§ 15. The Accents.

a

On the ordinal accents (see below, e), cf. W. Heidenheim, ~ymi['J.h; yjeP.v.mi [The Laws of the Accents], Rödelheim, 1808 (a compilation from older Jewish writers on the accents, with a commentary); W. Wickes (see also below), ~yrps a¾¾k ym[j [The Accents of the Twenty-one Books], Oxford, 1887, an exhaustive investigation in English; J. M. Japhet, Die Accente der hl. Schrift (exclusive of the books tÏmÏaÏ), ed. by Heinemann, Frankf. a. M.1896; Prätorius, Die Herkunft der hebr. Accente, Berlin, 1901, and (in answer to Gregory's criticism in the TLZ. 1901, no. 22) Die Uebernahme der früh-mittelgriech. Neumen durch die Juden, Berlin, 1902; P. Kahle, ' Zur Gesch. der hebr. Accente,' ZDMG. 55 (1901), 167 ff. (1, on the earliest Jewish lists of accents; 2, on the mutual relation of the various systems of accentuation; on p. 179 ff. he deals with the accents of the 3rd system, see above, § 8 g, note); Margolis, art. 'Accents,' in the Jewish Encycl. i (1901), 149 ff.; J. Adams, Sermons in Accents, London, 1906. — On the accents of the Books ~¾¾at (see below, h), S. Baer, tma trwt [Accentual Laws of the Books t¾¾ma], Rödelheim, 1852, and his appendix to Delitzsch's Psalmencommentar, vol. ii, Lpz. 1860, and in the 5th ed., 1894 (an epitome is given in Baer-Delitzsch's Liber Psalmorum hebr., Lpz. 1861, 1874, 1880); cf. also Delitzsch's most instructive 'Accentuologischer Commentar' on Psalms 1–3, in his Psalmencommentar of 1874, as well as the numerous contributions to the accentual criticism of the text, &c., in the editions of Baer and Delitzsch, and in the commentaries of the latter; W. Wickes, t¾¾ma ym[j [Accents of the Poet. Books], Oxford, 1881; Mitchell, in the Journal of Bibl. Lit., 1891, p. 144 ff.; Baer and Strack, Dikduke ha–tÌeamim, p. 17 ff.

b

1. As Prätorius (see above) has convincingly shown, the majority of the Hebrew accents, especially, according to Kahle (see above), the 'Conjunctivi', were adopted by the Jews from the neums and punctuation-marks found in Greek gospel-books, and, like these, their primary purpose was to regulate minutely the public reading of the sacred text. The complete transformation and amplification of the system (in three different forms, see § 8 g, note), which soon caused the Jews to forget its real origin, is clearly connected with the gradual change from the speaking voice in public reading to chanting or singing. The accents then served as a kind of musical notes.1Their value as such has, however, with the exception of a few traces, become lost in transmission. On the other hand, according to their original design they have also a twofold use which is still of the greatest importance for grammar (and syntax), viz. their value (a) as marking the tone, (b) as marks of punctuation to indicate the logical (syntactical) relation of single words to their immediate surroundings, and thus to the whole sentence.2

c

2. As a mark of the tone the accent stands almost invariably (but see below, e) with the syllable which has the principal tone in the word. This is usually the ultima, less frequently the penultima. Amongst the Jewish grammarians a word which has the tone on the ultima is called Milra' (Aram. [r;l.mi i.e. accented below3 ), e.g. lj;ñq' qaÒtÌaÃl; a word which has the tone on the penultima is MilÇeÖl (Aram. ly[el.mi, accented above), e.g.  äxl,m,ñ meÊleçkh. Besides this, in many cases a secondary tone is indicated in the word by MeÊtheçg (cf. § 16). Examples such as dx;Y+' hd'm.[;næ; Is 50:8 (cf. 40:18, Ex 15:8, Jb 12:15, La 2:16) are regarded by the Jewish grammarians as even proparoxytone.4

d

3. As marks of interpunctuation the accents are subdivided into those which separate (Distinctivi or Domini) and those which connect (Conjunctivi or Servi). Further a twofold system of accentuation is to be noted: (a) the common system found in twenty-one of the Books (the a¾¾k i.e. twenty-one), and (b) that used in the first three Books of the Hagiographa, viz. Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, for which the vox memor. is tm,a/, from the initial consonants of the names, ~yLihiT. Psalms, ylev.mi Proverbs, bAYai Job, or more correctly, according to their original sequence, ~¾¾at (~aoT. twin), so that ~¾¾at yme[]j†; means the accents (sing.~[;j;) of these three Books. The latter system is not only richer and more complicated in itself, but also musically more significant than the ordinary accentuation.

