HEBREW VOWELS. A Brief Introduction. Alan Smith. Elibooks

Transcription

1 BABYLONIAN HEBREW VOWELS A Brief Introduction Alan Smith Elibooks

2 PREFACE Many who are familiar with Hebrew using the Tiberian vowel system occasionally encounter a photostat of a manuscript written using the Babylonian system. Books and articles explaining this go into tremendous detail, but the poor reader wishes merely to read the text, not to study it, let alone to study all the variations along with all other non-tiberian systems and combinations of these. It should be pointed out that the Babylonian system has been in continuous use by the Jews of Yemen until very recently, and many Yemenite Jews are taught to read it as a matter of course. Manuscripts vary tremendously, both in handwriting and in the varieties of the Babylonian system used, and are far from consistent in usage, but this brief introduction should provide the reader with a general idea, and enable him to more or less read a piece of text. If he is sufficiently interested, he will then have enough confidence to proceed and read an article in one of the encyclopaedias or journals, so as to gain further more detailed information. The prologue on the Tiberian system may not explain the latter in the way you were taught, but is important in understanding some aspects of the Babylonian. Although the Babylonian system is probably more ancient than the Tiberian, we learn the latter first, so that we must start there. The section is very short, so please do not skip it. So here goes, Back to Babylonia, via Tiberias! Alan Smith 5765 (2005) Set mainly in 11pt. Times New Roman with modified Hebrew typefaces, using Word Perfect 5.1H, an ancient programme yet to be improved on. 2

3 PROLOGUE In any system, Hebrew vowels cannot be shown hanging in the air, so we have placed each one on a stand, using $ for Tiberian and % for Babylonian these of course are not part of the vowels. The Tiberian system, which approximately matches a pure Ashkenazi pronunciation, contains seven vowels, apart from the sheva and hatafs which may be considered separately. (If you were taught the theory that there were ten, five long and five short, forget it.) Here they are: hirik tserey segol patach kamets holem shuruk H$ i as i in pin I$ é as e (not the whole ey ) in they J$ è as e in them K$ a as u in bus (Northern English a in hat ) L$ o as o in pot N$ ó as o in hole (perhaps a bit shorter) O$ u as u in put We also have some conventions. 1) If a silent - (yod) follows either of the first two, it makes no difference (but it does in the Babylonian system, as we shall see). 2) If a silent)(vav) follows either of the last two, then instead of)n$ we write}$ (move the dot onto the vav) instead of)o$ we write $ (dot inside vav, delete the rest) (Shuruk without a vav is sometimes called kubbuts) Bear these conventions in mind for contrast. 3

4 LESSON 1 Babylonian vowels (as well as all other symbols, such as te amim, dagesh, shin sin marks etc.) are always placed on top of the letters (except in MSS where the system gets mixed up with other systems, which sometimes happens). In addition, there is no è (segol), reducing the number to six. There is a difference between a vowel in a closed syllable (closed with a consonant) and a vowel in an open syllable. Bear in mind that the letters - ) ( $ when silent do not close the syllable. They are not vowels, they follow vowels. In writing they are written as consonants, and in speech (and rules connected with speech and pronunciation) they are simply ignored treated as if they are not there. Here are the vowels in an OPEN SYLLABLE i D% é G% a o J% (a corrupted letter ayin) M% (a corrupted letter alef) ó S% u P% In some manuscripts the kamets (o) sign is rotated 90 anticlockwise, so that it looks something like ϒ. 4

5 LESSON 2 We have learnt the vowels used in an open syllable. Exactly the same vowels are used in a closed syllable if it is accented, whether it carries the main accent or even the secondary accent. If either of the last two vowels is followed by a silent vav, then the vowel is put over the vav instead (just as we do with the holem) bo S)% bu000P)% If either of the first two is followed by a silent yod, then in the same way, the vowel is put over the yod instead of the letter bi D-% bé000G-% These rules also apply when the vowel is in an unaccented closed syllable, which we have not yet learnt. 5

