yC-NRLF i"'i^'l'Wil(«iillWlillilllliilililiillll||ili B 3 m? b3b ooksEJ-tt.u ^ lERKELEY I BR \RY NIVEI ifY OF CAIIIORNIA \^ e l^1^'\ I ^ THE HEBREW GRAMMAR GESENIUS: TRANSLATED FROM THE ELEVENTH GERMAN EDITION, T. J. CONANT, PROFESSOR OP HEBREW IV THE LITERART AND THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTIOV AT HAMILTON, NEW YOHK. A COURSE OF EXERCISES, AND A HEBREW CHRESTOMATHY BY THE TRANSLATOR. 3Scpvmtctr from tl)e amcvitan iSliition of 1839. LONDON: THOMAS WARD AND CO. PATEBNOSTEn ROW. \'?A^ ^ TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. The translation of Gesenius' Hebrew Gram- mar was undertaken in compliance with the desire which has been expressed, both pri- vately and from the press, that his labours in this branch of Hebrew philology might be made more generally accessible to Ame- rican students. For many years this dis- tinguished scholar has been prosecuting his re- searches in the grammar and lexicography of the Hebrew language simultaneously, referring to each what properly belongs to it, in such a manner that his labours in neither can be fully understood and appreciated without a knowledge of what he has done in the other. In his Ma- nual Hebrew Lexicon, now in general use in this country, there are references throughout, for grammatical forms and constructions, to the sections of this Grammar ; and on the other hand, the Grammar constantly refers to the Manual for whatever belongs to lexicography. To the student, therefore, who uses the author's Lexicon, a previous acquaintance with his Grammar is essential for the formation of a complete and symmetrical view of the philology of the Hebrew language. The work of Gesenius, considered as a philo- sophical arrangement and explanation of the grammatical phenomena of the language, has no equal. The chaste simplicity and clearness of his method contrast strongly with the refine- ments, the subtilties, the arbitrary and often obscure hypotheses, which fondness for specula- tion and theory has introduced into some recent works on this subject from able German scholars. The qualities which make this Grammar, uni- versally, the companion of Hebrew students in Germany, adapt it equally to the wants of the American student The author's mode of con- ception and reasoning we can sympathize with, and understand, and feel its force. It should be further observed, that the Grammar lays the foundation for that development of the Hebrew language from its biliteral roots, so successfully prosecuted in the Manual Lexicon,* and prepares the pupil to appreciate the author's researches in comparative philology, the residts of which are embodied in that work, and form one of its dis- tinguishing features.! In order to adapt the translation to the mode of instruction in this country, and for the con- venience of those who may use it without a teacher, the pronunciation of Hebrew words is given in Part First, and elsewhere when it is required. This is seldom done in the original, and generally without the division of syl- lables. On the other hand, the signification of Hebrew words is omitted, except where (as in the Syntax, and occasionally in the earlier parts of the Grammar) it is essential to the illus- tration. A few words have occasionally been inserted, in brackets, by the translator. In some in- stances a slight modification or addition (parti- cularly in the sections on the particles) has been suggested by the Hebrew-Latin and Hebrew- German Manuals of Gesenius, and additional references are made to the former. Some slight improvements have also been suggested by com- parison with the Lehrgebiiude. The original often refers to the page of the Manual Lexicon : in order to adapt the Grammar to the translation * .See e. g. 5 30. t Compare Professor Robinson's preface to his transla- tion of the Manual Le.\icon, p. iv. 158 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. of that work as well as to the original, all refer- ences to it aie made to the article and its sub- divisions. The attention of the learner should be di- rected to the subject of the first section of the Introduction, and to such further illustration of it as the instructor may think proper to commu- nicate, before the study of Part First is com- menced. Some familiarity with the relation of the Hebrew to its kindred dialects, and to the Indo-Germanic tongues, will give great interest and value to the numerous illustrations drawn from these sources. The translation is followed by a course of Exercises in Hebrew Grammar and a Hebrew Chrestoraathy, prepared with reference to this work by the translator. The difficidties of the Hebrew vowel-system are a general subject of complaint with those who are entering upon the study of the language. In the Exercises in Reading and Orthography an attempt is made (with what success the trial must determine) to remove these difficidties, by simplifying the manner of presenting the principles of the vowel-system, and by accustoming the pupil to the ready application of them. The whole was completed before the Reading Book of Gesenius came into my hands : the difference of design, however, woidd have rendered it useless to me, except in the notes on the Reading Lessons, where a few of his remarks have been inserted with the signature G. The extension of the original design, which embraced merely a trans- lation of the Grammar, and a few pages of grammatical notes on select portions of the Hebrew Bible, has been the principal cause of delay in the publication of the work. The Exercises in Analysis and Construction would have been extended still further, had not the writer intended to publish, on a somewhat similar plan, a Hebrew Phrase Book and Exer- cises in writing Hebrew^ for which he has been some time collecting materials as they have occurred in his reading of the Hebrew Bible. This will embrace — (1) short and familiar phrases, selected from the Hebrew Bible, which can easily be imprinted on the memory, and Hamilton Lit. and TJieol. Institxttion, March, 1839. will thus not only supply a fund of words, but will form the mind, so to speak, to the Hebrew mode of conception, and store it with the various constructions of syntax, so as to serve as models in the writing of exercises : (2) English phrases to be expressed in Hebrew according to these models, or with such necessary variations as a knowledge of forms and of the principles of syntax will suggest, the references to the Gram- mar being given and the words furnished where it is required : (3) longer exercises for illustrat- ing the general style of Hebrew composition. The only way to impress upon the mind of a pupil the genius of a foreign tongue is, to im- press upon it the phraseology of native speakers or writers. The habit of conception in conformity with the models thus furnished will follow of itself. The practice of expressing English con- ceptions in the words of a foreign language for the purpose of learning it is not only useless but positively injurious. In the references to the Hebrew Bible and quo- tations from it, which are very numerous, and of great value to the thorough student, the original has many errors. After, much pains had been taken to correct them in the copy, the proof- sheets were subjected, under my inspection, to three careful revisions for this purpose solely. Some errors may still have escaped detection, but it is believed they are very few. The writer takes this opportunity to express his obligations to his friend Professor Ripley, of the Newton Theological Institution, for the generous interest which he has taken in the work, commenced at his suggestion, and for his aid in the first and final corrections of the proof- sheets (as far as the end of the Grammar), the first correction having been committed entirely to his care on account of the translator's distance from the press. The work is much indebted, for the beauty and accuracy of its execution, to the intelligence and good taste of the gentleman who has the superintendence of the Cambridge University Press. For his many obliging attentions he will please to accept the writer's acknowledg- ments. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION, SECT. 1 . The Semitish Lang:ua?es in general .... 2. History of the Hebrew as a living Language . 3. Worksou the Grammarof the Hebrew Language 4. Division arid Arrangement of Grammar . . . PAGE I PART I. — THE ELEMENTS. CHAP. I. READING AND ORTHOGRAPHY. 5. The Consonants, their Form and Names ... 8 6. Pronunciation and Division of Consonants , . II 7. The Vowels in general, Vowel-Letters, and Vowel-Signs 13 8. The Vowel-Signs 14 Q. Distinction of Qamets and Qaraets-Hhatuph . i; 10. Sheva Simple and Composite 18 11. Signs which affect the Pronunciation of the Consonants ig 12. Daghesh in general.— Daghesh/or/e .... i<) 13. Daghesh /ene 19 14. Mappiq and Raphe ig 15. The Accents 20 16. Maqqeph and Methegh 21 17. Qeri and Ketliibh 21 CHAP. U. PECULIARITIES AND CHANGES OF LETTERS; OF SYLLABLES, AND THE TONE. 19. Changes of Consonants 22 20. Doubling of Consonants 23 21. Aspiration, and the Removal of it by Daghesh lene 24 22. Peculiarities of the Gutturals 25 23. The Feeble Letters 26 24. Changes of the Feeble Letters 27 25. Unchangeable Vowels 28 26. SyUables, and their Inflaence on the Quantity of Vowels 29 SECT. PAGE 27. Changes of Vowels, especially in Reference to their Quantity 30 28. Rise of new Vowels and Syllables 32 29. The Tone; Shifting of the Tone; and of the Pause 32 PART II. FORMS AND INFLEXIONS, OR THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 30. Roots and Stem-Words 34 31. Grammatical Structure 36 CHAP. I. THE ARTICLE AND PRONOUN. 32. The Article 37 33. The Personal Pronoun in general ; Tables of the same 37 34. Verbal Suffixes 41 35. Nominal Suffixes, or Possessive Pronouns . . 42 36. Suffixes to Particles 43 37. Other Pronouns 43 CHAP. II. THE VERB. 38. General View 44 39. Ground-forms of the Verb; Conjugations . . 45 42. The Regular Verb 47 A. The Grounti-Jbrm or Kal. 43. Form and Signification of Kal 47 44. Przeter of Kal and its Inflexion 47 45. The Infinitive 48 46. The Imperative 49 4". The Future and its Inflexion 49 48. PeculiarCnangesof the Future and Imperative . 60 49. The Participle 52 CONTENTS. B. Derived Conjugations, SECT. PAGE 50. Niphal 52 51. Piel and Pnal 53 52. Hiphil and Hophal 65 53. Hithpael 56 54. Unusual Conjugations 5; 55. Quadriliterals 58 66. Verbs with Gutturals 58 57. Verbs Pe Guttural 59 58. Verbs Apn Guttural 59 5Q. Verbs Lamedh Guttural 60 60. Changes of the Verbal-Forms effected by the Suffixes 6i 61. PrreteriAith Suffixes 6l 62. Infinitive and Imperative with Suffixes ... 6i 63. Future with Suffixes 62 The Irregular Verb. 64. General View 62 65. Verbs >b 6:) 66. Verbs rj? 63 67. Verbs NS 65 68. Verbs ^D ; First Class, or Verbs originally ID . 66 6g. Verbs ^D ; Second Class, or Verbs properly ^D . 67 70. Verbs 'D j Third Class, or Imperfect Verbs ""D . 67 71. Verbs 13? 67 72. Verbs h 69 73. Verbs «"? 70 74. Verbs rh 70 75. Verbs Doubly Anomalous 73 76. Relation of the Irregular Verbs to one another. Eiliteral Verbs /■* 77. Defective Verbs 7^ CHAP. Ill THE NOUN. 78. General View 75 79. Forms which mark the Gender of Nouus . . 75 80. Derivation of Nouns 76 81. Primitive Nouns 77 82. Verbal Nouns in general 77 83. Nouns derived from the Regular Verb ... 77 84. Nouns derived frora the Irregular Verb ... 79 85. Denominative Nouns 80 86. The Dual and Plural 81 87- The Construct State 82 88. The Noun with Suffixes 83 89. Declension of Nouns 84 90. Declension of Masculine Nouns 84 91. Vowel-Changes in the Formation of Feminine Nouns 88 92. Declen^;ion of Feminine Nouns 89 93. Paragogic Letters ; He, Yodh, and Vav . . . 90 SKCT. PACK 94. List of Irregular Nouns 90 95. NumeraJs : I. Cardinal Numbers 9' 96. Do. II. Ordinal Numbers 93 CHAP. IV. THE PARTICLES. 97. General View 93 98. Adverbs 94 99. Prepositions 95 100. Prefix Prepositions 95 101. Prepositions with the Plural Form 96 102. Conjunctions 97 103. Interjections 97 PART III. — SYNTAX. CHAP. r. SYNTAX OF THE NOITN. i04. Relation of the Substantive to the Adjective ; — of the Abstract to the Concrete .... 98 105. Use of the Genders 99 106. The Plural, and Collective Nouns 100 107. Useof the Article 102 108. Omission of the Article 103 109. Article with the Compound Subject .... 103 109. Do. with the Adjective or Pronoun belong- ing to a Noun made Definit'C by a Genitive or Suffix 103 no. Connexion of the Substantive with the Ad- jective 104 111. Apposition 104 112. The Genitive; Expressionof it by Circiunlocu- tion 105 113. Repetition of the Relation of Genitive in suc- cessive Nouns 105 113. The Genitive as designating the 0/y>ei ... 105 113. The Genitive assupplyingthe Place of .-i/j/josii/on 105 114. The Construct State before a Preposition, the Relative, or T 106 115. Mode of designating the other Cases . . . . 106 116. Use of the Accusative I06 117. Modes of expressing the Comparative and Su- perlative I or 118. Syntax of the Numerals 107 CHAP. II. SYNTAX OF THE PRONOUN. 119. Use of the Personal Pronoun 108 120. The Demonstrative and Interrogative Pronouns 109 121. Useof the Relative Pronoun 109 122. Mode of expressing those Pronovms for which the Hebrew has no proper Forms .... 110 CONTENTS. CHAP. III. SYNTAX OF THE VERB. SECT. PAGE 123. Use of the Tenses ; General View ill 1 24. Use of the Praeter ll l 125. Use of the Future 112 126. Use of the Varied and Converse Future . . . 113 127. The Imperative U-i 128. Use of the Infinitive Absolute 116 129. Infinitive Construct II6 130. Construction of the Inf. Constr. with the Geni- tive and the Accusative 11" 131. Use of the Participle II7 132. Construction of the Participle 118 133. The Optative 118 134. Persons of the Verb 119 135. Construction of the Verb with the Accusative . 120 136. Verbs which govern two Accusatives .... 121 137. Construction of Verbs with Prepositions . . 121 138. Cortstructio PrcBgnans 121 139. Construction of Verbs with one another . . 122 140. Construction of Passive Verbs 123 CHAP. IV. CONNEXION OF THE SUBJECT WITH THE PREDICATE. 141. Manner of expressing the Copula 124 142. Arrangement of the Parts of Speech in a Sen- tence; Case Absolute 124 i 43. Relation of the Subject and Predicate in respect to Gender and Number 125 145. Construction of the Compound Subject . . . 127 CHAP. V. USE OF THE PARTICLES. 147. The Adverbs 127 148. Construction of Adverbs 129 149. Words which express Negation 129 150. Interrogative Words and Sentences .... 130 151. The Prepositions 132 SKCT. ■ PAOB 152. The Conjunctions 135 153. The Inteijections 138 PARADIGMS OF VERBS 139 EXERCISES IN HEBREW GRAMMAR. Introduction 150 I. Exercises on the Pronunciation of the Conso- nants and Vowels, and on the Manner of writing them m Connexion 151 II. Exercises in Syllabication 152 Useof Sheva, (MO) 153 Qamets-Hhatuph, (§9) 154 III. Doubling of Consonants. — Aspiration of the Mutes 154 Distinction of Daghesh forte and Daghesh lene 154 Use of Daghesh lene, (§21) 154 IV. Quiescence of the Feeble Letters 155 V. Changes of Vowels ; Rise of New Vowels and Syllables 156 I. Changes of Vowels. (H 25, 27) ... 156 II. Rise of New Vowels and Syllables. {S 28) 157 VI. Promiscuous Exercises for Review of the pre- ceding Sections 15S VH. Inflexion of the Verb 158 VIII. Declension of Nouns I60 Declension of Feminine Nouns. (§5 91, 92) . 161 IX. Exercises in Analysis I63 CHRESTOMATHY. First Lessons IN Translating 164 Genesis, Chapter XII I66 Chapter XIII 166 Notes on the First Lkssons in Translating , 168 Genesis, Chapter XII 173 Chapter XIII 174 HEBREW GRAMMAR. INTRODUCTION. §1- THE SEMITISH LiVNGUAOES IN GENERAL. 