classed. And, I will venture to * Published by Mr. Duncan, the proprietor of this Grammar. f Republished a few years ago, and to be had of any of the booksellers. X A good Hebrew Concordance is now in the course of publication in Germany, by Dr. Furst, at the expense of Mr. Tauchnitz. Noldius's Concordance of Particles (Ed. Jena) can easily be obtained at the booksellers. Of which a new Edition was printed a few years ago, and may readily be obtained. PREFACE. XIX affirm, that where this is carefully and honestly done, more real scriptural knowledge will be acquired in one year, than usually is in the whole space of time allotted to the existence of man. The Edition of the Hebrew Bible, from which the citations have here been made, is that of 1836, printed at the expense of Mr. Duncan, and which the Student will find both cheap and correct ERRATA. Page line read 14 16 }- 36 8 Nevukadretstsdr ib. 25 nbQto ib. 36 '',?Pipr! 38 14 n'.2 54 31 ^^^ 58 28 D^gSJt 60 38 arfe 69 37 rrn 92 25 ^=1- 100 9 bna 116 16 noto 163 9, 10 dele ^r}Pi giving 152 27 pMry 194 10 bbx6 244 3 r^7 261 18 ^m 273 29 ^s^no, i)^2i?9 274 28 vf^' 284 36 family 294 28 ^.;^' 305 27 i.^- 312 33 ^ 319 4 one CONTENTS. LECTURE I. ON THE LETTERS, &C. On the Alphabet 25 On the Powers of the Consonants 5 9 On their Numerical Value 9 10 Division into Gutturals, Palatals, &c 10 ib. Quiescence of the 'ir letters 10 11 Division into Radical and Servile . 10 12 On the Vowels 12 13 On Sheva and its Substitutes .13 On the Formation of Syllables 13 15 On the Combination of the Vowels with the Consonants . . . 15 17 On the Initial and Final Characters of Sheva and its Substitutes . 17 19 On Pathahh when termed Furtive .19 Use of AS'/ieua and its Substitutes 19 20 On the PSirits, Dagesh and Mappik 20 21 On the Mark Baphe 21 On the Vowel Kholem, with XD and tS .21 On Khirik with or without ' 22 Distinctions between Kamets and Kamets Khatuph .... . 22 23 LECTURE IL ON THE HEBREW ACCENTS. Tables of the Hebrew Accents 24 26 On the Use of the Accents . 26 28 Praxis on the Reading with Accents 28 32 LECTURE in. ON THE PRINCIPLES WHICH REGULATE THE ETYMOLOGY. Euphonic Changes in the Orthography, as it regards the Consonants 33 37 On the Contractions which take place in the Vowels 37 38 On the General Changes of the Vowels . 39 41 On the Use of Sheva and its Substitutes 41 44 Particular rules for the insertion ot.Dagesk 44 47 LECTURE IV. ON THE GENERAL USE AND SITUATION OF THE ACCENTS. Their Offices, Tonic and Euphonic 48 On the Tonic Accent 48 50 .CONTENTS. XXI On the Anomalies found in its situation . 50 56 On the use and situation of the Euphonic Accent 57 Rules for its insertion 57 59 On the use and position of il/aM2)^ 59 60 Rules for its insertion 60 61 LECTURE V. ON THE TERMINATIONS OF GENDER, &C. On the Masculine Gender 62 64 On the Formation of the Feminine from the Masculine .... 64 66 On the inflection of Nouns 66 On the formation of the Dual Number 66 67 On the formation of the Plural Number Masculine 67 70 On the formation of the Plural Number Feminine 70 72 On the changes of termination, &c. necessary for the state of con- struction 72 74 On the Pronouns 74 75 On the Separable Personal Pronouns 75 76 On the Inseparable Personal Pronouns 76 82 LECTURE VI. ON THE PARTS OF SPEECH, &C. On the primitive character of Nouns 82 84 On the use and signification of Words generally 84 89 On the measures applied to the primitive forms 89 91 The Primitive Segolate forms, and their Euphonic Character . . 91 93 On the first Species of Do. of the forms "Jl^g and "PJ^ 94 97 On the second Species of Do. of the forms "Ji^B and 1)79 .. . .97 On the third, of the forms y^ and tj?5 ....'.' 97 98 On the fourth, of the forms yB and "is 98 99 On the fifth, of the forms 1176 and ip? 99101 On the abstract force of these Nouns 101 On the second general Class of Primitive Nouns not Segolate, and which are concrete in sense 101 102 Their forms ] 02 Tables, exhibiting their several inflections, as to gender, number, conjunction with the pronouns, and state of construction . . 102 106 LECTURE VII. ON THE AUGMENTED HEBREW NOUNS. Classification of these 106 108 On the reduplicated class of words 108 109 The force of these when conjugated as Verbs 109 111 Tables exhibiting their inflections, &c Ill 113 On nouns said to be reduplicated by implication 113 114 On the augmented 'Noxms termed 'P^yQirri He-emanti 114 116 Their force, when conjugated as Veri)s active and passive, in the forms Hipkhll and Ilophhdl 116 118 Do. vfhen in the'form Hithpdhel 119 122 XXU CONTENTS. Etymology of Nouns commencing with o and 3 122 123 On the force of those conjugated in the Niphhdl species . . . 123 125 Tables of these forms generally . . . . ' 125 132 LECTURE VIII. ON THE AUGMENTED, REDUPLICATED, AND COMPOUND WORDS. On those forms which have the He-emanti letters postfixed . . . 133 138 On the Reduplicated and otherwise Compounded Words . . . 138 142 On the forms and composition of Nouns, adopted as Proper Names 142 149 LECTURE IX. ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE PARTICLES. On the forms and characters of the Separable Particles .... 149 154 Do. of the Inseparable Particles 154 158 On those termed Paragogic 158 165 On the Demonstrative Pronouns 165 166 On the Relative Pronoun "i^b? 166167 On the Interrogative and Indefinite Pronouns, &c 167 171 On the Definite Article n 171176 On the Numerals 176180 LECTURE X. ON THE HEBREW VERBS. On their eiymology, forms, and properties 180 189 Etymology and forms of the conjugation of the two Tenses of the first species Kal 190201 On the Infinitive and Imperative forms 201 205 On the Participles (as they have been termed) 206 LECTURE XI. Etjrmology and forms of the conjugation in the second species, or Niphhdl 207211 Do. in the third species, or PzA^/ 211 Do. in the fourth species, or PmMZ 212 215 Do. in the fifth and sixth species, or Hiphhil and Hophhdl . . . 215 220 Do. in the seventh species, or Hithpahel 220 222 On the remaining augmented, but less usual, species of the con- jugation of Hebrew Verbs 223225 LECTURE XII. ON THE DEFECTIVE VERBS. On the causes of the Defects found to exist in Hebrew Verbs gene- rally 225226 The conjugations of those commencing with 3, reconciled with those of the regular triliteral Verbs 226228 CONTENTS. XXlll The conjugations of those commencing with , and % respectively . 228 235 Do. of those having 'i , or \ for the middle radical letter respect- ively 235237 Do. of those in which the third radical letter is subject to elision . 238 241 Do. of those Verbs which have for their third radical letter . . 242 243 LECTURE XIII. On those Verbs which have their second and third radical letters the same 243246 On those Verbs which are doubly defective 247 251 On the Abbreviated Pronouns as attached to Verbs 252 258 On the mode of affixing these to the Defective Verbs ... . 258 259 Tables exhibiting the conjugation in the several species of every sort of Verb, whether Defective or not, with their Infinitive and Participial forms 260273 LECTURE XIV. ON THE SYNTAX. On the construction of the several sorts of Propositions generally . 274 276 On the Predicate of Propositions in Hebrew 276 278 On the concordance of the Subject with the Predicate ... . 278 282 On the concordance of the Nominative with its Verb 282 285 On the Nominative Absolute 285 288 LECTURE XV. ON THE GENERAL DEPENDENCE OF WORDS ON ONE ANOTHER. This dependence is regulated by two principles, generally, i. e. that of Apposition, and that of the Definite State of Construction . 289 On the Apposition of words, immediate and mediate ... . 289 295 On that termed Hendiadys 296 On that affecting the Nouns of Time and Place 296 298 On Attributives when in Apposition 298 299 On the Use of the Definite Article 299304 On the Adverbs, and other quahfying terms 305 308 On the emphatic repetition of words and phrases 309 310 On Nouns put in the Definite State of Construction, both imme- diately and mediately 310 316 On that sort of Definite Construction which has been termed Distinctive 316317 On the construction of the Numerals 317 318 On their concordance with the thing numbered 318 Other modes of construction 318 320 LECTURE XVI. ON THE LOGICAL COMPLEMENTS OF WORDS GENERALLY, AND OF VERBS, IN PARTICULAR. The Principles by which these are regulated stated 320 323 Examples illustrative of these 323 329 On apparently Elliptical Constructions 329 330 On Impersonal Expressions 330 334 Xxiv CONTENTS. LECTURE XVII. ON THE MODES AND TENSES OF THE VERBS. On the Principles which regulate the use of the Tenses generally, in direct (or indicative) constructions 335 346 Ditto in Subjunctive or Conditional constructions, whether regulated by the separable particles, or by the forms termed Apocope and Paragoge 346356 On the Preterite used as a Future, or Imperative, emphatically . 356 359 Miscellaneous constructions 359 360 Opinions enounced as facts generally 360 361 Hypothetical sentences how enounced 361 364 Commands, requests, &c. enounced by the Imperative forms . . 364 Remarks on the Principles regulating these . 364 365 LECTURE XVIII. ON THE NATURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE PARTICLES. On the Adverbs generally 365 366 The construction of V, Nb, DD, iir,'b3, 'nb? 366375 LECTURE XIX. ON THE NATURE AND USE OF THE CONJUNCTIONS. On their general usage 375 On the Relative Pronoun "i^^m (also p. 287.) 376 Of Adverbs, Prepositions, ^c, simple' and compound, DN 'nba r? yi, "i^ :i|7?, d "i^, "i^'^n t?, D^p, |B, dn, and on the forms used in oaths " . . 376 380 On the Copulative Conjunction * generally : when redundant, or defective : or denoting distribution 380 381 On the Conditional, Causal, and Conclusive, Conjunctions, nnn, i^m nnn, "i^^ ^'P^., p$, &c .' . ". . '. 381 382 On the Interjections ! ' 382 383 LECTURE XX. ON THE COMPOSITION OF SENTENCES AS POINTED OUT BY THE INFLUENCE OF THE ACCENTS. On the distinctive powers of the Accents 384386 A Table, &c. pointing out their rank, order, and powers . . . 386 389 Words in Apposition, or definite construction, the nominative with its verb, &c. how combined 389 391 Nominative Absolute, how distinguished 391 Qualifying words and phrases, parentheses, &c 391 392 Parallelism, how pointed out 392 393 On the Accentuation of the Metrical Books, Job, Proverbs, and the Psalms 393 396 LECTURES HEBREW LANGUAGE. LECTURE I. ON THE ORTHOGRAPHY, SYLLABICATION, &C., OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE. 1. AS it is proposed to offer, in the present course of Lectures, a comprehensive and practical view of the structure of the Hebrew Language, all discussions re- lating to General Grammar, Philology, and Antiquities, will be avoided as much as possible ; referring as we pro- ceed to Authors who have treated on these subjects. It will also be taken for granted, that the Student is acquainted with grammar as generally taught; and, that he is penman sufficiently good to write down such forms of letters, &c., as shall be laid before him. 2. But, although it is desirable that the Learner should know something of the principles of Grammar as generally taught ; yet, he must not hence be tempted to infer, that a system almost entirely at variance with that to which he has been accustomed is unphilosophical or wrong ; or, because he cannot at first sight comprehend all its bearings, that it is therefore uncouth, embar- rassed, or ambiguous. For it may be true, that the Language of the Patriarchs and Prophets is as con- sistent in its structure, as the subjects on which it treats B 2 LECTURE I. [^ART. 3. are interesting and momentous ; and, that it is as explicit and regular as other languages, which have been cul- tivated with much greater ardour, while they had infi- nitely less to offer in return. He must, therefore, allow the Language on which we are now entering, to stand or fall on its own merits ; and, our delineation of it to be judged by the rules of criticism peculiar to itself. We mention this in the outset, not to depreciate the labours of others who may have taken a different view of this subject, but to warn the Student, that the idioms of the Hebrew and other Dialects connected with it, are neither to be judged of, nor explained, by those of European lan- guages ; and hence to caution him against that trouble and confusion, into which some have had the misfortune to fall. On the Alphabet. 3. The system of Orthography found in our Hebrew Bibles, and that which has ever been taught with the greatest success,* presents a succession of consonants, written in a direction proceeding from the right hand of the page towards the left. Two or more of these are found in every word ; while the words themselves are separated from each other by a moderate space. To this system of consonants another is added, consisting of vowels ; and these are placed above, in the middle, or below, the line of consonants, as their several natures may require. To this, again, is superadded another, con- sisting of Accents, which are also placed either above, in the middle, or below, the consonants, in the same line or rank with the vowels. Before the student can possibly read the Hebrew text, therefore, he must be made famihar with these sevetal parts of Hebrew orthography. 4. We shall proceed, in the first place, to delineate and explain the characters of the consonants ; the number, forms, names, powers, and numerical values, of which are as follows. * We say, the greatest success; for, after all that has been said by the advo- cates for the unpointed system, it will be extremely difficult to point out one writer of that school, who has in any degree advanced Hebrew learning. ART. 4.3 ON THE ALPHABET. i FORMS. Biblical. N 3 or 3 J or JI 1 or 1 n 1 T n 12 ^ or ^f and as a final let- ItJ' and as a final CJ iJ> and as a final I D ' SJ or SJ> and as a final 1 ^ 9 and as a final V P "^ ji or n Samari- tan. 9 1: \ V V /f Rabbinical. :j 7 1 p 2/ and as a final 1 5 P/ and as a final P J/ and as a final ] 1? p, and as a final 1 J/ and as a final r P ") D NAMES. POWERS. Numerical Values. 5^^i^ Alef. H unaspirated, as in humble, hour, &c. I. rV2 Beth. V or B respectively. 11. 