I. The Common Accents.

e

Preliminary remark. The accents which are marked as prepositive stand to the right over or under the initial consonant of the word; those marked as postpositive, to the left over or under the last consonant. Consequently in both cases the tone-syllable must be ascertained independently of the accent (but cf. below, l).

f

A. DISJUNCTIVE ACCENTS (Distinctivi or Domini).5

1. (¤)) qWLsi SilluÖq (end) always with the tone-syllable of the last word before SoÖph paÒsuÖq (`), the verse-divider, e.g.:`#r,a†'h'.

2. (¤+) xn"t.a; 'AthnaÖhÌ or aT'x.n)'t.a; 'AthnahæaÒ (rest), the principal divider within the verse.

3 a. (¤è ) aT'l.Ag*s. SegoÖltaÒ, postpositive, marks the fourth or fifth subordinate division, counting backwards from ' AthnaÖhÌ (e.g. Gn 1:7, 28).

3 b. (Ÿ¤¦) tl,v,l.v; SèalsëeÊleth (i.e.chain), as disjunctive, or Great SèalsëeÊleth, distinguished by the following stroke6 from the conjunctive in the poetic accentuation, is used for SegoÖltaÒ (seven times altogether) when this would stand at the head of the sentence; cf. Gn 19:16, &c.

4 a. (¤§) lAdG" @qiz" ZaÖqeÒph gaÒdoÖl, and

4 b. (¤ê) !Ajq' @qiz" ZaÖqeÒph qaÒtÌoÖn, The names refer to their musical character, As a disjunctive, Little ZaÖqeÒph is by nature stronger than Great ZaÖqeÒph; but if they stand together, the one which comes first is always the stronger.

5. (¤ß) ax'p.ji TÍiphhÌaÒ or ax'r>j; TÍarhÌaÒ, a subordinate disjunctive before SilluÖq and ' AthnaÖhÌ, but very often the principal disjunctive of the whole verse instead of ' AthnaÖhÌ; always so when the verse consists of only two or three words (e.g. Is 2:13), but also in longer verses (Gn 3:21).

6. (¤©) [;ybir> RebhiÖa ‘.

7. (¤é ) aq'r>z: ZarqaÒ,postpositive.

8 a. (¤‘ ) aj'v.P; PasëtÌaÒ, postpositive;,7 and

8 b. (¤… ) bytiy> YethiÖbh, prepositive, and thus different from MehuppaÒkh. YethiÖbh is used in place of PasëtÌaÒ when the latter would stand on a monosyllable or on a foretoned word, not preceded by a conjunctive accent.

9. (¤±) rybiT. TebhiÖr.

10 a. (¤ø) vr,G< GeÊresë or sr,j, TÍeÊres, and

10 b. (¤ù) ~yIv;ñr'G> GeraÒsëaÃyim8 or Double GeÊresë, used for GeÊresë, when the tone rests on the ultima, and 'AzlaÒ does not precede.

11 a. (¤‡) rzEP' PaÖzeÒr, and

11 b. (¤¡) lAdG" rzEP' PaÖzeÒr gaÒdoÖl (Great PaÖzeÒr) or hr'p' ynEr>q; QarneÖ phaÒraÒ (cow-horns), only used 16 times, for special emphasis.

12. (¤û ) hl'Adg> av'yliT. TelisëaÒ gedoÖlaÒ or Great TeliÖsëaÒ, prepositive.

13. (Ÿ¤å) Hm,r>g:l. LegarmeÒh, i.e. MuÖnahÌ (see below) with a following stroke.

g

B. CONJUNCTIVE ACCENTS (Conjunctivi or Servi).

14. (¤å) xn:Wm MuÖnahÌ.

15. (¤Ü) %P'hum. MehuppaÒkh or %P'h.m; MahpÒkh.

16 a. (¤ï) ak'r>yme or ak'r>am†e MeÖrekhaÒ, and

16 b. (¤¢) hl'Wpk. äm MeÖrekhaÒ KhephuÖlaÒ or Double MeÖrekhaÒ.