1. The Hebrew Language is only one of the branches of a great parent stock in western Asia, which, besides Palestine, originally embraced Syria, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Arabia, and .SDthiopia. For this stock of languages, and the race by which it was spoken, no name has been sanctioned by usage. The appellation Semitisk languages, however, is now in common use, and is at least imiversally imderstoocL It has been adopted because most of the people who spoke these languages were descended from Sem,* and may be retained for want of one more appro- priate. The name Oriental languages, which has also been used, is far too comprehensive. 2. The languages of this stock bear much the same relation to each other as those of the Ger- manic, (High German, Low German, Dutch, Swedish,) and of the Slavic, (Vendisb, Polish, Russian.) Its three principal branches were — (a) The Aramaan, divided into (West-Ara- msean) Syriac, and (East-Aramsean) Chaldee. (6) The Hehrew, with which agree the few re- mains of the Phoenician, (c) The Arabic and JEthinpic. The Samaritan is the Arama;an mixed with Hebrew forms. Most of these languages are * See Gen. 10: 21, &c. From Sem was derived the Araraiean race, as well as the Arabian and the Hebrew, but not the .-Ethiopians and Phfenicians, who were de- scendants of Ham ,vs. 6, 15, &c.,i ; on the contrary, among the posterity of Sem are reckoned v. 22} the Ela- mites and Assyrians, whose lanf^uage was not of the parent stock called Semitish. In opposition to Eichhom, who was very partial to this appellation, see Stange, Ttieotuffisctie Symmiktti, t. i. no. I . extinct, or are used only in districts of small ex- tent. The Arabic, on the contrary, is still one of the most extensively spoken of all known lan- guages. On the east and north, the branches of the Semitish stock were bordered by those of an- other still more widely extended, which spread itself, under a great diversity of forms, from India even into western Europe. This, as it embraces the Indian (Sanscrit), ancient and modern Persian, Greek, Latin, Gothic, and Gei-man languages, is very appropriately called the Indo-Germanic. The intimate connexion between the members of this great family of languages (in a wider sense embracing also the Slavic tongues) has been well exhibited by Schmitthenner,* Bopp,f and others. The Chinese and Japanese are entirely different in their character. 3. The most striking peculiarities in the gram- matical structure of the Semitish languages are the following : — (n) Among the consonants, which form the body and substance of these lan- guages, are several grades of guttursil sounds. The vowels have their origin in three primary sounds — o, i, u. (4) Most of the radical words, or stems, consist of three letters forming two syl- lables, (c) The verb has only two tenses ; but a striking analogy prevails in the formation of verbals. ((/) The noun has but two genders, no terminations of case, and no form of comparison ; * Ursprachlehre, Frankfort (on the Maine), 1S26, t Vergleichcnde Granimatik des Sanscrit, Zend, Grie- chischen, Lateiuischen, Litthauischen, Gothischen und Ueutschen. Berlin, 1833. B INTRODUCTION. it has, however, a peculiar form for expressing the relation of the genitive, (c ) The obliciue cases of the pronouns are indicated by forms appended {svffixa) to other parts of speech. (/) Scarcely any compounds exist either in nouns or verbs. (, Lat. volvo. Germ, quellen, walhn, EngL to well, (old German galle for quelle, a foimtain ;) -n3, lain, mn, x^parrw, Persian hhariden, ItaL grattare, French gratter, Engl, to grate, to scratch. Germ. hratzen ; pns, (/3p);yiy /Eol., fracture,) Lat. y>un- go. Germ, brechen, Engl, to break, &c. The middle member is often wanting, or at least no longer discernible ; e. g. r^EB, 311, Germ, tappen, (in the other languages the letters of the root * Literally " stems and roots ;" for the import of these terms see the explanation ^vcn in note on § 30. — Ta. are transposed and give the form pat; as, Sanscr. pad, foot, patha, way, Trarog, Trariio, TToT'c for TTO^c, Lat. pes, petere, whence the Germ, pfad, Engl, path. Germ, fuss, Engl. fool.) Wrt, Germ, hallen, Sba, (Jtinnio,) Germ. sehallen, to ring. A s an example of a root in which no such invitation of sound is attempted, we give aw, ham, (saw,) gam, ham, in the sense of together, \_gulhcrcd.'] Hence in Hebrew ddn, (kindred form rrm, a people, properly an assembling,) cor, (whence cs, a people, properly an assem- bling,) □?, to_(/f), ofing, ufioi', (Il^tXor, ofta^oi;,) the harder form koii'uq, Lat. cum, citmulus, cit/ic- tiis; with the sibilant, Sanscr. .««m, irui; ^ii', ^in>nQ = Koti'6(;, Goth.sam^, Germ, .samint, sam- nuln, not to mention the Slavic languages, which this root pervades in hke manner. For further illustration, in the case of the personal pronoims and the numerals, see §§ 3.3 and 95. This affinity between Semitish and Indo-Ger- manic roots, recognised in particular cases by many modem philologists, has been fully ex- hibited in the Latin edition of the author's Hebrew Lexicon ; * and this is one of the prin- cipal points of view in that revision of the work. Wholly different from this is the occasional adoption by one language of the words of an- other ; as — a) when the names by which Indian, Egyp- tian, or Persian objects are designated in their native lands are admitted into the Hebrew language; e.g. "ws^ (Egypt, jero,) river, the Nile; ins, (^Egjptachi,) grass of the Nile; DT^, Persian pleasure-ground, park ; |iD3-i% daricus, a Persian gold coin ; n'^sn, (Malab. togUi,) pavoncs ; D-hna, (Sanscr. aghil,) lignum aquihe. Several such words have also passed over into the Greek language ; e. g. P]ip, (Sanscr. kapi,) ape, Ki}7roQ, kTi^u^ ; cs'i^, (Sanscr. karpasa,) cotton, Kap7ra(Toc, carbasus. b) when Semitish names for the products of Asia have been adopted by the Greeks; e.g. * Lexicon manuale Hebraicum et Chaldaicum in V. T. Libros. Post editionem Germanicam tertiam Latine ela- boravit, multisque modis retractavit et auxit G. Geseiiius. Lipsire, 1833. INTRODUCTION. ^12, piatTos, byssus, Egyptian cotton j riph, ,\i- foi'wTot', Jrankijicense. 5. The Semitish mode of writing has this striking imperfection, that only the consonants (with which the signification of the root always connects itself) are written in the line as real letters. The vowels, with two exceptions, are in- dicated by small points or strokes attached to the letters, above or beneath the line ; for the prac- tised reader they may be wholly omitted. These languages, except the jEthiopic, are written from right to left. They all derive their written cha- racters, notwithstanding the great dissimilarity which they exhibit in this respect, from the Phoenician as a common source ; from this also sprung the old Greek alphabet. The P].cEnician alphabet may be found, from a sketch furnished by me, m De Wette's Lehrbuch tier hebriiisch-judischen Archiiotogie, p. 287, 2nd ed. 6. The Hebrew language, in its relation to its sister dialects, stands midway between the Ara- maean and the Arabic. The Aramsean delights in short and contracted forms with few vowels, in a fiat pronunciation, avoiding the sibilant sounds ; and neither in its vocabulary, nor in grammatical structure, can be regarded as a rich language. The Arabic makes more ii'equent use of vowels, and is rich in radical words and grammatical forms. It is therefore more impor- tant to the philologist ; but in many points the resemblance to the Hebrew is strongest in the Aramasan. For a full account of what has been done In the grammar and lexicography of these languages, and ol their character and literature, see the preface to my Hebr. Handti'irtcrbuch, ed. 2nd and foil. [Trans- lated for the Biblical Repository, vol. iii. no. i.\.] §2. HISTORY OF THE HEBREW AS A LIVING I..\NGUAGE.« "1. This language was the mother tongue of the Hebrew or Israelitish people, during the period of their independence. The name Hebrew language (rrilS fns'i, yXuicjaa Tuiv'FSpaiun; tC(ia- 'iari) does not occur in the Old Testament, and appears rather to have been the name in use among those who were not Israelites. It is * See the author's OachicMe der hehrliiarhen Sprac/ir und Srhri/t. Eine philotogisctt-krittsehi; Einleitung in dit Sprachtehren und Wrirterbiicher der hcbriiiscben Spruc/te. Leipzig, Ibl5. §4 5 — 18. called, Isa. 19 : 18, (poet) language of Canaan. In 2 Kings 18 : 26, (comp. Isa. 36: 11, 13,) and Neh. 13 : 24, persons are said to speak rfm Juilaice, in the Jews' language, in accordance with the later usage which arose after the re- moval of the ten tribes, when the name Jew was extended to the whole nation. (Jer., Neh., Esth.) Of the names Hebrews (c^M, "ESpaTot, He- briri) and Israelites (^mii'; \:3), the latter is a patronymic, and was appUed by the people to themselves ; the former was the name by which they were known among foreigners, on which account it is scarcely used in the Old Testament, except when they are distinguished from another people, (Gen. 40 : 15. 43 : 32,) or when persons who are not Israelites are intro- duced as speaking, (Gen. 39 : 14, 17. 41 : 12. comp. the author's Lex. under '"ur.) The Greeks and Romans — as Pausanias, Josephus, Tacitus — use only the name Hebrews. It is properly an appellative, and means that which is beyond, or on the other side — people from the country on the other side. It is formed by the addition of the derivative syllable '— (§ 85, no. 6) from niy, a land on the other side, applied especially to a country beyond the Euphrates. This appellation was probably given by the Canaanites to the tribes who, under Abraham, migrated from regions east of the Euphrates into the land of Canaan. See Gen. 14 : 13. The Hebrew genealogists explain it, as a patronymic, by sons of Eber. Gen. 10:21. Num. 24 : 24. In the writings of the New Testament, the term Hebrew {i€pa'ian or Chaldee dialect. To the use of this dialect, so nearly related to the Hebrew, the Jews easily accustomed themselves while in Babylonia, and continued to employ it as the popular language after their return. Hence it exerted a constantly increasing influence upon the ancient Hebrew, which continued to be the I • Translated for the Biblical Repository, no. ix.— Tr. language of books, and towards the time of Christ wholly supplanted it. The relation of the two languages, as they existed together during this period, maybe well illustrated by that of the High and Low German in Lower Saxony, or still better by that of the High German and the popiUar dialects in Southern Germany and Swit- zerland; for in these cases the popular dialect exerts more or less influence on the High Ger- man, both oral and written, of cultivated society. It is a false impression, derived from a misinter- pretation of Neh. 8 : S, that the Jews, during their exile, had wholly forgotten their ancient language, and were obliged to learn its meaning from the priests and scribes. The writings of the Old Testament, which be- long to this second period, and in all of which this Chaldee colouring appears, though in dif- ferent degrees, are the following; viz. 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther; the pro- phetical books of Jonah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malaehi, Daniel ; of the poetical writings, Eccle- siastes, Canticles, and some of the Psalms. These books are also, as literary works, decidedly in- ferior to those of an earlier date; though this period is not wanting in compositions which, in purity of language and poetic merit, scarcely yield to the productions of the golden age ; e. g. several of the later Psalms, (120 ff., 139.) The hooks of Daniel and Ezra contain portions which are wholly written in the Chaldee language. (Daniel 2:4 to 7 : 28. Ezra 4:8 to 6 : 18. also 7 : 12—27.) To this later form of the language, as af- fected by the influence of the Chaldee, be- long— 1. Words, for which others are used by the earlier writers ; e. g. Jiji, (inic=TO ; tep, to take =ni?b; r|iD, end=YP_; c'?c, to rule ^-i^; also several names of months, as jd'3 = 3'5N. 2. Si(jnificatio7ts of words ; e. g. ICiJ (to sat/) to command ; re? (to answer) to commence speak- ing ; D*cJlp ijiohj ones') for angels. 3. Peculiarities of grammar; e.g. the fre- quent scriptio plena of i and '— , as Ti^, (else- where Tin,) and even itnip for irip, aiT for 3T ; the interchange of n — and m — final ; the very frequent use of substantives in ]i, ]— , n, &c. We may, notwithstanding, admit the occur- rence of Aramaeisms in some books, the Can- ticles for example, at an earher period and for INTRODUCTION. other causes, perhaps from the works having been composed in the northern part of Pales- tine, and in the neighbourhood of Syria. The few solitary Chaldaisms which occur in the writings of the golden age may be ac- counted for by the fact, that these books passed through the hands of copyists whose language was the Chaldee. We are not to regard as Chaldaisms all the pecuHarities of these later writers. Some of them are not found in Chaldee, and seem to have belonged to the Hebrew popular dialect ; e.g. -td for ncN, (§ 37, 2.) Remark 1. Of pecidiarities of dialect, only a few slight traces are found. Thus from Judges 12 : 6, it appears that the Ephraimites always pronoimced n) as is ; and in Nehem. 13 : 23, 24, the dialect of Ashdod (of the Phihstines) is mentioned. 2. It is not to be supposed that the monuments which we possess of Hebrew literature contain all the treasures of the ancient Hebrew lan- guage. What has perished of these treasures could not, however, have materially affected our estimation of the ancient Hebrew, which must he regarded rather as a poor than a rich language. In the expression of religious ideas its copiousness and versatility are most fully developed. §3. WORKS ON THE GRAMMAR OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE. (Gesch. dor Hebr. Sprache, 55 19—39.) 1. After the extinction of the Hebrew as a spoken language, and the nearly contemporaneous collection of the books of the Old Testament, the Jews applied themselves to the preparation of translations of this their sacred codex, and to the criticism and interpretation of its text. The oldest version is that of the so-called Seventy interpreters, (the Septuagint.) It was executed by several translators, and at different periods of time. The work was begun with the translation of the Pentateuch, under Ptolemy Philadelphus, at Alexandria. It was designed to meet the wants of Jews residing in Alexandria and other Grecian cities, and was made, in part, from knowledge of the Hebrew whilst it was yet a living language. At a later period, the Chaldee translations or Targuius (i'cn;>n, i. e. transla- tivitu) were made in Palestine and Babylonia. The interpretations, drawn in jiart from alleged traditions, relate almost exclusively to civil and ritual laws, and to doctrinal theology. These, as well as the equally imscientific observations on various readings, are preserved in the Talmud, of which the first part (Mischiia) was composed in the third century of the Christian era, the second part {Gemara) not till the sixth. The language of both is a mixture of Hebrew and Chaldee. 2. To the period of time between the conclu- sion of the Talmud and the age of the first writers on the grammar of the language belongs, chiefly, the application of vowel signs to the text.* Of the same period is the collection of critical ob- servations called the Masora, (rrpo, Imditio,') by which the still-received text of the Old Testa- ment was settled, and from which it bears the name of the Masoretic text. The various readings of the Qeri are the most important portion of the Masora. § 17. 