7D^il cTmel. r^ /"^ Daleth. as in van or ban. G hard, as in gird, gain. D, as in do, dare. III. IV. ^^n He. H aspirated, as in V. ^T Vaw, or hard. V, by some, as in VI. Waw. vow, by others, W, as in work. ]*>? Zayin. Z, as in zeal, or S in vir. n^n Kheth. Kb strongly aspirat- ed, as ch in the German nicht. VIII. ri^CO Teth. T, as in turn. IX. IV Y6d. Y, as in yes, yonder. X. ^D Caph. C, as in carry, cash. XX. TD? LSmed. L, as in love. Sec. XXX. Mem. M, as in man, &c. XL. 113 Nun. N, as in no, &c. L. IDD Samech. S, as in Sir; never as S in those. LX. 1^;/ Ayin. The true sound of this letter being un- known, it is usu- ally passed over in silence, as H in humble: we shall designate it LXX. HD Pe. thus, H. PH, when without the point, as in i'Ai/i2>;P,when LXXX. pointed, as in pint. ^1^; Tsadg. TS, as in mats, &c. XC. ^1p K6ph. K, as in look, &c. C. t^^n Rgsh. R, as in roast, &c. CC. \^W\ Shin. SH, as in shine. CCC. l>ii^^ Sin. S, as in son, never as S in those. in i^::r TH or T respectively, cccc. as in thin or tin. 4 LECTURE I. [[art. 5. In these and all future examples, where the Roman vowels will be put to represent the Hebrew^ ones, a or , will have the sound of the Italian a, or a mfar; and a, as a in man ; e, or e, as a in wane or ai in raiw ; e, the same sound shortened : , or f, as ee in ^^^w / ^, as e in m ; o, or o, as o in ro,s^ ; o, the same sound shortened : w, or w, as 00 in hoot ; u, as oo in good. The first marked vow^el in each case will represent the accented, or em- phatical, syllable, e.g. a m father, &c. ; the second with (-) as dy e, &c. will shew that, as such vowel generally terminates a syllable, it will be pronounced openly, but not with an accent. 5. The Samaritan and Rabbinical forms of the Hebrew character have been given for the following reasons : 1 . The Samaritan Pentateuch being nothing more than a different edition of that in use among the Jews, the Student will want no other help for reading it, than the forms of the Samaritan character : and, 2. As the Rabbinical commentaries are composed, for the most part, in Biblical Hebrew, he will stand in need of little more than a copy of their alphabet to enable him to read them.'* 6. The number and order of the consonants, as given in the table, are so found in the text of the Hebrew Bible. The following are the passages : Psalms xxxiv. cxix. cxlv. ; Proverbs xxxi., from verse 10 to the end ; Lamentations i. ii. iii. iv. In Psalm xxxiv. however, the verse beginning with 1 Vaw has either been lost, or both n He and 1 Fan are found in the 6th verse ; and, in the cxlvtb, that which should commence with D is also wanting. In the ii. iii. and ivth chapters of the Lamentations, 37 ^yin and D Pe are found transposed, which may perhaps be attributed to the copyists. * Should he wish to make a considerable progress in Rabbinical learning, he will find some of the best books pointed out in Sect. xi. of my Sylloge Librorum Orientalium. Cantab. 1821. ART. 8,]] ON THE CONSONANTS. 5 7. As to the forms of the consonants, it is not improbable they were originally hieroglyphical :* but, whether the Hebrew or Sama- ritan form is the most ancient, a difference of opinion seems to have prevailed as early as the times of Jerome ; and which, as Schultens has justly remarked, has been contested in some instances with an acrimony, which neither the nature of the case, nor the love of truth, could justify t-j- some maintaining that the Samaritan was the primitive form, and that Ezra adopted the other on the return from Babylon ; others, that the Biblical character, as we now have it, is the same with that in which Moses composed his Auto- graph. J For my own part I am inclined to believe, with some others, that which of the characters soever we take, as exhibiting the most ancient form, the other is no greater a variation from it, than may be traced in our own black letter as derived from the Roman ; and, by no means so great as that discernible between our hand-writing and the printed letter, from which it has been formed. 8. The letters ^^^^D")^\^ when occurring at the end of a line, are sometimes lengthened out thus, M n b D ^ n , in order to fill up the space. On the Powers of the Consonants, 9. N Alef, as already remarked, has the power of an unaspirated H : that is, it is used for the purpose of enouncing the vowel following it, without any audible aspiration, but with a sound slightly guttural. It appears probable, also, that this was its power in ancient times ; not only, because the same letter has to this day ChampoUion Precis, da Syst. Hier. pp. 312, 316. Plates A to K. P. Lacour. Essai sur les Hier. Bordeaux. 1821. pp. 45 48, 131, 166, &c. Though I can see no reason, why we are to go to Egypt for the Hebrew Letters, unless we are to suppose that marks, representing certain substances and sounds, could not be formed elsewhere. See Geschichte der Hebraische Sprache, &c., von. Wil. Gesenius, 40 45. See ray Sermons and Dissertations on Pro- phecy, &c. p. 117, &c. Proleg. to Bagster's Polyglott Bible, Prol. I. ii, t Fundam. Ling. Heb., p. 18. X See the controversy between Capell and Buxtorf. 6 LECTURE I. [[art. 10. the same power in the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic, which are nothing more than dialects of the Hebrew, but because we find it occasionally put for H He, or V Ayin, in the Hebrew Bible itself ; and, in the cognate dialects, the Syriac and Chaldee, for ^ YodJ" Among the Greeks and Latins it was expressed by one or other of the vowels unaspirated, and mostly by Alpha or A.f In writing Hebrew words in Roman letters, we shall form the syllable, in which this letter is found, by representing that vowel only which accompanies it. 10. 1 Beth is found either with, or without, a point inscribed, as 3 or 1 . In the first case it is pronounced as our B ; in the second, as V ; and hence, it is sometimes represented by "^ Vaw, as 35, occasionally written lil. In the cognate dialects, it is often changed for D Pe, or D Mem ; being a letter of the same organ with them. But of this more will be said hereafter. 11. ^ Gimel is also written with, or without, the point ; thus il , or ^ . In the first case, all are agreed that it should be pronounced like G in the words gird, give. How it should be pronounced in the second, grammarians are not agreed. Some think it should take the sound of G in ginger ; others, that it should be pronounced as G, in the German G^^macht, &c. The usual practice, however, is, to sound it like G in gird, in every case. J 12. "T Ddleth is also found both with, and without, this * See my Hebrew Lexicon. f See the Bibliotheca Sacra by Masch, partis secund. vol. ii. pref. p. 35, &c. : also, the Disserlatio R. P. Bernhardi de Montfaucon de veteri literaruin et vocalium Hebraicarum pronuntiatione, torn. ii. of his Hexapla of Origen, or in the Bibliotheca Hebrsea of Wolfius, torn. ii. p. 648; or the Appendix to Jahn's Gramm. Ling. Heb. &c. X The manner in which the ancients represented this, and other letters of the Alphabet, may be seen in Masch or Montfaucon, as cited above. ART. 13.] ON THE CONSONANTS. 7 point, as "1, and 1 . In the first case, it is pronounced like D in daf^e, do^ &c. In the second, some give it the sound of TH in thine, this ; others neglect this distinction, and pronounce it like D in every case. It is probable, that it was originally pronounced v^^ith the tip of the tongue placed against the roots of the foreteeth, just as its corresponding letter is still pronounced by the Orientals ; which will give it rather a softer sound than that of our D. It is also probable that it had two sounds, as it is the case now with the Arabic, where we have j Dal and J Dhcil ; the former pronounced like D dental, the latter like th in thine. Hence we may account for "^n"l Ddvdr meaning a wordy and 121 Dever, a pestilence : the root of the former being jJ^ Dhdbara, scripsit lihrum, Sic, the other j^i Ddhara, idceratumfuit, &c. We also have jid Dhdbr, signifying Scriptura, and y}d Dhdhir, bene discens, et edoctus, sapientiam ; of similar import with "^11 Ddvdr, a word, relation, &c. ; and from the second, /^ Ddbr, mors, of similar signification with 111 Dever, pestis, &c. This method of viewing the powders of several other letters of the Alphabet, will often explain the apparently conflicting significations, sometimes found to prevail in the same Hebrew root ; of which the modern Lexicographers have very properly availed themselves.* 13. It will be unnecessary to offer any additional remarks on the following letters till we come to H Kheth ; and, on this it is only necessary to say, that like "T Ddleth, it probably had two sounds originally, the one more, the other less, aspirated, as noticed in the Dictionaries. 14. ID Teth should be pronounced with the tip of the * Eichhorn in his Edition of the Lexicon of Simonis, Schulz in his Edition of Cocceius, and Dr. Gesenius in his Hebrew Dictionary, &c. See also Storr'a Observationes ad Analogiam et Syntaxin Hebraicam, p. 48. 8 LECTURE I, [[art. 15. tongue against the roof of the mouth, just as our own T is, and hence it may be termed cerebral. 15. *^ Yod is equivalent to our Y, as stated in the table. The Italians and Germans represent this letter by J, which they pronounce like our Y : and, as the first Hebrew Grammars studied in this country, were im- ported from the Continent, we adopted the word Jehovah, Jehu, &c. which they very properly pronounced Yehovah, Yehu, &c. When occurring at the beginning of a word with the vowel i, it loses its power as a consonant, and takes the sound of the vowel only, as Is-ra-el, not Yis-ra-el. This is also found to take place in the Arabic, as Ihtoh, not Yehtoh, for v^^Joo See De Sacy's Gram. Arab., vol. i. p. 4, note. i. edit. 16. The sound of D, without a point, probably partook of the sound of both K, and H Kheth ; which will account for its being represented by the Greek ^y ^^^ With the point (3) it is universally sounded like our C in carry, as already stated. 17. D Sdmek, and \l/ Sin, have, for many centuries, been pronounced alike, i. e. like S in sin ; and, although many Hebrew words are now found written with either promiscuously, it is doubtful whether this is not owing to the copyists ; possibly it might be a mere variety of the pronunciation of ^ Shin, which may have been peculiar to this form (U?), even in ancient times. See Judg. xii. 6. 18. V Ayin probably had, like 1 Ddleth and H Kheth, two sounds originally ; one approaching to that of g mixed with h or r, another to that of t^ Alef ; just as it is the case with the Arabs, who have both c Ghain, and c Ain. The examples to be found in the modern Lexicons under this letter, as well as the various orthography of proper names found in the Septuagint, may be considered ART. 19.]] ON THE CONSONANTS. 9 as sufficient proof of this position.''^ At present, this letter is usually passed over, like the Alef, in silence. The sound of ng in Idng^ given to it generally by the Jews, may probably have prevailed in ancient times. I have observed that the Arabs of Barbary give a nasal sound to their Ain, c, and that the Archbishop of Jerusalem, who was some time ago in this country, pro- nounced the Syriac ^ in this way ; although the Maronites inform us, that it should be pronounced with a sort of compression of the throat.^ We shall designate it in the Roman characters by an H, with a point under it. 19. The sound of p Koph is more guttural than that of 2 Cdphy being made by a sudden compression of the throat : it may be compared to the noise made by water when discharging itself from a bottle ; it is, perhaps, analogous with the Roman Q. The explanations given in the table will be sufficient for the remaining letters. 20. We now come to the numerical values of the letters. We have given in the Table (Art. 4.) the letters corresponding to the units, tens, and hundreds, up to 400. The remaining hundreds up to one thousand, are thus expressed : the*T, final Cdph, is put for 500 ; D, final Mem, for 600 ; 7, final Nun, for 700 ; ^, final Pe, 800 ; and V , final Tsdde, 900. These usages are Rabbinical ; numerals in the sacred text being always written at length. One thousand is mostly expressed by the word P]bs I^lef, a thousand ; two thousand by Q^Dbs Alpdyim ; any number of thousands by using the word P^bs elef, thousand, or Q'^DbW Aldfim, thousands, with the proper numeral prefixed, as the rules of Syntax may require. Sometimes, as in the notes of the Masora, ^^ stands for one thousand ; but on this subject the Hebrew tables of abbrevia- tions should be consulted.J * See my Heb. Lexicon : Gesenius, (and Simonis, edd. Eichhorn and Winer,) under this letter. See also Storr as above, p. 48. f Amira's Graminatica Syriaca, Rome, 1596, p. 6. X Joannis Buxtorfii de Abbreviaturis Hebraicis Liber, with the Supplement of Wolfius. Bibliolh. Heb., torn. ii. p. 575. For the abbreviations found in the Masora, see the Tiberias, or Commentaiius Masorelhicus, of Buxturf. 10 LECTURE I. [[art. 21. 21, The numbers, from ten to twenty, are made by adding such unit to the numeral for ten, as will make the number required. Thus W will represent eleven, ^> twelve, and so on. The number 15, however, is made by It:) ,i. e. 9 + 6, not n^ , i. e. 1 + 5, because rr* is one of the names of God. In like manner, 21 will be SD > 22 :2D, 32 dbj 42 nD, and so on. On this principle, the number given at the end of Genesis, for the verses found in that book is, 22. Whether this method of expressing numbers formerly pre- vailed in the Hebrew manuscripts, has been a subject of some dispute, and one which it is now impossible to determine. That the numbers have been expressed in words written at length for some centuries, there seems to be no doubt, but whether this was the case in very ancient times or not, it is difficult to say.* 23. As certain Hebrew letters are occasionally changed for one another, both in primitive words and in the process of derivation, and, as this change mostly takes place in letters of the same organ ;f the following classi- fication of them, according to the different organs of speech, has usually been given : 1 Gutturals, i^ Alef, n He, n Kheth, V Ayin. 2 Palatals, ^ GmSl, '' Yod, D Cdph, p Kopk. 3 Linguals, ^ Ddleth,'^ Teth, Jl Taw, 4 Sibilants, t Zdijin, D SdmeJc, !^ Tsdde, w Shin, j^ Shi, 5 Labials, 1 Beth, ^ Vaw, 12 Mem D Pe. 24. The letters 7, D, 2, "), are termed liquids.^ 25. Four of the letters of the Alphabet occasionally lose their powers as consonants, and are then said to be quiescent or silent. These letters are, b^ Alef, H He, ^ Vaw, and "^ Yod, which form a sort of memoria technica * See Baver's Critica Sacra, Tract i. 23, page (mihi) 188. t As ^\ for n:i and f]2, the back ; vr\'o and ^nn fat ; and many others to be found in the dictionaries. X Whether any of the letters riDDin be with or without the points, as given in the table of the Alphabet, or whether others assume their own final forms or not, makes no difference as to their classification, tliey will still belong to one or other of the above classes. ART. 26.