6 LESSON 3 There are two types of closed unaccnted syllable, and the holem (ó) does not occur in either of them if it is needed, something else replaces it reducing the number of vowels to five. A closed unaccented syllable may be closed by a single consonant (followed by another, or at the end of a word), or it may be closed by a doubled consonant, i.e. one that contains in effect a strong dagesh. We will take this case first. The Babylonian system does not have a strong dagesh, instead it indicates the fact that the next letter is doubled by putting a bar over the vowel. Each of the following is the same vowel as we met previously, only when in an unaccented syllable followed by a doubled consonant. If you see one, you will remember to double the next letter. i E% é H% a K% o N% u Q% An example: Tiberian ¼> Lx Ķ becomes >M%K = 6

7 LESSON 4 We are left with a vowel in an unaccented syllable closed by a consonant which is not doubled. This may be thought of as being extra short. It is indicated by using the same vowels, but with a line under the vowel, which indicates the equivalent of a silent sheva under the next letter. (Where the syllable is accented, this is not indicated.) NOTE: An exception, for patach a, instead of the ordinary vowel with a line underneath, a different sign is used two dots diagonally. Sometimes also (but not always) the mirror image of this two dots diagonal the other way is used instead of u in an unaccented syllable closed by a consonant. i F% é I% a L% o O% u R% 7

8 LESSON 5 The same sign used for a vowel in an unaccented syllable closed by a single letter (the vowel with a bar underneath) is also used where the Tiberian uses a hataf, provided it is a true hataf. But often in Tiberian texts (even printed) we find a hataf kamets that is not really a hataf, but merely inserted so that Sefardim should known that the kamets is short. In the Babylonian it is treated merely as a short kamets. Note also that the furtive patach placed under a final pronounced before the letter is normally omitted. 6 + { and e.g. Tiberian K+¼ ¼< ¼-H4G6 1 H$F( become +P)<00D-4O6001D$L( The sheva, sounded (sheva na) or silent (sheva nach), is a horizontal line or bar above the letter (R%), which is also placed above a silent alef in the middle of a word. But it is not always put in. [The sheva is sometimes slightly slanted, a bit like an acute accent ( / ).] What about the segol? Where the Tiberian has a segol or hataf segol, the Babylonian normally has a patach, but in some early manuscripts in a few cases there is a hirik or tserey. 8

9 LESSON 6 Other signs and symbols used, which should not be confused with the vowels, are in the form of tiny Hebrew letters placed likewise above the text letter, alongside each other when there is room. If there is no room, the te amim for instance are placed above the vowels (giving the text letter a sort of double roof). 1. Shin and Sin are sometimes distinguished by placing a tiny shin (=) over a true shin, and a tiny samech (5) over a sin. 2. The strong dagesh is indicated, as mentioned, by a bar over the previous vowel. In some MSS, the weak dagesh is indicated by a tiny gimel (&) over the letter, and the rafeh (no-dagesh) is indicated by a tiny koof (;) or something that vaguely resembles it, over the letter. In other MSS the weak dagesh is ignored (which is sensible), and the rafeh is indicated by the Tiberian horizontal line or bar over the letter (also used over a silent hé at the end of a word). Beginners may be confused because this is the same as is used for a sheva. Where a bar is applied to two successive letters (indicating two successive shevas, or a sheva and a rafeh) you may find one bar extending over both letters, or over the end of one and the beginning of the next. 3. With two exceptions ( and placed above the letter), te amim are also indicated by various tiny letters placed above the text letter. And that is about all there is to say about vowels, without going into details of variations. If you are interested in te amim, carry on. Otherwise you may omit the rest. 9