3. The first attempts to illustrate the grammar of the language were made, after the example of Arabian scholars, in the tenth century. What was done by Saadia in this department is wholly lost But there are still extant, in manuscript, the works of 7f. Juda Chiiig and 7?. Jona ben Gannach, composed in the Arabic language. Aided by these labours of his predecessors, li. David Kimchi acquired among Jewish scholars his reputation as the classical grammarian of the language. From these earliest writers on the subject are derived many of the methods of classification and of the technical terms which are still employed ; e. g. the use of the forms and letters of the verb teo (formerly employed as a paradigm) in designating the conjugations, and the different classes of irregular verbs ; the voces mcinoriales, as nCSiJB, &c. i?. Saadia Goon, Rector of the Academy at Sora, near Babylon, (ob. 942,) wrote Liber Linguie SaiicUr, known only from the quota- tions of the Rabbins. 11. Juda Chiuij, (Arab. Abu Zacharia,) styled caput sive princeps grammaticorum, was a phy- sician at Fez, about the year 1040. He com- posed some treatises on difiicult points in gram- mar; e.g. De Verbis Quiesccntibus, Geminatis, in the Arabic language. I have a copy of an * See 5 7, 2, 3. INTRODUCTION. Oxford manuscript of these works, which I intend to publish. li. Jomi hen Gannach, (Arab. Aliulinili,/ Mmcan b. G.,) physician at Cordova about 1120, wrote the first complete grammar, with the title Liber Splendoris, jt,«Jljl t tlVC which is also found in manuscript (though very in- distinct) at Oxford. Even in this early work the arrangement is made with reference to the three parts of speech. It was afterwards trans- lated by other Rabbins into Hebrew. Liber Supplementi is the title of another grammati- cal work of this writer, intended as a supple- ment to R. Chiug de Verbis Qiiicscentibus. See the author's Commentary on Isa. 33 : 1. 7?. Aben E:ra of Toledo, (ob. 1174,) the most thinking, sagacious, and unprejudiced of the Rabbins, wrote on grammar d'jinq ted, published by Heidenheim, 1808, and mns so, (^Jjon/t of Purity zzz Correctness ;) among other editions is that of Berlin, 1769. 7?.X)ai-(rfA7mc/i/flourishedaboutlino — 1200 in (the then Spanish) Narbonne. He wrote ^^■? (■f''r/fc'''o), containing a lexicon and gram- mar. The grammar forms the first part, and has been very often printed. I have before me an edition bearing the date (.5) 553, (a.d. 1793,) Filrtk. EliasLcvita, a German, who taught at Padua, Rome, Venice, (ob. 1549,) first admitted the modem origin of the vowel points, and wa.s, in consequence, accused of heresy. He wrote Liber Electi, Capita Elicc, and many other grammatical works. 4. The father of Hebrew philology, among Christians, was the celebrated lieuchlin, (ob. 1522,) to whom Greek literature also is so much indebted. He, however, as well as Sebast. Miin- ster (ob. 1552) and Joh. Buxtorf (ob. 1629), ad- hered closely to Jewish tradition. Lud. Cap- pellus (ob. 1638) led the way to the opposite extreme, a rash distrust of this source of know- ledge, and especially of the authority of the vowel points. J. A. Danz (Jena, ob. 1654) introduced a formal and pedantic method of treating the subject. After the middle of the seventeenth century, the field of view gradually widened ; the study of the kindred languages, in England, France, and Holland, through the la- bours of such men as Ed. Pucoche (ob. 1691), Lud. de Dieu (ob. 1642), J. H. IluUinger (ob. 1667), and, most of all, of Alb. Scliultcns (ob. 1750), led to important results in the science of Hebrew grammar. The most important grammatical works, forming epochs in the history of the science, were the following ; viz. Joh. Reuchlini Phorcensis ad Dionysium, Fratrem suum germanum, de Rudimentis Hebr. lib. iii. 1506. fol. (It contains a gram- mar and lexicon.) Seb. MUnster (Heidelberg), Opus gramma- ticum, consummatum. Basil 1544. 4to. Sal. Glass (Jena and Gotha, ob. 1656), Phi- lologia Sacra, Lips. 1623. 4to ed. Dathe, 1776. 2 vols. 8vo. (Lud. Cappelli) Arcanimi Punctationis reve- latum. Lugd. Bat. 1624. 4to. He maintained, with Elias Levita, the modem origin of the vowel points, and in some instances called in question their correctness. Some of his par- tisans and followers wholly discarded them. J. A. Danz, Literator Ebra3o-Chalda;us. (It treats of the elements and of grammatical forms and inflexions.) 1G96. 8vo. Intcrpres Ebra>o-Chalda3us, (containing the Syntax.) 1696. 8vo. Lud. de Dieu (Lcyden), Grammatica Lin- guarum Orientalium Hebr. Chald. et Syrorum inter se collatarimi. Lugd. Bat. 1628. 4to. The comparison, however, consists chiefly in juxta- position, not in the treatment of the subject. J. H. Hottinger, Gram, quatuor Lingiiarum, Hebr. Chald. Syr. Arab., harmonica. Tiguri. 1649. 4to. Alb. Schultens, Institutt. ad Fundamenta Ling. Hebr. Lugd. Bat. 1737. 4to. N. W. Schroder (Groningen, ob. 1798), In- stitutt, ad Fundamenta Ling. Hebr. Gro- ningen. 1766. (Often republished.) To estimate correctly those works which have since appeared, and which are of permanent scientific value, it is necessary to imderstand what is required of one who attempts to exhibit the grammar of an ancient language. This is, in general, (1) a correct observation and a sys- tematic arrangement of all the phenomena of the language ; (2) the explanation of these phe- nomena, partly by comparing them with one an- other, and with analogous appearances in the kindred languages, partly from the general ana- logy and philosophy of language. 8 INTRODUCTION. Among recent grammatical -works, the most Taluable are — The author's Gramm. krit. Lehrgebaude der Hebr. Sprache. Leipz. 1817. G. H. A. Ewald, krit. Grammatik der Hebr. Sprache. Hannover. 1827. [Gramm. d. Hebr. Spr. 2te Aufl. Leipz. 1835.] Dr. Samuel Lee's Lectureson Hebrew Gram- mar. London, 1827. [A Critical Grammar of the Hebrew Lan- guage, by Dr. I. Nordheimer. Vol. i. New York, 1838.] §-!• DIVISION AND ARRANGEMENT OF GRAMMAR. The division and arrangement of Hebrew grammar are suggested by the three elementary parts of every language ; viz., sounds expressed by letters, words, and sentences. The first part, which treats of the elements, contains therefore instruction respecting the sounds and the representation of them by letters, (orthography.) It teaches the art of readimj, i. e., of expressing the written signs by the sounds which they represent, (orthoepy,) and of writing words agreeably to established usage, (ortho- graphy.) It treats moreover of sounds as con- nected in syllables and words, and exhibits the peculiarities which accrue to them from this connexion. In the second part, which treats of gramma- tical forms and inflexions, words are regarded as formed into parts of speech. It treats, (1) of the formation of words, or the rise of the several parts of speech from the roots, or from one an- other; (2) of inflexions, i. e., of the various forms which words assume, according to their relation to other words, and to the sentence. The third part (syntax) shews (1) how the various inflexions of the language serve to modify the original meaning of words, and how other modifications, for which the language fur- nishes no forms, are expressed by periphrasis ; (2) assigns the laws by which the parts of speech are united in sentences, (syntax in the stricter sense.) In the Hebrew language, the syntax em- braces much which in Latin and Greek is regarded as belonging to the second part ; e. g., the comparison of adjectives. The se- cond part treats of gender only with respect to form, while the principles which regulate the use of it belong to syntax. In elementary books, it is sometimes neces- sary, for the convenience of the learner, to avoid nice distinctions ; e. g., in the conjuga- tions of verbs, the separation of the form from its signification, although the latter, strictly speaking, belongs to syntax. PART I. or THE ELEMENTS. CHAPTEJl I. READING AND ORTHOGRAPHY. THE CONSONANTS, THEIR FORM AND NA.MES. (Lchrgeb. S 2.) 1. The Hebrew letters now in use, called the Assyrian, or Chaldee square character, are not of the oldest and original form. On the coins of the Maccabaean princes is found another cha- racter, which, at an earlier period, was probably in general use, and which bears a strong re- semblance to the Phoenician letter, (§ 1, 5.) The Chaldee square letter is also derived from the Phcenician, but seems to have properly be- longed to the Aramaean branch of the Semltish race. It was introduced among the Hebrews at the same time with the Aram^an language (§ 2, 5), and gradually displaced the ancient Hebrew character. The square letter is used in most manu- scripts of the Old Testament, only a few being written with the Rabbinic or Samaritan character. The Palmyrene, and the Aramaean on the montmient of Carpentras, most nearly THE ELEMENTS. resemble it. See Kopp, Slider und Schriften der Vorzeit, ii. S. 157 ff. In regard to the details respecting the origin of this character, and the time of its introduction among the Hebrews, there is still some obscurity. See Gesch. der Hcbr. Spr. vnd Schr., S. 140 ff. ; and Hupfeld in Ullmann und Umbreit's Theol. Sttidien, 18.30, numbers 2, 3. 2. The alphabet consists of twenty-two con- sonants, three of which have also the power of vowels, (§ 7, 2.) HEBREW ALPHABET. 1 «1 Y a n n t n b Q D D p -1 n Rcpre-=ented by bh, b gK g dh, d h V z hh t y kh, k 1 m n s y ph, p ts q r sh, s th, t V, b g ( th in 1 1 this, d h V z hh t y kh, k 1 m n s f.P ts q r sh, s th, t Hebrew nanie. m Nil 11 r? ii' -rob Dp nip r^ in Sounded as* A'-Ieph Btth Gi'-mel Da'-leth Be Viv Za'-yin Hheth Tct YOdh Kaph La'-medh Mem Niin S;\'-mekh A'-yin Pe Tsa-dhe' Qoph Resh Shin Tav Signification of the names. Ox House Camel Door (doublful) Hook, pin Armour Enclosure Snake Hand The hand bent Ox-goad Water Fish Prop Eye Slouth Fish-hook Ear [Ansa'\ Head Tooth Cross Numerical value. 10, N' 11, &C. 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200 300 400 * For the sounds of the vowels in this column, see note on § 8. C HEBREW ALPHABET, ARABIC ALPHABET. WITH DIACRITIC SIGNS. SYRIAC ALPHABET. Co NNECTBD Forms. Represented by Sounds. Uncon- with preced- with preced. with fol. nected. ing letter. and fol. do. do. Final. N N ) 1 I 1 n bh V 1^ u^ X J 2 2. b b 3 gh g r tt a: ^- ^ a g 1 dh f th in \ this J cX ? t 1 d d A n h li s A 1 3 kh k kh k ^ ^Ij. i. ^-. ^ => y b 1 1 J J 1 i ^. ^ D D m m r r •4> .-0 :io "JO 1 D n s n s r u £ CJ L X V V " 1 t^ L « c :i. '5. ^ 9 . 3 ph P ph,f p 1 j (_ft a. s 2 r (^ L^ .^ »a 3 V i: ts ts 1 u^ 4> ^ ^ P q q J J i. s Q 1 r r J V/ ' t a^ sh sh l/ u^ A AM ▲ i:' s s twT- l_r MV. mJ n th f th z« \ thin CD L-^L— i ) z ^ n t t 1.::^ i ^ X J THE ELEMENTS. 11 3. The final letters y, F], |, D, ■],* with the ex- ception of □, terminate in a perpendicular stroke directed downwards, whilst the common form has a horizontal connecting line, directed to- wards the following letter. 4. Hebrew is read from right to left. The division of a word at the end of a line is not allowed. To complete a line, dilated letters (^dilatabilcs) are sometimes used. These are, □, n, h, n, N, (D.^'jriN.) X. The figures of the letters in the oldest Semitish alphabets, as the Phoenician, are rude representations of visible objects, of whose names they were the initials ; e. g., 1, the rude figure of a camel's neck, for a C^^Ot the initial letter of Vo|, a camel; o, properly an eye, for r, (j;r, eye.') The oldest form of these letters does not appear even in the PhcEnician alphabet, much less in the square character now in use. Of course, in many cases, the letters exhibit no resemblance to the objects represented by their names. The most probable explanation of the names of the letters is given in the alphabet. For further particulars see Gesch. der Hcbr. Spr., S. 168, and the initial articles under the several letters in the author's Hebrew Lexicon. 2. The numerical power of the consonants is given in connexion with the alphabet. From 500 to 900, hundreds are sometimes expressed by the five final letters ; thus, 1 500, a 600, ] 700, t| 800, y 900. Others express them by ri = 400, with the addition of the remaining hundreds ; as pn=500. Fifteen is expressed by vj; ^ 9 -f- 6, not by rr, because these are the first two letters in the name of God. The units, marked with two dots, stand for thousands ; e. g., n = 1000. 3. Abbreviatums of words do not occur in the text of the O. T. They are found on coins, and in the writings of the later Jews. The sign of abbreviation is an oblique stroke, as V for Vsriip;. Two abbreviations should be noted, as they are frequent in grammatical writings — viz., 'e for ':';E, aliqiiis, and '^\J^ for ■\"5i3i, et completio = et co'tcra. The abbre- viation for riin; is ^; or '\ * These letters are supplied with vowels and pro- nounced together thus yE3p3. Such voces memorialft were invented by the early Hebrew Kranimarians to assist in remembering certain classey of letters. § G. PRONUNCI.iTION & DIVISION OF CONSONANTS. (Lelugeb. 5 3.) 1. Very many of the principles which regu- late the changes both of consonauts and vowels are founded on the original pronunciation of the former. It is important, therefore, to ascertain this pronunciation as far as possible. Our knowledge of this is derived, partly from the pronunciation of the kindred dialects, particu- larly of the Arabic, stiU a living language ; partly from observing the similitude and inter- change of letters in the Hebrew itself, (§ 19 ;) partly from the tradition of the Jews.* The pronunciation of the Jews of the pre- sent day is not uniform. The Polish and German Jews adopt the Syriac, while the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, whom most Christian scholars (after the example of RcuchUn) follow, more properly prefer the Arabic pronunciation. The manner in which the Seventy have written Hebrew proper names in Greek let- ters furnishes an older tradition of greater weight. Several, however, of the Hebrew sounds they were unable to represent for want of coiTesponding characters in the Greek lan- guage ; e. g., r, r. 2. The following list embraces those conso- nants whose pronunciation requires special at- tention, exhibiting in connexion those which bear any resemblance to each other. 1. Among the gutturals N is the lightest, a scarcely audible breathing from the lungs, the spirituA- lenis of the Greeks ; similar to n, but softer. Even before a vowel it is almost lost upon the ear, (lON, ciftaji,) like the h in the French habit, homme. After a vowel it is often not heard at all, except in connexion with the preceding vowel sound, with which it combines its own, (!«iD, matsa.) § 23, 2. n before a vowel is exactly our A, {spiritus asperf) after a vowel at the end of words, it may, Uke k, unite its sound with that of the preceding vowel, (r63, gala,} or it may retain * Important aid may also be derived from an accurate physiological observation of the whole system of sounds, and of their formation by the organs of speech. See an excellent treatise on tliis subject by Hupfeld in Jahn's Jahrliuchcrn f. I'hilologie, isag, H. i. 12 THE ELEMENTS. its character as a guttm-al, (nis, ga-bhsh.) §14. S is very nearly related to N, a sound pecu- liar to the organs of the Semitish race. Its hardest sound is that of a jr slightly rattled in the throat ; as rrjtg, LXX. Fu/ioppa ; nw, TaZa ; it is elsewhere, like », a gentle breathing, as in 'te, 'HXi ; pta?, 'A^aXi/c. In the mouth of the Arabian, the first often strikes the ear like a soft guttural r, the second as a sort of vowel sound like a. Wholly false is the Jewish pronunciation by a nasal gn or ntj. n is the hardest of the guttural sounds. It ■was a guttural cli, as uttered by the Swiss and Poles, resembling the Spanish x. While the Hebrew was a living language this letter had two grades of sound, being uttered feebly in some words and more strongly in others.* 1 also the Hebrews frequently pronounced with a hoarse guttural sound, not as a Ungual made by the \-ibration of the tongue. Hence it is not merely to be reckoned among the liquids, (/, m, h, r,) but, in several of its pro- perties, it belongs also to the class of gutturals. (§ 22, 4.) 