also be omitted, since the thousands are sufficiently distinguished by

התרלה-5635 ; אתתעה their position; hence 1875 is

EXERCISE Ia

I. State the numerical value of the following Hebrew words:

שח - קו - עט - מה - צח - סד – פג - נא - כה - עז - לו - יד -קן - נח - לא - תר - שם - רן - תף - קץ - שט - רב - תא

סג - רע

- רקב - קצח - קנז – שיח – רעד - קלט – תקף – שכב - קמח תרף - תקן - ריח - שפה - תעב-קיא - רפח - קנא - תמה - שלט תשעה-רפה-קמט תרצה -שמח-קפד

In the following words (the first twenty-two of which are the Hebrew names for the alphabet), the letters follow each other promiscuously, and not, as in the preceding examples, in the order of their value; some of them contain, moreover, several units, tens, or hundreds; but their numerical equivalent is, in the manner stated,

ix. 6) is 6+5+1+8+300+4+200+80+50+10+40=704.

.Esth) והאחשדרפנים .ascertained by adding the individual letters ; e.g

- יוד - טיט - חית - זין - וו - הא - דלת – גימל - בית - אלף - ריש - קוף – צדי – פא - עין - סמך - נון – מים – למד – כף - –

תו — שׁין

אישׁ – וילך - בארץ - רעב - השפטים - שפט - בימי - ויהי לגור - יהודה - לחם – מבית – ואשתו - הוא - מואב - בשרי – לגור - יהודה - וכליון - מחלון - נעמי - אלימלך – האיש - ושם – בניו - ושני

ותשאר - וימת - ויבאו - אפרתים

II. Write down the following numbers in Hebrew letters:

35; 54; 72; 91; 39; 88; 44; 52; 94; 74; 85; 130; 350; 240; 450; 305; 135; 181; 275; 355; 284; 336; 472; 570; 145; 385; 608; 475; 195; 87; 435; 856; 770; 92; 274; 304;

a This Exercise is designed, partly to enable the learner to find the chapters and verses as printed in many of our editions of the Old Testament, and more especially, to assist him in ac

quiring a thorough and familiar acquaintance with the Hebrew letters. The great importance of this first step made it appear advisable to multiply examples.

248; 212; 431; 222; 333; 192; 351; 448; 309; 645; 455; 281; 385; 338.

III. Write in Hebrew letters the multiples of 6 from 1 to 12, viz. 6, 12, 18, 24, etc.; likewise the same multiples of 7, 9, and 11.

EXERCISE II.

Name the class (whether of the labials, or dentals, etc.), to which each of the following letters belongs:

כי יהיה בך אביון מאחד אחיך באחד שעריך בארצך אשר יהוה אלהיך נתן לך לא תאמץ את לבבך ולא תקפץ את ידך מאחיך

האביון :

§ 2. THE DAGESH LENE.

1. The six letters, 1,,,, and Л, admit of a double pronunciation, either simply as b, g, d, k, p, and t, or as the same sounds softened by a breathing or aspiration, namely, as v (bh), gh, dh (like th in thee), ch (kh), ƒ (ph), and th (as in theme).

A dot placed within these six letters, indicates the absence of the aspiration; therefore, is ph, while is p; ♬ is th, but ♬ is t; etc. That dot is termed dagesh lene. For the sake of brevity, the letters 1, 1, 7, 1, 5, and Л, are frequently called aspirates.

2. At present both and are pronounced as g, and both ¶ and as d, though, no doubt, the ancient Hebrews took care to mark the difference in each case. In English, the soft th (as in thee) represents exactly the aspirated, and is distinct from the harder th (as in theme), which is the correct sound for the aspirated Л, though this is now generally spoken just like D. A similar difference of pronunciation may be easily established between the aspirated and .

3. As a rule, the dagesh lene stands only at the beginning of syllables, under conditions which will be specified in a later section (see § 5. 7, 8).

EXERCISE III.

Write the following proper nouns with Hebrew characters, expressing the consonants, but omitting the vowels; e.g. Mag'og'-; Had'ad'-77; Michmash-ViDDD."

a The following English equivalents have been chosen for the Hebrew con

sonants: (as guttural) is expressed by the sign' (spiritus lenis), is v',

'E-d'om, Sheth, 'E-nosh, Ma-ha-lal-'el, Le-mech, No-ach', Shem, Ye-pheth, Go-mer, Ya-van, Me-shech, 'Ash-ke-naz, To-g'ar-mah, Mits-ra-yim, Ke-na-'an, Nim-rod', Ch'eth, 'A-ram, Ge-ther, 'E-v'er, Pe-leg', Yok'-t'an, 'Al-mo-d'ad', She-leph, Ch'a-tsar-ma-veth, Ye-rach', Dik'-lah, 'Ar-pach-shad', She-lach', 'Av'-ra-ham, Sa-rah, Te-rach', Yits-ch'ak', Riv'-k'ah, K'ed'ar, Miv'-sam, Mish-ma ̊,Zim-ran, Mid’-yan, Yish-bak', 'E-pher, 'El-da-'ah, ‘E-sav, Yis-ra-'el, K'o-rach', Ga'-tam, K'e-naz, Tim-na', 'A-ma-lek', Ze-rach', Lo-t'an, Sho-v'al, Tsiv'-'on, 'E-tser, 'Al-yan, Ch'am-ran, 'Esh-ban, Yith-ron, Bil-han, Be-la, Din-ha-v'ah, Sam-lah, Mas-ré-k'ah, 'Ach-bor, Mat'-red', Ra-ch'el, Le-'ah, Shim-'on, Dan, Yo-s'eph, Bin-ya-min, Gad', 'A-sher, 'Er, She-lah, Ta-mar, Pe-rets, Ch'ets-ron, Bo-'az, 'O-v'ed', Da-vid', Yo-'av', Ka-lev', Ram, 'O-ren, 'O-tsem, Ya-min, Na-d'av', She-shan, Na-than, Za-v'ad', 'Eph-lal, Ch'ev'-ron, Ch'a-ran, 'Am-non, 'Av'-sha-lom, She-phat-yah, Yith-re-'am.

