FIRST PART

ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OR THE SOUNDS AND CHARACTERS

CHAPTER 1

THE INDIVIDUAL SOUNDS AND CHARACTERS

§ 5. The Consonants: their Forms and Names.

(Cf. the Table of Alphabets.)

Among the abundant literature on the subject, special attention is directed to: A. Berliner, Beiträge zur hebr. Gramm., Berlin, 1879, p. 15 ff., on the names, forms, and pronunciation of the consonants in Talmud and Midrash; H. Strack, Schreibkunst u. Schrift bei d. Hebräern, PRE.³, Lpz. 1906, p. 766 ff.; Benzinger, Hebr. Archäologie², Tübingen, 1907, p. 172 ff.; Nowack, Lehrbuch d. hebr. Archäol., Freiburg, 1894, i. 279 ff.; Lidzbarski, Handbuch d. nordsem. Epigraphik, Weimar, 1898, i. 173 ff.; also his art. 'Hebrew Alphabet,' in the Jewish Encyclopaedia, i, 1901, p. 439 ff. (cf. his Ephomeris, i. 316 ff.); and 'Die Namen der Alphabet-buchstaben', in Ephemeris, ii. 125 ff.; Kenyon, art. 'Writing,' in the Dictionary of the Bible, iv. Edinb. 1902, p. 944 ff.; Nöldeke, 'Die semit. Buchstabennamen,' in Beitr. zur semit. Sprachwiss., Strassb. 1904, p. 124 ff.; F. Praetorius, Ueber den Ursprung des kanaan. Alphabets, Berlin, 1906; H. Grimme, 'Zur Genesis des semit. Alphabets,' in ZA. xx. 1907, p. 49 ff.; R. Stübe, Grundlinien zu einer Entwickelungsgesch. d. Schrift, Munich, 1907; Jermain, In the path of the Alphabet, Fort Wayne, 1907. — L. Blau, Studien zum althebr. Buchwesen, &c., Strassb. 1902; and his 'Ueber d. Einfluss d. althebr. Buchwesens auf d. Originale', &c., in Festschr. zu Ehren A. Berliners, Frkf. 1903.

The best tables of alphabets are those of J. Euting in G. Bickell's Outlines of Heb. Gram. transl. by S. I. Curtiss, Lpz. 1877; in Pt. vii of the Oriental Series of the Palaeographical Soc., London, 1882; and, the fullest of all, in Chwolson's Corpus inscr. Hebr., Petersburg, 1882; also Lidzbarski's in the Jewish Encycl., see above.

Old Hebrew (or Old Canaanitish²) writing, as it was used on public monuments in the beginning of the ninth and in the second half of the eighth century B. C., is to be seen in the inscription of MeÖsÌa, as well as in that of Siloam. The characters on the Maccabaean coins of the second century B. C., and also on ancient gems, still bear much resemblance to this (cf. § 2 d). With the Old Hebrew writing the Phoenician is nearly identical (see § 1 k, § 2 f, and the Table of Alphabets). From the analogy of the history of other kinds of writing, it may be assumed that out of and along with this monumental character, a less antique and in some ways more convenient, rounded style was early developed, for use on softer materials, skins, bark, papyrus, and the like. This the Samaritans retained after their separation from the Jews, while the Jews gradually³ (between the sixth and the fourth century) exchanged it for an Aramaic character. From this gradually arose (from about the fourth to the middle of the third century) what is called the square character, which consequently bears great resemblance to the extant forms of Aramaic writing, such as the Egyptian-Aramaic, the Nabatean and especially the Palmyrene. Of Hebrew inscriptions in the older square character, that of ‘AraÖq al-EmiÖr (151/2 miles north-east of the mouth of the Jordan) probably belongs to 183 B.C.⁴