2. In sibilaiit sounds the Hebrew language is rich, more so than the kindred dialects, especially the Aramajan, which adopts instead of them the flat, lingual sounds. * In the Arabic lan^iage, the peculiarities of which have been carefully noted by the grammarians, the hai-d and soft sounds of y and n, as well as the different pronunciations of l, "c, ^, (see Second Alphabet,) are in- dicated by diacritic points. Two letters are thus made from each ; from !? the softer p Ain, and the harder Hhn, & the harder ■ G/inin ; from n the softer /■ - K/ia. P iTitntn; iroul n ciiesoner ^ nfnt, &■ cne naraer .y-. Moreover the several modifications in the meaning of stem-words are distinguished by employing for one the hard, and for the other the soft pronunciation and or- thography. In like manner, in German, dtis {that, pro- noun] and dass {that, conjunction], wider [ngaijisf] and wicder [iigaiiiltfur [/or] and ror [be/ore], were origin- ally the same word, distinguished from each other neither in speech nor in writing. [Compare in English, btiss, to bless; thorough, through.] E. g., b^ (1) to pierce, to be pierced— &iai>. 'Hn, jli. — (2) to open, to Imise—Aiah. hhn, il^. ! — p^fji '» smooth, hence (1) to shave smooth, as the head, Arab, with ^ — (2) to wor/c upon, to form, to matte, Arab, with ^ . See the Le.xicon under the words, TOrj, Sjiri, TI>. The Arabic language owes much of its copiousness to the application of this j method of distinguishing words originally the same, ( b and c were originally one letter, \D, (pro- nounced without doubt like sA,) and in un- pointed Hebrew this is still the case. But as this sound was in many words very soft, approaching to that of *, the grammarians distingviished this double pronunciation by the diacritic point, ir, sh, occurs most fre- quently. il) resembled D in pronunciation: it differed from this letter however, and was probably uttered more strongly, being nearly related to II*. Hence i^D, to close vp, and "i3iD, to re- ward, are different and independent stems, as also too, to be foolish, and tofc, to be wise. At a later period this distinction was lost, and hence the Syrians employed only D for both, and the Arabians only t". They also began to be interchanged even in the later Hebrew ; as n3D=nDir, to hire, Esr. 4:5; mbato for mtoci, folli/, Eccles. 1:17. 1 was properly ds, (hence in the Septuagint ^,) as :? was ts. In both, however, the hissing sound predominated, and the Seventy repre- sent 3 by 2 merely. In Arabic, the pre- dominance of the flat sound is indicated by a point 3. The six consonants, n, D, r, i, 3, n, (nBi??,) have a twofold pronunciation : — (a) a soft sound, uttered with a gentle aspiration, (^aspi- rata;') (A) a hard, slender sound (temiis) without the aspiration, which is indicated by a point ; thus, n. § 13.* The modern Greeks aspirate /3, y, ?, the Danes d at the end of words. The Greeks have two signs for the twofold pronunciation of the remaining letters of this class : 3, Xi 3> " ; D, ^, B, w ; n, Sr, n, t. p and ID differ essentially from 3 and n. The former are uttered with stronger articu- lation, and with a compression of the organs of speech in the back part of the mouth. The iElhiopians have also the corresponding hard sound of;;. In the Hebrew, as well as in all the Se- mitish dialects, the strength and harshness of * General usage in this country sounds n as M in thin, ri as t; T as th in t/tat, ^ as rf; D as pA or /, B as p; 3 as v, 3 as 6; 3 and 3 both as g hard; 3 as A or At, 3 as A:. To somid 3 and 3, pronounce g and k, rolling the palate with the same breath. As our organs are not accustomed to this, it is attended at first with a little difficulty.— Tr. THE ELEMENTS. 13 pronunciation which characterized the earlier periods of the language gradually gave way to more soft and feeble sounds. In this way many nice distinctions of the earlier pro- nunciation were neglected and lost. This appears, (1) in the preference of the softer letters— e. g., pS2, pyi, (see § 2, 3, Rem.) Syr. pOT i (2) in the pronimciation of the same letter ; thus in Syriac s has always a feehle sound : the Galileans uttered this letter as well as n like r In ^Ethiopic ir has the sound of s, n that of /i. 3. After what has heen said, the usual dii^ision of the consonants, according to the organs of speech employed in uttering them, will be more intelligible and useful. The common division is as follows : — o) Gutturals, r, n, rr, n, (yi?^TN) b) Labials, f^, d, 3, \ (fioia) c) Palatals, p, 3, 3, ', (py:) d) Linguals, 1, n, E, with :, b, (rabpi) e) Dentals, ir, S, C, t, (^tispi) 1 partakes of the character of both the first and fifth classes. The liquids also\ :, n, ';, which have in many respects a common character, are to be regarded as a separate class. § 7. THE VOWELS IN GENERAL, VOWEL-LETTERS, AND VOWEL-SIGNS. (Lehrgeb. 5S6, 8.) 1. The origin of the scale of five vowels, a, e, i, 0, «, in the three primary vowel sounds. A, I, U, is even more distinctly seen in the Hebrew, and its cognate dialects, than in other languages. £ and O arose from the union of / and U with a preceding short A, and are properly diph- thongs contracted, e arising from ai, o from au, according to the following scheme : * This character has in (German nearly the sound of aj/ in dd'/, prai/, approadnng that of e in err. The student will bear in mind that the author sounds a as it is heard ui father, i, a-s in machine, e like a in /afe, au like ott \n found, and u like oo in moon. — Tr. The Arabians have not the vowels c and o, and always use for them the diphthongs ai and an ; e. g., ]'3, Arabic (.,JJ baina ; tif, Arab. ijJ i/aum. It is only in the popular language that these diphthongs are occasion- ally contracted into one soimd. The close relation of those sounds appears from a com- parison of the Greek and Latin, (e. g., Caisar, Kaiffap ; Siavjia, Ion. ^li/in,) from the French pronunciation of ai and au, and from the German popular dialects, (aiich, och.') But it is most clearly exhibited in the Sanscrit, which has no other e and o than those wliicli arise from ai and au. 2. With this is connected the manner of in- dicating the vowel sounds in writing. As only three principal vowel soimds were distinguished, no others were designated in writing ; and even these were represented, not by appropriate signs, but by certain consonants, employed for this purpose, whose feeble consonant power easily flowed into a vowel sound. Thus i (the Lat. V and the old German W) represented U and also O ; ' (the Lat. i) represented / and also E. The designation of A, the purest of all the vowels, and of most frequent occurrence, was regularly omitted,* except that in some cases « was used for long a. Even these two vowel letters (i and <) were used but sparingly, being employed only when the sounds which they represent were long. In this case also they were sometimes omitted, § 8, 4. Everything else relating to the quality and quantity of the vowel soimds with which each word shoiUd be uttered, as well as the cases in which a consonant should be pronoimced with or without a vowel, was left to be determined by the reader's knowledge of the language ; and even in respect to i and >, he was to decide for himself, in every instance, whether they were to be regarded as vowels or consonants. tep, e. g., might be read grata/, qatcl, qatol, (flol, qotel^ qittcly qattcl, quttal; "ui, dabhar, (a word,) debher (a pestilence,) dibber, (he hath spoken,) dabber, (to speak,) dobher, (speaking,) dubbar, (it has been spoken ;) * So in Sanscrit and .-Ethiopic, of all the vowels short a alone is not indicated by any sign, and the consonant by itself is pronounced with this vowel. 14 THE ELEMENTS. mo might be maveth (death) or muth, moth, (to die ;) p might be read bin, ben, bayin. How imperfect and indefinite such a mode of writing was, is easily seen ; yet during the whole period in which the Hebrew was a spoken language, no other signs for vowels were em- ployed. The later writers, it is true, inserted the vowel letters very often where they were omitted by the earlier ; e. g., Tn for Tn {David,) ©Tip for \Bip, (quilcsh, holiness.) All else must be supplied by the reader's familiarity with his mother tongue. With what facility this might be done is manifest from the fact, that even since the invention of a more accurate mode of designating the vowels, the Arabians and mo- dem Jews very seldom avail themselves of it, the Persians scarcely ever. The writtai form of the Semitish languages exhibits a striliing neglect of vowels in com- parison with consonants. This, however, has its foundation in the language itself. The consonants are the body of the language ; with these is connected the signification, which the vowels only serve to modify. Even at the present day, carelessness in the expression of vowel sounds is characteristic of oriental pro- nunciation.* 3. The Hebrew having ceased to be a spoken language, the danger of losing the correct pro- nunciation eontinuidly increased, as well as the perplexity arising from this indefinite mode of writing. To remedy these evils the vowel-signs were invented. Of the date of this invention we have no account ; but a comparison of historical facts warrants the conclusion, that the vowel system was not completed till after the seventh century of the Christian era. It was the worli of Jewish scholars, well skilled in the language, who, it is highly probable, copied the example of the Syrian and Arabian grammarians. See Gesch. d. Hebr. Spr., S. 182 ff. and HtipfeW in der Theolog. Studitni und Kritiken, ] S JO, no. 3, where it is shewn that the Talmud and Jerome make no mention of vowel points. This vowel system has probably for its basis the pronunciation of the Jews of Palestine, and its consistency, as well as the analogy of the kindred languages, furnishes strong proof of its * Perhaps there is also an historical reason in the com- paratively late introduction of the inflexion by vowels. See Hupfeld in Hermes, xxxi. S. 21 fif. correctness, at least as a whole. Its authors have laboured to exhibit by signs the minute grada- tions of the vowel soimds, carefully marking even half vowels, and helping sounds, spontane- ously adopted in all languages, but seldom ex- pressed in writing. To the same labours for facilitating the reading of the text we owe the accents, (§§ 15, 16,) and the different marks by which the sound of the consonants themselves is modified. (§§ 11—14.) In Arabic and Syriac the vowel system is much more simple. In the former are three signs for vowels, according to the three primary vowel sounds ; in the latter there are five, viz. a, e, i, o, u. §8. THE VOWEL SIGNS. (Lehrgeb. H 9—12.) 1. The vowels generally adopted, after the in- troduction of this system of punctuation, were seven in number. By the Jewish grammarians of the middle ages — as Kimchi, for example — . these were divided into ten, five long and five short, as appears from the following table, which is presented here in order to exhibit the vowel signs and their connexion with the consonants. Long Vowels* -^ Qa'mets, a; 0'<,i/dm, -^ Tse'ri, e; cil', shem. ^—^ Hhi'r^q magnum, i; v^ bin. i or -^ Hho'lem, 6; bip, qOl; ab, sobh. 1 ShQ'rcci, a ; mo, miith. Short Vowels, (and doubtfiJ, ancipites.') -^ Pattahh', n; C7, dam. — Seghol', e and e; ^':a, melcch. -7- Hhi'req parvum, "i ; ■p, mm ; 13«, ^mml. — Qa'mSts-Hhatuph', S; -pn, lihfirj. — Qibbuts', a; inVc, shul-hlwn ; ',10, mH-tht. * Tlie marks by which the Hebrew vowels are repre- sented in this translation are soimded as in the following table ;— 1! like a in hull; (in the original work, like a in father.) a — a — fattier ; a same sound, but shorter, as in after. s — a — tame. { — e — err; f . . . . asm them. t — i — muelcinc;f - - , . . p,jj_ a — o — lo; a - . . . doUng. A — 00 — miion ; a . . . . soon. THE ELEMENTS. 15 Rem. 1. The twofold pronunciation of the vo-n-el letter 1 is indicated by the different posi- tions of the point, as placed above or in the bosom of the letter. The pronunciation of ' as ! is indicated by the single point preceding it ; the same letter has the sound of e ^-:r- See no. 3. 2. The diacritic point over the letters to and 'i sometimes serves also for the vowel Hholemj e.g., »:«, sS-ne; mfio, mo-she. ffi (with two points), -when no vowel stands under it, is read slin, as l-p-iS sho-mer ; when no vowel stands under the preceding letter, it is read os ; irBT, yTr-pos. The form i with a vowel under it is read 6v, ^ being in this ease a consonant ; as rfp, IS-ve ; nirr, ytho-vah. This form is also read fu, when the preceding letter has a vowel ; as, ]iy, ^(i-vdn. 3. All the vowels, except Ilholem and Shureq, are written under the consonants, and each is pronoimced after the letter under whicli it stands. Pattahh furtive is the only exception. (See § 22, 2, i.) 4. The names of the vowels, according to the practice of the Semitish grammarians, are almost all expressive of the position and action of the organs of speech in uttering the vowel sounds. Thus TOS signifies opening; ■ns (also -ai!,) f radio oris; y^r;, f render, gnash- ing; cbin, inlegritas, from its full tone, (also □ID N'ra> /«^' mouth ;) invii, properly avpiapoQ ; ^TSil, closing of the mouth, ^-^i?, also means closing or contraction ; and the reason why long a and short o (f]i-ri ^^;?, qatnets correptuni) have the same name and sign is, that the Rabbins gave to Qamets the impure sound of 0. How they are distinguished is shewn in § 9. Only bSx (a cluster of grapes) appears to have derived its name from its form. Most of the names were so foi-med that the sound of each vowel was heard in the first syllable of its name. In conformity with this, some write Siighol, (nearly Seghol,) Qomets- hhatuph, Qiibbuts. (See Rem. 5, at the end.) 2. This division however fails of exhibiting the relation of the vowels to each other, and also their true quantity, some of those repre- sented as short being often long. A more use- ful division is into three classes, according to the three primary vowel sounds, as follows : — 1. A sound. — Qa'raets, long pure a, *d ; D\ i/'mi. — Pattahh', short pure a, a; on, dUm. — SSghol' (li) vocalis anceps, S; ■^, me-Uhh. 2. / .and E sound. ._ and — long Hhi'rSq, i; T3, ornj, wir. — short Hhireq - - - 1; ID, m1n. '— and -r Tse'ri - - e; Xyc, shem. — (also ' — ) Seghol, obtuse — ai. But in Ilebre-w, the litera quieseibilis retains, in this case, its consonant po-wer, and such forms are pronounced av, ei; Sy;X e. g., 11 vav, 13 gi'V, '13 goy, 'n hhuy. 1<^ is in pronunciation the same as V-. The Hebre-w pronunciation of such diphthongs resembles that of the modem Greeks, (itacism,) -who treat the u in au and (u as a consonant. We here present a fe-w remarks on the cha- racter and value of the several vowels, parti- cularly -with reference to their quantity. 1. In the first class, viz. of the A sounds, Qamets is the regular vowel in an open, and Pattahh in a closed syllable, (§ 26, 1 ;) e. g., ■jTDp. We must distinguish, however, the ease of the usual pure Qamets, from that in which it quiesces, or originally quiesced, in the vowel letter n ; e. g., 3n3, Arab. inti?. In such cases it is called Qamets impure, and is immutable, (§ 25, 2.) * The same historical relation is seen in Arabic, es- pecially in the inscriptions on coins. t Nearly like oi in voice. — Tr. J Wherever t/ is employed to represent the consonant power of <— , the student should sound it as y in pou, not like a vowel as in ny.— Tr. 2. Segliol is an obtuse E sound. It is ana- logous to Sheva vocal (§ 10, 2) but stronger, and hence takes its place when its sound is to be prolonged ; as M'l, 'n;i, ^n), 'nb. Hence also it is usually the supplied vowel when one is needed to facilitate the pronunciation ; 'j:' yt-ghSl, for 73' y'glil- It arises not only from Pattahh and Tseri, but also perhaps from an obtusion of the soimds of vowels of the third class ; e. g., cw, originally cin« ; Dn, from en. In quantity it is a doubtful vowel, (vocalis aiiceps.') It is commonly short, but is sometimes dwelt upon, or prolonged, as in the first syllable of rpi, and is strictly long In nj'bs, where it serves to determine the sound of the vowel letter '. 