^ ON THE CONSONANTS, 11 in the word '^int^ Ehevu Those letters too which occa- sionally have a point inscribed, have, for the same reason, been formed into the technical term nSDI^l Begad- hephdth. The final letters, which are sometimes length- ened, are exhibited in the words "^Dil TTTt^ Ohel Tdmdr, Tamar's tent : and the finals, which vary in form, as mentioned in the table, are comprehended in the words yD2?2!D Cammenappets, Like a disperser. 26. The letters have been further divided into two classes; one containing those which are occasionally servile ; that is, are employed in the process of gram- matical accidence and derivation ; the other, those only which are never so employed ; the first have been termed servile, the second radical, letters. The servile letters are, however, occasionally radical, though the radical ones are never servile, 27. The servile letters are all comprehended in the following memoria tecJinica, viz. 3731 JH'^N Ht^D, Moslie Ethan Vecdlev, i. e. Moses, Ethan, and Caleb. The remaining letters are termed radical,^ 28. The best method the learner can adopt for making himself acquainted with the letters is, to write them over carefully and frequently, till he is quite familiar with all their forms. In doing this, he should strongly mark the difference between those letters which are in some respects similar, such as 1 Beth, and D Cdph, ^ Gimel, and !3 ISlun, and so on ; in order to avoid the * In almost all the printed copies of the Hebrew Bible, we find some of the letters occasionally larger, or smaller, than others : others inverted, or suspended a little above the general line of printing; in one instance, we have a final letter in the middle of a word ; in others, a medial letter is used as a final; out of all which the Jews, and indeed some Christian writers, have endeavoured to elicit certain mysteries. But as they are most likely all owing to some accident in the transcription of the MSS., we may be excused in dismissing ihcm without further notice. 12 LECTURE L CaRT. 29. confusion which beginners often experience, and to make that pleasant which is to many extremely irksome. If he use a pen, the point should be cut a little oblique, in order to make the horizontal strokes strong and regular ; the others, which should be perpendicular, should be made fine and equal. An Oriental reed, however, makes by far the best pen for writing these letters, which should be cut nearly like a pen, with a slit, and the point oblique, as already mentioned.* On the Vowels, m 29. It has already been remarked, (Art. 3.) that the Hebrew vowels present a system of marks or characters arranged sometimes above, at others in the middle, and at others beneath, the consonants: we now proceed to delineate and explain this. Table of the Hebrew Vowels. Figure. Name. r Perfect Vowels. ^^:$. Tsere V ^n5 p^TH Khlrik Gddbl i t oSin Kholem 1 1 pni::^ shurek Power. Exemplifications. a as 3k ^ga, ^^(fd, &c e ^be, i ge, ^. de, &c I ''^bi. ^5 gl, ^^. di, &c b 13 bo, '^^ go, I'H do, &c. u ^3 6^^, ^ gu, 'n du, &c. * These reeds may be purchased at Messrs. Allen and Co.'s, Booksellers, in Leadenhall-street, London, and at Stevenson's, Cambridge. The exact method of cutting and holding them may be seen in the Developpemens des Principes de la Langue Arabe Moderne, par Auguste F. I. Herbin. t In these cases, the consonant "i is considered merely as the fulcrum of the accompanying vowels, and in all it is often omitted, the point then resting on the side of the preceding or foUovving consonant. In such cases analogy must determine, whether it stand for a perfect or imperfect vowel. This method of treating the vowels, the Student will find of great importance, when he comes to consider the etymology of this language. ART. 30.^ ON THE VOWELS. 13 Fignre. Name. Power. Exemplifications. T^T}^ Pmakh a 12 bad, "^^ gad, l'^ dad. ^ y b^}D Seghl e *T3 bed, *T3 ged, *T*1 ded. '7o"Iu'< , \y<^Pr P'^r? Khlrik Kat6n i- 12 bid, ^^^ gid, ^1 did. ^ P|1C0n yDp^ Kamets Khdtuph o T3 bod, ^^ god, *7'1 dod. ^ Y^p Kibbuts u 13 bud, ' 1\ gud, "H^ dud. Sheva and its Substitutes,* ^]l^ Sh^vd 'e ^'l? berx, '1^ g'eri, ''1? d'eri. _. T\l^% '^^n Jihatef f&ihakh U ^12,bHii, ^'^.\gUri, ^y^. dUri. . 7ijQ l^n ^hatefSeghl ^ _ KHII bUe, i^DJ gUe, ^^Hl ^/^^c. ^. l^^jj PluDn Khat^fKdmHs ^ _ b^HB i,^^a, i^H^ g^^a, ^^^'j. ^^Aa. 30. It will be seen, from the Exemplifications, which of the vowels-marks are placed above, which in the middle, and which below, the line. From the note appended to the table of consonants (Art. 4.), will also be seen what sounds are given to the Roman vowels, as here made to represent the powers of the Hebrew ones; and, con- sequently, what powers the Hebrew vowels have. 31. The learner cannot now do better than make out a syllabarium for himself, extending throughout the whole of the alphabet, in the manner of the Exempli- fications just given; bearing in mind, that whenever either of the letters contained in the memoria technica, r\3D'i:il Begadkephdth, begins a syllable, the point should be inscribed. The exceptions will be given hereafter. He should also bear in mind, that the consonant must The real object of these marks is to show the absence of a vowel : the sound of e in these examples is, therefore, remarkably short, better expressed by our bri, grt, drl, &c., without a vowel. So in the substitutes, which usually accom- pany the guttural letters. The final vowel V> &c. has been added, in order to facilitate this rapidity of utterance in barl, gHri, behe, bbhd, &c., all making one syllable, and no more. 14 LECTURE I. [[art. 32. always precede the vowel, as marked in the table : a few exceptions to this rule will be noticed hereafter.* 32. ^-^ perfect vowels, as given in the first class, is meant, vowels which, being preceded by a consonant, will constitute a complete syllable in Hebrew ortho- graphy, as II hd^ where both the consonant and vowel are fully and properly enounced, and the syllable is com- plete. The same is the case, when either of the letters contained in the memoria teclmica, ^IHNt Ehevi, which occasionally lose their powers as consonants (Art. 25.), follows its homogeneous vowel, (of which more hereafter,) as, Kl ha. 33. By imperfect vowels is meant, those vowels which are not generally found to constitute syllables without either the addition of another consonant, or of an accent. Such syllable, therefore, must either be like 13 bad, or 5 bd, i. e. be ended by a consonant, or by an accent. When, however, aconsonantis found to follow l peTfect vow el ^N\ih. an accent, as in Dip, &c., which can happen in the end of a word only, this vowel may also be considered as an imperfect one : i.e. generally, an imperfect vowel, accom- * The usual classification of these vowels has been, 1. Long vowels, 2. Short vowels, and 3. Vowels still shorter than the preceding. We have adopted a different one, for the following reason. These distinctions cease to exist when the vowels are combined with the consonants ; for then, the second class of vowels becomes long, either by position, that is, when a consonant follows, or, by being accompanied by an accent. Both these classes of vowels are, therefore, long when reduced to practice; and it is useless to speak of them here in any other point of view. It can never be necessary to trouble the learner with (he Jive different lengths of time ascribed to these vowels by Albert Schultens and Schroeder ; although the latter has declared, that it is a law amplissimum usum habenHj because it is not easy to discover in what this use consists. In the case of Di|^ , and the like (Art. 33.), greater time seems to be afforded for enouncing the last, and accentuated syllable of a word. ART. 34. 2 ON THE VOWELS. 15 panied by an accent, will have the power of a perfect one ; and, vice versa, a perfect vowel so accompanied will have that of an imperfect one. Hence it will follow, generally, that no syllable, excepting the last of any word, can have more than 07ie quiescent letter after a vowel ; as in Dip, P2pf5. Such forms as HjTin, Hil?, are anomalous, and occur but rarely. 34. The last class of signs has been designated ^' Skeva and its Substitutes;'' these Substitutes supplying the place of Sheva, under certain circumstances, as we shall see hereafter. On the Combination of the Votvels with the Consonants, 35. Considering, then, all the letters of the alphabet as consonants, no difficulty can arise from their com- bination with the vowels, when the consonant precedes, as is the case in our first exemplifications (Art. 29.) ; but, when a consonant also follows, some difficulties may arise, which we now proceed to consider. 36. The first difficulty that will present itself to a learner will be, in the concurrence of any of the letters '^'^n^^ Ehevi, with certain vowels preceding. 37. It has been remarked (Art. 25.), that each of these letters will occasionally lose its power as a consonant, i. e. become silent in the preceding vowel. We now say, this happens only when it is preceded by a vowel which is, or may become, homogeneous with it in sound. In this sense, t^ may become quiescent after any vowel, as may also H: 1 will be quiescent after Kholem or Shurek, only : and, "^ after Khirik, Tsere, Segol, and occasionally after Kdmets ; as ^^^ bd, H^l be, 13 bo, ^^ bl, ^''^V halehd^ vlV hdldu. The reason of this seems to be, that, as these consonants ("^"^nb^) are made up of sounds nearly 16 LECTURE I. [[art, 38. allied to those of the vowels respectively, when the vowel happens to precede, both will coalesce, and con- sequently the power of such consonant will be merged in that of the vowel. When any one of these letters has no vowel, it will necessarily be silent, as in N^H Khet, ^^^3n Hevi ; where the b^ is in each case silent, and said to be otiose. Whenever any such letter, however, has a vowel following it, that letter will not be quiescent or otiose, although a homogeneous vowel should precede it ; as nin^ Yeho-vd. T : 38. A vowel, however, may precede which is not homogeneous with such consonant ; which will happen only in the cases of 1 and ^ ; and then a diphthongal sound will be formed, as ai, in ^'^INJ Adonm or Adonay ; oijVa ^iil Goi or Goy; ui, in ^17-3 Gd-luiox Gdluy. Other diphthongs may be formed ; but more do not occur in the Hebrew. 39. There are, moreover, a few instances in which two such letters will be found following a vowel which is homogeneous with neither of them, as V/J^, Vv^, and the like ; in which, according to analogy, "^-^ should form the diphthong ai or ay, and the last letter 1 be considered either as a consonant, or as combining with the fore- going in a kind of triphthong, as E-laiv, or E-laiu, Ha-laiv, or Hd-laiu, but, generally, the "^ is, in these cases, made quiescent,* and the following 1 read as the consonant v^ or w; as E-lav, or E-law, and so on. Indeed, in the case of the diphthong, it is of little con- sequence whether we consider the concluding letter as a * It seems to be a general rule, that when a final (:) Sheva^ either expressed or understood, comes under ""or i, the diphthongal sound takes place: in other cases these consonants become quiescent, as in vb or vV^ ; where it would be contrary to usage to supply a Shevu (:) under the "i, as V^^ ^"^ V^ ART. 40.]] ON SHEVA. 17 vowel or a consonant, i. e. whether we sound ** as i, or y, 1 as w, or z;. On Shkva and its Substitutes. 40. Shevd has two situations, one at the beginning of a syllable, the other at its ending. At the beginning of a syllable, (when it is said to be initial,) it is, from the necessity of the case, pronounced like a very short e, as mentioned in the Table (Art. 29.). The only question which can arise here will be. How is it always to be known when this mark begins, or concludes, a syllable ? The answer is : Whenever it is found at the beginning of a word, it must necessarily be considered as commencing the syllable ; and, consequently, must be pronounced as a short vowel, otherwise the consonant under which it is placed cannot be uttered at all : as in the word n^33 Bevd-ith. The same is the case, whenever it follows a perfect vowel unaccompanied by a tone-accent ; because, as that vowel must conclude the preceding syllable (Art. 32.), the consonant under which this mark is found, must necessarily commence the next. In this case, there- fore, as before, it must be enounced as a very short vowel, as in the word 1 vCpj^ Kd-telu ; where it is also initial, because it commences the syllable. 41. When, however, Shevd (:) commenced a word, by analogy, (and was therefore audible,) but has, by acci- dent, been preceded by some particle with an imperfect vowel, it will then hecovae final ; e. g. 71321 Gevul, a boundary; prefixing 7 (for ?,) we shall have vl^^/ Lig-vul, not Lige-vuL* * In this case, however, some consider it as initial, and read Li-gevuL C 18 LECTURE I. [[art. 4^. 42. In the next place, whenever the mark (=) Shevd follows an imperfect vowel having no tone-accent either expressed or implied, the consonant under which it is found must be taken as the last of the syllable (Art. 33.). In this case, therefore, Shevd (?) will have no sound, and may be said to be final or quiescent : e. g. Dll^jP Kam- tem, not Kame-tem. 43. To these rules, however, there are two exceptions of very extensive application ; and these arise from the introduction of an accent. For, as it has already been remarked (Art. 33.), the operation of a tone-accent will generally give to a perfect vowel the character of an imperfect one, and vice versa. In these cases, therefore, Shevd (=) may be final after a perfect vowel, and initial after an imperfect one ; e. g. of the first case, ^^H^ Bd-hhdr'td, 1 Kings iii. 8, n^/^jH Td-gel-nd, Ps. li. 10 ; and of the second, ^\}^\Vd-yeM, &c. When, however, such accent is purely euphonic, of which more hereafter, this does not necessarily take place; as, ill'ljr'P Makh- har-to, Exod. xxxix. 20, &c.