§ 23. The Feebleness of the Gutturals aand h.
1. The a, a light and scarcely audible guttural breathing, as a rule entirely loses its slight consonantal power whenever it stands without a vowel at the end of a syllable. It then remains (like the German h in roh, geh, nahte) merely as a sign of the preceding long vowel, e.g. ac'm'à alem'à ayciAh (but when a syllable is added with an introductory vowel, according to b below, we have, e.g. ynIa;ñc'm.à ynIa;ñyciAh†, since the a then stands at the beginning of the syllable, not ynIac'm.à ynIayciAh), acim.à aWlK' (cf., however, § 74 a ), t'ac'òm' (for maÒsÌa’taÒ), hn"ac,òm.Ti. Similarly in cases like aj.xeà ar>Y:w:à aw>v', &c. (§ 19 l), and even in av,D,ñà al,P,ñ (see above, § 22 e), the a only retains an orthographic significance.
2. On the other hand, a is in general retained as a strong consonant whenever it begins a syllable, e.g. rm;a'Ã Wsa]m†', or when it is protected by a HÍatÌeph after a short syllable, e.g. lkoa\l†, and finally, when it stands in a closed syllable with quiescent SewaÖ after a preceding SehoÖl or PathahÌ e, g. rsoa.Y<w:Ã rD'a.n< nÄÈdaÒr,WmyDIña.y: yaÈdimuÖ. Even in such cases the consonantal power of a may be entirely lost, viz.
(a) when it would stand with a long vowel in the middle of a word after Šewâ mobile. The long vowel is then occasionally thrown back into the place of the Šewâ, and the a is only retained orthographically, as an indication of the etymology, e.g. ~yviar' heads (for reÈaÒsëim), ~yIt;ñam' two hundred (for meÇaÒthaÃyim), ^j.av†' Ez 25:6 for ^j.a†'v.È ~ad'AB Neh 6:8 for ~a'd>AB†È ~Wam Jb 31:7, Dn 1:4 for ~Wam.È hr'aPu for hr'auP. Is 10:33; ~yajixi hÌoÖtÌm, 1 S 14:33 for ~yaij.x†i (cf, § 74 h, and § 75 oo); ynIbeWarh†' Nu 34:14, from !beyIar>; so always taoJx; or twaoJx; 1 K 14:16, Mi 1:5, &c., for tAaJ.x;. Sometimes a still more violent suppression of the a occurs at the beginning of a syllable, which then causes a further change in the preceding syllable, e.g. hk'al'm. work for hk'a'l.m; (as in the Babylonian punctuation), la[em'v.yI for lae[.m;v.yIÈ laomf. or lwaomf.the left hand, ground form sim'âl.
(b) When it originally closed a syllable. In these cases a is generally (by § 22 m) pronounced with a HÍatÌeph, ¤] or ¤'/. The preceding short vowel is, however, sometimes lengthened and retains the following a only orthographically, e.g. lc,aY"òw: Nu 11:26 for lcea]Y);w: (cf. Ju 9:41), and rWdaP' Jo 2:6 for rWda]K†;È rmoale for rmoa/l),È ~yhioal†i for ~yhioa/l),; but the contraction does not take place in h'yl,ñylia/l), Is 10:11. The short vowel is retained, although the consonantal power of a is entirely lost, in yn"doaw);, &c. (see § 102 m), taY:w: Is 41:25, ^d>B,a;w)' Ez 28:16 for ^d>B,a;a]w)'; cf. Dt 24:10, 1 K 11:39, Is 10:13.
Instead of this a which has lost its consonantal value, one of the vowel letters w and y is often written according to the nature of the sound, the former, with ô and the latter, with ê and î, e.g. ~yre buffalo for ~aer>. At the end of the word h also is written for aà hLem;y> he fills for aLem;y> Jb 8:21 (see below, l).