3. In the second class, '-^ is a long immu- table vowel, and remains such when the ' falls away. (See no. 4 of this §.) Whether a ' has been thus omitted can be determined with certainty only from etymology, though the nature of the syllable (§ 26) and the use of Methegh (16, 2) may often assist the inquirer. In Arabic it is always -written with Yodh. Short Hhireq is found very frequently in syllables with sharpened tone ; as, tep, qtt-tel, 'DN, irn-mi. It is also frequently supplied to assist in the pronunciation of two vowel- less consonants at the beginning of a word, (§ 28, 1,) or as a furtive helping vowel at the end ; e. g., n'i, ba-yith, for n'J, bSyt, (§ 28, 4.) In the first case the LXX. repre- sent it by £ as ■;» I3as, 'Em^avoviiX ; in the Syriac, also, short e is the corresponding vowel. 4. •, — is properly a contraction of the diph- thong ' , (§ 7, 1,) which still remains in other dialects ; e. g., p'n, Syr. jpTi ; '??, (sons of) Syr. '31 It is therefore a long immutable vowel, even longer than »-:-, since it has nearly the value of a diphthong. Such a '-^ is seldom -written defectively, and then retains the same value ; as '3? for '3'?, Isa. 3 : 8. Tseri without Yodh is, like Qamets, a pure and mutable vowel It stands either in an open or a closed syllable. Sometimes it stands for '— shortened ; as, V'TEp'., Vcp'. 5. The third class exhibits a similar rela- tion. In the U sound, with which we begin as the pure vowel, we distinguish, (1) i THE ELEMENTS. 17 Shiireq, a long immutable vowel, like '-^, as in "jiai. (2) That Qibbuts, which stands for Shureq, and therefore might analogically be called Shureq parvum or de/ectivum ; e. g., from 'r\y\, "Vll ; which is consequently a long im- mutable vowel, like Shureq, and is merely an orthographic abbreviation of it. (3) The proper Qibbuts, a short «, found in a closed syllable, and especially in syllables with the sharpened tone ; as ^nSr, shiil-hhun ; njp, qiib-ba. The LXX. represent the latter by u ; as cVtt, 'OSo\\aj.i ; from which it by no means follows that this was the true pronunciation. (See Stange, Bei/trlige zitr Hebr, Gram. No. 1, and above on llhireq, no. 3.) Equally incor- rect is the pronunciation which gives to both kinds of Qibbuts the sound of it.* 6. Analogous to the above, though with some modification, are the three modes of designating the O sound ; viz., (1) i Hholem plenum, long and immutable, like i and ^, properly a contraction of the diphthong T — au.f (2) — Hholem dffectivum, in some cases a mere orthographic abbreviation of Hholem plenum, as ^ip, plur. nftp; in others origimilhj defective, and therefore mutable, (§ 25,) e. g., fep;, tep> ; 'c, shortened, -'J3 {kul), •>p. (3) — Qamets-Hhatuph, which is always short, and bears the same relation to Hholem as Seghol to Tseri. The analogies which have been pointed out may be seen at one view in the following table, which shews also the imperfection of the nomenclature usually employed in the classification of these sounds : — - 1. Full and Long. ^ Hhireq magnum in C':':ri. S Hholem plenum in Vij?. 1 Shureq plenum in 'rw. 2. Defective and Long. -^ Hhireq parvum m D::n. -^ Hholem defectivum in ni''!;. — Qibbuts longum ; more correctly Shureq defectivum, ^yi. * Nearly the French k — Tr. t Pronounced like ou ia found, as in 5 7, 1. — Tr. 3. Defective and Short. -^ Hhireq parvum in in.><.* . — Qamets-Hhatuph in -to. — Qibbuts breve, or simply Qibbuts, in tan. §9. DISTINCTION OF QAMETS & QAMETS-HHATUPH.t (Lehrgeb. S 10.) 1. In distinguishing Qamets (a) and Qamets- Hhatuph (a), a knowledge of grammatical forms is the only sure guide ; but to the learner the following general rule may be of service ; viz.^ The sign (t) is o in a closed, unaccented syl- lable; for such a syllable cannot have a long vowel, § 26, 3. Under this rule are the follow- ing cases : (a) when a simple Sheva follows, as rropn, hhnhh-md ; (A) when a Daghesh forte fol- lows, as xyril, bot-tim ; '::n, hhun-ne-ni; (c) a final mixed syllable without the tone t3p'>i, vSy-ya- q6ni. But Qamets followed by Methegh is long a (u), as ni31, za-hh'ra, in distinction from IT131, zuhh-ra; 'Vnp, shuth-li. But Methegh does not distinguish Qamets from Qamets- Hhatuph in the antepenult syllable, because there Methegh may stand with a short vowel, as C5"n3, bot-te-hhim. In cases like ni^Sri, Iia-l'n, n'sV', lum'-ma, where Qamets has the tone, it is long a, ac- cording to § 26, 3. 2. (t) as short S in an open syllable is less frequent, and belongs properly to the e-xceptions mentioned § 26, 3. It occurs in the following cases : (a) when Hhateph-Qamets follows, as ibl'B, p<5-r°/(7;t (6) when another Qamets- Hhatuph follows, as ^IjI'S, po-^Ol-/ilia ; § (c) in two words in which it stands merely for t; (which occurs even in manuscripts), viz. Dii^p, qS-dha-shlm, and Dipi\2), shS-rd-shim. * For this quantity of Hhireq there should, according to the analogy of Qibbuts and Qamets-Hhatuph, be an- other name if not another sign. t This section must be studied in connexion with what is said on the nature of the syllable. 5 26, and on Methegh. i IS, 2. t That D is to be regarded as an open syllable is i shewn 5 2(i, 2, d. § The principle of division in this case is the same as in the former, since the Qamets-Hhatuph arises from 1 Ihateph-Qamets. D 18 THE ELEMENTS. In these cases t is followed by Methegb, although it is short S, since Methegh always stands on the second syllable before the tone. Exceptions to these principles can be deter- mined only by a knowledge of grammatical forms. E. g. "Jsa ba-t>9nt (in the ship, 1 Kings 9:27) with the article included, whereas riN-'ina (Ex. 11:8), without the article, is read bH-hlt'-rl-^aph. § 10. SHEVA SIMPLE AND COMPOSITE. (Lehrgeb. 5S 13—36.) 1. The sign Sheva -7- (called simple, in dis- tinction from the composite Shevas) is placed under every consonant which is destitute of a vowel.* At the end of words, however, it is regularly omitted ; e. g., tej:. Exceptions to this last remark are final "|, as Tiio, me-lt/ih, and the few cases in which two vowelless conso- nants stand at the end of a word ; e. g., ns, n^EiJ, T15. 2. Simple Sheva is of two kinds: — (1) The vowelless consonant may stand at the end of a syllable : the Sheva then serves merely to mark the division of syllables, and is not heard in pronunciation ; hence it is called silent ShevOj (Sheva quiesceyis;) e. g., »frg, mdl-ka. (2) Sheva may stand under (he first letter of a syllable, as in fep, q'tol, [a monosyllable,] vhyp, m'mal-ll. Here the organs of speech spontaneously supply a kind of half vowel sound, which is indicated by the Sheva ; hence it is called vucal Sheva, (^Sheva viohile.) Simple Sheva is vocal in the following cases : — (a) Xt the beginning of a word, as ':'it"p, m'qut-tel. — (b) In the midst of a word, at the beginning of a syllable; i.e., (1) after an un- accented long vowel ; (2) after another Sheva ; (3) under a Daghesh : e. g., nteip, qo-tfla; tej:;, yiq-t'lQ; itep, qit-fla. Compare in German a-d'ler, hand'lung ; [in English i-d^ling, dis- a-b'ling.'] — (c) When a letter is repeated, as fhn, hS-Mii, in distinction from i^ri, hal-lu. The sound of vocal Sheva is a half g, as appears from the fact that when lengthened it becomes SeghoL * Tite Hebrew NIllJ (emptiness:, is the same with Nll^. Ilie pc-iats in this word are transposed, in order tiiat Ibe sign of which it is the name may be presented Jirst iii the mode of writing it. Compare 6 8, 1, Rem. 4. LU: The LXX. also represent it by e and even by J), as □'3113, xtpovjitfi ; n^lb^n, aWTjXoi'ia ; more frequently by a, as 'jNiniLS 2a/ioii?jX. Very often, however, they make this feeble sub- ordinate sound conform to the following proper vowel of the syllable ;* e. g., Dip, SoW/i; TTchp, SoXo/iwi/; ni^a^, SafinwO. The Arabic distinguishes perfectly the cases of Sheva vocal and silent, using for the latter a sign which indicates the division of syllables, (^Dschesm,) and for the former a regular short voweL 3. With Sheva vocal is connected the com- posite Sheva, (_Sheva compositum, or hhatiph, i. e., rapidum,) i. e., simple Sheva attended by one of the short vowels, to shew that it should be pronounced as a half a, I, or B, but without forming a syllable. Of this there are three kinds, corresponding to the three principal vowel sounds, (§ 7, 1 ;) viz. — • ~t Hhateph-Pattahh, as in nran, hh'^mur. •■••• Hhateph-Seghol, — itN, vfmor. t: Hhateph-Qamets, — 'bn, AA°/i. These Hhatephs, at least the two former, are used chiefly with the four gutturals, (§ 22, 3,) the utterance of which is naturally attended with a short vowel sound. Rem. Only -: and t; are found under letters which are not gutturals. Hhateph-Pattahh stands occasionally, but without any fixed law, for simple Sheva vocal. This occurs most frequently — («) under a letter which is doubled, since the doubling of the letter cannot be expressed without a very clear enunciation of the vocal Sheva. Com- pare in German mancher, mannichtaitig. It is often foimd, where the sign of duplication has fallen away, as a substitute for it ; e.g., '::r for '3|S, Gen. 9 : 14. Ezek. 35 : 7, 9. — (4) After a long vowel, as arn, z'hubh ; nrni, H-z'habh, Gen. 2 : 12. rrJiS, sh'mas ; rntfi, i-sh'^maS, Deut. 5 : 24. compare Gen. 27 : 26. Hhateph-Qamets is less used with the gut- turals than the other composite Shevas. It is employed where a full o sotmd gives place to a vocal Sheva, and the character of the original vowel is to be preserved ; e. g., 'nt for * The same law of language the Hungarian exhibits in some words of foreign origin, as Gards, {German Groscfien,) Giirog, {Fpaifcof;! comp. also the Latin aug- ment in momordi, pupugi, &c. THE ELEMENTS. 19 W (§ 90. VI.); ^Djv, for the usual form ?jEiy, Ezek. 35 : 6, from r|Ti'; iii^Tp from ijrjp^. It is also (like -:) used when a Daghesh forte has fallen away; as, r\r;fh for nnp';. Gen. 2 : 23. § 11. SIGNS WHICH AFFECT THE PRONUNCIATION OF THE CONSONANTS. These are intimately connected with the ap- plication of vowel signs to the Hebrew text, and were probably introduced at the same time. They are three in nmuber, (besides the diacritic points over i- and tf ;) viz., Daghesh, {forte and lene,) Mappiq, Raphe. The latter is no longer used in printed editions of the Bible. § 12. DAGHESH IN GENERAL.— DAGHESH FORTE. CLehrgeb. » 17—19.) 1. Daghesh, a point written in the bosom* of a consonant, is employed for two purposes : (1) to indicate the doubUug of the letter, (Daghesh forte,) e.g., tej, qtt-tel; (2) the hardening of the letter, i. e., the removal of its aspiration, (Daghesh lene.) The Stem tfji, from wliich tfjT is derived, in Syriac signifies to Ihncst through, to bore tiirough, (with a sharp instrument.) Hence the word Daghesh is commonly supposed to mean, with reference to its figure merely, a prick, 3. point. But the names of all similar signs are expressive of their grammatical power ; and in this case, the name of the sign refers both to its figure and its use. In gram- matical language irn means (1) acuere literam, to sharpen the letter by doubling it ; (2) to harden the letter by taking away its aspira- tion. Accordingly sjj-j means sharpening, hardening, i. e., sign of sharpening or harden- ing, (comp. Mappiq, p-Ep, proferens, i. e.,signum prolalionis.) and was expressed in writing merely by a prick of the stylus, (punctum.) In a manner somewhat analogous, letters and words are represented, in the criticism of a text, as expunged (eipuncla) by a point or pointed instrument (pbetiscus) affixed to them. The opposite of Daghesh lene is Raphe, soft, softening, (§ 14, 2.) That tf:n, in grammatical * Daghesh in 1 is easily disHngiiished from Shureq. which never admits a vowel or Sheva under the \ or I the letter next preceding it. See i 13, 2, note. language, is applied to a hard pronunciation of some kind, appears also from § 22, 3. 2. Its use as Daghesh forte, i. e., for doubling a letter, is most important, (compare the Sicilicus of the ancient Latins, e. g., Luculus for Luculhs, and in German the stroke over m and n.) The actual doubling of a letter in pronunciation is always indicated by this sign, never by the re- petition of the letter. It is wanting in the un- pointed text. For further particulars see § 20. § 13. DAGHESH LENE. (Lehrgeb. ! 20.; 1. Daghesh lene belongs only to the aspirates (litera aspirata) nE3x-3, (§ 6, 3.) It takes away their aspiration, and makes them slender or pure somids, {literce tenues.) 2. Daghesh fenc, as is shewn in § 21, stands only at the beginning of words and syllables. It is thus easily distinguished from Daghesh forte, since in these cases the doubling of a letter is impossible.* 3. Daghesh forte in an aspirate not only doubles it, but takes away its aspiration ; as •E.>», ilp-pi; ni3> rak-kSth. This is accounted for by the difficulty of doubling an aspirated letter in prommciation. In confirmation of this rule we may refer to certain Oriental words, which, in the earliest times, passed over into the Greek language, as ,ve3, Ka-a-ira (not Kuip^pa), l>re, aaTrtptipog. The doubling of a letter does not occur in Syriac, at least in the western dialects. Wliere it would be required, however, according to etymology and analogy, the aspiration at least is removed : thus, pcN in Syriac is read apeq, for uppcq. MAPPIQ AND RAPHE. (Lehi'geb. H 21, 22.) 1. Mappiq, like Daghesh, to which it is analogous, is a point in the bosom of a letter. It belongs only to the quiescents, and shews that they are to be souuded with their full con- sonant power, instead of serving merely to pro- • The learner will perceive that Daghesh forte must always be immediately preceded by a. vowel, which is never the case with Daghesh lene.— Tr. 20 THE ELEMENTS. long the sound of the preceding vo-wel. It is at present used only in final n ; e. g., n33. gd-bhah, (h having its full sound,) rKiN, ^itr-tsdh, (Jier land,) in distinction from ns"iN, ar'-tsa, (to the earth.') Protably such a n -was uttered with stronger aspiration, like A in the German Schiih, which in common life is pronounced Schuch. The use of it in connexion with N, 1, ', is confined to manuscripts. The name p-Da signifies prolonging, and in- dicates that the sound of the letter should be fully expressed. The same sign was selected for this and for Daghesh, because the design was analogous, viz., to strengthen the sound of the letter. Hence also Raphe is the opposite of both. 2. Raphe, (npi.) i. e., soft, softening, in form like Pattahh, written over the letter, is the opposite of both Daghesh and Mappiq, espe- cially of Daghesh lene. In manuscripts an aspirate has generally either Daghesh lene or Raphe ; but in printed editions of the Bible it is used only when the absence of Daghesh or Mappiq is to be expressly noted ; e. g., Judg. 16:16,28. Job 31: 22. Zech. 5 : 11. § 15. THE ACCENTS. (Lehrgeb. H 23— 2?.) 1. The design of the accents in Hebrew is twofold, viz., (a) to mark the tone-syllable ; (i) to shew the relation of each word to the whole sentence. By the Jews, moreover, they are regarded as signs of cantillation, and are used as such in the recitation of the scriptures in the synagogues. This use of them is connected with the second one mentioned above. 2. As signs for marking the tone-syllable they are all perfectly equivalent, for there is but one kind of accent in Hebrew. In most words the tone is on the last syllable, seldom on the penult, and never on the antepenult. In the first case the word is called mil-rav, (Tfya Chald., from below ;) in the second, mil-ill, (Vr^p Chald., /"rom above.) 