* 44. Shevd is rarely written at the end of a word. The reason probably is, that, as no vowel usually follows the last letter of Hebrew words, it would be superfluous to express Shevd, in order to shew this : the mark is con- sequently omitted. In one case, however, in which the * The instances occurring of this kind are nunoerous: as nri^^J Hd-yethd, Gen. i. 2 ; ib. ver. 7, ^RIvJ Hd-rd-kidh ; nnn The-rd-^, ib., ver. 9. So also ^p Tad-shi, ver. 11. In which cases, the euphonic accent interferes not with the syllabication. So likewise in many others, wherein the accent marks the tone-syllable, and in which there is no euphonic one ; as Gen. i. 2, via V(>'hu, 'r\^ Khb-shek, ib. ver. 3, "lO^p Vai-yb-mer, &c. The word inn Tho-hu, ib. ver. 2, seems to present two accentuations, viz. one with the emphasis on the penuUima, the other on the ultima. ART. 45. ON SHEVA. 19 preceding consonant has also a final Shevd, it seems to have been added to shew, that no vowel has been omitted through negligence ; as in the word T\Up^_ Mmt, &c., to distinguish it from T\^'p_, &c. It is also found in the letter '^, but this may be considered as a part of the letter. 45. A part of one of the substitutes of Sheva is occa- sionally found under the last letter of a word ; but this happens, only when such letter is one of the gutturals, H > V \ or n, with Mapjiik, The reason of this substitution seems to be, that, as these letters will not admit of the rapidity of utterance which the other consonants will, this vowel, or substitute, is added for the purpose of affording due time for their enunciation ; but here the (:) is dropped, as before, and the mark (-) only remains. This mark, termed Furtive Pdthaleh, is, however, not to be pronounced after, but before, the letter under which it is placed, as H'^ti/D Md-shidkh, not Md-sM-khd, Messiah, or Anointed, The same is the case, when such guttural letter is followed by any other consonant having a point, or Ddgesh, within it, accompanied also by Shevd ; as> T^]J^^ Pd'Shdaht, PJ^^H Hig-gddht ; not Pd-shdhat, &c. 46. Those marks, which have been termed *' the Sub- stitutes of Shevd," supply, as it has already been inti- mated, the place of an initial Shevd, with one or other of the guttural letters b^, n, H, or V , for the reason just given, with reference to the Furtive Pdthakh, In many cases, therefore, in which analogy would require the insertion of an initial Shevd (J), with one or other of these gutturals, some one of these substitutes will take its place. If, indeed, a vowel immediately precede, the sub- stitute will be that which is homogeneous with it : i.e. if (-) precede, (-: ) will be the substitute ; if (), (.:) ; if o, then (t:) will be the substitute. When no such c 2 20 LECTURE I. [[art. 47. vowel precedes, the substitute most congenial with such guttural, or with the analogy of the word, will be pre- ferred. In the first case, t^ will mostly take (-:), occa- sionally (v:) ; n (v:), rarely (-:) ; H or V (-:), rarely (") ; (t:) is seldom used, unless (t) Khdtuph, i. e. o, precedes, or unless it stands in the place of a 1 Khblem, which has been rejected by analogy. In these last cases, however, usage alone can be relied on. On the Points Dagbsh and Mappik. 47. Some notice has already been taken of Dcigesh (Articles 10, 11, 12, 31.) ; we now have to shew what its offices are. 1st, It will double any letter, which, from its situation, is capable of being doubled ; and, 2dly, it will deprive the letters ]1 557^3 of their aspiration. (Artt. 4. 10.) In the first case, whenever any consonant has this point inscribed, and is, at the same time, both preceded and followed by a vowel ; or, is preceded by a vowel, and has a Shevd ; such consonant is to be read as two, e. g. IBI Limmed, or H? Limmedu, But, if such consonant is not so preceded, &c., it cannot be doubled ; and, in that case, it is found only in the letters ^557^?^ inscribed merely for the purpose of taking away their aspiration, as already noticed. Now, this last generally takes place, when such letter commences a syllable, as ^? Caphy 13 Be7i, &c. ; in some instances when it ends it, as P^j5 kamt. It must also be remembered, that when- ever any one of these letters is in a situation to be doubled, it will be doubled ; and that the aspiration will also be taken away by the influence of this point, e. g. "iS5 Kipper, not kiphpher. Ddgesk is sometimes found in the first letter of a word (not of the class rD27.'3^)> it then takes the terminating vowel from* the preceding word, as OJ^ Jly^ Hd-U-tha-shsham, ART. 4S.'2 ON THE MARK RA-PHE. 21 48. In the first of these cases, this mark has been termed Dagesh forte, in the second Ddgesh lene ; terms, it must be confessed, ill chosen to designate the offices just described. I should prefer terming it Ddgesh only, in every case ; its situation being always sufficient to determine its powers, according to our rule. 49. Mappik is a single point (like Ddgesh) inscribed in the letter n only, thus H . Its office is to shew, that this letter, when so marked, retains its power as a con- sonant, and is to be treated as such, both in the pro- nunciation and etymology. The Jews consider it also as extending to the letter ^ , as in nniH^. Yehu-diy-yd ; but this is a useless distinction. On the Mark HDI Ra-phe. IV T 50. Formerly when Ddgesh was not found in any of the nS3132 letters, a mark called '^,?'7 Rd-phe, was placed above it, in order to shew that the point had not been omitted by mistake. With the ancient Syrians this was nothing more than a point made with red ink. The Hebrews probably wrote it in the same way : but, as this point might be mistaken for the vowel Kholerrif when printed, or, for one of the accents, the form of it was altered for a short line thus (-), which is still found in the Hebrew manuscripts,* though very rarely in the printed books. 51. Other points are found placed over certain words in the Hebrew Bible, the use of which is now unknown. The accounts given of these by the Rabbins may be seen in Buxtorf's Thesaurus Grammaticus, lib. i. cap. v. art. 6, which need not be detailed here. 52. It will be seen by recurring to the table of vowels (Art. 29.), that Kholem is given with a 1 Vaw for its fulcrum, thus 1. The Vaw, however, is frequently left out. But, as the letters \l/ Sin and ^ Shin, are also written with a point on the left or right side, respectively. * And in these it is sometimes put over a letter requiring Dagesh forte by analogy, also over m and n when quiescent. 22 LECTURE I. Cart. /)3. a question may arise, as to how the Kholem is to be represented in the case of its following J^ , or preceding \U . The answer is: Supposing any consonant to follow V^ Shi, and this C^ to have no other vowel-mark, then will its own diacritical point also stand for Kholem; as njL^ So-ne. In every other case, U/ will be merely the consonant s, as given in the Table (Art. 4.). In the next place, with respect to U/ Shin: Supposing any consonant to precede U/ Shin, having neither vowel-mark nor Shevci, then will the diacritical point of W Shin stand also for Kholem, thus, J^3 Bosh. But, if the preceding letter have a vowel or Sheva, tl/ Shin will be used merely as directed in the table of consonants. This expedient has been resorted to, in order to avoid the inconvenience of marking these points twice over, which must otherwise have taken place. 53. It will also be seen in the table of the vowels, (Art. 29.) that the letter "^ Yod has been placed above the point ( ) then called Khirik Gddol, in order to shew that it is a pet feet vowel. This " Yod, however, is fre- quently omitted ; and, when that is the case, an accent, as it will be seen hereafter, is sometimes added to make this distinction. But, as this accent is also occasionally omitted, analogy will then be the only criterion, by which the distinction can be known. 54. The learner will also perceive, that Kdmets, and Kdmets Khdtuph, have the same form, viz. (f). How then, it may be asked, are they to be distinguished ? I answer ; Whenever any consonant follows the mark (t) having also a vowel of its own, it will be seen (Art. 32.), that (t) must constitute a complete syllable ; this vowel must, therefore, be the vowel Kdmets, as in the word npn Rd'phe. For here, as D begins the following syllable, the ") with (r) must necessarily constitute the [^ART. 55. ON KAMETS KHATUPH. 23 preceding one : (t) will therefore be the perfect vowel Kdmets, In the next place, (t) found under any one of the letters 'y^y\ (Art. 27.), at the beginning of a word, may be Kdmets ; because, in this case, a contraction may have taken place; as, yH? Bd-kholi for '^ir\il2, the (j) here being compensative of (-). But, when the letters 173") are not servile, this rule will not hold good. 55, The following are the exceptions : 1 . Should (t: ) Khdteph Kdmets follow (t), or a (t) which has arisen out of (t:) by the operation of rules hereafter to be given ; then will (t) be Kdmets Khdtuph, and must be read as o, although an accent accompany it ; as ^ /^ Po-hol-M, in which case the (t) Khdtuph, being sustained by an accent, becomes equal to the perfect vowel (i). And, 2dly, when any consonant, following {'), has no vowel, and the syllable is also w'ithout an accent ; (j) will then be Kdmets Khdtuph ; as, HD^H Khoh-ma, ^V\ Ron-nu, f 3p;! Ik'hot%, &c. 56. As to the names of the vowels, &c., they are generally Chaldee or Syriac, whence some have argued that their invention is modern.* But, as this will involve questions of no importance to the learner, nothing need be said on the subject here. 57. Whether the pronunciation, here ascribed to the different consonants and vowels, was that in use in ancient times, it is impos- sible now to say : nor is it of much importance either to the learner or the critic. That the approximation is near, there cannot be much doubt ; and, that the system is generally the same, is, perhaps, sufficiently certain. But, as the Jews differ slightly in their pro- nunciation in different countries, we have here taken that of the Portuguese Jews, as nearly as it could be obtained ; which is generally allowed to be the best. * The heads of the arguments urged on this question may be seen in the Institutiones Ling. Heb. by Schultens, p. 53, &c., or in the Arcanum punctua- tionis revelatura, by Capell, &c. Various hypotheses have been offered on the names of the letters : one of the latest, and perhaps most improbable, is, that, as they occasionally present forms not in use in the Hebrew, they must therefore have been taken from some more ancient form of the language ! 24 LECTURE II. [[art. 58. LECTURE 11. ON THE HEBREW ACCENTS, &C. 58. Having given tables of the Hebrew consonants and vowels, with some explanations and rules as to their powers and use ; we now come to consider the accents and to give a table exhibiting their forms, situa- tions, and names ; to be followed, as before, with some observations on their nature and application. The fol- lowing table given by Alting and adopted by Schultens and Gesenius, has been chosen as sufficiently extensive and explicit for our present purpose. The word here taken for the purpose of exhibiting the situation, &:c. of accents, is cited from Isaiah Ivii. 18, and signifies, with its affixes, " And I will heal him." The powers of inter- punctuation which these accents are believed to possess, will be considered hereafter. (Art. 244. seq.) 59. The Hebrew accents are found placed below, above, or on a level with, the line of the consonants. Those which are found below, are twelve in number : their situations, forms, and names, are as follows : No. Sit. and Form, 5. ^HK^I^f 8. ^rii^^-ikS'i Nai pi'p'tp or p^^P silluj^^ nji^ijt Athn&kh. J^n^t? Tiphkha. Do. anterior.* T^^ri Tevir. y&, Ymiv. njlD MundkL "^SHQ Mahpak. Used iii the higher style only. ART. ^9.3 ON THE ACCENTS. 25 10. ^nj?5"i^i s" T : v: No. Sit. and Form. Name. 9. inS^n^^T riT Yerakh. i^D"lQ Merca. Do. n^lM M doubled. T : Those which are placed above the line of consonants, are eighteen in number. Their names, forms, and situa- tions, are as follows : Name. Id. with {^"lil Geresh in the higher style. ]iDp^ ^p.t ^akef Katon. h^l^ ^P.t ^akef Gddbl. ^inSjp Segolta. Pashtd. Shalshekth. Zarkd. Zarkd anterior. Pdzer. Geresh. Id. doubled. Karne Phdrd. J^eltshd Gedold. No. Sit. and Form. * T : V : T : V : 11. inAsiisi 12. ^nJi2J-|>^1 13. in'a-)i?i 14. ^n^^jn^f 15. 1^^?^^i$^ 16. ^^^??)1^1 ir. 1^^^a-l^?l 18. insai^.i ITS) "T ^1^ '31P. T : T : njlpp i^;^^*'^]^ 'mishd Ketannd. S^*Tp Kad?nd. n^lD Mundkh superior. Mcihpdk superior. Zarka anterior, and the two last, are found thus in the higher style only. The accents, written both above and below the line at 26 LECTURE II. [[art. 60. the same time are four: their names^ forms, and situa- tions, are as follows : No. Sit. and Form. Name. < 1. ')n^?ti"lii^1 Mahpdk v/hh Mercd. 2. 1 n ^^ 2)1 ^^^ Zarkd with Mercd. y T : V : 3. in^i^^lKT Zarkd w'lih Mahpdk. 4 inj^SlKT Mundkh vi'nh Mahpdk. One only is found in the same line with the consonants. 'inK|)-|IS:i \P"1J^ Legartne, or p^D?) Pesik, according to its situation. It should be observed that, as several of these accents have the same form, they can be distinguished by their positions only. The best way to get acquainted with them is, to write them over a few times, first with, and then without, the tables.^' 60. These marks are divided, with respect to their offices, into Tonic, and Euphonic, accents. 61. The tonic accent, however situated, can affect only the ultimate or penultimate syllable of any word, as the * Various offices have been ascribed to these accents. By some they are thought to have been attached to the sacred text, in order to regulate the tone of voice, either in reading or chanting. Others have supposed them to have been affixed for tlie purpose of dividing it into its several members, as verses, the larger and smaller members of sentences, &c., and to point out the different dependence which these parts have on one another. Others, again, have assigned to them emphasis, parenthesis, parallelism, &c., while others have given them all these offices together. Some, again, have supposed them to be of divine, others of human, origin. In the present work we shall consider their application to the text, as ihe best grammarians usually have done, viz., as intended to divide the context into its different members, and to determine (for the most part) the tone-accent of the words in which they are found. As to their authority, we cannot allow it to be divine, until better proofs than any hitherto offered shall have been given on that point. As coming from men, who had perhaps made the Hebrew Bible the study of their lives, they are valuable. They may, nevertheless, be rejected, whenever a more convenient division can be discovered. ART. 62-3 ON THE ACCENTS. 