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The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew, Volume 1 Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures The Tiberian Pronunciation Khan Tradition of Biblical Hebrew (Vol. I) The Tiberian Pronunciation Geoffrey Khan Tradition of Biblical Hebrew The form of Biblical Hebrew that is presented in printed edi� ons, with vocaliza� on and Tradition of Biblical Hebrew Vol. I accent signs, has its origin in medieval manuscripts of the Bible. The vocaliza� on and Volume I accent signs are nota� on systems that were created in Tiberias in the early Islamic period The Tiberian Pronunciation The by scholars known as the Tiberian Masoretes, but the oral tradi� on they represent has roots in an� quity. The gramma� cal textbooks and reference grammars of Biblical Hebrew in use today are heirs to centuries of tradi� on of gramma� cal works on Biblical Hebrew in GEOFFREY KHAN Europe. The paradox is that this European tradi� on of Biblical Hebrew grammar did not have direct access to the way the Tiberian Masoretes were pronouncing Biblical Hebrew. In the last few decades, research of manuscript sources from the medieval Middle East has made it possible to reconstruct with considerable accuracy the pronuncia� on of the Tiberian Masoretes, which has come to be known as the ‘Tiberian pronuncia� on tradi� on’. This book presents the current state of knowledge of the Tiberian pronuncia� on tradi� on of Biblical Hebrew and a full edi� on of one of the key medieval sources, Hidāyat al-Qāriʾ ‘The Guide for the Reader’, by ʾAbū al-Faraj Hārūn. It is hoped that the book will help to break the mould of current gramma� cal descrip� ons of Biblical Hebrew and form a bridge between modern tradi� ons of grammar and the school of the Masoretes of Tiberias. Links and QR codes in the book allow readers to listen to an oral performance of samples of the reconstructed Tiberian pronuncia� on by Alex Foreman. This is the fi rst � me Biblical Hebrew has been recited with the Tiberian pronuncia� on for a millennium. As with all Open Book publica� ons, this en� re book is available to read for free on the publisher’s website. Printed and digital edi� ons, together with supplementary digital material, can also be found at www.openbookpublishers.com Cover image: The Aleppo Codex. Courtesy of the Ben-Zvi Insti tute, Jerusalem. Photographer: Ardon Bar Hama. Cover design: Luca Baff a. book 1 ebooke and OA edi� ons also available OPEN ACCESS OBP https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2020 Geoffrey Khan. Recorded material © 2020 Alex Foreman, CC BY. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the text; to adapt the text and to make commercial use of the text providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Geoffrey Khan, The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew, Volume I. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2020, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0163 In order to access detailed and updated information on the license, please visit, https:// doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0163#copyright Further details about CC BY licenses are available at, https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/ All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web Updated digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0163#resources Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher. Semitic Languages and Cultures 1, volume 1. ISSN (print): 2632-6906 ISSN (digital): 2632-6914 ISBN Paperback: 978-1-78374-675-0 ISBN Hardback: 978-1-78374-676-7 ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-78374-677-4 DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0163 Cover image: The Aleppo Codex, Courtesy of the Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem. Photographer: Ardon Bar Hama Cover design: Luca Baffa. I.1. CONSONANTS (א) ָא ֶלף I.1.1. ʾALEF Glottal plosive [ʔ] Consonantal ʾalef occurs in the following contexts: In the onset of a syllable at the beginning of a word, e.g. [ʔɛloːˈhiːim] ֱא ִֹ֑להים ,(ʔɔːˈmaːaʀ̟] ‘he said’ (Gen. 3.16] ָא ַ֗ מר ‘God’ (Gen. 1.1). In the onset of a syllable in the middle of a word after a ’vaɟɟivˈʔaːaʃ] ‘and it became foul] ו יְב ַ֣אׁש .silent shewa, e.g (Exod. 7.21). In the onset of a syllable in the middle of a word after a [jɔːˈviːʔuː] ָי ִ֑ביאּו .vowel, a ḥaṭef vowel or vocalic shewa, e.g ’ʔaʔazzɛrˁˈχɔː] ‘I gird you] ֲא אֶזְר ָ֖ך ,(they bring’ (Exod. 16.5‘ .