3. The use of the accents as signs of inter- punction is somewhat complicated, as they serve not merely to separate the members of a sen- tence, like our period, colon, and comma, but also as marks of connexion. Hence they form two classes, Distinctives (Domini) and Conjunc- tives (^Servi.) Some are, moreover, peculiar to the metrical books — Job, Psalms, and Proverbs. In the following list they are arranged ac- cording to their value as signs of interpunc- tion : — A. Distinctives, {Domini.) Class I. Greatest Distinctives, (Jmpera- tores,) which may be compared with our period and colon. 1. ( — ) SlllHq, (end,) always united with ( ! ) Soph-pdsHq, which stands at the close of each verse ; c. g., :\"yJ^J• 2. ( — ) Athnahh, (respiration,) generally in the midst of the verse. 3. (-p-) MSrkd mahpachStum*. Cl.iss II. Great Distinctives, (Eeges.) 4. (— ) Seghol'ta^'f. 5. (— ) Zdqeph-qaton. 6. {—) Zaqeph-gddhol. 7. (— ) Tiphhhd. Class III. Smaller Distinctives, (Duces.) 8. (— ) Rlbhl^ [pronounced rif-ri'-a/i.] 9. ( — ) Zurqa-f-f. 10. (— ) Pilshtdjj. 11. (— ) YiOiibh]. \2.(-j-)Tebhir. 13. (— ) Double- Mlrkd. 14. (— ) Shulshelmh*. 15. (— ) Tiphhha initiale]. Class IV. Smallest Distinctives, (Coniites.) 16. (-^) Pdzer. 17. (— ) QSrne-phard. 18. (—) Great Telishaf. 19. (— ) Gi'rlsh. 20. (-^) Double - GeVesA. 21. (|) P&ig, (placed between the separated words.) B. Conjunctives, (Servi.) 22. (— ) Merkd. 23. (— ) MUndhh. 24. (— ) Mahpahh. 25. (— ) QHdhmd. 26. (— ) DUrgd. 27. (— ) Yerahh. 28. (-^) Little- r^/is/ia ft- 29. (— ) Tiphhhd*. 30. (rr) Mirha-zarqd- tum*. 31. (-^) Mahpahh-zarqatum*. remarks on the accents. I. As designed to mark the tone-syllable. 1. Words which are written with the same consonants and vowel signs are often distin- guished by the accent ; e. g., 133, bd-nH' (they built), 133, bd'-nH (in us.) Compare in Greek THE ELEMENTS. 21 i/fii and jifii, and in English dtsert and desert. 2. Most of the accents stand on the tone- syllable, and properly on its initial consonant. Some, ho"wever, stand only on the first letter of a word, {prepositive,") others only on the last letter, (postpositive.) The former are de- signated in the table by f, the latter by -ff. Those marked with an asterisk are used only in the poetical books. 3 The place of the accent, when it is not on the final syllable, is indicated in this grammar by the usual sign ( » ) ; e. g., riTOJ^, qa-td'l-ia. II. As signs of interptmction. 4. In respect to this use of the accents, every verse is regarded as a period which closes with Silluq,* or, in the figurative lan- guage of the grammarians, as a kingdom, (ditio,) which is governed by the great Dis- tinctive at the end, Silkiq, {Imperator.) Ac- cording as the verse is long or short, i. e., as the empire is large or small, varies the number of Domini of diflFerent grades, which form the larger and smaller divisions. 5. Conjunctives (_Servi) unite only such words as are closely connected in sense, as a noun with an adjective, or with another noun in the genitive, &c. But two conjunctives cannot be employed together. If the sense requires that several words should be con- nected, it is done by Maqqeph, (§ 16, 1.) 6. In very short verses, few conjunctives are used, and sometimes none ; a small dis- tinctive, in the vicinity of a greater, having a connective power, (servii domino majori.) In very long verses, on the contrary, conjunc- tives are used for the smaller distinctives, (fiunt legati dominorum.) 7. The choice of this or that conjunctive or distinctive depends on very subtile laws of consecution, with which the learner need not trouble himself at present. It is sufficient for him to know the greater distinctives, which answer to our colon and comma, though they often stand where a half comma is scarcely admissible. They are most important in the * This has the same form with Methegh, (i 16, 2 ;) but they are readily distinguished, as Silluq always stands on the last tone-syllable of a verse, while Methegh never stands on the 1 jne-syllable. poetical books for dividing a verse irito its members. § 16. MAQQEPH AND METHEGH. (Lehrgeb. H 28, 29.) These are both closely connected with the accents. 1. Maqqeph (binding, connecting) is a small horizontal stroke between two words, which thus become so united that, in respect to tone and interpunction, they are regarded as one word, and have but one accent. Two, three, and four words may be united in this way ; e.g., ciN-''|, nt'S-ta-riN, Gen. 1 :29. i'l-TCM^'aTis, Gen. 25 : 5. Small words Uke -ht), -'js, -'3 are almost always thus connected. The use of it, more- over, depends chiefly on the principle, that two conjunctive accents cannot be written in immediate succession. When the sense re- quires such a connexion, it is expressed by Maqqeph. 2. Methegh, (a bridle,) a small perpendicular line on the left of a vowel, forms a kind of check upon the influence of the accents as marking the tone-syllable, and shews that the vowel, though not accented, shoidd not be too lightly passed over in pronunciation. It stands — (a) Always after a long vowel next before a tone-syllable ; as nS"^, ti'-l'^dhJ. It enables ns in such cases to distinguish a long from a short vowel, (com- pare § 9, 1 ;) e. g., ri^3t, za-kh'ra, rrpT, zSkh-ra; ?NT', yi-r^MM, (they feared,) vn*, yir-m, (they saw.) — (b) Always on the second syllable before the tone, even though the vowel is short ; r£'P3, bBt-te-klilm. — (c) After every vowel which is immediately followed by a composite Sheva, In all these cases it marks the division of syllables. Compare §§ 9 and 26. The cases given above exhibit the prevailing usage. There are other cases still, in regard to which, how- ever, there is much inconsistency and diver- sity of usage in manuscripts and editions. § 17. QERl AND KETHIBH. (Lehrgeb. S 30.) The margin of the Hebrew Bible exhibits a number of various readings of an early date 22 THE ELEMENTS. (§ 3, 2) called np (to be read), beciiuse in the view of the Jewish critics they are to be pre- ferred to the reading of the text called n'na {written.') Those critics have therefore attached the vowel signs, appropriate to the marginal reading, to the corresponding word in the text ; e.g., in Jer. 42:6, the text exhibits i:n, the margin np i:n]N. The vowels in the text belong to the word in the margin, which is to be pro- nounced ijroN ; but in reading the text i:n, the proper vowels must be supplied ; as, «n. A small circle or asterisk over the word in the text directs the attention to the marginal read- ing. Respecting the critical value of the mar- ginal readings, see Gesch. der Hebr. Sprache. S. 50, 75. CHAPTER II. PECULIARITIES AND CHANGES OF LETTERS; OF SYLLABLES, AND THE TONE. § 18- The general laws which regulate the changes of words in their various inflexions are founded partly on the peculiarities of certain letters and classes of letters, considered individually or as combined in syllables, partly on certain usages of the language in reference to syllables and the tone. § 19- CHANGES OF CONSONANTS. The changes occasioned among consonants by the foi-mation of words, flexion, euphony, or certain influences connected with the progress of the language, are commutation, assimilation, rejection, addition, and transposition. 1. Commutation takes place most naturally among letters which are pronounced similarly, and by the aid of the same organs ; e. g., the sibilants, the softer gutturals n, n, y, the liquids \ a, :, 1, palatics and labials, (particularly of i and D with o,) &c. E. g., frs, cht, t^ ; n>A, rnb, Aram, rob ; Q^ and JV. (as plural endings ;) yf^> yfji "^Oi 1?D; IBte, ate. In process of tune, and as the language approximated to the Aramsean, hard and rough sounds were ex- changed for softer ones ; e. g., n and s for n, as in feE:nri, Aram. feii™. ^nJ for tej ; p™ for pre ; for the sibilants were substituted the corres- ponding flat sounds, as i for ^, lo for s, n for ui. This interchange of consonants affects the original forms of words more than it does their grammatical inflexions ; the consideration of it, therefore, belongs properly to the lexicon.* Examples occur, however, in the grammatical inflexion of words ; viz., the interchange of n and TD in Hlthpaol, (§ 53,') of 1 and ' in verbs prima yodh, (§ 68,) the change of n ino n in the construct state, as nj^is, righteousness, npi2, righteousness of — . 2. Assimilation takes place when one conso- nant standing before another, without an inter- vening vowel, would occasion a harshness in pronunciation; as, illustris for inlustris auWafiSdi'oj for crvvXa/itavw. In Hebrew this occurs — a) Most frequently with : before all conso- nants ; e. g., njp, mizze, for mp ; ]n; for jny ; npn: for nn:ra. Before gutturals 3 is com- monly retained, as W ; seldom before other letters, as npiL'. b) Less frequently, and only in certain cases, with n, h, 1; e. g., pisri for pterin ; tjbpri for ijte^ri, (article bn ;) -ic for tc« by assimilation of 1 and aphaeresis of h, as ite for iVtcn. (§37,2.) In all these cases, the assimilation is expressed by a Daghesh forte in the following letter. In a Jinal consonant, however, as it cannot be doubled, (§ 20, 3, a,) Daghesh is not written ; e. g., n:n contr. nn ; n:a contr. na ; nn^ contr. n^ Compare rv^aq for Tv^l/arQ, In these last cases the assimilated letter has not Sheva, but the helping vowel Seghol, (§ 28, 4,) which, however, does not remove the harshness so as to render the assimilation unnecessary. Sometimes also the syllable en is softened into i, on into o, ii, (as in Greek ivQ becomes tic ; o^ovq oSovq ;) e. g., il"n from tt':« i D'? from pn ; Di3 from cp. 3. The rejection or falling away of a conso- nant easily happens in the case of the feebly uttered vowel-letters », n, 1, \ as well as of the liquids. E. g. — a) At the beginning of a word, (aphccresis,) when a feeble consonant has no vowel, and * See the first article on each letter in the author's Hebrew Lexicon. r THE ELEMENTS. 23 its sound is easily lost upon the ear j as 5:m aud Krni) («•« ;) -6 for I'r ; ;n for j.-u. i) In the midst of a word, (^contraction,) when a feeble consonant is preceded by a half vowel ; e. g., ^I'^V, the prevailing form for TlVonS ; Vpfrr, Tip. c) At the end of words, (apocope ;) e. g., n'^r, ■jr ; n'ja, before the genitive, '33. Bolder changes were made in the infancy of the language, particularly the casting away of consonants at the end of a word; thus from ps was formed ^«; from .-vj, 3; from ■ct, ri. See § 97. 4. In other cases a harshness in pronuncia- tion is prevented by the addition of helping con- sonants, particularly of N at the beginning of a word, before two vowelless consonants, (pros- thesis;) e. g., SilT, zero's, Si"il«, ttSz-ro's ; 113, 1J3N. Comp. x^Effi ix^k- 5. Transposition, in grammar, seldom occurs. An example of it is "rantTi for irpirnn (§ 53, 2.) Cases are more frequent which faU within the province of the lexicon, as 3ip and iris, ^20 and ^3 ; they are chiefly confined, however, to the sibilants and i. Rem. In some cases where Dat/h. f. is required, examples occur of the following euphonic variations from the usual ortho- graphy : — a) Instead of the sharpening of the syllable by a Daghesh forte in its final consonant, we find its vowel prolonged (especially in the later books) by the insertion of one of the vowel letters, (comp. mile instead of miUe.) E.g., jis'f for ^sp; ]nTr for ]prn, Ilab. 2 : 17. mnio for n-;-iia, 1 Chron. 21 : 23. b) The consonant, instead of being doubled, talies a preceding re sound — as nb for 44, nz for zz — a harshness of pronunciation common in the Chaldee, and the opposite of assimilation. E. g., "s:;? for 'sp. Job 18:2. Comp. in Chaldee njJM for n3N, Dan. 4 : 9. 11 : 18. c) Examples occur in which it is highly probable that n and y were, for the same purpose, inserted after the consonant, which would regularly be doubled. (Compare aiivfipa, (T^ti'pva; (fivWov, Jblium ; aXXoc, alius ; in French, Jille, pronounced Jili/e, from Jilia. E. g., v'r\ for i^ Prov. 26 : 7. trrn for ictti, Ezr. 10 : 16. rj'jjsa for ri'j JO, Is. 23 : 1 1. See Lex. Man. irr^ " § 20. DOUBLING OF CONSONANTS. (Lehrgeb. 55 19, 37.) 1. Daghesh forte is employed to double a letter, and is essejitial — i. e., necessary to the form of the word (Daghesh essential) — • a) VThen the same letter is to be written twice in succession without an intermediate vowel ; thus for i::ra, na-than-nH, nrc; for 'nniS, shath-ti, 'rHE, shSt-ti. 4) In cases of assimilation, (§ 19, 2,) as in' for ;ri3\ In both these instances it is called Daghesh compensative. c) When the doubling of the letter is cha- racteristic of a grammatical form ; e. g, tep, he killed; tep, he caused to hill. (Daghesh characteristic.) The cases in which a letter is actually written twice are comparatively few. This occurs especially after a long immutable vowel, as t:'y^ir!, ho-l'llm; when a Daghesh has been already omitted in the first of the repeated letters, as ^^, hS-MH, for I'jVi, hal-l'la. Cases occur also of the full form where the contracted one is more com- mon, as DiTaj', Jer. 5 : 6, and dto', Prov. 11:3. Qeri; ':3:rt, khon-ne-nl, Ps. 9 : 14 ; and '::n, 4 : 2. 2. A consonant is sometimes doubled merely for the sake of euphony. The use of Daghesh in such cases (Daghesh euphonic) is only occa- sional, and is not essential to the forms of words. It is employed — a) ■\^^len two words, of which the first ends in a vowel, are closely united in pronunciation, by doubling the initial consonant of the se- cond. (Daghesh forte conjunctive.) E. g., nrnp, moi-ze, for rn rro; iNS-ioip, qH'-mHts- ts-|"N!7, Gen. 19 : 14. oS ntosi, Deut. 27 : 7.* In some instances words thus united are contracted into one, as 23^3 for cpVrra, csV rm. Isa.3:l.'5. * Here belong such cases as HNJ niu. E.\. 15 : 1, 21. The assertion, therefore, is not correct, that the first of the two words must be a monosyllable, or accented on the penult. 24 THE ELEMENTS. Analogous to the above usage is the Nea- politan le llagrime for le lagrime, and (includ- ing the union of the two words in one) the Latin 7-eddo for re-do, and the Italian alia for n la, della for dc la. b) When the final consonant of a closed syl- lable, preceded by a short Towel, is doubled in order to sharpen the syllable still more ; e. g., •'2|» for '3», Deut. 32 : 32. Compare Gen. 49:10. Isa. 57:6. 58:3. Job 17:2. 1 Sam. 28 : 10. Ps. 141 :3 Examples of this, however, are comparatively rare, and it is inserted or omitted without regard to any uniform principles. Compare the following forms as found in very ancient Greek inscriptions, viz., apiffffroc, TsXiatrraty 'Aff(7K\i]7ri0Q, {^Bockh, Corpus Inscr. Or. \. p. 42,) and in German aniidere, untisere, (for andere, uiisere,') as written in the time of Luther. c) When it is inserted in the final tone syllable of a sentence (§ 29) in order that it may fiirnish a more firm support for the tone ; e. g., i:n: for iinj, Ez. 27:19. iVn; for ^':rr, Job 29: 21. Isa. 33: 12. 3. The Hebrew omitted, however, the doubling of a letter by Daghesh forte, in many cases where the principles of inflection &c. required it ; viz. — a) Always at the end of a word, because there he was accustomed to prolong the syllable, instead of giving it a short acute sound. Thus the syllable all he pronounced, not as the Germans with a sharpened tone,* but like the English all, call, small. Instead therefore of doubling the consonant, he often lengthened the preceding vowel, (§ 27, 2 ;) e. g., 12 for 12 ; la'i for ii"\ The only exception is n«, the personal pronoun 2 pers. fem. b) Often at the end of a syllable, (where the doubling of a letter is less audible; — compare in Greek aXro, Homeric for uSXito ;) e. g., D>irp5pr! for D'cpaarr. In the greater number of instances Daghesh is retained, though the practice of the punctators in this respect is not uniform. The most that c;in be asserted is, a) That predominant usage excludes Dag- * This distinction is illustrated by the English words small, swarm, compared mth swan, swallow, and boon compared with book. — Tr. hesh from ' — when it takes Sheva — e. g., 'rri, va-t/'hi, instead of 'rri, vSy-y'hi, (comp. however Ps. 104 : 18. 