§ 13.Dagesë lene.

Ginsburg, Introd., p. 114 ff.: Dagesh and Raphe.

a

1.Dagesë lene, the sign of hardening, is in ordinary printed texts placed only within the tp;K.d>g:B. letters (§ 6 n) as a asign that they should be pronounced with their original hard sound (without aspiration), e.g. %l,m, meÊleçkh,, but AKl.m;mal–koÖ; rp;T' taÒphaÃr,, but rPot.yI yith–poÒr; ht'v' sëaÒthaÒ, but hT,v.yIyisë–teÊ.

b

2.The cases in which a Dagesë lene is to be inserted are stated in § 21. It occurs almost exclusively at the beginning of words and syllables. In the middle of the word it can easily be distinguished from Dagesë forte, since the latter always has a vowel before it, whereas Dagesë lene never has; accordingly the Dagesë in yPia; ' appiÖ, ~yBir; rabbiÖm must be forte, but in lD;g>yI yigdal it is lene.

c

A variety of the Dagesë lene is used in many manuscripts, as well as in Baer's editions, though others (including Ginsburg in the first two cases, Introd., pp. 121, 130, 603, 662) reject it together with the HÍatÌefs discussed in § 10 g. It is inserted in consonants other than the Begadkephath to call attention expressly to the beginning of a new syllable: (a) when the same consonant precedes in close connexion, e.g. yBiLi-lk'B. y Ps 9:2, where, owing to the Dagesë, the coalescing of the two Lameds is avoided; (b) in cases like ySix.m; y Ps 62:8 = mahÌ–siÖ (not maçhÌa–siÖ); (c) according to some (including Baer; not in ed. Mant.) in aol in the combination aoL Al Dt 32:5, or AL aol Hb 1:6, 2:6 &c. (so always also in Ginsburg's text, except in Gn 38:9); see also § 20 e and g. — Delitzsch appropriately gives the name of Dagesë orthophonicum to this variety of Dagesë (Bibl. Kommentar, 1874, on y Ps 94:12); cf. moreover Delitzsch, Luth. Ztschr., 1863, p. 413; also his Complutensische Varianten zu dem Alttest. Texte, Lpz. 1878, p. 12

d

3. When Dagesë forte is placed in a Begadkephath, the strengthening necessarily excludes its aspiration, e.g. yPia;, from yPin>a;.