17. (¤) aG"r>D; DargaÒ.

18. (¤’)al'z>a; 'AzlaÒ, when associated with GeÊresë (see above) also called QadmaÒ.

19. (¤”) hN"j;q. av'yliT. TeliÖsëaÒ qetÌannaÒ or Little TeliÖsëaÒ, postpositive.

20. (¤á) lG:l.G: Galgal or xr;y< YeÊrahÌ.

[21. (¤ß) al'Y>a;m. Me’ayyelaÒ or al'y>am†' MaÖyelaÒ, a variety of TÍiphhÌa, serves to mark the secondary tone in words which have SilluÖq or ‘AthnaÖhÌ, or which are united by MaqqeÒph with a word so accentuated, e.g. x;n+o-aceYßEw: Gn 8:18.]

II. The Accents of the Books ~¾¾at

h

A. DISTINCTIVI.

1. (¤)) SilluÖq (see above, I, 1).

2. (¤ñ) dreAyw> hl,A[OÖleÊ WeyoÖreÒd,9 a stronger divider than

3. (¤+) 'AthnaÖhÌ (see above, I, 2). IÍn shorter verses 'AthnaÖh suffices as principal distinctive; in longer verses ‘OÖleÊ weyoÖreÒd serves as such, and is then mostly followed by 'AthnaÖhÌ as the principal disjunctive of the second half of the verse.

4. (¤©) RebhiÖaÇ gaÒdoÖl (Great RebhiÖa).

5. (¤©÷) RebhiÖa ÇmugraÒsë, i.e. RebhiÖa with GeÊresë on the same word.

6. (¤¦) Great SèalsëeÊleth (see above, I. 3 b).

7. (¤é ) rANco SÍinnoÖr (ZarqaÒ), as postpositive, is easily distinguished from tyrIANci SÍinnoÖriÖth similarly placed, which is not an independent accent, but stands only over an open syllable before a consonant which has MeÖrekhaÒ or MahpaÒkh.

8. (¤©) RebhiÖaÇ qaÒtÌoÖn (Little RebhiÖaÇ) immediately before OÖleÊ weyoÖreÒd.

9. (¤ß) yxiD> DehÌiÖ or TÍiphhÌaÒ, prepositive, to the right underneath the initial consonant, e.g. yAGhà; (consequently it does not mark the tone-syllable).

10. (¤¡) PaÖzeÒr (see above, I, 11 a).

11 a. (Ÿ¤Ü) MehuppaÒkh legarmeÒh, i.e. MahpaÒkh with a following stroke.

11 b. (Ÿ¤’) AzlaÒ legarmeÒh, i.e. AzlaÒ with a following stroke.

i

B. CONJUNCTIVI.

12. (¤ï) MeÖrekhaÒ (see above, I. 16 a).

13. (¤å) MuÖnahÌ (see above, I. 14).

14. (¤ì) yWL[i ‘Illûy or Mûna superior.

15. (¤ß) ax'r>j; TÍarhÌaÒ (under the tone-syllable, and thus easily distinguished from No. 9).

16. (¤á) Galgal or YeÊrahÌ (see above, I. 20).

17. (¤Ü) MehuppaÒkh or MahpaÒkh (see above, I. 15).

18. (¤’) AzlaÒ (see above, I. 18).

19. (¤¦) SèalsëeÊleth qetÌannaÒ (Little Sðalsûe~leth). The last three are distinguished from the disjunctives of the same name by the absence of the stroke.

[20. (¤«) SÍinnoÖriÖth, see above under No. 7.]

REMARKS ON THE ACCENTS.

I. As Signs of the Tone.

k

1. As in Greek and English (cf. eivmi, and ei=mi, coÃmpact and compaÃct) so also in Hebrew, words which are written with the same consonants are occasionally distinguished by the position of the tone, e.g. WnòB' banuà (they built), WnB'ñ baÃnu (in us); hm'q'ñ qaÃma (she stood up), hm'ñq' qamaà (standing up, fem.).

l

2. As a rule the accent stands on the tone-syllable, and properly on its initial consonant. In the case of prepositives and postpositives alone (see above, e) the tone-syllable must be ascertained independently of the accent. In many MSS. as well as in Baer's editions of the text, the postpositive sign in foretoned words stands also over the tone-syllable after the analogy of PasëtÌaÒ (see above, I. 8 a, note); e.g. èWbKè'v.yI é~r<éj, Gn 19:4; so the prepositive sign in cases like yhiüy>w:û Gn 8:13.