137 : 8. Joel 4 : 6) — and from a letter which is written twice in succession, as ibbn, ha-hlu, for ■^Sn, lial-Mu. /3) That it is retained, on the contrary, in the aspirates, because in them its influence on pronunciation is greater than in other letters, inasmuch as it both doubles them and removes their aspiration, (§ 13, 3 ;) e. g., mEp«, 'hhap-p'ra, not rnpp.^, 'kltaph-rd. Gen. 32 : 21. Comp. Isa. 47 ; 11. Ps. 65 : 4. We find even the form ima (with t uttered thrice) Isa. 2 : 4. c) ^\^len the letter to be doubled is a guttural, (§ 22, 1.) Rem. (on letter b.) There were cases, how- ever, in which the language required the doubling of a consonant at the end of a syl- lable. In such cases a vowel was inserted to render the doubling of the letter more audible ; e. g., CM? for Dpiay ; niap for nao. (§ 66, 4.) Compare with the subject of this section the remarks, a, b, and c, § 19. §21. ASPIRATION, AND THE REMOVAL OF IT BY DAGHESH LENE. (Lehrgeb. 5 20.) The pure hard sound of the six aspirates (n D 3 1 3 3), with Daghesh lene inserted, is to be regarded, agreeably to the analogy which languages generally exhibit in this respect, as their original pronunciation, from which gradu- ally arose the softer and weaker aspirated sound.* The original hard pronunciation maintained itself in greatest purity when it was the initial sound, and after a consonant ; but when it ter- minated a vowel-sound, or stood between two vowels, it was softened by partaking of the aspiration with which a vowel is uttered. Hence the aspirates take Daghesh lene — 1. At the beginning of words, when the final consonant of the preceding word has no vowel, as p-Vy, •sal-ken, ns ("y, ■sits p'ri ; or at the be- ginning of a chapter or verse, or even of a * Thus in Greek tp and x were not at first included in the alphabet, and only the modern Greeks aspirate the letters /I, y, i. THE ELEMENTS. 25 minor division of a Terse, (consequently after a distinctive accent, § 15, 3;) e.g., n't'XTa, Gen. 1 : 1. lt\N3 'rri, it happened, when, Judg. 11:5. On the contrary, ;p "rri, it was so, Gen. 1 :7. 2. In the middle and at the end of words after silent Sheva — i. e., (as in the former case,) at the beginning of a syllable, and in immediate con- nexion with a preceding vo'welless consonant ; e. g., CriScp, q'tal-tlin ; ip;, ylkh-bUdh ; n'i", yesht. On the contrary, after vocal Sheva they take the feeble pronunciation ; e. g., 'rw, mas. Exceptions to No. 2 are — a) Forms -which are made, by the addition or omission of letters, immediately from other forms in which the aspirates had their feeble sound; e.g., ^D"!"!, ridh-phu, from nri ; ^p'^o, formed immediately from C'?V^, (on the contrary, ^3^*3, mul-ki, because it is formed from "fya, malk ;) jripa, bXkh-thabh, from an3. In these cases, that pronunciation of the word to which the ear had become accus- tomed was retained in its derivatives. The same is true, 6) Of the form nro'S, where we might ex- pect the feeble pronunciation of n on account of the preceding vowel. But the original form was rB"?c, sha-ma'st, and the relation of n, notwithstanding the slight vowel-sound thrown in before it, was regarded as un- changed. Comp. § 28, 4. e) In the suffixes ^, cp, jp, p has always its feeble sound, § 33, Rem. 6. That the hard or soft pronunciation of these letters did not affect the signification of words affords no reason to doubt that such a distinc- tion was made. Compare in Greek 3pi;, rpixoQ. § 22. PECULIARITIES OF THE GUTTURALS. (Lehrgeb. j 38.) The four gutturals, », n, n, s, have certain properties in common, which result from their peculiar pronunciation, n and r, however, hav- ing a softer sound than n and n, differ from them in several respects : — 1. They cannot be doubled in pronunciation. and therefore exclude Dayhesh forte. To our organs there is the same difficulty in doubling an aspiration. But the syllable precediug the letter which omits Daghesh appears longer* in consequence of the omission ; hence its vowel is commonly lengthened, especially before the feeble letters n and y; e.g., ^^rn for ];3ri; I'pN^ for TO«;, &c. (§ 26, 2.) The harder gutturals n and n allowed a sharpening of the syllable, though orthography excluded Dagh. f. (as in German the ch in sicker, machen, has the sharp pronunciation without being written double), and hence these letters almost universally retain before them the short vowel ; e. g., iE"]nn, Nirn. [Comp. vicious, precious, nearly vish-shits, presk- shiis.'] As these last forms are treated as though the guttural were doubled, the grammarians not inappropriately speak of them as having a Daghesh forte implicitum, occulium, or de- Utescens ; e. g., c™ for DW ; criE ; D'nn. See § 27, Rem. 2. 2. They are accustomed to take a short A sound before them, the natural effect of the position of the organs of speech in uttering these letters. Hence, a) Before a guttural, Pattahh is nsed instead of any other short and feeble vowel, (viz., Hhireq parvmn, Seghol, and even for Tseri and Hlwlem ;) e. g., snt for yTi, soti for rtp\S. This preference was yet more decisive when the fonn with Pattahh was the original one, or was used in common with another. Thus in the Imp. and Fut. of verbs, spip, rp\i'; (not rtir; ) ; n^' (not nViJ), -si, where Pattahh in the first syllable is the original vowel ; Ttprr for "ibrr. 6) But a strong and unchangeable vowel, as i, 1, '-;-, (§ 25, 1,) and in many cases Tseri, was retained. Between it and the guttural, however, there was uttered a half Pattahh, {Pattahh fiirtice,) which was written under the guttural. This is found only in final syllables, and never imder K ; e. g., rrn, ri'^hh ; rm, ru'hh; nibir, shd-lv'hh; sn, re'S; nipj, gd-bhch ; rrbirn, hish-ll^hh, &c.f For the same reason the Swiss pronounces ich, i^ch, and the Arabian rriEQ mesi'h, though neither ivrites the supplied vowel. In Hebrew it falls away when the word receives an acces- * Comp. terra and the French terre ; the Germ. Rolle antl the French rijfe. t The accent is on the proper final vowel, and Pattahh furtive is sounded like a in real, denial. — Tb. E 26 THE ELEMENTS. sion at the end ; e. g. nn, 'irn. Here the n is made the beginning of the accessory syllable. Rem. 1. The guttural sometimes exerts an influence on the following vowel ; but the examples of this usage are few, and are rather to be regarded as exceptions than as establish- ing a general rule ; e. g. ir: for "vl ; 'ji's for •jjE. The A sound is preferred wherever it would be admissible without the influence of the guttural, as in the Imp. and Fut. of verbs ; e. g., j»l, psi;. If, however, another vowel serves at all to characterize the form, it is retained, as cnV', ; so also 'jn>i not 'jmi. 2. Seghol is used instead of Pattahh both before and under the guttural, but only in an initial syllable, as irari', yehh-biish ; 'bn, khlbh-le. Without the guttural these forms would have Hhireq in place of Seghol. (§ 28, 1.) In like manner the gutturals, in /Ethiopic, prolong the short e, (the so-called sixth vowel,) and the LXX. instead of Pattalih furtive have a furtive e; e. g., n;, Noie. MTien the syllable is sharpened by Dag- hesh, the more slender and sharper Hhireq is retained even under gutturals, as 'jVrr, rt:ri, rrin ; but when the character of the syllable is changed by the falling away of Daghesh, the Seghol, which is required by the guttural, returns ; e. g. ji'jri, const, state Ji";n ; jvjn, 3. Instead of simple Sheva meal, the gutturals take a composite Sheva, (§ 10, 3 ;) e. g. V^i?«, Tbr, ipyi, ^piT. This is the most common use of the composite Shevas. But where other letters would take a silent Sheva, i. e. one which merely marks the division of syllables, the gutturals in most cases take Sheva simple, as 'nnStf ; in others, however, both forms exist together, as Sin; and S jn\ Eem. 1. Simple Sheva, under the gutturals, the grammarians call hard, (irJj,) and the composite Shevas in the same situation soft, (nci.) See observations on verbs with gut- turals. 2. Respecting the choice between the three composite Shevas it may be remarked — a) n, n, S, at the beginning of words prefer ":, « ■•■: — e. g. j-in, nran, liaji. But when a word receives an accession at the end, n also takes -:, as '5n, to, t:^','!^, to you, Di«, 'qtm. Comp. § 27, Rem. 4. 6) In the middle of a word, the choice of a composite Sheva is regulated by the vowel (and its class) which another word of the same form, but ivithout a guttural, would take before the Sheva, as Tnvn (according to the form 'rz.'/}), Tprri (conformed to Vspn), lorn (conformed to r^pprr.) For some further vowel changes in con- nexion with gutturals, see § 27 at the end. 4. 1, which the Oriental uttered also as a gut- tural, (§ 6, 2, 1,) shares with the other gutturals only the characteristics mentioned above in No. 1, and a part of those given in No. 2 ; viz. — a) The exclusion of Daghesh forte ; where, according to the analogy of other consonants, it would be doubled, the vowel before it is always lengthened, as for ^3, '^3 ; for ■jia, i) The use of Pattahh before it in prefer- ence to the other short vowels, though this is not so general as in the case of the other guttural sounds ; e. g. n"i;i from hnt ; iD»i for nr'i, he turned back, and for in»*i, he caused to turn back. Uufrequent exceptions to the principle given under (a) are ttv2, mSr-ra, Prov. 14 : 10. TIC, shSr-rakh, Ezek. 16:4. §23. THE FEEBLE LETTERS {'insl. (Lehrgeb. H 11, 40.) 1. Of the letters i and ' it has been already remarked, (§§ 7, 2 ; 8, 3, 4,) that their sound, as consonants, being feeble, easily flows into a vowel-sound. The cases in which this occurs are given § 24, 1. But, before we proceed to these, it is necessary to explain the properties of s and rt, which in several respects are ana- logous to those of 1 and \ These four letters ('iri«) are called quiescents (jjuiescibUes) or feeble letters. 2. N, (a light, scarcely audible breathing,) like 1 and ', loses entirely its feeble consonant power, or quiesces, whenever it stands without a vowel at the end of a syllable. It then serves merely to prolong the sound of the preceding vowel, like the German h;* e ^ >^ - . ■ miud-tAa. 7,lt: ^' V ""• ''"'• ?-•??. after air:;w2^-;tT-"'- "'''' <"^'="- hon, ^,th few exceptions, become long; e . ^"^.N for «,.^, ^-^,. On the contrary f; g era I,, retains its power as a consonant J^ a g uuural at the beginning of a word or syUable! «m^er-';'t*'°*"''''^''^^"'"''^««--lof « melt, mto that of a vowel far more readily an .t may there be placed at once by the siJ; of the letters, and.. In Arabic, besides its P wer as a consonant, it stands for M.;, J ^whirh t" °"^''''■"^'''^^^^-P'--'ew ^wh,ch.t.sst^c,lyavowel-letterforthe long A sound, as in cxp,, Hos. 10 : 14, for the 2:lT^ ^^''--n^ography'nsJu; on>..s.^m^th.s case, the prolonging letter' 2. In Syriac, even at the beginning of a -ord, .t is sounded as a vowelViz. £ if aecor^ng to the analogy Of other consonant^' ' ^° 'd have no vowel of its own ; e.g ^.v Mo^ In Uke manner in HebrewraJ instead of a composite Sheva it takes in several words, the corresponding vow ' Z 3. It may be called an Arab;.;,,, at leJsi'it 'V "t "' ^^''-S ---on In Zati -henattheendofwordsthevowels.-T ' areprolonged by the addition of an «:e'g Josh. 10:24. " -f!' In the broad popular dialects of the Arabic 3 Closely related to « in several properties -s the somewhat stronger aspiration ;, iTZ -.ddle of words it scarcely ever f loses h asp.rat,on or 5«.-..«.,. at the end, thoulb -ost commonly quiesces, it may reta n i sp.rat,on, and is then marked 'by M pp ^ VIZ. Qamets, as rro, nVj, mtv v„, ;, . -oafter.and6,b;;h?flbi^rc:n.r;: * ^"'' 'he English /, in ah, oh -Tr -r.,. 'one o.^;^' ^e'^^..^.^^- ^''■'"e into two in the received te«. in „rdeVthat% "'■ ' '"■ '' "'"'"' M the end of a word. ""*'"'™' '"*>■ ^'^"d §24. CHANGES OP THE FEEBLE LEPTERS (Lehrgeb. iMo— J2.) The changes to which the feeble letters them elves, as weU as the vowels that determine the" ound a subject, constitute a very impona part of the general principles which regulate the forms and flexions of words, especiaUv t 'hen. application to the greater nJmbrrfrr gtdar verbs, i„er,a ,uie.ce„tia, § 67, &c ) We" are here chiefly concerned with , nd Zl -nd^. only in those cases where they,;::; 1- The cases in which the delicate consonant power of the feeble letters melts into a vo'e sound are principaUy the foUowing- The letter is too feeble to maintain its con- onant^oundin this position, e. g. .^ Here , and - always quiesce aft;r homo- geneous vowels,* (S 8 3 .) h„f . „ . . . ' ^S o. ti,J but « generallv sustains its character as r, or.„ seueiaiiy At ,v. , '•"I'-ier as a consonant, (S 67 ) At the end of words these four le t rs aU quiesce when a homogeneous vowel pr^eaes as ^m, yrs-ra..,.U (properly /,^, Jjj ' a heterogeneous vowel precedes, the' case fall^ "nder.berulegiven§8,5,as,S^./,,.fe;S 4) Somewhat less frequently when a Skeva rha^h, rvo. i^on; hence c>™. for .,,.«, ,7 for >*^? [*^™-], r,p for n,p. iut , Jf ; always qmesce when they stand at the e^do a word and are preceded by a Sheva, as >r. yh, for ;rr, ythy ; ^^ ^,„-_ ^^ ^„_ ^^^^; '^' Very seldom when the feeble letter has a vowel both before and after it, as n for ., Hos. ,:u. ...,WS Job 3 ' ■ ' ^™- ■' ^ = ^^•^•'^- 28 THE ELEMENTS. In Syriac, where these letters flow still more readily into vowel sounds, ' is sounded, even at the beginning of words, merely as i, not as • or ; (comp. « = f, § 32, Rem. 2.) So in the LXX, rmrr is written 'loved, pps;, 'lo-adic. Hence may be explained the Syriac usage, examples of which occur also in He- brew, which transfers the vowel belonging to the feeble letter to the preceding vowelless consonant; e.g. pin'3 for JiiiTS, Eccles. 2 : 13. 1-ri'i for iVti, Job 29 : 21. So CNii for Csni, Neh. 6 : 8. The application of this principle sometimes destroys the syllable which pre- cedes the quiescent, as njNj"3 for njMte ; nrsti for D^ph. 2. When such a contraction has taken place, the vowel-letter quiesces regularly in a long vowel.* Respecting the choice of this vowel, the following rules may be laid down — a) AVhen the vowel, which an analogous form without the feeble letter would take, is homo- geneous with the vowel-letter, it is retained and lengthened ; as, r.;"; yl-tabk, for T-^; yii/-tabh, (analogous form 'jcp; ;) attiin for aiijin (analogous to tepn ;) te«^ for bsN;, ncwb for 4) An A sound before ' becomes J?, before \ O, (according to § 7, 1 ;) thus I'U^rr becomes a'E'n ; 2"cirt, ririn ; nV, nbis. f e) But when the vowel sign is heterogeneous, and at the same time is an essential cha- racteristic of the form, it controls the feeble letter, and changes it into one which is homo- geneous with itself. Thus ' and i after A become n, and at the end of a word n ; e. g. Di.ij becomes atp^, more commonly rij; nijp, nNm, reo ; '^: and i^c become njjj and nVni.J « and 1 after / become ', as ]icn. Job 8 : 8, elsewhere ]itf^r! ; iti"i'; from thi;, (§ 68, I;) tt after O becomes \ as iCiT from EiNi, -lia from * Pattahh furnishes the only exception ; as, n^npS, ^pTN>, and my lord. Gen. 18:12. ^Tn'h, to my lord, 24 : 36. The Seghol in ri3N^'o, n^N^'pri, HJ'b'jn, is to be regarded as long. t The same law governs contractions ; as, mo contr. niO ; ];j contr. J'S? ; rtlDjJ contr. iVoiJ. t The Arabian writes in this case, etymologically, V3, but pronounces, gala. Compare in English Shaw. So the LXX write *3^D, liva. But for ib^ is written in Arabic m'^^ An original '-^ at the end of words be- comes — a) n^T- (for ' — is never written at the end of a word), when the impure sound a (§ 7, 1) must be retained ; e. g. r\hx[ for ■hy, (§ 74, 1 ;) riKTCi for 'N-i'5 ; 'lia (poet.) com- mon and derived form rnir.* i) n— , when the A sound predominates, and is characteristic of the form, as nbj, nb, n^3, for -hi, -)}, ■'73. 