IV. 9. Dechi (,), placed at the extreme right of the word, and hence also called initial tiphcha, e.g. 10. Pazer (~"). (Ps. iv. 5). 11. Legarmeh (7, i.e. PD, 1), called mehuppach legarmeh () when preceded by mehuppach (see B. 6), and azla legarmeh () when preceded by azla (B. 7; comp. No. 8). B.-CONJUNCTIVE ACCENTS. 1. Munach (→); 2. Mercha (−); 3. Illuy ("y, -), e.g. nyapb (Ps. xxxvi. 1). 4. Tarcha (,), placed under the consonant which bears the vowel of the tone-syllable, e.g. DN (Ps. i. 2). 5. Galgal (, i.e. 17, −), e.g. 17 6. Mehuppach (MD, i.e. Je, 7). pin (Ps. v. 12). 7. Azla (N,-), e.g. 17 (Ps.,cxvii. 2). 8. Small Shalsheleth (, ), without pesik. 9. Tsinnorith (,), either followed by mercha (~), e.g. NI (Ps. x. 3) or by mehuppach (~), e.g. (Ps. xxxii. 5).* 7. The distinctive accents are, according to the degree of their power, subdivided into four groups; and while they are all called Domini, in contradistinction to the conjunctive accents or Servi, the four groups are, respectively, designated Imperatores, Reges, Duces, and Comites, which figurative appellations have been adopted by early Hebrew grammarians. 8. The various accents are in the text of the Old Testament employed on very intricate principles; however, as they formed no part of the written language of the ancient Hebrews, but are of later introduction, bearing almost the character of a grammatical commentary, we shall confine ourselves to a few leading rules, of which, moreover, a portion may be omitted by the beginner. We commence with the usage observed in all Books, except those of Job, Proverbs, and Psalms. 9. The last accentuated syllable in every verse is provided with a silluk (1), which, together with the following soph-pasuk, is usually equivalent to our full stop, but sometimes only to our colona or comma.b 10. Athnach (7) marks the greatest division within a verse, separating it into two distinct members, and corresponding as nearly as possible to our semicolon, though it has often a much weaker value. 11. Segolta divides again the first member into two parts; zakephkaton either the first or the second, and may, in the former case, be preceded by segolta; tiphcha again makes an incision in the second parts of the two members, that is, in those nearest the athnach and the silluk; the reviah, in either member, divides the parts bounded by segolta, zakeph, or tiphcha; while the four principal of the remaining distinctive accents-zarka, pashta, tevir, and geresh-divide, respectively, the parts of the verse circumscribed by one of the four preceding accents, namely, segolta, zakeph-katon, tiphcha, and reviah, so that zarka is subordinate to segolta, pashta to zakeph-katon, etc.; while geresh, the weakest of all just mentioned, forms a sort of subdivision to the three accents immediately above it in power (zarka, pashta, and tevir). 12. Zakeph-gadol stands instead of zakeph-katon, when no conjunctive accent precedes; yethiv, in the same case, instead of pashta, under small words without sh'va mobile; double geresh, instead of geresh, on words with the tone on the ultima, without being preceded by kadma; while, in some other instances, geresh is replaced by great telisha, pazer, or karne-pharah (which occurs but sixteen times).— Shalsheleth (only found seven times in the prosaic Books) is employed for segolta at the beginning of a verse, when zarka cannot precede. It is the only distinctive accent which may be followed by pesik. This latter sign is otherwise never used except between conjunctivi, when it imparts to the accent after which it stands the force of a smallest distinctivus. It is chiefly, but not uniformly, inserted between two munachs followed by reviah;d or after any two conjunctive accents; between two equal words,f or two words ending and beginning, re с a As in 1 Ki. viii. 15, 23, 29, 31, 33; Isai. vii. 5, 6; viii. 6, 7; Jer. vii. 9; etc. "As in Gen. vii. 8; Lev. xvii. 8 ; Num. xiv. 21, 22; 2 Sam. xvii. 27,28. c Ps. lxxxiv. 7. d Gen. i. 29, 30, etc., etc. a spectively, with the same letter; or after any of the names of God (, ), if provided with a conjunctivus, to separate these holy terms from any other word.b The same accent may be repeated successively, but loses, by the repetition, a part of its force. 13. A full period containing the principal distinctive accents, may be thus represented in its four chief parts, reading from right to left: segolta zarka | reviah | geresh 1. |||athnach | tiphcha | tevir | reviah | geresh | zakeph | pashta 2. || zakeph | pashta | reviah | geresh 3. 