only in later Arabic that they became in pronunciation ê and ô, at least after weaker or softer consonants; cf. בֵּין Arab. bain, bên, יוֹם Arab. yaum, yôm. The same contraction appears also in other languages, e.g. in Greek and Latin (θαῦμα, Ionic θῶμα; plaustrum = polostrum), in the French pronunciation of ai and au, and likewise in the German popular dialects (Oge for Auge, &c.). Similarly, the obscuring of the vowels plays a part in various languages (cf. e.g. the a in modern Persian, Swedish, English, &c.).[1]
[b] 2. The partial expression of the vowels by certain consonants (ה, ו, י; א), which sufficed during the lifetime of the language, and for a still longer period afterwards (cf. § 1 k), must in the main have passed through the following stages[2]:—
(a) The need of a written indication of the vowel first made itself felt in cases where, after the rejection of a consonant, or of an entire syllable, a long vowel formed the final sound of the word. The first step in such a case was to retain the original final consonant, at least as a vowel letter, i.e. merely as an indication of a final vowel. In point of fact we find even in the Old Testament, as already in the Mêšaʿ inscription, a ה employed in this way (see below) as an indication of a final o. From this it was only a step to the employment of the same consonant to indicate also other vowels when final (thus, e.g. in the inflection of the verbs ל״ה, the vowels ā,[3] ē, è). After the employment of ו as a vowel letter for ô and û, and of י for ê and î, had been established (see below, e) these consonants were also employed—although not consistently—for the same vowels at the end of a word.
[c] According to § 91 b and d, the suffix of the 3rd sing. masc. in the noun (as in the verb) was originally pronounced הוּ. But in the places where this הוּ with a preceding a is contracted into ô (after the rejection of the ה), we find the ה still frequently retained as a vowel letter, e.g. עִירֹה, סוּתֹה Gn 49, cf. § 91 e; so throughout the Mêšaʿ inscription אַרְצֹה, בֵּיתֹה (also בֵּתֹה), בְּנֹה, בֹּה, לֹה, הִלְתַּֽחֲמֹה; on the other hand already in the Siloam inscription רֵעוֹ.[4] ימה Mêšaʿ, l. 8 = יָמָיו his days is unusual, as also רשה l. 20 if it is for ראשיו his chiefs. The verbal forms with ה suffixed are to be read וַיַּלְפֵהֻ (l. 6), וָֽאֶסְחָבֵהֻ (l. 12f.) and וַיְגָֽרְשֵׁהֻ (l. 19).
[d] As an example of the original consonant being retained, we might also include the י of the constr. state plur. masc. if its ê (according to § 89 d) is
- ↑ In Sanskrit, in the Old Persian cuneiform, and in Ethiopic, short a alone of all the vowels is not represented, but the consonant by itself is pronounced with short a.
- ↑ Cf. especially Stade, Lehrb. der hebr. Gr., p. 34 ff.
- ↑ According to Stade, the employment of ה for ā probably took place first in the case of the locative accusatives which originally ended in ־ָה, as אַ֫רְצָה, קָדִ֫ימָה.
- ↑ The form רעו contradicts the view of Oort, Theol. Tijds., 1902, p. 374, that the above instances from the Mêšaʿ-inscription are to be read benhu, bahu, lahu, which were afterwards vocalized as beno, bo, lo.