3. « and n may quiesce (§ 23, 2, 3) in vowels not included within their proper range, (the A sound ;) hence, in several forms, different modes of orthography were admissible. In some instances these different modes of writing were in use at the same time ; in others they belonged to different ages of the language. Thus are interchanged, — N — and n — at the end of words ; (the first, however, belongs to the later orthography, in which Chaldee forms began to mingle. See § 79, 1, Rem. 2.) N— , N-:-, !< with <— , '-^, i, the second being the more common forms in the later ortho- graphy. Sometimes such interchanges arise merely from the negligence of the transcriber, as when h\ not, stands for i'?, to him, Levit. H : 21 Kethibh ; and Sh for nV, 1 Sam. 2:16 Kethibh. 4. As the quiescent letter is not heard, but serves merely to protract the sound of the long vowel, it is sometimes omitted in writing. This is in some cases the usual form. E. g. jct for aiS\^, from na>\' (No. 2, 4), tqVjj for tdn^o, □ i? for DNp_. §25. UNCHANGEABLE VOWELS. (Lehrgeb. } 44.) The changes of vowels, exhibited in the foregoing sections, all depend on their con- nexion with the quiescent letters. There are other changes still, which depend on the form of the syllable, the lengthening and shortening of the word, the shifting of the place of the tone, the position of the word at the end of the period (^pause), of which an account wiU be • when any addition is made, at the end, to these forms in n— , the original ^-7- is frequently resumed. See i go, 9. Rem. THE ELEMENTS. 29 given in §§ 27 and 28. There are vowels, however, which are not subject to any of these changes, but in all situations remain the same. They are — 1. Those in which their homogeneous vowel- letter quiesces, as «-^; ■i^7> '-r; i, i. E. g. ir^n, b-n, mro, Tip, Vai. These are sometimes written defictivehj (§ S, 4), especially when the word is increased in length, but this does not change at all the character of the vowel. In respect to «, examples of the full form of writing are very rare. See § 23, 2, Rem. 1. The numerous cases in which the con- nexion of N with a preceding vowel is merely casual do not belong here ; e. g. nsd, nNi~p ; 2. Those which must originally have been written /«% (§ 8, 4), but from which the vowel- letter has fallen away (§§ 8, 4. 24, 4) ; hence called impure, (^i-ocales impurcE.') E. g. '&\ for C.VT, mro for rrtfo, ni';;? for nibip, tai for Vai. Whether a vowel is thus made impure can be known only from etymology, flexion, and comparison of the kindred dialects. The cases are noted in the grammar and lexicon. With the A sound this defective form is the prevailing one, as even the long unchangeable A is so seldom written fully. Comp. e. g. § 83, Nos. 2, 6, 13, 28. 3. A short vowel in a sharpened syllable followed by Daghesh forte, as 2:3 ; also in every closed syllable when another such syllable im- mediately follows ; e. g. T\sir^, 1V2«, "Qin. 4. Vowels after which a Daghesh forte has been omitted on account of a guttural, (forma dayhessanda i) see § 22, 1. E. g. ^N-nri for 'jN-'^ri, rpi for :p3. § 26. SYLLABLES, AND THEIR rNFLUENCE ON THE QUANTITY OF VOWELS. (Lchrgeb. S -18.) A survey of the laws which regulate the choice of a long or a short vowel, and the ex- change of one for the other, requires a previous ac((uaintance with the thcori/ of the syllable, on which those laws are founded. 1. Syllables are of two kinds — (1) the simple or open syllable which terminates in a vowel ; (2) the mij-ed or closed syllable which terminates with one or more consonants. In tejj and ntejj, the first syllable is simple, the second mixed. Every syllable begins with a consonant. The only exception is i (and) at the begin- ning of a word, (according to the grammarians, to be pronounced as in -,) e. g. rfm% u-me-lehh. In ipN the N has its proper force as a light breathing. 2. A simple or open syllable, from its nature, has properly a long vowel. It may take the tone, as in T|3, icc, M'ljf ; or not, as in 'jcp^, 11^, INT, T/l-r'nU. It seldom, comparatively, takes a short vowel, and only in certain cases. (See Rem.) Two consonants may begin a syllable, as in 'rt I'^hhi, '';n lili'll. But here the first letter, (with Sheva vocal) forms by itself a syllable, so slight indeed as to be but just perceptible to the ear. Three consonants cannot be pronounced before a vowel.* Short vowels occur in open syllables only in the following cases ; viz. — a) In words of two syllables formed by a helping-vowel (§ 28, 4) from words originally monosyllabic (Segholates), as ■^i^, •W3, n;i ba-yith, 3V yf-rCbh, from 'jj'ip mdlh, ■ff: tiiivr, n^a bSyt, JT yirb. The reason is, that the final helping vow' is very short, and the word is pronounced almost as one syllable. Sometimes, however, the first vowel is lengthened, as ly, elsewhere 3T, (§ 74, Rem. 3, b.) b) As union-vowels for the suffixes, as 'J^op, 5p2i ; (these restdt fi-om the lengthening of Sheva vocal.) c) Before rt local, which has not the tone, (§ 93, 1 ;) e. g. nb'nTS, towards Carmel; rn|Tp, towards the wilderness. In all these cases the short vowel is sus- tained by the tone j elsewhere it has at least the support of Methegh ; viz. — (/) When it stands in connexion with the corresponding composite Sheva, thus 3j~j^, ~> 77;; e-S-'io?;-?' "i^!^'.,' ''''Jl' (l'>J-1°lo,) his act; and e) In some other forms of the Segholates, * In German and Greek, however, such syllables are found, as utrasse, sprache, o^T\a^\va, and in English siring, split, spread. But here the letters st, sp, are united in one sound. Lfri, jktol, we also should be unable to pronounce without uniting the first two con- sonants in a <;eparate syllable. 30 THE ELEMENTS. -1 as T[brE QpB-sOlkha), thy act; w&m (sha- rd-shim), C'lCTp^ (i]S-dha-shim.) See § 9, 2. Such cases as Dnrn, irTnri do not belong here, because there is actually a sharpening of the first syllable made by the partial doubling of n and n in pronunciation, as explained § 22, 1. 3. A mixed unaccented syllable, which ends ■with one consonant, must have a short vowel, whether at the beginning or end of a word, as naVn, Jiri'rt, rrp'jn, np;i, Dj>i, u]M vSy-ya-qum. Before doubled consonants the short vowel is i or S, as 'QH, ji'Va, 'te. ■ - It- ■ \ When the mixed syllable has the tone, its vowel may be either long or short ; e. g. UTf, and Djn. Of the short vowels, however, only Pattahh and Seghol have strength enough to stand in a tone syllable.* Examples of a long vowel in a final syllable, w, tep, fep;; in the penult, n«Sn ha-l'a, n^Qp., njS'rip ; in a penult sharpened syllable, rren, '3D, rm^. Examples of short vowels, tep^, dpin, D3ip ; in the penult, vh-Z]}^, 130, i:&p\ 4. Mixed syllables which close with two con- sonants occur only at the end of words, and take most naturally short vowels, as riVip, sipsi, Numb. 21 : 1. Yet they take Tseri also, as Tij, yjl^i. This harshness is generally avoided, however, by the use of a helping vowel. (§ 28, 4.) A syllable ending with a doubled consonant was not admitted at the end of a word. See § 20, 3, a. Rem. In this whole theory of the syllable, we have regarded the simple Sheva vocal and composite Sheva as not forming a syllable by themselves, but as attached to the following one, as taT, (a monosyllable,) telp, ioiM3. Not so the Accentuators, who regarded them as forming real syllables. The accent, which always belongs to the initial consonant of the syllable, they place not on the consonant which has Sheva, but on the following one, as j:b. Gen. 1 : 2. -in';, 12 : 2. riiS«, Job 16:21. Moreover, they connect Methegh with vocal Sheva, which they could not have done if they had not regarded it as forming a syllable ; e.g. 1OT), Ps. 81:3. This difference, how- * An apparent exception is short Hhireq in the par. tides Ci;* and D3?, which, ho\rever, are generally regarded as toneless on account of the following Maqqeph. ever, has no fm-ther influence on the vowel system. §27. CHANGES OF VOWELS, ESPECIALLY IN REFERENCE TO THEIR QUANTITY. (Lehrgeb. S ib.) Fundamental principle. — The changes of vowels, occasioned by inflexion, are always made within the limits of their respective classes. (§ 8, 2.) Thus a, when it is shortened, becomes a and a (j) [§ 8, 2, 1] ; e becomes f and l; 6 becomes C and u. The same limita- tion is observed when short vowels become long. But vowels of different classes are never ex- changed for each other, as i for u. All alleged deviations from this principle are only apparent, and are occasioned merely by the restoration of the original vowel ; e. g. n^'Jip, not from tep, but from fep. No more can be conceded than that there is an approximation of the first two classes to each other by their common vowel Seghol, and that an attenuated Pattahh or Seghol may be represented by the more slender Hhireq. See Remarks at the end of this section. The only vowels to which this principle is applicable are a (Qamcts pure), S {Tseri pure), (Hlwlcm pure.) They exhibit, in accordance with the principles laid down in § 26, the fol- lowing changes : — 1. A long vowel is exchanged for a kindred short one,— a) when a mixed syllable, in which it stands, loses the tone, (§ 26, 3 ;) e. g. t, nirr-T ; n, Di«-;3 ; fe, Dyri"te. So when the tone is re- tracted, Dp^, DpJ_\; rj-i'j •i)l\ b) When a simple syllable, with a long vowel, by flexion becomes a mixed one, as -ep, nop ; iTTJ?, ) and (t^) shorter than (tt^') ; e. g. dtn, 'd\n ; np«, inps; D^r:, D'pSy:; 'nTayn, 'ri-iayrii. The reason is, that a pure vowel like a can be more easily shortened into the slight half- vowel than a mixed one Uke a. §28. RISE OF NEW VOWELS AND SYLLABLES. (Lehrgeb. § 46.) 1. When in the inflexion of words three con- sonants come before a vowel (an impossible syllable in Hebrew, § 26, 2), the first and second are combined in a new syllable by the insertion of a short vowel under the first The vowel in this case is Hliireq; under gutturals Pattahh or Seghol; e.g. nE^ for ne'j; rrnrra (hence rmrr?, § 24, I) for rnirra; fep; for fe;^; '\fi:N for 'c:>»; 'hjn for 'Sin. The older grammarians expressed this principle thus, Duorum Schwaiim concur- rentium prius mutatur in Hhircq. In Aramaean and Arabic a (f) is in this case the usual vowel, even when neither of the consonants is a guttural ; e. g. "icp^, Arab. fep'_, Syr. tepj ; Vippi, Arab. 'jiDpN, Aram. tepR The Hebrew chose the more slender 1. and, by the regular interchange of this sound with a, introduced much variety into the vowel-system of his own language, which is wanting in that of the sister dialects. 2. If the second of those consonants is a guttural, with a composite Sheva, the first takes the corresponding short vowel ; e. g. lixh, '!0^., ')n3, for ihjS, bb>ib, 'Vna. 3. If the first consonant has a composite Sheva it is exchanged for the corresponding short vowel, as tepM for fepN ; npy' for nnrv 4. The final syllable of a word may end with two consonants, (§ 26, 4;) e.g. nV.fp.* In most words however this occasions a harshness, on account of which a helping vowel is inserted between the last two consonants in place of the prolvcusi with that of d! into g (No. 2), compare the still more frequent change of which carpo, decerpo, spargv, conspergo, ftiUo, refelto, are examples. * The rule is false, that in this case the tinal consonant must be one of the aspirates with its hard sound. See, on the contrary, ^ttS% Prov. 7 : 25. first Sheva. This is commonly Seghol, but under gutturals* it is Pattahh, under ' Hhireq; e. g. Sj'i for )})•[ ; ifiTp for liiy^ [qBdhsh~\ ; Tr: for ■ly: ; nrtijj for mViii ;f n;i for nn. Compare in German Alagd with the old form Maged. These helping vowels have not the tone, and fall away whenever the word receives an acces- sion at the end. These vowels have inappropriately been called furtive, a term which should be re- stricted to the Pattahh inserted before a gut- tural. § 22, 2. 5. New syllables are occasioned also by the PauSe. See § 29, 4. §29. THE TONE; SHIFTING OP THE TONE; AND OF THE PAUSE. (Lehrgeb. §H9— 52.) 1. The principal tone, designated by the accent, (§ 15, 2,) is on the final syllable of most words j less frequently on the penult, as in ij'ia, nV')' ISy-la, n.^'jpij. (See § 15, Rem. 3.) Connected with the principal tone is Methegh, a kind of secondary accent, (comp. § 16, 2.) Small words which are united by Maqqeph with the following one are destitute of the tone. (§ 16, 1.) In Syiiac and Arabic the tone is gene- rally on the penult. The Hebrew is pro- noimced thus, contrary to the accents, by the German and Polish Jews ; e. g. Nia n'li'tni, breshls b6ro. 2. The original tone of a word frequently shifts its place on account of changes in the ^yord itself, or in its relation to other words. * With the exception however of i^, as N1D, t*l^^. The helping vowel may also be omitted with final N on account of its feeble sound ; e. g. i<''^Tl, N'3. t In this and the analogous examples (^ 59, 2), the Daghesh lene, retained in the final Tav as if a vowelless consonant preceded it (§ 21 , 2), serves to shew that the helping vowel Patta/i/t has a very short sound (with refurence at the same time to the original form PrrSlJ), and to distinguish nnj?'?, thou hast taken, from rirTp""), to take, ad sumendum, nn^ is not to be read sh&- la'-itiht. This pronunciation, decidedly erroneous, (though it still seems to find its defenders,) originated in the false appellation furtive vowel, and the opinion that it is essential to such a vowel that it be pronounced before the consonant under which it is written. THE ELFJVIRNTS. 33 If the -word is increased at the end, the tone is thrown forward (descendit) one or two syllables according to the length of the addition, as -m, c^y^,, cj-iai; tiTj?, Dipi;?^; rti]?, inn^p. For the consequent shortening of the vowels, see § 27, 3. In one case the tone is thrown forward in consequence of accession at the beginning of the word. See § 44, Rem. 3, b. 3. On the contrary, the original tone is trans- ferred from the final to the penult syllable Qisceiidit') — • a) In certain cases where a syllable is prefixed, as TIN', ^^.s>1 vu'j-yo-mfr, ij^', ^yn vai/-ye-lijMi ; even when the syllable is not closely attached to the word, as spin, r]Diri-VN, Deut. 3 : 26. A) 'maen a monosyllabic word, or one with the tone on the penult, follows, (in order to avoid the meeting of two tone-syllables ;) * e. g., 13 i^jN, Job 3 : 3, for ia i)i«; ni'3 u'^^^, Isa. 41 : 7, for cr| cS'in; Gen. 1 : 5. 3 : 19. 4 : 17. r) /« pause. See no. 4. The meeting of two tone-syllables (letter 6) is avoided in another way, viz. by writing the words with Maqqeph between them, in which case the first wholly loses the tone; e. g. cii"3r)3'i. This method is adopted when- ever the penult is a simple syllable with a long vowel Compare § 47, Rem. 1. § 50, Rem. 3. § 51, Rem. 2. 4. Very essential changes of the tone, and consequently of the vowels, are effected by the Pause. By this term is meant the strong accen- tuation of the tone-syllable of the word which closes a period, and on which the tone of the whole period rests. This syllable is marked * Even the prose of the Hebrews proceeds, according to the accentuation, in a Itind of Iambic rhythm. That the authors of the system intended to secure this object is evident particularly from the application of Methegh. with one of the great distinctive acce?>ls, as Vyfn, Djort. The changes are as follows : — n) \\Tien the syllable in pause has a short vowel, it becomes long, as top, biDp ; d;3, D'd ; ^■^a (for -f~g) TjSa. b) VTbcn a final tone-syllable begins with two consonants (as nte|p^), the vocal Sheva under the first gives place to a new vowel ; a more fitting position is thus secured for the tone, which is transferred from the ultimate to the new peniJt syllable; e. g. n'".;p, n':^?; n^'io, nsVn; top;, top; The vowel selected is always that which had been dropped from the same syllable, in consequence of the lengthening of the word. Moreover, a) Vocal Shsva in pause becomes Sci/hol, as