The Jewish sarcophagus-inscriptions of the time of Christ, found in Jerusalem in 1905, almost without exception exhibit a pure square character. This altered little in the course of centuries, so that the age of a Hebrew MS. cannot easily be determined from the style of the writing. The oldest known biblical fragment is the Nash papyrus (found in 1902), containing the ten commandments and the beginning of Dt 6:4 f. , of the end of the first or beginning of the second century A. D.; cf. N. Peters, Die älteste Abschr. der 10 Gebote, Freibg. i. B. 1905. Of actual MSS. of the Bible the oldest is probably one of 820–850 A. D. described by Ginsburg, Introd., p. 469 ff., at the head of his sixty principal MSS.; next in age is the codex of Moses ben Asher at Cairo (897 A. D., cf. the art. 'Scribes' in the Jew. Encycl. xi and Gottheil in JQR. 1905, p. 32). The date (916 A. D.) of the Codex prophetarum Babylon. Petropol. (see § 8 g, note) is quite certain. — In the synagogue-rolls a distinction is drawn between the Tam-character (said to be so called from Rabbi Tam, grandson of R. YisÌhÌaÒqiÖ, in the twelfth century) with its straight strokes, square corners and 'tittles' (taÒgiÖn), in German and Polish MSS., and the foreign character with rounded letters and tittles in Spanish MSS. See further E. König, Einl. in das A. T., Bonn, 1893, p. 16 ff.

e

Rem. 1. The forms of the letters originally represent the rude outlines of perceptible objects, the names of which, respectively, begin with the consonant represented (akrophony). Thus YoÖd, in the earlier alphabets the rude picture of a hand, properly denotes hand (Heb. dy"), but as a letter simply the sound y (y), with which this word begins; ÇAyiçn, originally a circle, properly an eye (!yI[;ñ), stands for the consonant [. In the Phoenician alphabet, especially, the resemblance of the forms to the objects denoted by the name is still for the most part recognizable (see the Table). In some letters (gàwàzàjàX) the similarity is still preserved in the square character.

It is another question whether the present names are all original. They may be merely due to a later, and not always accurate, interpretation of the forms. Moreover, it is possible that in the period from about 1500 to 1000 B.C. the original forms underwent considerable change.

f

The usual explanation of the present names of the letters¹³ is: @l,a' ox, tyBe house, lm,GI camel (according to Lidzbarski, see below, perhaps originally !w<r>G: axe or pick-axe), tl,D' door (properly folding door; according to Lidzbarski, perhaps dD; the female breast), ahe air-hole (?), lattice-window (?), ww" hook, nail, !yIz: weapon (according to Nestle, comparing the Greek zh/taë, rather tyIz: olive-tree), tyxe fence, barrier (but perhaps only differentiated from h by the left-hand stroke), tyje a winding (?), according to others a leather bottle or a snake (but perhaps only differentiated from t by a circle round it), dAy hand, @K; bent hand, dm,l' ox-goad, ~yIm; water, !Wn fish (Lidzbarski, 'perhaps originally vx'n" snake,' as in Ethiopic), %m,s' prop (perhaps a modification of z), !yI[; eye, aPe (also yPe) mouth, ydec' fish-hook (?), @Aq eye of a needle, according to others back of the head (Lidzb., 'perhaps tv,q, bow'), vyre head, !yvi tooth, wT' sign, cross.

g

With regard to the origin of this alphabet, it may be taken as proved that it is not earlier (or very little earlier) than the fifteenth century B. C., since otherwise the el-Amarna tablets (§ 2 f) would not have been written exclusively in cuneiform.¹⁴ It seems equally certain on various grounds, that it originated on Canaanitish soil. It is, however, still an open question whether the inventors of it borrowed

(a) From the Egyptian system — not, as was formerly supposed, by direct adoption of hieroglyphic signs (an explanation of twelve or thirteen characters was revived by J. HaleÃvy in Rev.SeÃmit. 1901, p. 356 ff., 1902, p. 331 ff., and in the Verhandlungen des xiii. … Orient.-Kongr. zu Hamb., Leiden, 1904, p. 199 ff.; but cf. Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, i. 261 ff.), or of hieratic characters derived from them (so E. de RougeÃ), but by the adoption of the acrophonic principle (see e) by, which e. g. the hand, in Egyptian tot, represents the letter t, the lion = laboi, the letter l. This view still seems the most probable. It is now accepted by Lidzbarski ('Der Ursprung d. nord- u. südsemit. Schrift' in Ephemeris, i (1900), 109 ff., cf. pp. 134 and 261 ff.), though in his Nordsem. Epigr. (1898) p. 173 ff. he was still undecided.