27 analogy may require, which it does by directing the emphasis to be placed on that syllable. When this accent is found on any other syllable, the tone-accentua- tion of such word can be known only from its analogy. In other cases, the accent will point it out. 62. When a word happens to have more than one tone-accent, and both happen to be the same, the first will govern the accentuation; as ^nr\ Tho-hu : hnt, when they are not the same, the last will ; e.g. D'lliJ^^^T U-lemo-adim. 63. Generally, all words either being, or terminating in the form of, Segolates (to be considered hereafter), will have the accentuation on the penultimate syllable : all others on the ultimate. 64. The Euphonic accent supplies a sort of secondary accentuation to the word in which it is found; which can never be in the ultimate of any word, nor even the penultimate of those having the Segolate form. 65. Of this accent, modern grammarians count two sorts, Metheg JH^ , and MakMph ^)^.?. The former of these has the same form with Silluk ( ' ) ; but, as it can never hold the same situation, the distinction is easily known. The latter takes the form of our hyphen ; as in vip'nx Eth-kol, and generally deprives the preceding word of its tone-accent. In neither case is their insertion always solitary ; for, several Methegs are sometimes found in the same word, and several words are occasionally connected by the operation of MakkdpJi. Particular rules for their insertion will be given hereafter. 66. One mark more it may suffice to notice here, and that is, a small circle sometimes found over a word in the Hebrew context \ o thus, M^*)!? . The word, over which this mark is found, is said to be ^"^O^ Kelhiv, or wriilen ; and the mark itself is intended to direct the attention of the reader to some note to be found either in the 28 LECTURE II. Cart. 67. margin, or at the foot, of the page. For the most part, it directs the reader to a various reading, on the right side of which we find the word '''^r? Keri, meaning either reading or read.* The readings thus pointed out in the Hebrew Bible amount to about J 000, and are generally preferred to those found in the text. The far greater part of them has been found by Kennicott and De Rossi in the MSS. which they collated.^ 67. Having thus far explained the powers of the several consonants, vowels, accents, &c., and given some rules on the subject of their combination, we now proceed to lay down, and analyze, a portion of the Hebrew text, in exemplification of what has been said. The passage we shall first take is, Zephaniah iii. 8, in which we have all the letters of the alphabet, with most of the vowels and other marks. In reading this, the learner should mark each syllable distinctly, with a slight pause ; and continue this practice until he is perfectly famihar with all the consonants, vowels, &c. 8 7 6 5. 4 3 2 1 Widd Ku-mi leybm Yehb-vdl neum li khak-ku Ld-ken. 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 -^i^tfth niiSpp ^V5i^^ D^i5 ^D^'2 VppO '3 lish-pok mam-ld-kbth lekov-tst go-im le-esbph Mish-pd-ti ki 23 22 21 20 19 18 U 18 'i??3i? B>S3 ^1 ^5S iiin ^7^ Vl!l Dn^!?j; kin-d-thi heesh ki ap-pi kharon kbl zah-mi hale-hem 26 25 * 24 hd-d-rets kol te-d-kel For an explanation of these Masoretic marks, the Tiberias of Buxtorfius should be consulted. f Kennicott's Dissertatio Generalis, 39. De Rossi Proleg. xxxix. X This word is pronounced '^t> Ado-ndi by the Jews, whenever it is found as pointed above : but, when it precedes the word '2i in the text, it then takes the points of the word own EldhinZf thus rfirr , and is then pronounced Elohim. This is a mere Jewish superstition, derived from a considerable antiquity ; it being their opinion, that this name ought to be pronounced by none except the High Priest, and by him only once in the year. ART. 67.] ON THE ACCENTS. 29 The learner will recollect that he is to read, beginning at the right, and proceeding towards the left, hand (Art. 3.) ; and that the consonants must precede the vowels (Art. 31.). The numerals are added to shew the order of the words. Let us now proceed to analyze the syllables, &c. In No. 1. we have Lamed with Kdmets, making the open syllable La, After this we have Caph with Tsere, followed by Nun, making the syllable hen. Here, according to our system of syllabication, we should have had some imperfect vowel under the Caph (Art. 33.), which would have been sufficient to complete this syllable ; but the accent Mahpdk being added, the anomaly is corrected (ib.). No. 2. Kheth with Pdthakh, followed by Caph with the point Ddgesh inscribed : and, as a vowel follows this letter, it must be doubled ; the point is therefore Ddgesh forte. (Art. 47.) The first syllable, consequently, is hhah, the second is hu; and this is composed of the second Caph, and the vowel Shureh, We next have the mark called Makhaph, which is used to connect numbers 2 and 3 together, like our hyphen (Art. ^^.^, No. 3. Lamed with Khirik followed by Yod, making the open syllable It; to this is added the tonic accent Pashtd, which may be represented by li. No. 4. we have Nun with Shevd. In this case Shevd is very slightly pronounced (Art. 40.), but it is not reckoned as a syllable. In the next place we have Alef with Kibbuts, followed by Mem, This syllable, therefore, must be pronounced urn, in which u has the sound of oo in good. The whole word will then be neum, in which the e will be passed over as rapidly as possible. We then have the mark Makkdph, as before, which deprives the preceding word of its tone-accent (Art. 65.). 30 LECTURE II. D^RT. 67. No. 5. is the word Jehovah, pronounced Yeho-vd. Here Shevd is passed over rapidly as before. The point over the left limb of He is the vowel Kholem (Art. 52.) ; and, as the Vaw following has a vowel of its own, it is not quiescent in the preceding vowel Kholem, which it otherwise would be (Art. 37.). The first syllable, therefore, including the Shevd, will be Yeho, the next Vd, in which the terminating H will be quiescent in the preceding Kmnets (ib.). Over the Vaw commencing this last syllable, we have the accent ZdMph Kciton. In no respect, therefore, can the mark (t) under this Vaw be a Kdmets Khdtuph, (Art. 54.). Nothing now occurs, worth remark, till we come to No. 11. In the word ^D.^j?. Le-es6ph, then, the first syllable consists of Lamed with Segol, accompanied by an Euphonic accent (Art. 65.) called Metheg, making a complete syllable (Art. 33.) This syllable, therefore, is open Le, The Alef following, with Khdteph Segol which is a substitute of Shevd (Art. 46.), does not con- stitute a syllable ; and, therefore, it is passed over as rapidly as convenient, in connexion with the following syllable Soph, which has the tonic accent Pashtd (Art. 59.). No. 12. The first syllable consists of Gvmel with (i) Kholem (Art. 29.). The next syllable is commenced by Yod, with Khirih 6^a^o/ following, and which, by analogy, should be followed by another Yod, as D"^"] Yim, or im (Art. 15.) : but the second Yod is frequently omitted, as will be seen Art. 53. Khlrik thus situated is never- theless a perfect vowel : and, as the syllable also ends with a consonant, the accent Geresh is added to rectify the syllabication (Art. 33.). No. 13. *'3??jj'?. Here the first letter has an Initial Shevd, which will therefore be passed over rapidly. In ART. 68.^ ON THE READING. 31 the next place we have p Koph, followed by (t), i. e. either Kdmets or Kdmets Khdtuph, It cannot be Kdmets, because it precedes a consonant which has neither any vowel of its own, and is accompanied by no accent, (Art. 54.) The first syllable, therefore, will be Lehov, and the last, tsi, which need not be further explained. On No. 14. it will be necessary only to remark, that the point placed over the middle of the letter D is the accent Revmh, not the vowel Kholem, which however follows that letter. A recurrence to the tables will always be sufficient to shew, that this accent is placed over the middle of the consonant, Kholem always on the one side. No. 19. forms one syllable only : the Khdteph Pdthakh (-:) found under the fl Kheth, being one of the substitutes of Shevd, is not counted in the syllabication. 68. The names of the different accents will be found by turning to the table (Art. 59.), with which the Learner will do well to make himself familiar : other- wise, he will occasionally confound them with the vowels, and, in many instances, be unable to determine whether Shevd begins, or ends a syllable, or whether the mark (t) be Kdmets, or Kdmets Khdtuph. We shall subjoin a passage, for the sake of practice, in which the greater part of the accents is found, and give the syllables in Roman letters, as in the last, in order to facilitate the reading. 2 Kings I. 6. V J - V T: jt't j* t : i- e-le-n& vai-yo-mer Uk-ra-the-nu hd-ld ish e-ldw Vai-yb-merd, jv : - : V : v j- t v -: ! v jv - v j : vedib-bar-tem eth-kem sha-ldkh Hsher hum-me-kk el shu-vu l^ku JT - T : : v; I !* <:-: t : j- t < t -j ut-td beis-rd-el elo-him en hamib-beli Yeho-vd d-mdr ko e-ldw 32 LECTURE II. [art. 69' P? lili?J!/ V^^: ^'1?? ^i??^ ^^7^ ^^ Id-kSn hek-ron eld-he zevuv hevd-hal lid-rbah shb-lecikh moth ki mim-men-na the-red lb shshdm hd-li-thd-asher ham-mit-td I T id-mulh 69. It will be unnecessary to point out the names of the different vowels and accents found in this extract, as the Learner will easily find them by recurring to the tables. It may be necessary however to remark, that the accent found between the third and fourth words is termed Legarme, not Pesik, The distinction consists in this : that when the accent Munakh precedes the mark ( I ) it is then termed Legarme, When any other accent precedes, it is termed Pesik. In the word \21 too, the accent is found over the 7 , while the accented syllable is the following one ]5 i but this accent, viz., Telishd gedohi, is always found on the first letter, see the Table, while the accentuation is regulated by the analogy (Art. 61.). As the word Dg^ commences with Ddgesh in the ^, the vowel (t) terminating the preceding word is so connected with it, as to enable the reader to pronounce the ^ twice, as in shshdm (Art. 47.). 70. The Learner cannot now do better than to take a Hebrew Bible, and transcribe a chapter or more at a time, in Roman letters, dividing it into syllables as given above ; and this he should continue to do until he is quite familiar with the letters, vowels, accents, and syllables. After this he may read, which he had better do aloud, until he finds no difficulty in enouncing every syllable fully and correctly. A little perseverance will accomplish this, which is perhaps the greatest difficulty he will have to encounter : when he has succeeded, he will find his progress both easy and deUghtful. ART. 71.3 LECTURE III. 33 LECTURE III. ON THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES, CONNECTED WITH EUPHONY, WHICH AFFECT THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE HEJJREW LANGUAGE. 71. It is well known that changes take place in the consonants and vowels of all languages, which can be accounted for on no other principles than those of euphony. Certain vowels and consonants would, in some situations, introduce sounds so difficult of utterance and so grating to the ear, that conversation would become painful both to the speaker and hearer. In order to avoid these, certain changes are found to take place in the constitution of words, which at first sight appear to be anomalous, and which give great trouble to the learner until the laws by which they are regulated are understood. In no language is this more apparent than in the Hebrew and its dialects, particularly the Arabic. In the Sanscrit it prevails in a much greater degree ; and is found in the Greek to give more trouble to the learner, than anything else brought under his observation. It is our intention to commence our investigation of the prin- ciples of the Hebrew language, by detailing the rules under which these apparent anomalies are regulated, for the purpose of enabling the learner to account for the different forms of words as they occur. Because, until he has some knowledge of this subject, he will meet with scarcely any thing but difficulty ; and may, after a study of some years, be induced, as many have been, to confess that there is nothing certain in this language. 72. It has been remarked (Art. 3(5, &c.) that the letters conv tained in the technical word ^JOj?, will occasionally lose their power as consonants, or become quiescent in the sound of the preceding P 34 LECTURE III. [[art. 73. vowel, so that the pronunciation of the word will continue the same, whether these letters be written or not ; and, the consequence is, they are often omitted ; as, "T)?.S, for ^i?^^ visitor ; O^?*!' ^^^^ ^?^; words; rin, for nini signs; riB?, for HSb elevation; W^^, for n^Xprn they (fem.) approach; t33v''?, for DsVhD what^ (is it) to you ? '^^tJ^j ^or ''^1^7^, / Aaye hiorvn, &c. And, uzce ^er^a, these letters will occasionally be inserted when the analogy does not require them : as ^"^P? for *^P? visiting, ^^fjr ^^^ ^in- stood,* &c. 73. Hence, when Shevd (f), or one of its Substitutes, happens to be initial, and to precede one of the letters ^^Hj?, a contraction generally takes place, by which both (:) and the "^^Dj:? letter are rejected, and the following vowel drawn back to the place of the rejected Shevd or Substitute; e. g. np for nsp, "ipS for "ip^, ni'SS for n^i^n^^ Tf;?D^_ for TfJDH^ n|pD; for Tpsn^, pH for i*i:^n, ^3 for ^")2, "^-? for ^l"?, =^^| for =^n^|, D^?; for D^W (pi. of Di^ day), n'^IV for D^^^? (ci/ie^, pi. of ^^V\ D'?^T for'o'^t^sn (pi. of trsn head, where, however, the *^ is retained.) 74. When any one of the letters "^^T}^. terminates a word, and has no vowel either immediately preceding or following, it is often rejected : as, '^^^ for "^"^p?^ a captive, "^2 for MI'S a valley, "Jp for n^P a line, "? for H*)? a precept, '^V for H^ or ]l^ (passing) yet, ever, eternal. 1. When not rejected, they are said to be otiose (Art. 37.), which may happen either in the middle or at the end of a word : as, riW^^U thou broughtest, ^'^2 a valley. 2, Hence it is, that n, standing as the third letter of a root, and losing its vowel, is rejected : as, ^?.,1 for n/.y., originally ^^^^. he reveals, ^^^ for H???!'. &c. This is termed Apocope, The reason of it, as will be seen hereafter, is the removal of the Tone-accent. 