II. As Signs of Punctuation.

m

3. In respect to this use of the accents, every verse is regarded as a period which closes with SilluÖq, or in the figurative language of the grammarians, as a province (ditio) which is governed by the great distinctive at the end. According as the verse is long or short, i.e. the province great or small, there are several subordinate Domini of different grades, as governors of greater and smaller divisions. When possible, the subdivisions themselves are also split up into parts according to the law of dichotomy (see Wickes, The Accents of the Twenty-one Books, p. 29 ff ). — When two or more equivalent accents (ZaÖqeÒph, RebhiÖa‰) occur consecutively, the accent which precedes marks a greater division than the one which follows; cf. e.g. the ZaÖqeÒph, Gn 1:20 a.

n

4. In general a conjunctive (Servus) unites only such words as are closely connected in sense, e.g. a noun with a following genitive or a noun with an adjective. For the closest connexion between two or more words MaqqeÒphis added (§ 16 a).

o

5. The consecution of the several accents (especially the correspondence of disjunctives with their proper conjunctives) conforms in the most minute details to strict rules, for a further investigation of which we must refer to the above-mentioned works. Here, to avoid misunderstanding, we shall only notice further the rule that in the accentuation of the books ~¾¾at, the RebhiÖ mugraÒsë before Sillùq, and the DehÌiÖ before 'AthnaÖhÌ, must be changed into conjunctives, unless at least two toneless syllables precede the principal disjunctive. For this purpose ewaÖ mobile after QamesÌ, Sere, or HÍolem (with Metheg) is to be regarded as forming a syllable. After ‘OÖleÊ weyoÖreÒd the 'AthnaÖhÌ does not necessarily act as pausal (cf. Delitzsch on y Ps 45:6). The condition of our ordinary texts is corrupt, and the system of accents can only be studied in correct editions [see Wickes' two treatises].

p

6. A double accentuation occurs in Gn 35:22, from bkXyw onward (where the later accentuation, intended for public reading, aims at uniting vv. 22 and 23 into one, so as to pass rapidly over the unpleasant statement in v. 22); and in the Decalogue, Ex 20:2 ff.; Dt 5:6 ff. Here also the later (mainly superlinear) accentuation which closes the first verse with ~ydb[ (instead of ynp) is adopted simply for the purposes of public reading, in order to reduce the original twelve verses (with sublinear accentuation) to ten, the number of the Commandments. Thus ~yDIb'[] at the end of v. 2 has Silluq (to close the verse) in the lower accentuation, but in the upper, which unites vv. 2–6 (the actual words of God) into a single period, only Rebhia‘. Again ynp, regarded as closing v. 3, is pointed yn)'P' (pausal QamesÌ with Silluq), but in the upper accentuation it is yn:oP' with PathahÌ because not in pause. (Originally there may have been a third accentuation requiring ~yd+ib'[] and yn)'P', and thus representing vv. 2 and 3 as the first commandment.) Further the upper accentuation unites vv. 8–11 into one period, while in vv. 12–15 the lower accentuation combines commandments 5–8 into one verse. Cf. Geiger, Urschrift u. Übersetzungen der Bibel, p. 373; Japhet, op. cit., p. 158, and esp. K. J. Grimm, Johns Hopkins Univ. Circ. xix (May, 1900), no. 145.

Footnotes:

1[1] On the attempts of Christian scholars of the sixteenth century to express the Hebrew accents by musical notes, cf. Ortenberg, ZDMG. 1889, p. 534.

2[2] At the same time it must not be forgotten that the value of the accent as a mark of punctuation is always relative; thus, e.g. ‘ AthnaÖhÌ as regards the logical structure of the sentence may at one time indicate a very important break (as in Gn 1:4); at another, one which is almost imperceptible (as in Gn 1:1).

3[3] 'Above' in this sense means what comes before, 'below' is what comes after; cf. Bacher, ZAW. 1907, p. 285 f.

4[4] Cf. Delitzsch on Is 40:18.