(b) From the Babylonian (cuneiform) system. Wuttke's and W. Deecke's derivation of the old-Semitic alphabet from new-Assyrian cuneiform is impossible for chronological reasons. More recently Peters and Hommel have sought to derive it from the old-Babylonian, and Ball from the archaic Assyrian cuneiform. A vigorous discussion has been aroused by the theory of Frdr. Delitzsch (in Die Entstehung des ält. Schriftsystems od. der Urspr. der Keilschriftzeichen dargel., Lpz. 1897; and with the same title 'Ein Nachwort', Lpz. 1898, preceded by a very clear outline of the theory) that the old-Semitic alphabet arose in Canaan under the influence both of the Egyptian system (whence the acrophonic principle) and of the old-Babylonian, whence the principle of the graphic representation of objects and ideas by means of simple, and mostly rectilinear, signs. He holds that the choice of the objects was probably (in about fifteen cases) influenced by the Babylonian system. The correspondence of names had all the more effect since, according to Zimmern (ZDMG. 1896, p. 667 ff.), out of twelve names which are certainly identical, eight appear in the same order in the Babylonian arrangement of signs. But it must first be shown that the present names of the 'Phoenician' letters really denote the original picture. The identity of the objects may perhaps be due simply to the choice of the commonest things (animals, implements, limbs) in both systems.

The derivation of the Semitic alphabet from the signs of the Zodiac and their names, first attempted by Seyffarth in 1834, has been revived by Winckler, who refers twelve fundamental sounds to the Babylonian Zodiac. Hommel connects the original alphabet with the moon and its phases, and certain constellations; cf. Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, i. 269 ff., and in complete agreement with him, Benzinger, Hebr. Archäologie², p. 173 ff. This theory is by no means convincing.

(c) From the hieroglyphic system of writing discovered in 1894 by A. J. Evans in inscriptions in Crete (esp. at Cnossus) and elsewhere. According to Kluge (1897) and others, this represents the 'Mycenaean script' used about 3000–1000 B. C., and according to Fries ('Die neuesten Forschungen über d. Urspr. des phöniz. Alph.' in ZDPV. xxii. 118 ff.) really supplies the original forms of the Phoenician alphabet as brought to Palestine by the Philistines about 1100 B. C., but 'the Phoenician-Canaanite-Hebrews gave to the Mycenaean signs names derived from the earlier cuneiform signs'. The hypothesis of Fries is thus connected with that of Delitzsch. But although the derivation of the Phoenician forms from 'Mycenaean' types appears in some cases very plausible, in others there are grave difficulties, and moreover the date, 1100 B.C., assigned for the introduction of the alphabet is clearly too late. [See Evans, Scripta Minoa, Oxf. 1909, p. 80 ff.]

(d) From a system, derived from Asia Minor, closely related to the Cypriote syllabary (Praetorius, Der Urspr. des kanaan. Alphabets, Berlin, 1906). On this theory the Canaanites transformed the syllabic into an apparently alphabetic writing. In reality, however, they merely retained a single sign for the various syllables, so that e. g. q is not really q, but qa, qe, qi, &c. Of the five Cypriote vowels also they retained only the star (in Cypriote = a) simplified into an ’aÒlef (see alphabetical table) to express the vowels at the beginning of syllables, and i and u as Yod and Waw. Praetorius claims to explain about half the twenty-two Canaanite letters in this way, but there are various objections to his ingenious hypothesis.