'I silluk | tiphcha | tevir | reviah | geresh 4. It is scarcely necessary to observe, that not many verses are found with even approximate completeness of accents. The grammarians who introduced these signs intended them, indeed, to indicate the logical relation between the words composing a period; but a too minute and detailed analysis not unfrequently leads to the assumption of shades and distinctions capriciously artificial and frigid, and hardly contemplated by the Biblical authors. 14. After distinctive accents, the proposition is considered to make a new beginning; therefore, the first letter which follows, if an aspirate, takes dayesh lene, even when the preceding syllable is open (§ 5. 7. c); e.g. an No, but (Exod. xx. 13); i in (Gen. ii. 3); Dby i¿y (Gen. i. 27); (Gen. iv. 21); 1: .(30 .Gen. xxiv) וַיְהִי בִּרְאוֹת 15. The conjunctive accents have no perceptible gradations of force, but were chosen, on very complicated principles, chiefly with a view to effect and impressiveness in public recitation.-They "serve" the distinctive accents in the following manner: Munach is subordinate to athnach, segolta, zakeph, reviah, zarka, and pazer;—mercha to silluk, tiphcha, and pashta;-mahpach to pashta;-darga to tevir;-kadma, always preceding small telisha, to geresh;-yerach stands only before karne-pharah ;-and double mercha is, in fourteen passages, employed instead of teyir. 16. If a word with the tone on the penultimate (as P?), is to be a Ps. cxliii. 9. b Ps. v. 9. Comp. Judg. iv. 22; 2 Ki. i. 16; xviii. 14; 1 Chr. xxviii. 1. provided with a pashta, it takes this sign both on the last and the preceding syllable, as (Gen. xiv. 24); on the former, because pashta is an accentus postpositivus (No. 2), on the latter, to mark the ordinary tone of the word. Some ancient manuscripts and editions extend this rule, in many instances, to the other accentus postpositivi, as .(4 ,Gen. xix) טֶרֶם יִשְׁכָּבוֹ 17. If a word has two different accents, the second indicates the tone syllable, while the first usually replaces the metheg, and forms a kind of auxiliary tone; in this manner occur munach with zakeph or ,kadma with zakeph ,(תֵּעָצְבוּ for תֵּעָצְבוּ וְאָמְרוּ for וְאָמְרוּ reviah (as ,(וַיֵּצְאוּ מְוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם) mercha with tiphcha or tevir ,(וָאִמָּלְטָה וּבְאַחֵיכֶם geresh, mercha, mahpach, or darga (as), IŃyi) 7?òne), and sometimes tiphcha with silluk or munach, in which cases tiphcha loses its power as a distinctive accent (as in). But kadma immediately before zakeph, or any conjunctive accent followed by another accent on a letter with dagesh forte, marks a closed syllable, as ✈ (Isai. xxix. 16, höph-kochem), D'♬an (Exod. xii. 7, hab-bot-tim). 18. Two conjunctive accents scarcely ever follow each other on two successive tone-syllables, and their meeting is avoided either by retrocession of the accent in the first word, or by makkeph, in the manner above explained (§ 11. 5). 19. A conjunctive accent is sometimes employed, like a makkeph, Job) לֹא חָכְמָה (21 .Sam. iv 1) אִי כָבוֹד to connect two words, as (1 21), xxvi. 3), and hence produces the same changes in the vowels as the latter sign ($8,9; 11., 5; comp. § 17. ii. 1); e.g. (Psa. xxxv. 10; Prov. .comp. lx) אֶת־ or אֵת Ps. xlvii. 5), for) אֶת כָּל־ or כל xix. 7), for 2; Prov. iii. 12); 2 (Lev. xxiv. 10; comp. Esth. ii. 5; Neh. vi. 18), for; and so (1 Ki. ii. 30) for 7, 1 (Lev. iv. 20) for (Judg. xix. 5) for D (see ver. 8). 20. In the three poetical Books of Job, Proverbs, and Psalms, mercha with mahpach, preceded by yerach, usually divides a verse of four parts into two halves, and has, therefore, the same power as athnach in prose; the first half is again subdivided by reviah or tsinnor, the second by athnach, so that this latter accent corresponds in poetry, on the whole, to zakeph-katon in prose, except that it cannot, like the zakeph, stand in the first half also, or be repeated in the same period. If a verse consists of two or three parts, the principal incision is generally represented by athnach, and in the latter case, the subdivision is marked by reviah or tsinnor. With regard to the conjunctive accents, it may suffice to observe, that mehuppach can be subservient to all distinctivi except shalsheleth; mercha to all except dechi and pazer; munach to silluk, athnach, dechi, and tsinnor; illuy to all except reviah, pazer, shalsheleth, and tsinnor; tarcha to silluk, athnach, reviah with geresh, legarmeh, and shalsheleth; galgal to mercha with mahpach and pazer; azla to silluk and pazer; and small shalsheleth to silluk, athnach, and great reviah. EXERCISE VIII. 1. Name the distinctive, and 2. the conjunctive accents contained in the subjoined verses. 3. Do they include any praepositivi or postpositivi? and which? 4. Point out the chief division in each verse. 5. Where is the principal incision in the first part? and where in the second part ? 6. Which are the next subdivisions in either half of the two parts? |