§ 19. Changes of Consonants.

a

The changes which take place among consonants, owing to the formation of words, inflexion, euphony, or to influences connected with the progress of the language, are commutation, assimilation, rejection, addition, transposition, softening.

1. Commutation1 may take place between consonants which are either homorganic or homogeneous (cf. § 6 q), e.g. #l;['àsl;['àzl;[' to exult, ha'l'àhh'l', Aram. a['l. to be weary, #x;l' and #x;n" to press, rg:s' and rk;s' to close, jl;m' and jl;P' to escape. In process of time, and partly under the influence of Aramaic, the harder and rougher sounds especially were changed into the softer, e.g. qx;c' into qx;f' to laugh,l[;G" into la;G" to reject, and the sibilants into the corresponding mutes: z intodàf, into tàc into j. In many cases these mutes may be regarded as a return to an earlier stage of the pronunciation.

The interchange of consonants, however, belongs rather to the lexicographical treatment of stems2 than to grammatical inflexion. To the latter belong the interchange (a) of t and j in HithpaÇeÒl (§ 54 b); (b) of w and y in verbs primaeYoÖd (§ 69), dl;y" for dl;w", &c.

b

2.Assimilation usually takes place when one consonant which closes a syllable passes over into another beginning the next syllable, and forms with it a strengthened letter, as illustris for inlustris, affero for adfero, sullamba,nw for sunlamba,nw. In Hebrew this occurs

c

(a) most frequently with n, e.g. ~F'mi (for min–sëaÒm) from there, hW<mi (for min–zÊe) from this, !Tey: (for yinteÒn) he gives. n is not assimilated after the prefix l., e.g. @GOn"li, nor as a rule before gutturals (except sometimes before x), nor when it is the third consonant of the stem, e.g. T'n>k;ñv' (cf. however T't;ñn" for naÒthaÃntaÒ) except when another Nun follows, cf. § 44 o; nor in some isolated cases, as Dt 33:9, Is 29:1, 58:3, all in the principal pause; on @Don>hi and @Don>Ti y Ps 68:3, see § 51 k, and § 66 f.

d

(b) Less frequently and only in special cases with làtàd, e.g. xQ'yI (for yilqahÌ) he takes; rBeD;mi for mithdabbeÒr; aM'J;yI for yithtÌimmaÒ; !nEAKTi for tithkoÖneÒn; aFeN:Ti for aFen:t.Ti È tx;ña; for ‘ahÌadt; but in 1 S 4:19 for tl;l' read probaoly td,l,ñl'.

e

(c) In isolated cases with hàwày, e.g. aN"a†' prithee ! if from an" Ha'; w and y mostly before sibilants in the verbal forms enumerated in § 71.

f

In all these cases, instead of the assimilated letter, a Dagesë forte appears in the following consonant. Dagesë, however, is omitted when the strengthened consonant would stand at the end of a word, since the strengthening would then be less audible (§ 20 l), e.g. @a; nose (from ‘anp), tTe to give (from tint).

The cases are less frequent where a weak letter is lost in pronunciation,3 and in place of it the preceding stronger sound is sharpened, i.e. takes Dagesë, e.g. WTl;ñj'q. from Wht.l;ñj'q. (§ 59 g). qS;a, for ql;s.a, (§ 66 e) is an Aramaism.

g

3. Complete rejection takes place only in the case of weaker consonants, especially the sonants n and l, the gutturals a and h, and the two half vowels w and y. Such rejection takes place,

h

(a) at the beginning of a word (aphaeresis). when these weak consonants (aàyàlàn) are not supported by a full vowel, but have only ewaÖ, e.g. Wnx.n:† we, also Wnx.n:òa] È [D;; for [d;w> È xq; for xq;l.È fG:  for fg:n>àyhi for yhin> Ez 2:10 .

i

Aphaeresis of a weak consonant with a full vowel is supposed to occur in dr; Ju 19:11 for dr;y"; in hT'ñT; 2 S 22:41 for hT'T;ñn"; in bAv for bAvt' Je 42:10; on xq' Ez 17:5 for xq;l', and on ~x'q' Ho 11:3 for ~x'q'l., see § 66 g, end. In reality, however, all these forms are to be regarded merely as old textual errors.

k

(b) In the middle of a word (syncope), when ewaÖ precedes the weak consonant4; thus in the case of a (see further § 23 b–f, and § 68 b–k), e.g. in ~Wm for ~Wam.. As a rule in such cases, however, the a is orthographically retained, e.g. tar;q.li for ta;r>qil.. Syncope occurs frequently in the case of h, e.g. %l,m,ñl; for %l,m,ñh;l. (§ 23 k and § 35 n), lyjiq.y: for lyjiq.h;y> (§ 53 a).

Syncope of a with ewaÖ occurs in such cases as yn"doaB†; for yn"doa]B†; (cf. § 102 m); rvi[.aw: Zc 11:5.5 On the cases in which a is wholly omitted after the article, see § 35 d.

Finally, the elision of w and y in verbs h¾¾l (§ 75 h) is an instance of syncope.—. On the syncope of h between two vowels, see § 23 k.

l

(c) At the end of a word (apocope), e.g. hoGI pr. name of a city (cf. ynIoyG)i Gilonite); ar>Y:w:, where a though really rejected is orthographically retained, &c. On the apocope of w and y in verbs h;¾¾l, 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 t¤; açth to h¤' , see § 44 a, and § 80 f.

m

4. To avoid harshness. in pronunciation a helping sound, Aleph prosthetic6 with its vowel, is prefixed to some words, e.g. [;Arz>a, and [;Arz> arm (cf. cqe,j( evcqe,j; spiritus, French esprit).—A prosthetic [ occurs probably in br'q.[; scorpion; cf. Arab. ‘usÌñuÖr bird (stem sÌafara).

n

5. Transposition7 occurs only seldom in the grammar, e.g. rMeT;v.hi for rMev;t.hi (§ 54 b) for the sake of euphony; it is more frequent in the lexicon (fb,K,ñ and bf,K,ñ lamb, hl'm.fi and hm'l.f; garment), but is mostly confined to sibilants and sonants.

o

6. Softening occurs e.g. in bk'AK star, from kaukabh=kawkabh for kabhkabh (cf. Syriac raurab = rabrab); tApj'Aj† phylacteries for tÌaph-tÌaÒphoÖth; according to the common opinion, also in viyai man from 'insë, cf. however § 96.


Footnotes:

1[1] Cf- Barth, Etymologische Forschungen, Lpz. 1893, p. 15 ff. ( 'Lautverschiebungen ').

2[2] See in the Lexicon, the preliminary remarks on the several consonants.

3[1] Such a suppression of a letter is sometimes inaccurately called 'backward assimilation'.

4[2] Syncopc of a strong consonant ([) occurs in yBi prithee ! if this stands for y[iBi (see Lexicon), also in hqivnw Am 8:8, KethiÖbh for h['q.v.nIw> (cf. h['q.v†'w> 9:5), and in hl'B' Jos 19:3 for hl'[]B†' (as in 15:29). Probably, however, hqvnw) and hlb are only clerical errors, as is undoubtedly raok'Am 8:8 for raoy>k; (9:5).

5[1] Frensdorff, Ochla WÈochla, p. 97 f., gives a list of forty-eight words with quiescent a.

6[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.

7[3] Cf. Barth, Etymologische Studien, Lpz. 1893, p. 1 ff.; Königsbergcr, in Zeitschrift í. wissenschaftliche Theologie, 1894, p. 45 1 ff.