h

2. As to the order of the letters, we possess early evidence in the alphabetic¹⁵ poems: y Ps 9 (aÄk, cf. y Ps 10:1 l, and VV^12–17 qÄt; cf. Gray in the Expositor, 1906, p. 233 ff., and Rosenthal, ZAW. 1896, p. 40, who shows that y Ps 9:13, 15. 17 kàlàn exactly fit in between xàjày, and that y Ps 10:1, 3, 5 therefore has the reverse order làkày; also yy 25 and 34 (both without a separate wÄ-verse and with p repeated at the end¹⁶); 37, 111, 113, 119 (in which every eight verses begin with the same letter, each strophe, as discovered by D. H. Müller of Vienna, containing the eight leading words of y Ps 19:8 ff., toÖraÒ, ÇeÒduÖth, &c.); La 1–4 (in 2–4 p before [¹⁷, in chap. 3 every three verses with the same initial, see Löhr, ZAW. 1904, p. 1 ff., in chap. 5 at any rate as many verses as letters in the alphabet); Pr 24:1, 3, 5, 31:10–31 (in the LXX with p before [¹⁸); also in Na 1:2–10 Pastor Frohnmeyer of Württemberg (ob. 1880) detected traces of an alphabetic arrangement, but the attempt of Gunkel, Bickell, Arnold (ZAW. 1901, p. 225 ff.), Happel (Der Ps. Nah, Würzb. 1900) to discover further traces, has not been successful. [Cf. Gray in Expositor, 1898, p. 207 ff.; Driver, in the Century Bible, Nahum, p. 26.) — Bickell, Ztschr f. Kath. Theol., 1882, p. 319 ff., had already deduced from the versions the alphabetical character of Ecclus 51:13–30, with the omission of the wÄverse and with p¹⁹ at the end. His conjectures have been brilliantly confirmed by the discovery of the Hebrew original. although the order from g to l is partly disturbed or obscured. If w before c is deleted, ten letters are in their right positions, and seven can be restored to their places with certainty. Cf. N. Schlögl, ZDMG. 53, 669 ff.; C. Taylor in the appendix to Schechter and Taylor, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, Cambr. 1899, p. lxxvi ff., and in the Journ. of Philol., xxx (1906), p. 95 ff.; JQR. 1905, p. 238 ff.; Löhr, ZAW. 1905, p. 183 ff.; I. LeÃvy, REJ. 1907, p. 62 ff.

The sequence of the three softest labial, palatal, and dental sounds bàgàd, and of the three liquids làmàn, indicates an attempt at classification. At the same time other considerations also appear to have had influence. Thus it is certainly not accidental, that two letters, representing a hand (Yod, Kaph), as also two (if QoÖph = back of the head) which represent the head, and in general several forms denoting objects naturally connected (MeÖm and NuÖn, ÇAyiçn and PeÖ), stand next to one another.

i

The order, names, and numerical values of the letters have passed over from the Phoenicians to the Greeks, in whose alphabet the letters A to U are borrowed from the Old Semitic. So also the Old Italic alphabets as well as the Roman, and consequently all alphabets derived either from this or from the Greek, are directly or indirectly dependent on the Phoenician.

k

3. a. In default of special arithmetical figures, the consonants were used also as numerical signs; cf. G. Gundermann, Die Zahlzeichen, Giessen, 1899, p. 6 f., and Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, i. 106 ff. The earliest traces of this usage are, however, first found on the Maccabean coins (see above, § 2 d, end). These numerical letters were afterwards commonly employed, e.g. for marking the numbers of chapters and verses in the editions of the Bible. The units are denoted by aÄj, the tens by yÄc, 100–400 by qÄt, the numbers from 500–900 by t (= 400), with the addition of the remaining hundreds, e. g. qt 500. In compound numbers the greater precedes (on the right), thus ay 11, akq 121. But 15 is expressed by wj 9+6, not hy (which is a form of the divine name, being the first two consonants of hwhy).²⁰ For a similar reason zj is also mostly written for 16, instead of wy, which in compound proper names, like laeAy, also represents the name of God. hwhy.

The thousands are sometimes denoted by the units with two dots placed above, e. g. aoo 1000.

l

b. The reckoning of the years in Jewish writings (generally hrycyl after the creation) follows either the full chronology (lAdG" jr'p.li or äg äpl), with the addition of the thousands, or the abridged chronology (!Ajq' äpl), in which they are omitted. In the dates of the first thousand years after Christ, the Christian era is obtained by the addition of 240, in the second thousand years by the addition of 1240 (i. e. if the date falls between Jan. 1 and the Jewish new year; otherwise add 1239), the thousands of the Creation era being omitted.

m

4. Abbreviations of words are not found in the text of the O. T., but they occur on coins, and their use is extremely frequent amongst the later Jews.²¹ A point, or later an oblique stroke, serves as the sign of abridgement in old MSS. and editions, e. g. äfy for laer'f.yIàäp, for ynIl{P. aliquis, äd for rb'D' aliquid, äwgw for rm;Agw> et complens, i.e. and so on. Also in the middle of what is apparently a word, such strokes indicate that it is an abbreviation or a rox memorialis (cf. e. g. § 15 d ~¾¾at). Two such strokes are employed, from § 41 d onward, to mark the different classes of weak verbs. — Note also y"y> or yy" (also äh) for hA'hy>.