§ 3. THE VOWELS AND THE WEAK LETTERS. All the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet are consonants. The vowels were originally not expressed in writing, except that the letters N,, and 1, were sometimes employed, in long syllables, to indicate, respectively, the three chief vowels of the Hebrew language, a, i, and u," and the reader was expected to supply the defect in accordance with the requirements of the grammar and the sense. But it is evident that a vast field was thus left to uncertainty and error. The letters, for instance, may be pronounced nimrod, namred, nomrad, nemared, etc. Therefore, when Hebrew ceased to be a living tongue, and the difficulties of understanding a text consisting almost entirely of consonants, became more perplexing, it was deemed advisable, in order to facilitate, if not to preserve, the correct pronunciation, to provide the consonants with signs to express the vowels. Hence the following system of vocalisation, founded on the division in three classes according to the three principal vowels, was gradually adopted:

ל

a b, a g', à g, i d', 7 d, nh, 1 v, i 2, 1 ch', t,y,ch, k, l, m, I n, Ds', (spiritus asper), Dph, p, Yts, pk', r, sh,s, nth, At.

a

Wherever, throughout this Grammar, the Hebrew vowels are written

in English letters, they are intended to sound, if long, as in the words, far (a), there (e), police (i), tone (0), and rule (u); if short, as in the French bal, and the English self, win, won, look (u).

1. The position of most of the vowels is beneath the consonants to which they are attached, e.g. N, MD, 'D, 'D, np; but cholem is placed above its consonant, while the dot which marks the shurek stands in

the 1, e. g. i, 5.

2. The consonants are pronounced before the vowels which belong to them; e. g. na, ‘♫ mi, ‘▷ me,

לוֹ

lo,

However, if gutturals, at the end of words, are provided with pathach, they are sounded after this vowel; e. g. Noach' (Noah),

Shu-ahh (see § 16. 5).

3. If, or the letter which precedes, has cholem without ", one dot only is written; e.g. D som, for ; bosh, for . Hence va

with two dots () is read sho, if it has no vowel underneath, but

o-s, if it has one; e.g. is shod, but

bo-sem.

4. The consonants N, 7, 1, and ', are frequently not sounded but, as the grammatical term is, rest or quiesce in the preceding vowel. This is, however, only the case when those letters are themselves not provided with vowels, and more especially in the following instances: (a). When N, at the end of syllables, succeeds a letter with any long

a The horizontal line represents the consonant to which the vowel belongs; means, therefore, that the vowel

stands beneath the consonant; -, that the vowel stands above it; see the first of the "Observations."

vowel, or with segol, e. g. П ba-tha, NY-) ne-tse, jiw-x7 ri-shon,

(b). When i, at the end of words, succeeds kamets or pathach, tsere or segol, or cholem, e. g. or mah, or y seh, poh. (c). When ↑ follows a letter with cholem or shurek, e. g. nib-p k'o-loth, shu-v'u.

(d). When stands after chirek, tsere, or segol, e. g. D' s'i-g'im, he-t'ev', '? ba-ne-ha.

Hence,,, and, are called weak or quiescent letters (literæ quiescibiles), and the vowels in which they are permitted to "rest,” are described as kindred or homogeneous to them, while those in which they are not allowed to rest, are termed heterogeneous. Thus, more particularly, chirek, tsere, and segol, are homogeneous to (by d), but heterogeneous to (by c), while cholem and shurek are homogeneous to 1, and heterogeneous to '.

5. Now, if a weak letter follows a vowel with which it is not homogeneous, it does not rest in it, but retains its force as a consonant; therefore

lēv, hence

(a). I after kamets and pathach, tsere, segol, and chirek, is pronounced āv and ăv, ēv, ev, and iv or iv; e. g. tsāv, P káv, 17 shāshě-lěv, π ziv or ziv; and ' is sounded like a simple 1, is identical with 1 tsa-rav, - with 17-sha-lev. (b). after kamets and pathach, cholem and shurek, is pronounced ay,a oy, and uy; e.g. or ch'ay, goy, "ka-s'uy. ' ' "

In many of these cases, other languages form diphthongs, which are not admitted in Hebrew.

If the weak letters themselves are provided with vowels, they are always considered as consonants, e.g. Vash-ti, Tyad, k'o-veh, jiy ‘a-von, “TY tsa-yid.

6. But the quiescent letters N, 1, and ', are, in the middle of words, sometimes omitted where they had originally stood; in such cases the orthography is called defective (scriptio defectiva), whilst when those letters are inserted, it is described as full or complete (scriptio

מָ־־־־תִּי and מָלֵא תִי ;(8 .Sam. xxv 1) בָּנוּ and בָּאנוּ .plena); e. g

ת־בַל and תּוּ־בָל תּ־רֹת and תּוֹ רוֹת שָׁ־לִ־שָׁם and

(Job xxxii. 18); and (Isa. iii. 8); qw--, D---y, D--; nit-in ni-h;

The former orthography is more usual in the earlier, the other in a The y being articulated as in year