75. Any one of the letters H, \ or ^, when preceded and fol- lowed by a vowel, will occasionally be dropped : as, D^IH'TP? for Cn**]^'])2Q / visited them; D'^'irj^ for D'^^'^l'J? i^^y visited them; Di;? for D?i5 he stood; 1? for 1!? he understood; nb for H^ lamb, &c. 76. Either of the letters "^y or 3, when initial, j- and 3 generally Hence it is, that the letters % i, (for n rarely occurs in such situation), have been termed " Matres lectionis,'' and are supposed to have been used as vowels at some former period. ) Mr. Stuart has, after Gesenius, given "n for ^l; Judg. xix. 11; nrin for rinn: 2 Sam. xxii. 41, &c.; litt? for nvaJ; Jer. xUi. 10, as instances in which ART. 77.]] ON ELISION. 35 when terminating a syllable (not the last) and having a Shecd (:), will be (Iropt : as, ri^b, for H^V bearing a child; TO";!, for nVl) knorvledge ; ^^., for ^j5? approach ; ^V. , for ^^T. he draws near ; ^l7.Q\ for "1)7?\ for '^ijQ^nv^ f^K^ fo^ ^l^M ager; H^^, for ^?P, rrw/Zi. In the latter case, when 3 is dropt, the following letter will, when it can, be doubled by Ddgesh, which may therefore be considered as compensative, b hkewise, in the verb ^1*2^, when it ought to take (=) Shevd by analogy, is dropt : as nj7, for nj7? take. 1 . The reason of these elisions seems to be, that, as the "^ would be enounced with some difficulty with an initial Shevd ; and the 3, in each case, on account of its being a nasal^ both have been neglected in writing, 77. When the last two letters of any root, and occasionally of derivatives, happen to be the same, one of them is usually dropt : as, ^O , for ^]3P he surrounded ; ^p , for ^'p-P surrounding ; Q^ , for C^y a people ; ^f?, for ^^^ a mother ; which, however, will be restored (by Ddgesh) when any augment makes this possible : as, ^'^P they have surrounded; "^^V my people^ &c. In this case, the rejection probably takes place, in order to avoid an ambiguity which might arise from the operation of a rule hereafter to be considered, under which the Learner or Reader may possibly mis- understand this for a reduplication, introduced for the sake of emphasis or the like. 78. Letters of the same organ are, on account of a similarity of sound prevailing among them, sometimes changed the one for the other : e. g. 1. Labials : l?, ^?., or H?- the back; '*79, or '7?/a^- ^J?? or ^7^ he escaped. 2. Palatals : "1,^0 , or "ipp he shut up ; ^.^"J, or ^^^l he travelled; rni3,or3?nipa^a^//e. 3. Linguals: ^^n, or HpH he robbed. 4. Sibilants : f)?, or oby , or V]??, he exulted; p5?J, or P]?? he cried out; ppf, or V^"^ he laughed. 5. Gutturals : J^S?* ^^ "^rJ? ^^ ^^* weak ; ^5?, or 0,5? he was mournful. * or : having a vowel, is dropt by the aphseresis. For my part, I doubt whether these are not rather infinitives than preterites ; and if they are so, the elision connes under the above rule. d2 36 LECTURE III. Cart. 79. 79. In a few instances, letters of different organs, but, in some respects, similar in sound, are changed one for another, as, 1. Sibilants for Linguals : "HJ?? , or ^'^'^he quenched; *^^?, or *^t^3 he watched; ^"171, or riin^l afr tree; tr?nn, or Hnn he engraved. 2. Liquids for one another : Vp^, or VP? he oppressed; v'^H^rT or '^^'H^rr he caused to shine ; l^ip, or Dt^tZ? he opposed ; "^^^ , or ^^3 tottering ; Ij?? , or "^J? proper name. So "l-^SSlpJin? Nevukadnetstsdr, or '^,?^'7-7^^^^ Nevukadnetstsdr. 80. The ''jnf? letters, considered either as consonants or qui- escents, will occasionally be changed for one another, particularly when the pronunciation of the word is not materially affected by the change: e. g. D^Wib^, or D^'.^'i^? rags; 3j^^, or ^.I'i'^ Doeg, a proper name ; "n^Tp . or "H^t ^'^ ^^^^ > ^Pl*? > ^^ ^P*:'? baldness ; SJPP, or r\J)12 a collection; ^^^ , or l^il ^o>* "^I^t ^^ *^^ ^P > '^S?' ^^^ nw; he was beautiful So in the Syriac, ^^'^IJ?. , for b-'lIDp!). he kills. 82. The letters of a syllable are, moreover, sometimes trans- posed ; as, ''pS , for ^59 ^^*^ ^'^^ foolish ; ^?^,? . for ^?3 /am6 ; ?i:^3, for li7p? /roA;e out;'V?^, for Pj:?J Ae sighed; ^'^'^^^ , for ri*1S^^ vallies : and, in some cases, a letter is transposed to another syllable ; as, '^y?V , for ^^^*}V wicked- ness ; "^f? : ^ fo^ n'9^ " garment. 1. These changes and transpositions (i. e. from Art. 78 to this place) do not otherwise affect the grammar of the language, than point out to the student what roots, &c., are said to be Cognate; that is, are related to one another in their radical letters, and have the same, or very nearly the same, signification. The preceding, as well as the following, will affect the grammatical forms of words. 83. When the n, of the Hithpdhel species of conjugation, precedes by analogy any of the Sibilant letters (Art. 23.), a transposition, and occasionally a change, of that letter will take place : e. g. In the first case, ^jfinpn , for ^J2p0n he loaded himself', "^^T^^^'H ^ for -^?2lpOn he caused to keep. In the second : P^it^r^H , for P^^I^rir^, he justified. In this case only is the H changed to ^. 1, But, when a letter of the same organ with ^ (see Art. 23.) follows, both will coalesce by Ddgesh placed in the radical Art. 83. 2.3 CHANGES OF THE CONSONANTS. 37 letter: e. g. ^^i'^.^ , for "^Jl^On, of "1?^ he spoke; "^nt^jH, for "^ni?;iin, of "in^ Ae ;a5 c/ean; c^nn, for D^POn, of nnn he was complete. 2. This coalescence, which has been termed Assimilation^ is found very generally to prevail ; but not without some exceptions, which will be noticed hereafter. S. In a few instances, this principle of assimilation is also found to extend itself to other letters: e. g. '^2'in, for ^^lOH, of HSJ he was pure, n^?n, for nD30n, of ^J?? he covered; ^,5217, for 230n, of S*?? he declared; C^inS, for DttinOi?, of CJl'^ exalting; CpiU^n, for QpnO^On, of D1?t he desolated] &c. 84. Letters are sometimes added, either for the purpose of facili- tating the pronunciation, or for modifying the signification of words : e. g. in the first case : ''^^O^, for ^'"^^O yesterday ; ^"^"It^ for V'^'^T the arm.* In the second : ^^P^ vnost cruelj from "]\? cruel^ &c. Of this kind are the paragogic letters, as well as those used in forming the different species of nouns, conjugations, &c., of which an account will be given hereafter. The first of these cases is termed Prosthesis ; the second Epenthesis, Paragoge^ Heemanthi^ &c., according to their different offices and uses. 85. Letters are occasionally dropt (Art. 72. IQ.)^ so also D and 1 in the Syriac, Chaldaic, and Arabic), terminating words in the plural number, when those words happen to be in the state of definite construction^ of which more hereafter. ? likewise, in a very few instances at the end of proper names : as, 1"^?P , for I'l'^^P , for the reason given in Art. IQ. 1. 0?i the Contractions which take place in the Vowels, 86. As it may occasionally happen, in combining the vowels with the consonants, that certain sounds may arise either disagreeable to the ear, difficult of utterance, or, from some reason or other, gene- rally avoided by the people speaking a given language ; it is of importance to know, in what cases these difficulties are found to arise in the language before us, and how they are obviated. 87. Whenever any vowel not homogeneous with one of the Of this sort are the words stablish and establish^ special and especial, in English. So in the Greek trraxos aaraxos, vrja-ris uptjo-tis, &c. And so, in some of the former cases, as, English, said, forsaj/ed; had, for haved; brand, from burned; ask, Saxon, axian, or acnuin; wrought, for worked. 38 LECTURE III. " [^ART. 87.1. letters **, or ^ (Art. 38.) happens to precede such letter, a vowel will be formed from the combination partaking of the sound of both : hence 1. (-) Pdthakh preceding "j will become "i Kholem ; e. g. HiD for rSyt^ death; "ryi\ for ^^T. (for ^]>^p\ , Art. 73.) he begets; :3^i\ for ^P?]- (for ^I^IU"]. ih.) he causes to reside.* 2. .Vaw T, preceded by (t) Khdtuph, () Kihbuts, () Segol, or () Tsere, will become ^ : e. g. *T^^^ , for ^]>)) , or '^'^V.^ (from "r^^ini or "^]??^!^^, Art. 7S.) he is begotten; Cnj^, for P^i?. standing ; ri-IDbp for npV'?, (probably for O^K^f?^, Art. r's. of "q^P ^tk^, and OyO or HjI'J!! 6em^, root Hj^^n yya^,) reigning; kingdom. So 'inJ^tt?"^^ for inntt7\ root "^nip, for in?? Ae wa* low; ^^ih, for iriij^ ewip^i- ness ; ^nip, for ^D^l inanity, &c. 3. In like manner, "^ preceded by (-) Pathahh, will become qui- escent in (), the (-) disappearing : as, ^''S, for Ol? a house ; T?, for r^ aw eye; ^2, or by Art. 74, "^2, for ^^5 a valley; ^'p^^ , for ntQ^ri (for ntpi^ni^, or :2>t5^ni;n, Art. 73.) it does well 4. When the vowel () or () precedes *!, the contraction will take place in '^t perfect : e. g, ^^'^^ , for ^"^^^ (formed perhaps from nnS eating; and ^^^''7, or ^v^I. of the root H^H Ae was) a cove- nant; ri>tpn, for 0^f?'n beginning; tt7^, for P';*^ a . So '"PP, for ^TIP rebellion; ^1??, for "^^^ captivity; ''^6, for \^n Aa//. 5. In like manner, when Shevd precedes any perfect or imperfect vowel, or a substitute of Shevd follows an imperfect one ; a con- traction may take place, in which the Shevd, or its Substitute, will disappear : as, 1st. HMt??, for HW^ elevation; ^ISnpb, for ^^^717^ meeting; '^^"'', for "^p^l he says, &c. 2. "I^^- > ^^^ "^?v?iv saying ; b^.W;, for ^,?^?! Ae separates; and (by Art. 72.) n^% for :i^^1 Ae prospers, 6. Either (-) or (t)) preceding a guttural letter, which has (r) Kdmets, is frequently changed into () for the sake of ieuphony : as, "rn^ tnasc. ^nij-j< fem. one; '^''7?? ^*^^ '^''77? <^^ mountains. * So in the Sanscrit regularly, a and w become b; a and i, e. See the Grammars. From this, and similar cases which will occur, it appears extremely probable that \ when a consonant, was originally pronounced like our w, as nwn Malkewth, which would be regularly written tvq)^ Malkulh : and so of others. t There is a manifest anomaly in the first vowel of these words, which may be corrected thus: "in^, or "rn, nnh, ornnj^; -jn>, or T^r^^, This last would approach the orthography of the Syrians; the other, that of the Arabs. It has also been supposed to contain an implied Ddgesh. Art. 114. ART. 88.]] CHANGES OF THE VOWELS. 39 On the Chmiges of the Vowels, 88. Could we suppose Hebrew words to have remained unaltered as to their original forms, or unvaried in pronunciation with refe- rence to the syllable on which the accent is placed ; we could also suppose, that no variation would ever have taken place in the vowels. But the fact is, the forms of words vary, in order to express the different shades of meaning of which the root is capable ; and, from this, as well as other causes, the accented syllable will not always remain the same : and, consequently, as the pronunciation of the word thus varied must alter, the vowels accompanying it must vary likewise. 89. Hence it will appear, that two circumstances are to be attended to, with reference to the change of the Hebrew vowels. One is, the etymology or form of the word ; the other, the situa- tion of the accent. 90. The form of the word can only be understood from rules hereafter to be detailed. The principles, however, upon which the etymology rests, may here be stated ; and that will be sufficient for the present. 91. Any augment whatever, prefixed to a word, will not influence our present considerations, as the changes of the vowels do not depend upon this. We have now to do, only with augments post- fixed to words ; because it is upon these alone, that such changes depend. 92. These augments, then, may be considered as of two sorts : One, commencing with a vowel, and which may be termed Asyllabic; the other with a consonant, which may be termed Syllabic.* 93. We can readily perceive, that, upon any Astjllabic augment being postfixed to a word, the terminating consonant of such word must be taken in order to enounce it ; otherwise it will remain silent ; it being contrary to the laws of syllabication, that any vowel begin a syllable (Art. 31.). If, then, we attach the asyllabic augment Q''t, which is the mark of the plural number masculine, to any word, such as D^ a people ^ or '^'^ pure ; we must neces- sarily take the last letter, of either of these words respectively to * The reason of these terms is obvious : a vowel cannot commence a syl- lable in Hebrew; hence augments thus commencing are termed Asyllabic: those commencing with a consonant are, for the like reason, termed Syllabic. 4?0 LECTURE III. Cart. 94' enounce it : and, if the word have, hy analogy^ but one such termi- nating letter, then must the preceding syllable necessarily be perfect; but, if two, imperfect; e. g. "^^ pure, (root ^"J?, the ^ being rejected by Art. 72.) then adding Q"!, we have ^"^7? Bd-rim, pure ones, &c. But taking D5^ a people, which is derived from the root CP?, (one of the radicals being rejected by Art. 77, we have D^ ,) and adding C]. , we shall have Q*^'^^? Ham-mtm, peoples* It will entirely depend, therefore, upon the analogy of the word, whether the preceding vowel is to be perfect or not, due regard being had to the laws of Syllabication. 94. In the next place, if our augment be Syllabic, as ^^., (which is one of the pronominal affixes signifying your, and carrying the accent with it,) as Hebrew words in the singular generally end in a consonant ; the preceding vowel, in such case, must necessarily be imperfect ; because, both this vowel will be without an accent, and it will be followed by a consonant : e. g. ^j?"^? Bar-kemf your pure one; or, ^5^P Ham-mekem, your people* 95. Hence it will appear, that a perfect vowel will occasionally become imperfect ; and, vice versa, an imperfect one, perfect : i. e. in other words, vowels will be changed for their homogeneous perfect or imperfect ones, as the rules of syllabication, considered in con- nexion with the etymology, shall require. 96. This correspondence, however, in the vowels, is of two sorts ; Direct, and Oblique* 1. The Direct correspondence is, that of the several perfect, with the imperfect, vowels, respectively, as (t) with (-), () with (), &c., as given in the Tables (Art. 29.) 2. The Oblique correspondence is, that of the vowels in some respects dissimilar ; as, (t) or (-) with () or () ; () or (v) with (*!) or (~) ; and (i) with (). 97. Generally, therefore, when any change of the vowels must take place, in order to comply with the laws of etymology and syllabication ; those vowels which are either directly, or obliquely, homogeneous with their primitives, will be taken : the directly homogeneous ones generally ; the other cases may be considered as exceptions, for which, nevertheless, some cause can generally be assigned. 98. This change of the vowels, moreover, will occasionally affect the penultimate syllable of a word, as well as the ultimate. Let us now consider by what laws the change will be regulated in this case. ART. 100.3 CHANGES OF THE VOWELS. 