n

5. Peculiarities in the tradition of the O. T. text, which are already mentioned in the Talmud, are — (1) The 15 puncta extraordinaria, about which the tradition (from Siphri on Nu 9:10 onwards) differs considerably, even as to their number; on particular consonants, Gn 16:5, 18:9, 19:33, 35, Nu 9:10; or on whole words, Gn 33:4, 37:12, Nu 3:39, 21:30, 29:15, Dt 29:28, 2 S 19:20, Is 44:9, Ez 41:20, 46:22, y Ps 27:13, — all no doubt critical marks; cf. Strack, Prolegomena Critica, p. 88 ff.; L. Blau, Masoretische Untersuchungen, Strassburg, 1891, p. 6 ff., and Einleitung in die hl. Schrift, Budapest, 1894; Königsberger, Jüd. Lit.-Blatt, 1891, nos. 29–31, and Aus Masorah u. Talmudkritik, Berlin, 1892, p. 6 ff.; Mayer-Lambert, REJ. 30 (1895), no. 59; and especially Ginsburg, Introd., p. 318 ff.; also on the ten points found in the Pentateuch, see Butin (Baltimore, 1906), who considers that they are as old as the Christian era and probably mark a letter, &c., to be deleted. (2) The literae majusculae (e. g. b Gn 1:1, w Lv 11:42 as the middle consonant of the Pentateuch, y Nu 14:17), and minusculuae (e. g. h Gn 2:4). (3) The literae suspensae (Ginsburg, Introd., p. 334 ff.) n Ju 18:30 (which points to the reading hv,m for hV,n:m.), [ y Ps 80:14 (the middle of the Psalms²²) and Jb 38:13, 15. (4) The 'mutilated' WaÒw in ~wlX Nu 25:12, and q Ex 32:25 (~hymqb), and Nu 7:2 (~ydwqph). (5) MeÖm clausum in hbr~l Is 9:6 and MeÖm apertum in ~ycwrp mh Neh 2:13. (6) NuÖn inversum before Nu 10:35, and after ver. 36, as also before y Ps 107:23–28 and ⁴⁰; according to Ginsburg, Introd., p. 341 ff., a sort of bracket to indicate that the verses are out of place; cf. Krauss, ZAW. 1902, p. 57 ff., who regards the inverted NuÖns as an imitation of the Greek obelus.

Footnotes:

¹[1] The name rWVa; (Assyria) is here used in the widest sense, to include the countries on the Mediterranean inhabited by Aramaeans; cf. Stade in ZAW. 1882, p. 292 f. On some other names for Old Hebrew writing. cf. G. Hoffmann, ibid. 1881, p. 334 ff.; Buhl, Canon and Text of the O.T. (transl. by J. Macpherson), Edinb. 1892, p. 200.

²[2] It is tacitly assumed here that this was the mother of all Semitic alphabets. In ZDMG. 1909, p. 189 ff., however, Prätorius has shown good grounds for believing that the South Semitic alphabet is derived not from the MeÖsÌa‘ character, or from some kindred and hardly older script, but from some unknown and much earlier form of writing.

³[1] On the effect of the transitional mixture of earlier and later forms on the constitution of the text, see R. Kittel, Ueber d. Notwendigk. d. Herausg. einer neuen hebr. Bibel, Lpz. 1901, p. 20 ff. — L. Blau, 'Wie lange stand die althebr. Schrift bei den Juden im Gebrauch ?' in Kaufmanngedenkbuch, Breslau, 1900, p. 44 ff.

⁴[2] Not 176, as formerly held. Driver and Lidzbarski now read hybr[, correctly, not hybwj.

⁵[1] Philippi, 'Die Aussprache der semit. Consonanten w and y,' in ZDMG. 1886, p. 639 ff., 1897, p. 66 ff., adduces reasons in detail for the opinion that, 'the Semitic w and y are certainly by usage consonants, although by nature they are vowels, viz. u and i, and consequently are consonantal vowels'; cf. § 8 m.

⁷[2] As a representstion of this sound the Latin q is very suitable, since it occupies in the alphabet the place of the Semitic q (Greek ko,ppa).

⁸[3] Nestle (Actes du onziems Congres … des Orienlalistes, 1897, iv. 113 ff.) has shown that the original order was vàf.