3. When a is only preserved orthographically or as an indication of the etymology (quiescent), it is sometimes entirely dropped (cf, § 19 k), e.g. ytic'òy". Jb 1:21 for ytiac'y"òÈ ytileñm' Jb 32:18 for ytialeñm'È ytic'òm' Nu 11:11; zh,Toñw: 2 S 20:9; WPr;y>w: Jer 8:11 for WaP.r;yw:È ynIreñZ>T;w: 2 S 22:40, but ynIreZ>a;T.w: y Ps 18:40; ~miAT Gn 25:24 for ~miAaT.È hN"J,x;a] 31:19 for hN"a,J.x;a]È ^tel'v)e 1 S 1:17 for ¾¾l'a)ev.È ~ymire y Ps 22:22 for ~ymiaer>È hw"GE Jb 22:29 for hw"aeGEÈ ytiroB)eh; 1 Ch 11:39 for ¾¾ra)eB.h;, and so 2 S 23:37; tyrIve 1 Ch 12:38(39) for tyrIaev.È tAvh.l;, 2 K 19:25 Kethîbh, for tAav.h;l. (cf. Is 37:26); hm'xe Jb 29:6 for ha'm.x,.1 In Tl,Koñm; 1 K 5:25 (for ¾¾ka]m†;) the strengthening of the following consonant by Dagesë compensates for the loss of the a; in tr,soñm' Ez 20:37, if for ¾¾sa]m†; (but read rs'Wm, with Cornill), the preceding vowel is lengthened; cf. above, c. On rm;ao for rm;aao, see § 68 g.
Rem. 1. In Aramaic the a is much weaker and more liable to change than in Hebrew. In literary Arabic, on the other hand, it is almost always a firm consonant. According to Arabic orthography, a serves also to indicate a long a, whereas in Hebrew it very rarely occurs as a mere vowel letter after QamesÌ; as in ~aq' Ho 10:14 for ~q' he rose up; var' Pr 10:4, 13:23 for vr' poor ; but in 2 S 11:1 the KethiÖbh ~ykia'l.M;h; the messengers, is the true reading; cf. § 7 b.
2. In some cases at the beginning of a word, the a, instead of a compound SèewaÖ, takes the corresponding full vowel, e.g. rAzae girdle for rwza/; cf. § 84 a, q, and the analogous cases in § 52 n, § 63 p, § 76 d, § 93 r (~ylih'a†o)
3. An a is sometimes added at the end of the word to a final uÖ, iÖ, or oÖ e.g. aWkl.h†' for Wkl.h†' Jos 10:24(before a “), aWba' Is 28:12. These examples, however, are not so much instances of ‘ Arabic orthography ', as early scribal errors, as in aWfN"yI Jer 10:5 for WaF.N)yI; and in aWFn" y Ps139 20 for WaF.n)'. Cf. also aWhy> Ec 11:3 (§ 75 s); ayqin" for yqin" pure; aWl for Wl if ; aApae for Apae then (enclitic); aABrI for ABrI myriad, Neh 7:66, 71. On aWh and ayhi see § 32 k.
4. The h is stronger and firmer than the a, and never loses its consonantal sound (i.e. quiesces) in the middle of a word2 except in the cases noted below, in which it is completely elided by syncope. On the other hand, at the end of a word it is always a mere vowel letter, unless expressly marked by MappÖq as a strong consonant (§ 14 a). Yet at times the consonantal sound of H at the end of a word is lost, and its place is taken by a simple h or more correctly hƒ with RaÒpheÊ as an indication of its non-consonantal character, e.g.hƒl' to her for Hl', Zc 5:11, &c. (cf. § 103 g , and §§ 58 g, 91 e); cf. also hy" for Hy": (from Why":) in proper names like hy"m.r>yI, &c. — Finally, in very many cases a complete elision of the consonantal h takes place by syncope: (a) when its vowel is thrown back to the place of a preceding Sè ewdÖ mobile (see above, c, with a), e.g. rq,Boñl;for rq,Boñh;l. (the h of the article being syncopated as it almost always is); ~AYK; for ~AYh;K. [but see § 35 n], ~yIm;ñ;V'B; for ~yIm;ñV'h;B. È !t'n"Ay* for !t'n"Ah†y>; perhaps also ~h,ynIB. for ~h,yhin>Bi Ez 27:32. (b) By contraction of the vowels preceding and following the h, e.g. AsWs (also written hsoWs) from suÖsahu (a+u= oÖ). — A violent suppression of h together with its vowel occurs in ~B' (from ~h,B'), &c.
Rem. In connexion with oÒ and eÒ, a h which only marks the vowel ending is occasionally changed into w or y (Aar' = haor', yKex;= hKex; Ho 6:9), and with any vowel into a in the later or Aramaic orthography, but especially with aÒ, e.g. an"ve sleep, y Ps 127:2 for hn"ve È avon" Jer 23:39 for Qvon", &c. Thus it is evident that final h as a vowel letter has only an orthographical importance.
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