41 99. Generally, upon any augment being made, when the penulti- mate syllable ends in a perfect, but mutable, vowel, that vowel will be rejected, and its place be supplied, either by Shevd, or by one of its Substitutes, according to rules hereafter to be given ; but, if that vowel be immutable,* it will necessarily remain unaltered : e. g. affixing D^. to "'j?^ ^ nford, we shall have ^^7?? De-vd-rtm, words : but, attaching it to "^Ip^ visiting, where the penultimate vowel is immutable by analogy, we shall have ^"^7^ persons visiting, 100. In like manner, if the penultimate syllable end in a con- sonant, and have no accent, its vowel will necessarily remain im- mutable, whatever be the affix : as, ^"^"jT'?^ " sanctijier, D'*^'':ff?P , or D^^'^'^PP sanctifiers, or, your sanctijiers. 101. Again, in all cases, in which the ultimate is immutable, either by analogy or position, the penultimate vowel, if mutable by analogy, will be rejected : but, when both are immutable, no change can take place in the vowels, whatever be the affix. Examples of the first case, "T^^ a person visited, Q*'7^"?. r?'7?; of ^he second, T'lS^; D'^V-12lp, ^^^^ji-T^, fountain, fountains, your fountains. 102. The changes to which the vowels are liable, from the acci- dence of the Grammar, can affect no vowel beyond the penultimate : because, first, the prefixing of any augment whatever to a word does not affect its vowels (Art. 91.); and, secondly, as no syllable, beyond the penultimate, can be affected by the tone accent ; neither can it, by any augment whatever affixed to such word : the syllables so situated, will therefore remain undisturbed by grammatical accidence. 103. The reason for abridging words, either in the ultimate, or penultimate, syllable (for both seldom occur together) when any augment is affixed, seems to be this : Were words thus to be aug- mented, in addition to their own primitive vowels, they would become inconveniently long. And, on the other hand, as those vowels, which have been termed immutable, constitute the distinctive character of the words in which they are found, perspicuity forbids that any change should take place in them : otherwise the peculiar forms of such words would be lost ; and, with that, the sense intended by writers generally. On the use of Shevd^ and its Substitutes, 104. Having laid down the general laws, relating to the changes It will be shewn hereafter in what cases vowels are mutable or immutable. 42 LECTURE III. [[art. 105. of the vowels, we now proceed to notice a few affecting the use of Shevd and its Substitutes. To enter into all the niceties usually brought forward upon these points, could be neither necessary nor agreeable to the student : the length and subtilty of the enquiry, woidd not only be tedious and embarrassing ; but, when brought to a close, would probably leave him in possession of less practical knowledge on the subject, than the use of tables and his lexicon would supply. We shall therefore be brief, contenting ourselves with what seems most important, and noticing a few apparent anomalies as we proceed. 105. Shevd () may be either Initial or Final (Art. 40.). It will be initial at the commencement of any syllable, whether that be at the beginning, or in the middle, of a word ; Jinal, when at the end of any syllable. 106. By grammatical accidence, however, two Shevds, or Shevd with a Substitute of Shevd, may concur as initials : but, as no one of these can stand for a vowel, or constitute a syllable in conjunction with any consonant ; some change must necessarily take place when any two of them concur. In this case the first Shevd, or Substitute of Shevd, will be changed into some imperfect vowel. 1. Shevd so situated, which usually happens at the beginning of a word, mostly becomes Khirik (), sometimes Pdthakh (-) or Segol (v): as, 1. i|7?\ for i|79^, he visits; ^J}^^ , for 1)7?? in visiting: 2. ''^??, for "^i??? wings; and *^j7?^j for ^P;?^ / visit. The use of Pdthakh (-), however, is rare, and can be known only from usage : Segol will occur only with N,* n, or 3? . 2. One or other of the Substitutes of Shevd, may concur with Shevd, or with another Substitute of Shevd, either in the beginning, or in the middle, of a word ; the change will then be, into the imperfect vowel homogeneous with the Substitute; e. g. "^^^^ for "^XD^^^ men, "H^H? , for "HpH? he is turned over. So, in the middle, ^y?Q, for ^X^:Q thy work; =^7?3?,!, for =^7P?,! they stand. There are, however, many exceptions : as, ^^^^,5 it is made, or done, masc, but fem. nritp^pj which can be known only by usage. 3. But, as the Substitutes of Shevd are various, it may be neces- sary here to state, in what cases either of them is generally pre- ferred ; because upon this, the operation of the foregoing rule will greatly depend. * This is regularly the case, in the first person singular of the species Kal, Jsiiphhdl, and PthH, when no guttural letter follows. ART. 106. 4.] SHEVA AND ITS SUBSTITUTES. 43 4. Generally, when one of the guttural letters commences a syllable, whether in the beginning or in the middle of a word, and ought by analogy to take {:) Shevd; Khdteph Pdthakh (-:) is mostly substituted for it: e.g. 1. At the beginning of words: Drf'nW their father ; D3''TO your brother ; "If^W who, which ; T\bv^ make thou. 2. In the middle: V^^ ^^* redeemer; ^"JQ^^/car ye; l^'T^^. she proceeded. (See Art. 46.). 5. There is, however, a considerable number of exceptions to this rule : and, 1st. Several monosyllables, with their compounds, commencing with ^, will take (v.) Khdteph Segol in the place of Shevd; as 'H^^'' r^ Elimelek, a proper name. 2dly, Infinitives and Imperatives of the conjugation Kal, when commencing with W : as ^'^t'^. eating, or eat thou; "^"^^v? saying, or say thou, 3dly, The characteristic n of the Hiphhil species, in verbs having the middle radical letter quiescent, and receiving some augment: as, V^H ^^ restored him or it; '2{?'*PU ^^^ P^^ ihem to death. The first person singular mostly follows the general rule and takes (-:). 4thly, In a few words (.:) is found with ^ at the beginning of a word: as, ^^f?. strength; y.l? a pestil; ^i^.^? affliction; "H^"^.^ arrayed; ^Xp. respond ye. 6thly, Khdteph Segol (") is also found in the middle of a word : as, "^/vl^^ towards the tent; ^^fD: "^ ^^^^V '^^ ^^^^ ^f ^hee; ''^^O./l ^^d they become inflamed; "'Pr^pHp.. she conceived me. 7thly, In the following we have(T:) similarly situated: ^^P^f?^ / rest; ""^^^^ thou (fem.) didst bribe. And, Sthly, Generally, whenever a mutable 1 has been rejected, its place may be supplied by (^:) when commencing a word, and frequently when in the middle, whatever be the accompanying consonant : 2iS,^'^'^^'Q months, from ^IF} a month; D"^"!? from bn tent; Q'^ll?: plural of tt?lf?, holiness, &c. And, 9thly, Some cases occur, in which one or other of these Substitutes is found with a non-guttural letter, and when analogy does not seem to require it: e.g. ^HJ. gold. Gen. ii. 12; '^Plj!^., she was taken, ib. ver. 2i} ; and a few others, which may perhaps be attributed to the mistakes of the copyists. 107. Any guttural letter, originally commencing a word, and having a Substitute oi Shevd in its own right, by Art. 106. 4. will, upon being preceded by some particle with Shevd, but which by Art. 106. 1. must become an imperfect vowel, require that such imperfect vowel be homogeneous with that in the Substitute: e. g, ntC'.V making, &c. prefixing % r^, ?, &c. which are the per- 44 LECTURE III. [art. 10^. sonal preformatives of the present tense, we shall have "^f?^!!. he makes; HtC^rri she makes; nt!?3?,5 we make, 8ic, So likewise with other particles: as, ^, ?, f, ?, 1 ; as, "^^??-?, for "^p^ri in There are, however, some exceptions, as in the first persons singular of some of the species of conjugation, &c. ; e.g., "^f?!??}? / make, &c., which seems to be derived from ^{??: as before ; all of which, however, will be found in the dictionaries. 108. There are also other substitutions made for the mark Shevd, which may be termed Euphonic, These take place, for the most part, at the end of words, where two Shevds, concurring by analogy, would introduce some difficulty into the pronunciation. The vowels introduced in these cases are, (v), (-), or (t). Segol is generally used when neither of the consonants concerned is guttural ; (-) when one or two of them is so ; and (t) when the first of them is "^ Yod: e.g. "H^J?, for ^7Q a king; where the primitive vowel, be that what it may, is generally made to corre- spond, in sound at least, with the one substituted, for the mere sake of euphony : e.g. '^^P. , for "^?P a hook; '^V?., for "j^P a boy; iTJ?, for n:^ a house; mg.^l, for Oyi^ a lady; i^lTgi^ for n^ttib (fem.) learning. So in verbs : ^3')., for ^^'l (for ^7;^ Art. 74. 2.), he reveals; and ; as in 1 Sam.x. 24 ; xvii. 25 ; Gen. xliii. 26 ; Ezek. xvi. 4; Job xxxiii. 21, &c. ART. 110.^ INSERTION OF DAGESH. 45 when analogy requires its insertion, either the preceding vowel is made perfect^ by way of compensation, as "HP? Bd-rek, instead of T]^^ Bar-rek; in which case it is said to be expressed; or, it is only considered as being so, as, ^?Q*1P merd-khe-pheth instead of npnnjp , for ri2m^ (Art. 43. note) ; where Ddgesh is said to be implied. 110. Generally, Ddgesh is to be inscribed in anyone of the letters ^?2"l^r^ , whenever such letter begins a syllable, provided, however, the preceding syllable do not end in a perfect vowel, or in one of the letters "^^IH^ in a quiescent state, or in one of the Sub- stitutes of Shevd; for then it will not be inscribed in any of these letters. The exceptions are, 1 . Should the preceding vowel be perfect, or the syllable end in one of the quiescent letters "'JH^ , and two of the j'^?^!^^ letters concur in the commencement of the following word, the first will receive Ddgesh; e. g. "^V^* ^r|J^^^ Emu-nd-thehd bbephi, Psalm Ixxxix. 2. See also Isa. x. 9, Gen. xxxix. 12, &c. Ddgesh will also be inscribed, should such perfect vowel, or quiescent letter preceding, have a distinctive accent; or, should the precedinti- word have any accent on the penultimate. A few exceptions are found when the preceding accent is conjunctive.^ 2. Should the preceding word end in ^ with Mappih (Art. 49.), or one of the letters "^j or '^ , used as a diphthong; Ddgesh will be regularly inscribed in any ^r?"!-?^ letter : because, in this case, such letter is considered as a consonant terminating the pre- ceding syllable, as above : e. g. Ct^^^l n^I^i^ Betsid-ddh td-sim, not thd'Sim Gen. vi. 16. See also Gen. xvii. 20, xxvii. 41 ; Psalm li. 17. Hence it is, that after ^5'^'!, or "^"in."!, Ddgesh may be used, because the former of these is read by the Jews ''J"^^ Adondi, the latter, D^nbs Elb-him. (See Art. 67. note.) There are, however, a few exceptions to this rule. See Isa. xxxiv. 11 ; Ezek. xxiii. 42 ; Ps. Ixviii. 18. 111. In the next place, should any one of the riS!p"T^a letters occur, not being at the beginning of a word, but following a fnal * Some, however, read this passage without Ddgesh. f Exod. XV. 11, 16. Isa. liv. 12. Jer. xx. 9. Dan. iii. 3; v. 11. Ps. xxxv. 10. On the conjunctive and distinctive character of the accents, see the last Lecture in this work. 46 LECTURE III. [^ART. 111. I. Sheva (:), it will regularly receive the point Ddgesh; as, ^112? Pa-kdd-td, ^ll?.? Pa-kddtf except in the following cases. 1. When this (:) stands in the place originally occupied by either (t) or (), Ddgesh will not be inscribed in the ^^rJ'l^^l letter following: e.g. "'T,'!??!? kid-vd-re-kd, not ^,^?"!? kid-bd-re-kd: the primitive form of which is "^5*5 dd-vdr. So ''^ f^ , not "'^f^, from ''Ti'P or ^,7^. So also -^^Z? Bil-vdv, from ^,^!? Le-vdv, 2. After an initial Shevd (:) which would be pronounced, but which becomes quiescent upon some particle being prefixed (Art. 41.), /)a^e*A will not be inscribed: as ^^^| Gevul, and, prefixing V, ''^?-l? Lig'Vul, not Lig-bul, So with ^^^7 a vesture, ^3^ weeping, "'l? a he-goat, &c. as singulars, and ^"^7?^ words, ^'''jl rt males, ^"^'1?? sepulchres, &c. as plurals. Infinitives and Impera- tives of the form '^PP, 7?^> o^ lil?> ^^^^ ^"y augment, will also be excepted ; as, "^^7"? Rod-pho, his persecuting, ^3?^ Shik-vd, lie thou down, &c. where the last radical letter is one of the ^??1^21 letters. 3. After ajinal Shevd (:) following an imperfect vowel which has arisen out of some one of the substitutes of Shevd (Art. 106. 2. &c.) ; e.g. ^,7?^?- Nd-ham-dd, not ^^p^^a, Isa. 1. 8. But, if such Shevd itself have arisen out of one of these substi- tutes, Z)cpe5 A will be inscribed ; as, V^Ol Yakh-pots, Deut. xxv. 7. 4. The affixed pronouns ^,1^?, 1^, never receive Ddgesh lene: the letters HS^l^Sl preceding ^^ ; as, ^"^?^? Mal-kuth, riJl"T?3? Hav-duth, ^^7 /^ Yal-duth, So also "^Jf? , and T?,? , when receiving any asyllabic augment ; the latter in '^7?v ^^g-dd only, Ps. cxvi. 14;* 11221 Big-do, 2 Kings ix. IS, &c., to which a few others may be added. 112. Ddgesh, in its capacity of reduplicating certain letters, is sometimes found at the beginning of words ; as, n-JTfp pronounced Maz-ze, "^^W? ntt?X3 Mo-shel Le-mor,^ in which case it is purely euphonic. So also in ^^Vp Mik-ke-ddsh, for ^^j^T^ Mik-ddsh, Exod. XV. 17; T!'^^^) Vd-ek-kere-hd, for ^i;;}?.^?, &c. 113. And, on the contrary, there are a few instances, particularly in verbs having one of the liquids either for the second, or the two last radicals, in which every letter is written at length; as, "i^?? Tsil-16, Job xl. 21 ; ^32?n Khon-ne-m, 'Ps.ix. 14, ; not iVs or * Which, however, lb. ver. 18, has Dagesh, rnw. ART. I14.]l INSERTION OF DAGESH. 47 "*?2n : and others in which it is omitted, contrary to analogy ; as, T^nhW, for nn^t?? she sent; ^^T} , for "ib^H praise ye; DJP.pn, for D?)^n, Exod. V. 14, &c. 114. The following anomalies occur in the vowels, occasionally, when coming in contact with Ddgesh either expressed, or implied, &c. The vowel (-) coming before a guttural letter, and containing an implied Ddgesh (Art. 109.) is, for the sake of euphony, often changed into (.) ; as, "THW (masc.) and riHW (fom.) one; D'^^?!? for D'^'jnnj or, more commonly, Q''7'7i7 tnountains; Hi^nb flames; ^''/Hli embers; ^r\B a leader; CS't'J^n cities; ^J^^.0\ he repented himself; ^ ^H^O^ ye become possessed ; ^'^{^'^^ they became purijied; ^^^^H is it I ? &c. In some instances, (-) coming before Ddgesh forte i is changed into () Khirik; as, "l^pS his daughter , c from ri3 (rather from -^^^ ; Arab. C^Ju), Gen. xxix. 6 ; n''2'?)p thorns, from ^V^ , ^ Sam. xxiv. 22. In the same manner, ^2 a wine-press ; ^H consternation; "T^ measure; ^PP circuitous; DSi tribute; Hp door-post; ^IQ morsel; and *T^ Me ^irfe; change (-) into () upon receiving any asyllabic augment. The same takes place with the verb ^^9 ^y^'^^St when found in the conjugation Hiphhil; as, Ci^l^rj ye put to death, for ^f^'pL? , Numb. xvii. 6, &c. The same is also found to prevail in the following verbs with syllabic augments ; viz. ^"^-^7 -I > ^^^ ^^"Pl -^ ^ ^'^^^ begotten thee, Ps. ii. 7, &c. ; {r)?