10 THE TE AMIM This is an outline only, for those familiar with the Tiberian te amim who wish to know what fundamental differences there are, apart from different shapes. The system is much simpler than the Tiberian, for the following reasons: 1. There are no serfs (mesharetim), only pauses (mafsikim). 2. There are less different pauses than in the Tiberian. 3. There is no separate system for the EMMET books the same system is used. All the signs are (as mentioned) placed above the letters, if necessary above the vowels, and with two exceptions are represented by tiny Hebrew letters. But bear in mind that in handwriting these letters are not always easy to recognise. Also beware of mistakes. Most of the te amim correspond, at least approximately, to Tiberian ones, but some, while they appear to correspond, do not actually do so in usage. (This will be clarified a bit, below.) In general we do not know the names given to the te amim, sometimes we guess from the tiny letter, which is assumed to be the first letter of the name, but more usually we call them by the name of the Tiberian ta am that most nearly corresponds, and that is what we are doing here. (Exceptionally, the one roughly corresponding to a geresh is known to be called terres, and is normally so called.) Many manuscripts have been messed up by later scribes who added bits of Tiberian te amim here and there! Beware! 10

11 Sometimes the Babylonians inserted some sort of sign (it varies) between two words, to indicate the end and begining of a verse, much like our A, but otherwise you were expected to know where the verse begins and ends, and there is no sign on the word for a silluk. (If you see one, it is Tiberian and has been added.) Tippeha before the end of the verse is represented by', but this too is often omitted. The atnach (sometimes, but less often, also omitted) is note the similarity with the Tiberian and the tippeha that precedes it is the same upside-down,. All so far correspond to the Tiberian in usage. So too does the segol (6 - less corrupt than the patach vowel). The zarka is a pair of letters, nun yod (-4), and the first zakef to appear in a half-verse is zayin (*). That is where the more-or-less exact correspondence stops. There is no separate zakef gadol. There is also no second zakef in a half-verse, something else is used instead. The remaining te amim are a revia (+), tevir (>), teres (or geresh) (,), and a sign (4) that corresponds roughly to our munach legarmeh, only there is no actual legarmeh sign or passek, both of which are represented in Tiberian by a vertical line ( ) beteen words. These four are used in a rather complicated way that cannot be explained here. The tevir sign is generally used for both a tevir and a pashta, but sometimes a different letter (-) is used for a pashta. One additional sign, something like (]), is used for a second pashta before a zakef. There is no yetiv, no telisha, and no pazer, big or small. That is enough to start with, to enable the reader to read a text and recognise the te amim. Learning how they work is the next stage, not included here. A table is added for reference. 11

12 TE AMIM AND OTHER SIGNS REFERENCE (The actual signs are handwritten corruptions) Items marked * are not te amim. An example: atnach 4 legarmeh tippeha before atnach [ (no equivalent) & * dagesh (usually weak) 5 * sin ' tippeha before sof passsuk 6 segol (ta am) ( * hé mappik ; * rafeh * zakef = * shin + revia > tevir/pashta, teres (geresh) -4 zarka - pashta (in some MSS) ] second pashta M.gJ6G<0B>G-%0B(kJ)L$B>F>0$S0B) 0MT.XJ6G<0B>L = Gw0'ZS2B+LT>0$S0B) MT.J6G<B00<J = L$00S/B)0S)e<S2L+J)0S)<S)= 0S)]>M2L$J)0S)'B%L6B)0P)(gG'M = Sources: 1. S. Pinsker -0%%()$-<)=$(');4( 0$ $)%2 (1863). Explained very simply and clearly, based on two manuscripts (at that time the Babylonian system was unknown in the West), but Pinsker was misled by many later Tiberian additions. 2. Articles in Hebrew in >-<%6((-'8)0;-:4$( under ');-4)(<-52 B3)=0 B>-<%6 and $<;(-26,; in >-$<;2 (-'8)0;-:4$ under ');-4 and 1-26,; and in English in the Encyclopaedia Judaica under Masorah (found in Supplementary Entries ). All of these are very heavy going, including other systems and extremely complicated. 12