(moˈʔoːoð] ‘very’ (Gen. 1.31] ְמ ִ֑ אד (Isa. 45.5) וֶיְאֹ֤ס ר .In the coda of a syllable in the middle of a word, e.g [vaɟɟɛʔˈsoːorˁ] ‘and he tied’ (Gen. 46.29). In the Standard Tiberian tradition consonantal ʾalef in the middle of a word between vowels is marked with dagesh in four places: (and they brought to him’ (Gen. 43.26‘ וָי ִ֥ביּאּוָ֖֛לֹו (i) (and they brought to us’ (Ezra 8.18‘ וָי ִ֨ביּאּוָ֖ ָָ֜לנּו (ii) (you shall bring bread’ (Lev. 23.17‘ ָת ַ֣ביּאּוָ֖׀ָ֖ ֶַ֣לֶחם (iii) © Geoffrey Khan, CC BY 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0163.01 136 The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew (they were not seen’ (Job 33.21‘ ַ֣ל אָֻ֖רּּֽאּו (iv) These four cases are specified in Masoretic treatises and Maso- retic notes. They are referred to, for example, in the Masoretic 1 treatise Hidāyat al-Qāriʾ: It has been said that dagesh is placed in ʾalef in some specific places in Scripture, namely in the following four ’and they brought him the present‘ וָי ִ֥ביּאּוָ֖֛לֹוָ֖ ֶאת ־ה מְנ ִָ֥חה :cases and they brought to us by‘ וָי ִ֙ ָ֖ ביּאּוָָ֜לנּוָ֖ ְכ יד־ֱא ִ֙ ֹלהינּו ,(Gen. 43.26) from‘ מְמֹוׁשִ֙ב תי ֶָ֜כםָ֖ ָת ַ֣ביּאּוָ֖׀ ,(the hand of our God’ (Ezra 8.18 ְוֻׁשִ֥פּוָ֖ ַ֝ עְצ ַָ֗מֹותיוַָ֖֣ל אָ֖ ,(you dwellings you shall bring’ (Lev. 23.17 and his bones, which were not seen, are laid bare’ (Job‘ ֻרּּֽאּו 33.21). Some examples of references to the four places in Masoretic notes include the following: ג׳ָ֖אלפיןָ֖דגשיןָ֖בלישנאָ֖וסימנהוןָ֖ממושבתיכםָ֖תבטאוָ֖לחםָ֖תנופה,ָ֖יביאוָ֖ לוָ֖אתָ֖המנחהָ֖אשרָ֖בידם,ָ֖ויביאוָ֖לנו,ָ֖וחדָ֖בלשו׳ָ֖אחרָ֖ושפוָ֖עצמותיוָ֖לאָ֖ ראו There are three occurrences of ʾalef with dagesh in a to‘ בוא particular lexical item (viz. derivatives of the root מְמֹוׁשִ֙ב ת ֶָ֜יכם ָָ֖ת ַ֣ביּאּו׀ ָ֖ ֶַ֣לֶחםָ֖ come’), these being in the verses You shall bring from your dwellings two loaves‘ ְתנ ַָּ֗ופה ְְָׁׁ֖֚ש ת ים ָ֖ וָי ִ֥ביּאּוָ֖֛לֹוָ֖ ֶאת ־ה מְנ ִָ֥חהָ֖ ֲאֶׁשר־ ,(of bread to be waved’ (Lev. 23.17 they brought to him the present which they had in‘ ְבָי ָ דם they brought to us’ (Ezra‘ וָי ִ֙ ָ֖ ביּאּוָָ֜לנּו ,(their hand’ (Gen. 43.26 8.18), and one (case of ʾalef with dagesh) in another word, 1 Long version, edition in vol. 2 of this book, §II.L.1.3.2. Consonants 137 and his bones which were‘ ְוֻׁשִ֥פּוָ֖ ָ֜ עְצ ַָ֖֣ל ַָ֗מֹותיואָֻ֖רּּֽאּו (in the verse) 2 not seen stick out’ (Job 33.21). חדָ֖מןָ֖ד׳ָ֖אלפיןָ֖דגשיןָ֖בקרי׳ 3 One of four ʾalefs with dagesh in Scripture. These show that the occurrence of dagesh in ʾalef in these specific places was fixed in the Tiberian tradition. In some of the early Standard Tiberian codices, however, dagesh is marked in ʾalef also elsewhere in addition to these canonical four places. This applies even to L, where it occurs in the following two addi- tional places:4 (ְו ָָ֖א נ כי :and I’ (A‘ ְוָּא נ כיָ֖ :L: Ruth 2.10 ו ת עְז ִ֞ביָ֖ :and you left your father’ (A‘ וּֽת עְז ִ֞ביָָּ֖אַ֣ביְך :L: Ruth 2.11 ( ָָ֖א ַ֣ביְך These two additional occurrences of dagesh in ʾalef in L are not referred to in the Masoretic notes, which indicates that they were not canonical in the Tiberian tradition. In the manuscript C there are numerous additional cases of ʾalef marked with dagesh, none of which are referred to in the Masoretic notes (Yeivin 1980, 285), e.g. (ְׁש אְל ת יאִ֙לָ֖ :[Shealtiel’ (L [BHS‘ ְׁש ְל תָּ֖א יא ִָ֖֙ל :C: Hag. 1.1 2 Ginsburg (1880, §5), source: Masora magna in British Library, Harley 1528 (fourteenth century, Spain). 3 Ginsburg (1905, 2), source: Masora magna in the Second Rabbinic Bible (Venice 1516–17, Bomberg) to Lev. 23.17, Job 33.21 and Ezra 8.18. 4 I am grateful to Ben Kantor for drawing these to my attention. 138 The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew ( ְבל ִ֙ ֹואי :[rags’ (L [BHS‘ ְבל ִ֙ ָֹ֖וּאי :C: Jer. 38.12 :[the things that befall you’ (L [BHS‘ ּֽק ְר ַ֔ת ּאָ֖י ְָ֖ך :C: Isa. 51.19 (ּֽק ְר א ַ֔ ת י ְךָ֖ Ginsburg (1905, 2) draws attention to the existence of some Masoretic notes in European manuscripts that refer to a greater number of instances of dagesh in ʾalef than the canonical four. These must reflect the awareness of a greater extent of marking the dagesh in some manuscripts. In manuscripts with Non-Standard Tiberian vocalization, the marking of dagesh in consonantal ʾalef is very frequent. In the Codex Reuchlinianus this is the general rule with only a minority of exceptions. In the single verse Isa. 37.33, for instance, we find: ’Assyria‘ ָּא ַָ֖֔שּור ,( ֶאל :[to’ (L [BHS‘ ֶּא ָ֖ל ,( ָא ֹ֤מר :[he said’ (L [BHS‘ ָּא ָ ֹ֤מָ֖ר Morag 1959, 218). There is frequent marking of) ( אַ֔שּור :[L [BHS) dagesh in ʾalef also in manuscripts with Non-Standard Tiberian manuscripts written in the Middle East.
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