^"!'; for ^^^T. ye shall possess, Deut. xi. 8, &c. These all, however, may be considered as arising either for the sake of euphony, out of the etymology, or else from the mere mistakes of the copyists. 48 LECTURE IV. [[AUT. II5, LECTURE IV. ON THE GENERAL USE AND SITUATION OF THE ACCENTS. 115. Of the origin and exact power of these accents, very little can now be said with any degree of certainty. Much labour and learning, indeed, have been bestowed on their investigation ; but, after all, the conclusions arrived at are beset with so much un- certainty, that some of the best Grammarians both Jewish and Christian have confessed, that they knew but little on the subject.* We must, therefore, be content with the common rules respecting them ; and here, with those only which are generally found to interfere with the vowels of the text. 116. These accents (Art. 60.), as affecting the etymology, are said to have tvi^o offices; the one Tonic; that is, having the power to moderate the tone of voice in which any portion of the Scripture is to be read: the other Evphomc; that is, when added either for the purpose of giving a kind of secondary accent to words, or of regulating the syllables. Their further use, as affecting the con- struction of sentences, will be noticed hereafter. On the Tonic Accent. 117. The Tonic accent may be any one of those found in the table (Art. 59.), which will always be either expressed, or implied, on the penultimate or ultimate syllable f of every word. When on the penultimate, the word is said to be v'^r^p Milhel; when on the ultimate, ^T^r'P Milrdh. The following are the general rules for its insertion. All words, the penultimate vowel of which is imperfect^ and has not a consonant immediately following it, will have the Tonic See my reply to Dr. Laurence, entitled, " A Vindication of certain Strictures," &c. Cambridge, 1822, p. 17, &c. f That is, if the accent be one of those not placed on the regularly accen- tuated syllable, it must be considered as giving emphasis either to the penul- timate or ultimate, according to the analogy of the word. (Art, 61.) ART. 117. 2-3 ON THE ACCENTS. 49 accent on that syllable. Of this kind are all duals, and segolate nouns ; nouns having the feminine affix "^ (^%) attached to dual or plural forms ; and all nouns having terminations peculiar to the segolate forms: as, D?1!J bofh hands. Gen. xxvii. 22 ; T^? hunting; P)P!3 silver; ^)y^ thy eyes (fern.), Cant. i. 15 ; "jTI^I^ thy appear-' ances, lb. ii. 14- ; ^.r^? a rose; ^lISi?.? perfumed with incense^ lb. iii. 6, &c. The reason is obvious ; the penultimate syllable is in all these cases incomplete; the addition of the accent is, therefore, necessary for the purposes of syllabication (Art. 33, 43.). Segolate nouns, having nevertheless the penultimate vowel perfect, will, on account of their peculiar character, retain the accent on that syllable : as, "^^p, concealment; ^JD (for ^IP) death; ^HS (for 1^7!) emptiness (See Art. 43. note). Also proper names ending in ^^ : as, '"in^f?"!? Zedekiah, 2, Nouns receiving a Syllabic pronominal affix, and, at the same time, a vowel of union (Art. 123. 1.), or, having likewise aparagogic 1 Nun, will have the accent on the penultimate of the word so formed : (The pronominal affixes usually termed grave, i. e. CDD , If?., on, ]n, are excepted) e. g. "^pt^iptl? Judge me, Psalm xliii. 1 ; ^2C?Q3 our soul; ^^/^ its leaf, Ps. i. 3 ; '"^nj^ni^ thou rejoicest him, Ps. xxi. 7 ; V^^^'H! he imputes it. Gen. xv. 6 ; i^";.?^ his face, Ps. xi. 7 ; ^^,^5^ thy wings; Ps. xvii. 8 ; ^n"':?iH / rebuke thee; Ps. 1. 8 ; "^"'nS-jn / have called thee, Ps. cxix. 146 ; ^^^i'' they praise thee, Ps. Ixvii. 6 ; ^3?"7^ it (the wind) dispelleth it, Ps. i. 4 ; With the paragogic 1 also of plural verbs : ^??7nF": ^^^V *^^^ '^^ early, Prov. i. 28 ; Uj^rn.l^^ they serve thee, Isa. Ix. 7 ; ^^'^?^^. they take him, Prov. v. 22. Verbs terminating (i. e. in the process of conjugation) in the pronominal syllables ri , "^i?l , ^3, and ^3 ; as ^^pH* thou art willing, Ps. xl. 7 ; "^^"l^r^ / have announced (good tidings), lb. v. 10 ; "^yiylP we have dealt falsely, Ps. xliv. 18; '^3'^,l??^iq they (fem.) shall come, Ps. xlv. 16, These cases ought, regularly, to be pointed, n^cn, i.e. with (t) with the second syllable. The Jews, however, seem to have pointed the verbs with (-), for the purpose of dislinguishing them from nouns of the same form ; as, i)2Q, instead of "'ij'^s^, and by this means an anomaly has been introduced into th? syllabication. E 50 LECTURE IV. ' [[art. 117. 4. 4. Asyllahic afformatives are subject to the same rule, in the conjugation Hiphhil: as, ''V''^'^*^ ^^^ '^^" (fern.), Ps. xliii. 5 ; ny^tpin it (fern.) brought salvation, Ps. xliv. 4. Also in the surd and concave verbs: as, ^2lb surround ye, Ps. xlviii. 13 ; ^^^^ they move, Ps. xlvi. 7 ; likewise when these affixes are joined to the third person singular, and plural, of the preterites of verbs : as, ''P J"3? he visited me; '^^^^^^ it (fem.) hath overwhelmed me, Ps. Ixix. 3; ^^J^ny she hath loved thee, Ruth iv. 15; "*?^??P they surrounded me, Ps. xviii. 6.* 5. When the paragogic H is added to nouns, pronouns, or particles, it exercises no influence on the accent, for the most part. In such cases, therefore, the accent will be in the penultima : as, nnn?^ Ephratah, Gen. xxxv. 16, &c. 118, The Tonic accent will have its place on the last syllable of words, in all the remaining cases ; which are then termed ^"Pf^ Milrah, and are as follows : 1. All words ending with a consonant preceded by a perfect vowel by analogy: as, ^*]| great; "^"i^? luminary; C^pS sons; ^ '321 daughters. The same is the case when any of the ''jlO^. letters are thus situated, being then considered as consonants : as, njt^ a year; nn-2p a pillar; and even H, preceded by (.), as, rr:JT. he is, &c. 2. All words ending in one of the grave affixes : as, p^XS"^^ your blood; ^\^*^^^. their father; Op^?L? ye shall be, Gen. iii. 5. 3. Verbs having no affixed pronoun: as, H/T? he took; ^"^P^, he is called. 4. Verbs taking the asyllabic afformatives '^t ^ and ''.: as, n^pC7 it is quiet; ^^fpQ they visited ; '^'^^P hide thyself (fem,) ; and finally, all words not comprehended in any of the preceding rules (i.e. Art. 117.). On certain Anomalies as to the situation of the Tonic Accent, and on the changes effected by it in the vowels and consonants of words, 119. These generally take place, when the illative particle "J -f- * These particulars are illustrated by tables, Art. 207. 2., &c. f Usually termed Vaw conversivum, but which corresponds to the Arabic J or ^, therefore, &c. ART. 119.2.3 ^^ '^HE ACCENTS. 51 is prefixed to verbs ; in which case, 1st, the Tonic accent, proper for the penultimate vowel in the past tense (Art. 117. 3.), will be removed to the ultimate : and, 2dly, vice versa, the accent proper for the ultimate in the present (Art. 118. 1.), will be removed to the penultimate : as, 1st, "^^^"?P1 so I will consecrate (for '^-^'^fli?), Exod. xxix. 44 ; ^PP-^,?."] so thou shalt be gathered (for i;jl9pS5), Numb, xxvii. 1 3 ; "^ 1?'^'^?^''] so it shall divide ; ^P^^v^l thus thou shalt bring, Exod. xxvi. 33 ; ^^T^. so she shall increase, Isa. vi. 12 ; jn^t&l therefore thou shalt place, Lev. xxiv. 6 ; ^^^] so she shall return, Lev. xxii. 13 ; ^^^1 thus they shall place, Numb. vi. 27 ; r|WIl'*J so thou shalt enter, Gen. vi. 18. 2. This rule, however, is often disregarded : as, ^3n/]i?^: *^ ^^ took. Gen. xxxiv. 17; '^^r',?'?! nndrvewill depart: particularly in verbs having a quiescent letter for the third radical ; as, ^^T'-^l and thou shalt fear. Lev. xix. 32 ; T' VtI ^^^ ^ "^^^^ reveal, 1 Sam. XX. 12; ^V?^ ^"^ '^^" *^^^' ^^ ^"'^ captivity, Ezek. xii. 3. With some having the medial radical letter quiescent : as, nriD3^ and thou shalt flee, 2 Kings ix. 3. 3. In the next place, the Tonic accent will be removed from the ultimate to the penultimate syllable of the present tense, when the illative particle "^ is prefixed, and when the form of the verb will allow of the change : e. g. ^'OM^^- (S^^ ^^r^) ^0 ^'^ * visited. But in the third person plural masc. it will keep its place : as, !"Ti7G*^ (from ''7l?S^)' T^ same holds good also in the form TpPI : as, "^i^P!'^ so he visits. Corollary. Hence it will follow, that, the Accent being removed from the last syllable, the ultimate vowel will necessarily become imperfect (Art. SQ,) : as, H^^^.l and he was struck (for ^^\) ; "1P^*1 (for Ig^'') and he said; nTl>^ and he died (for HW or n^l^p^) ; and so of others, which is termed apocope. (See No. 9 below.) 4. In the conjugation termed Hiphhil, as it will be seen here- after, the terminating vowel is either C.) or (). Whenever, therefore, the Accent is drawn back, by this or any other rule, the imperfect vowel will be (.) not (.) or () : as, ^P*^. so he raised (from Dfj;, or D^^;). So t^^^l so he lodged (for 1>; , or r>;), Gen. xxviii. 11, Josh. viii. 9 ; H:,*;! so he rested (for Dp;, or D^?;), Exod. X. 14, where (-) is taken on account of the guttural letter following. (Art. 45.) E 2 52 LECTURE IV. X ART, 119. 5. In one instance, however, we have Vl^l (for V*[)^ , root V^"') and she broke, Judg. ix. 53. An error, perhaps, of the copyists. 6, When, however, the last letter of the root happens to be one of the "*,inf? letters in a state of quiescence, the perfect vowel will occasionally remain : as, ^?,t1 and he brings, Gen. iv. 3. 6. In many cases, also, this removal of the Accent is altogether neglected : as, -^^^J so I sit, 1 Kings viii. 20, &c. 7. In consequence, moreover, of this removal of the Accent, the terminating vowel of the present tense of verbs is changed (No. 3. above), and entirely rejected, together with the consonant following when that is quiescent : e. g. 7ii- ^^^ : ?- (Art. 74.) ; and, by Art. 108., the former will be <}^, This is also termed Apocope. 8. Again, the Accent is occasionally removed from the ultimate to the penultimate syllable, both in the present tense, and in the imperatives, of verbs, for the purpose of strongly expressing pro- hibition, forbearance, exhortation, wishing, or the like ; as, ^^^"^^^ turn not away, 1 Kings ii. 20 (for ^|^^) ; '^?"1'^" ''^ chastise not, Prov. ix. 8 (for HDiri) ; P)pirTbs add not. Pro v. xxx. 6 (for np*^^* where the vowel of the medial radical is also rejected though not followed by a quiescent H); 'sl.lj'^^j I will water thee (for 'n,^.'!'!]'??. > the root being '^'^'l , usually ^11 , in which case the final radical letter generally returns. In this case the "^ is doubled . because the verb is in the conjugation Plhel). So "^^^H observe (for "^g^H); mjl give, &c. Gen. xi. 3, 4 (for HDn Gen. xxix, 21.) 9. So in verbs having the third radical letter a quiescent H : as, ^.7,''. let Mm rule (for ^'^'V.) ; nia^ let him be blotted out (for nniai), Ps. cix. 13 ; ^?,1 declare he foolish (for nri?!!),* Gen. ix. 27 ; ^{?\ let it be (for n^^T^), Gen. i. 3 ; ^?^^"^ drink not (for H^I^ri), Lev. x. 9 ; WJ^^W let it not be seen (for HMni), Exod. xxxiv. 3 ; ^7.j(n'^^ relax not, (for '^,?"]^ ; where the verb takes the form of a segolate noun, see Art. 108.) ; "^nJTT /W he not (for ^vn-fn) ; and so of others. This is termed Apocope. But it may here be remarked, as before, that the common form of the verb, and usual position of the accent, are often adopted : as, ^,^7^"^^ lest I should see. Gen. xxi. 16 ; nS"]"\"vS lest he should see. Job iii. 9. See my Hebrew Lexicon under nne conj. Iliph. ART. 119. loO ON THE ACCENTS. 53 10. The following are imperatives thus subject to Ajpocope : ^^ reveal thou (for H^S in Pthel) ; "Hv? smite thou (for '^^.0 Amos ix. 1 ; ^"TlV/ multiply thou (for ^Jr^'in^j in Hiphhil, where the form assumed is that of a segolate noun; the first vowel becoming (), in order to accommodate itself to the sound of the second, Art. 108.), Ps. li. 4. So ^?n* cause thou to ascend (for ^^^^L^ Exod. xxxiii. 12 ; ^P^H/eign thyself (to be) sick (for nbnOH), 2 Sam. xiii. 5, 1 1 . It frequently happens in verbs ending with a radical H (for **), and receiving some asyllabic augment, that, not only is the accent drawn back, as in the cases above mentioned (No. 8), but the original radical letter also reappears : as, "^t??? ^^ (fem.) hath trusted (for ^{PPP according to the general paradigma, from the root non for *'Dn), Ps. Ivii. 2. So ^^'^^\ they are tranquil (for ^^t^l, root nbt^ or *'1??7, whence regularly ^^^^"l), Ps. cxxii. 6, &c. ; ^^TJW;). let them come (for ^HW:;., root HHS, or "'HW), Ps. Ixviii. 32 ; ^^Jnn bring ye (for ^riSH , Art. 73.), Jer. xii. 9. 12. In a few instances, moreover, this drawing back of the Accent also takes place in nouns and particles : as, D37 "^Oi?*! numerous art thou (in) people (for ''^?1). So D^.12? ^^i?"^ g^^^at art thou among the nations ; ^ u'^l^S ''^I?^ princess art thou among the provinces, Lam. i. 1. In like manner we have "^^j? , '^^i? , or niab n;^2/ ? (for ^Pv^ , ^nb , or ^^b), where, according to Schroederus, " subest adfectus exprobrantis, vel conquerentis, vel alius similis." To these he adds, **? / (for ''^i^), Ezek. xvii. 22.f 120. Again, the Accent will be withdrawn from the ultimate to the penultimate syllable, in order to avoid the concurrence of two Tonic accents, which would happen when the following word is a monosyllable with an Accent, or a dissyllable with an Accent on the penultima. But here, the penultimate vowel of the former of such two words, will remain perfect : as, "^^^ '^^S ^^^ opened the rock (for nnS), Ps. cv. 41 ; ^^ Tjbj:^ / will betake me, Cant. iv. 6 ; These Imperatives are probably nothing more than primitive abstract nouns, termed Segolates, enounced with some energy. t The principles which regulate this retraction of the accent, and the con- sequent apocope, will be considered in the Syntax. 54 LECTURE IV. [^ART. 120. 2. nt^T nn'jnri has this come to pass ? (for '^-p'l'jrj) Joel i. 2 ; S'^n ''ninh^ she (is) my sister ^ Gen. xx. 2 ; ^7 ^0?"! ^^ ^'^ "'^^^ ^^^^