Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar/21. The Aspiration of the Tenues

by Wilhelm Gesenius

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§21. The Aspiration of the Tenues.^[1]

a The harder sound of the six B^egadk^ephath letters, indicated by a Dageš lene, is to be regarded, according to the general analogy of languages, as their older and original pronunciation, from which the softer sound was weakened (§ 6 n and § 13). The original hard sound is maintained when the letter is initial, and after a consonant, but when it immediately follows a vowel or Š^ewā mobile it is softened and aspirated by their influence, e.g. פָּרַץ pāraṣ, יִפְרֹץ yiphrōṣ, כֹּל kōl, לְכֹל l^ekhōl. Hence the B^egadk^ephath take Dageš lene

b (1) at the beginning of words: (a) without exception when the preceding word ends with a vowelless consonant, e.g. עַל־כֵּן ʾal-kēn (therefore), עֵץ פְּרִי ʿēṣ p^erî (fruit-tree); (b) at the beginning of a section, e.g. בְּרֵאשִׁית Gn 1, or at the beginning of a sentence, or even of a minor division of a sentence after a distinctive accent (§ 15 d), although the preceding word may end with a vowel. The distinctive accent in such a case prevents the vowel from influencing the following tenuis, e.g. וַיְהִ֕י כַּֽאֲשֶׁר and it was so, that when, Ju 11 (but וַֽיְהִי־כֵן Gn 1).

c Rem. 1. The vowel letters ה, י, ו, א, as such, naturally do not close a syllable. In close connexion they are therefore followed by the aspirated B^egadk^ephath, e.g. וּמָ֣צָא בָהּ, &c. On the other hand, syllables are closed by the consonantal ו and י (except קַו־תֹ֫הוּ Is 34; שָׁלֵו֣בָֿהּ Ez 23; אֲדֹנָי בָֿם ψ 68), and by הּ with Mappîq; hence e.g. there is Dageš lene in עָלַי֣ פִּיהֶם and always after יְהֹוָה, since the Q^erê perpetuum of this word (§ 17) assumes the reading אֲדֹנָי.

d 2. In a number of cases Dageš lene is inserted, although a vowel precedes in close connexion. This almost always occurs with the prefixes בְּ and כְּ‍ in the combinations בְּב, כְּכ‍, בְּפ‍ (i.e. when a B^egadk^ephath with Š^ewâ precedes the same or a kindred aspirate) and בְּם (see Baer, L. Psalmorum, 1880, p. 92,^[2]

on ψ 23); cf. e.g. 1 S 25, Is 10, ψ 34, Jb 19; כְג is uncertain; בְד, כְד, and בְכ‍ according to David Qimḥi do not take Dageš, nor כְג, כב, and כְפ‍ according to the Dikduke ha-ṭ^eeamim, p. 30. Sometimes the B^egadk^ephath letters, even with a full vowel, take Dageš before aspirant (and even before ח in בַּֽחֲמִשָּׁה 1 K 12); cf. the instances mentioned above, § 20 e (mostly tenues before א). In all these cases the object is to prevent too great an accumulation of aspirates. The LXX, on the other hand, almost always represent the כ‍ and פ‍, even at the beginning of a syllable, by χ and φ; Χερούβ, Χαλδαῖοι, Φαρφάρ, &c.—The forms כַּֽדְכֹד (after וְשַׂמְתִּ֫י) Is 54, and כַּֽלְכֵל (after וְנִלְאֵ֫יתִי) Jer 20 are doubly anomalous.

e (2) In the middle of words after Š^ewâ quiescens, i.e. at the beginning of a syllable immediately after a vowelless consonant,^[3] e.g. יִרְפָּא yirpā (he heals), קְטַלְתֶּם ye have killed; but after Š^ewâ mobile, e.g. רְפָא r^ephā (heal thou), כָּֽבְדָה she was heavy.

f On קָטַלְתְּ, וַיִּשְׁבְּ and similar forms, see § 10 i.

Whether Š^ewâ be vocal and consequently causes the aspiration of a following tenuis, depends upon the origin of the particular form. It is almost always vocal

(a) When it has arisen from the weakening of a strong vowel, e.g. רִדְפוּ pursue ye (not רִדְפּוּ) from רְדֹף; מַלְכֵי (not מַלְכֵּי), because originally mălăkhê, but מַלְכִּי from the ground-form malk.

(b) With the כ‍ of the pronominal suffixes of the 2nd pers. ־ְךָ, ־ְכֶם, ־ְכֶן, since Š^ewâ mobile is characteristic of these forms (see § 58 f; § 91 b).

Rem. Forms like שָׁלַ֫חַתְּ thou (fem.) hast sent, in which we should expect an aspirated ת after the vowel, cf. וַיִּ֫חַדְּ Ex 18, have arisen from שָׁלַחְתְּ, יִחְדְּ, &c.; Pathaḥ being here simply a helping vowel has no influence on the tenuis; cf. § 28 e.

1. Cf. Delitzsch, Ztschr. f. luth. Theol. u. Kirche, 1878, p. 585 ff.
2. Also L. Proverbiorum, 1880, Praef. p. ix; and Dikduke ha-ṭ^eamim, p. 30 (in German in König’s Lehrgeb., i. p. 62).
3. The exceptions יָקְתְאֵל Jos 15 (see Minḥat shay, on this passage), 2 K 14, and יָקְדְעָם Jos 15 may perhaps be due to the character of the ק.