⁹[1] In the Talmud, disregarding the alphabetical order, ^p.c)o-!mi of thy watcher, i. e. prophet. See the discussions of this mnemonic word by Nestle, ZAW. 1907, p. 119 ff., König, Bacher (who would read %yIp;co-!mi = proceeding from thy prophets, Is 52:8), Krauss, Marmorstein, ibid. p. 278 ff. All the twenty-two letters, together with the five final forms, occur in Zp 3:8.

¹⁰[2] Chwolson, Corpus Inscr. Hebr., col. 68, rightly observes that the more original forms of these letters are preserved in the literae finales. Instances of them go back to the time of Christ.

¹¹[3] The same was originally the practice in Greek, which only adopted the opposite direction exclusively about 400 B.C. On the boustropheÒdon writing (alternately in each direction) in early Greek, early Sabaean, and in the Safa-inscriptions of the first three centuries A.D., cf. Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, i. 116 f.

¹²[4] This does not apply to early inscriptions or seals. Cf. MeÖsëaÇ , ll. 1–5, 7, 8, &c., Siloam 2, 3, 5, where the division of words appears to be customary.

¹³[5] We possess Greek transcriptions of the Hebrew names, dating from the fifth century B. C. The LXX give them (in almost the same form as Eusebius, Praep. Evang. 10. 5) in La 1–4, as do also many Codices of the Vulgate (e. g. the Cod. Amiatinus) in yy 111, 112, 119, but with many variations from the customary forms, which rest on the traditional Jewish pronunciation. The forms Deleth (and delth), Zai, Sen (LXX also csen, cf. Hebr. !ve tooth) are to be noticed, amongst others, for Daleth, Zain, Sèin. Cf. the tables in Nöldeke, Beiträdge zur sem. Sprachwiss., p. 126 f. In his opinion (and so Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, i. 134) the form and meaning of the names point to Phoenicia as the original home of the alphabet, since alf, bcÖt, dalt, waÒw, taÒw, pei = peÖ, piÖ, mouth, and the vowel of r`w/ = roÒsë, head, are all Hebraeo-Phoenician.

¹⁴[1] In the excavations at Jericho in April, 1907, E. Sellin found a jar-handle with the Canaanite characters hy, which he dates (probably too early) about 1500 B. C.

¹⁵[1] On the supposed connexion of this artificial arrangement with magical formulae ('the order of the letters was believed to have a sort of magic power') cf. Löhr, ZAW. 1905, p. 173 ff., and Klagelieder², Gött. 1907, p. vii ff.

¹⁶[2] On this superfluous p cf. Grimme, Euphemistic liturgical appendices, Lpz. 1901, p. 8 ff., and Nestle, ZAW. 1903, p. 340 f., who considers it an appendage to the Greek alphabet.

¹⁷[3] [Perhaps also originally in y Ps 34.] p before [ is probably due to a magic alphabet, see above, n. 1. According to Böhmer, ZAW. 1908, p. 53 ff., the combinations baàdgàwh, &c., were used in magical texts; s[ was excluded, but by a rearrangement we get @s and #[.

¹⁹[1] See note 3 on p. 29.

²⁰[2] On the rise of this custom (hy having been originally used and afterwards yh), cf. Nestle in ZAW. 1884, p. 250, where a trace of this method of writing occurring as early as Origen is noted.

²¹[3] Cf. Jc. Buxtorf, De abbreviaturis Hebr., Basel, 1613, &c.; Pietro Perreau. oceano delle abbreviature e sigle², Parma, 1883 (appendix, 1884); Ph. Lederer, Hebr. u. Chald. Abbreviaturen, Frankf. 1893; Händler, Lexicon d. Abbreviaturen (annexed to G. Dalman's Aram.-neuhebr. WB., Frankf. 1897); Levias, art. 'Abbreviations,' in the Jew. Encycl., i. 39 ff.; F. Perles, 'Zur Gesch. der Abbrev. im Hebr.' (Archiv f. Stenogr., 1902, p. 41 ff.). On abbreviations in biblical MSS. see Ginsburg, Introd., 165 ff.

²²[1] According to Blau, Studien zum althebr. Buchwesen, Strassburg, 1902, p. 167, properly a large [, called tÇluÖyaÒ because suspended between the two halves of the Psalter, and then incorrectly taken for a littera suspensa.