the peculiar nature of the Hebrew, the example and pattern of the older Syrian punctuation.[1]
See Gesenius,
Gesch. d. hebr. Spr., p. 182 ff.; Hupfeld, in
Theol. Studien u. Kritiken, 1830, pt. iii, who shows that neither Jerome nor the Talmud mentions vowel signs; Berliner,
Beiträge zur hebr. Gramm. im Talm. u. Midrasch, p. 26 ff.; and B. Pick, in
Hebraica, i. 3, p. 153 ff.; Abr. Geiger, ‘Zur Nakdanim-[Punctuators-]Literatur,’ in
Jüd. Ztschr. für Wissensch. u. Leben, x. Breslau, 1872, p. 10 ff.; H. Strack,
Prolegomena critica in Vet. Test. Hebr., Lips. 1873; ‘Beitrag zur Gesch. des hebr. Bibeltextes,’ in
Theol. Stud. u. Krit., 1875, p. 736 ff., as also in the
Ztschr. f. die ges. luth. Theol. u. K., 1875, p. 619 ff.; ‘Massorah,’ in the
Protest. Real.-Enc.3, xii. 393 ff. (a good outline); A. Merx, in the
Verhandlungen des Orientalistenkongresses zu Berlin, i. Berlin, 1881, p. 164 ff. and p. 188 ff.; H. Graetz, ‘Die Anfänge der Vokalzeichen im Hebr.,’ in
Monatsschr. f. Gesch. u. Wissensch. d. Judenth., 1881, pp. 348 ff. and 395 ff.; Hersmann,
Zur Gesch. des Streites über die Entstehung der hebr. Punktation, Ruhrort, 1885; Harris, ‘The Rise ... of the Massorah,’
JQR. i. 1889, p. 128 ff. and p. 223 ff.; Mayer-Lambert,
REJ. xxvi. 1893, p. 274 ff.; J. Bachrach,
Das Alter d. bibl. Vocalisation u. Accentuation, 2 pts. Warsaw, 1897, and esp. Ginsburg,
Introd. (see § 3
c), p. 287 ff.; Budde, ‘Zur Gesch. d. Tiberiens, Vokalisation,’ in
Orient. Studien zu Ehren Th. Nöldekes, i. 1906, 651 ff.; Bacher, ‘Diakrit. Zeichen in vormasoret. Zeit,’ in
ZAW. 1907, p. 285; C. Levias, art. ‘Vocalization,’ in the
Jewish Encycl.—On the hypothesis of the origin of punctuation in the Jewish schools for children, cf. J. Dérenbourg in the
Rev. Crit., xiii. 1879, no. 25.
[i]
4. To complete the historical vocalization of the consonantal text a phonetic system was devised, so exact as to show all vowel-changes occasioned by lengthening of words, by the tone, by gutturals, &c., which in other languages are seldom indicated in writing. The pronunciation followed is in the main that of the Palestinian Jews of about the sixth century A.D., as observed in the solemn reading of the sacred writings in synagogue and school, but based on a much older tradition. That the real pronunciation of early Hebrew is consistently preserved by this tradition, has recently been seriously questioned on good grounds, especially in view of the transcription of proper names in the LXX. Nevertheless in many cases, internal reasons, as well as the analogy of the kindred languages, testify in a high degree to the faithfulness of the tradition. At the same recension of the text, or soon after, the various other signs for reading (§§ 11–14, 16) were added, and the accents (§ 15).
§8. The Vowel Signs in particular.
P. Haupt, ‘The names of the Hebrew vowels,’
JAOS. xxii, and in the
Johns Hopkins Semitic Papers, Newhaven, 1901, p. 7 ff.; C. Levias in the
Hebr. Union Coll. Annual, Cincinnati, 1904, p. 138 ff.
- ↑ See Geiger, ‘Massorah bei d. Syrern,’ in ZDMG. 1873, p. 148 ff.; J. P. Martin, Hist. de la ponctuation ou de la Massore chez les Syriens, Par. 1875; E. Nestle, in ZDMG. 1876, p. 525 ff.; Weingarten, Die syr. Massora nach Bar Hebraeus, Halle, 1887.
