Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/78

following guttural as well as of the preceding U-sound. (Elsewhere indeed after וּ in similar cases Ḥaṭeph-Pathaḥ is preferred, see above, § 78 b; but with לֻקֳחָה cf. also סֻבֳּלוֹ Is 9, 10, 14, where the U-sound must necessarily be admitted to have an influence on the Š^ewâ immediately following.) In וּֽטֳהָר־ (û-ṭ^ohŏr) Jb 17 it is also influenced by the following O-sound. In קָֽסֳמִי 1 S 28 Q^erê, the original form is קְסֹם, where again the ō represents an ŏ. It is only through the influence of a following guttural that we can explain the forms נִקְרֳאָה Est 2; נִֽבֳהָל Pr 28; נִסְרֳחָה Jer 49; אֶפְשֳׂעה Is 27; וָאֶֽשְׁמֳעָה Dn 8; שִֽׁמֳעָה ψ 39; בַּֽסֳעָרָה 2 K 2 (Baer’s ed. also in ver. 11); הַקֳּהָתִים 2 Ch 34 (ed. Mant., Opitius, &c. הַקְּ׳). Finally in most of the examples which have been adduced, the influence of an emphatic sound (ק, ט, cf. also אֲלַקֳּטָה Ru 2, 7), or of a sibilant is also to be taken into account.

 [i]  3. The sign of the simple Š^ewâ ־ְ serves also as a mere syllable divider. In this case it is disregarded in pronunciation and is called Š^ewâ quiescens. In the middle of a word it stands under every consonant which closes a syllable; at the end of words on the other hand it is omitted except in final ך (to distinguish it better from final ן), e.g. מֶלֶךְ king, and in the less frequent case, where a word ends with a mute after another vowelless consonant as in נֵרְדְּ nard, אַתְּ thou fem. (for ’ant), קָטַלְתְּ thou fem. hast killed, וַיַּשְׁקְ and he watered, וַיִּשְׁבְּ and he took captive, אַל־תֵּשְׁתְּ drink thou not; but וַיַרְא, חֵטְא.^[1]

 [k]  However, in the examples where a mute closes the syllable, the final Š^ewâ comes somewhat nearer to a vocal Š^ewâ, especially as in almost all the cases a weakening of a final vowel has taken place, viz. אַתְּ ʾatt^e from אַתִּי ʾatt^î (ʾanti), קָטַלְתְּ from קָטַ֫לְתִּי (cf. in this form, the 2nd sing. fem. perf. Qal, even בָּאתְ, after a vowel, Gn 16, Mi 4, &c., according to the readings of Baer), יִשְׁבְּ yišb^e from יִשְׁבֶּה, &c. The Arabic actually has a short vowel in analogous forms. In נֵרְדְּ borrowed from the Indian, as also in קשְׁטְ (qōšṭ) Pr 22; and in אַל־תּוֹסְףְּ ne addas (for which we should expect תּ֫וֹסֶף) Pr 30 the final mute of itself attracts a slight vowel sound.

 [l]  Rem. The proper distinction between simple Š^ewâ mobile and quiescens depends on a correct understanding of the formation of syllables (§ 26). The beginner may observe for the present, that

1. Š^ewâ is always mobile
   1. at the beginning of a word (except in שְׁתַּים, שְׁתֵּי § 97 b, note);
   2. under a consonant with Dageš forte, e.g. גִּדְּפוּ gid-d^ephû;
   3. after another Š^ewâ, e.g. יִקְטְלוּ yiqṭ^elû (except at the end of the word, see above, i).
2. Š^ewâ is quiescens
   1. at the end of a word, also in the ךְ;
   2. before another Š^ewâ.

§11. Other Signs which affect the Reading.

Very closely connected with the vowel points are the reading-signs, which were probably introduced at the same time. Besides the diacritical point over שׂ and שׁ, a point is placed within a consonant

1. On ־ִיתְ as an ending of the 2nd sing. fem. perf. Qal of verbs ל״ה, see § 75 m.