5[1] All the disjunctives occur in Is 39:2. — The earlier Jewish accentuologists already distinguish between ~ykil'm. Reges and ~ytir>v†'m. Servi. The division of the disjunctive accents into Imperatores, Reges, Duces, Comites, which became common amongst Christian grammarians, originated in the Scrutinium S. S. ex accentibus of Sam. Bohlius, Rostock, 1636, and, as the source of manifold confusion, had better be given up. The order of the accents in respect to their disjunctive power is shown in general by the above classification, following Wickes. In respect to the height of tone (in chanting) 1, 2, 5, 4, 8, which were low and long sustained notes, are to be distinguished from the high notes (7, 3a, 6, 13, 9), and the highest (3b, 11, 12, 10); cf. Wickes, a¾¾k äj p.12 ff. —The name ~ymi['j. (later = accents in general) was originaly restricted to the disjunctives, see Kahle, 1. c., p. 169.

6[2] This stroke is commonly confused with Paseq, which has the same form. But PaÖseÒq (=restraining, dividing, also incorrectly called PesiÖq) is neither an independent accent, nor a constituent part of other accents, but is used as a mark for various purposes; see the Masoretic lists at the end of Baer's editions, and Wickes, Accents of the Twenty-one Books, p. 120 ff., where PaÖseÒq is divided into distinctivum, emphaticum, homonymicum, and euphonicum. The conjecture of Olshausen (Lehrb., p. 86 f.), that PaÖseÒq served also to point out marginal glosses subsequently interpolated into the text, has been further developed by E. von Ortenberg, 'Die Bedeutung des Paseq für Quellenscheidung in den BB. d. A. T.,' in Progr. des Domgymn. zu Verden, 1887, and in the article, 'Paseq u. Legarmeh,' in ZAW. 1887, p. 301 ff. (but see Wickes, ibid. 1888, p. 149 ff.; also E. König, in theZtschr. f. kirchl. Wiss. u. kirchl. Leben, 1889, parts 5 and 6; Maas, in Hebraica, v. 121 ff., viii. 89 ff.). Prätorius, ZDMG. 1899, P 683 ff., pointed out that Paseq (which is pre-masoretic and quite distinct from LegarmeÒh) besides being a divider (used especially for the sake of greater clearness) also served as a sign of abbreviation. For further treatment of Paseq see H. Grimme, ' Pasekstudien,' in the Bibl. Ztschr., i. 337 ff., ii. 28 ff., and Psalmenprobleme, &c., Freiburg (Switzerland), 1902, p. 173, where it is argued that Paseq indicates variants in a difficult sentence; J. Kennedy, The Note-line in the Heb. Scriptures, Edinb. 1903, with all index of all the occurrences of Paseq, p. 117 ff. According to Kennedy the 'note-line', of which he distinguishes sixteen different kinds, is intended to draw attention to some peculiarity in the text; it existed long before the Masoretes, and was no longer understood by them. See, however, the reviews of E. König, Theol. Stud. u, Krit., 1904, p. 448 ff., G. Beer, TLZ. 1905, no. 3, and esp. A. Klostermann, Theol. Lit.-blatt, 1904, no. 13, with whom Ginsburg agrees (Verhandlungen des Hamb. Or.-kongresses von 1902, Leiden, 1904, p. 210 ff.) in showing that the tradition with regard to the 479 or 480 uses of Paseq is by no means uniform. The purpose of Paseq is clearly recognizable in the five old rules: as a divider between identical letters at the end and beginning of two words; between identical or very similar words; between words which are absolutely contradictory (as God and evil-doer); between words which are liable to be wrongly connected; and lastly, between heterogeneous terms, as 'Eleazar the High Priest, and Joshua'. But the asumption of a far-reaching critical importance in Paseq is at least doubtful. — Cf. also the important article by H. Fuchs, 'Pesiq ein Glossenzeichen,' in the Vierteljahrsschrift f. Bibelkunde, Aug. 1908, p. 1 ff, and p. 97 ff,

7[1] If the word in question has the tone on the penultima, PasëtÌaÒ is placed over it also, e.g Wéhtoé Gn 1:2; cf. below,l.

8[2] Wickes requires GersëaÃyim~yIv;r>GE„.

9[1] Wrongly called also MeÖrekhaÒ MehuppaÒkh (MeÖrekhaÒ mahpakhatum), although the accent underneath is in no way connected with MeÖrekhaÒ; cf. Wickes, 1. c., p. 14.