Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/94

§ 68 b–k), e.g. in מוּם for מְאוּם. As a rule in such cases, however, the א is orthographically retained, e.g. לִקְרַאת for לְקִרְאַת. Syncope occurs frequently in the case of ה, e.g. לַמֶּ֫לֶךְ for לְהַמֶּ֫לֶךְ (§ 23 k and § 35 n), יַקְטִיל for יְהַקְטִיל (§ 53 a).

Syncope of א with Š^ewâ occurs in such cases as בַּֽאדֹנָי for בַּֽאֲדֹנָי (cf. § 102 m); וַאעְשִׁר Zc 11.^[1] On the cases in which א is wholly omitted after the article, see § 35 d.

Finally, the elision of ו and י in verbs ל״ה (§ 75 h) is an instance of syncope.—On the syncope of ה between two vowels, see § 23 k.

 [l]  (c) At the end of a word (apocope), e.g. גִּלֹה pr. name of a city (cf. גִּֽילֹנִי Gilonite); וַיַּרְא, where א though really rejected is orthographically retained, &c. On the apocope of ו and י in verbs ל״ה, see § 24 g, and § 75 a.

Bolder changes (especially by violent apocope), took place in earlier periods of the language, notably the weakening of the feminine ending ־ַת ăth to ־ָה ā, see § 44 a, and § 80 f.

 [m]  4. To avoid harshness in pronunciation a helping sound, Aleph prosthetic^[2] with its vowel, is prefixed to some words, e.g. אֶזְרוֹעַ and זְרוֹעַ arm (cf. χθές, ἐχθές; spiritus, French esprit).—A prosthetic ע occurs probably in עַקְרָב scorpion; cf. Arab. ʿuṣfûr bird (stem ṣafara).

 [n]  5. Transposition^[3] occurs only seldom in the grammar, e.g. הִשְׁתַּמֵּר for הִתְשַׁמֵּר (§ 54 b) for the sake of euphony; it is more frequent in the lexicon (כֶּ֫בֶשׂ and כֶּ֫שֶׂב lamb, שִׂמְלָה and שַׂלְמָה garment), but is mostly confined to sibilants and sonants.

 [o]  6. Softening occurs e.g. in כּוֹכָב star, from kaukabh=kawkabh for kabhkabh (cf. Syriac raurab=rabrab); טֽוֹטָפוֹת phylacteries for ṭaphṭāphôth; according to the common opinion, also in אִישׁ man from ʾinš, cf. however § 96.

§20. The Strengthening (Sharpening) of Consonants.

 [a]  1. The strengthening of a consonant, indicated by Dageš forte, is necessary and essential (Dageš necessarium)

(a) when the same consonant would be written twice in succession

1. Frensdorff, Ochla Wʾochla, p. 97 f., gives a list of forty-eight words with quiescent א.
2. This awkward term is at any rate as suitable as the name Alef protheticum proposed by Nestle, Marginalien u. Materialien, Tübingen, 1893, p. 67 ff.
3. Cf. Barth, Etymologische Studien, Lpz. 1893, p. 1 ff.; Königsberger, in Zeitschrift f. wissenschaftliche Theologie, 1894, p. 451 ff.