Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/104

 when it stands in a closed syllable with quiescent  after a preceding  or, e.g. ,  näʾdār,  yaʾdîmû. Even in such cases the consonantal power of may be entirely lost, viz.

(a) when it would stand with a long vowel in the middle of a word after. The long vowel is then occasionally thrown back into the place of the, and the is only retained orthographically, as an indication of the etymology, e.g.  (for reʾāšîm),  (for meʾātháyim),   for ;   for ;  ,  for ;  for  ; ,  for  (cf. , and );  , from ; so always  or  , , &c., for. Sometimes a still more violent suppression of the occurs at the beginning of a syllable, which then causes a further change in the preceding syllable, e.g.  for  (as in the Babylonian punctuation),  for ;  or, ground form simʾâl.

(b) When it originally closed a syllable. In these cases is generally (by ) pronounced with a,  or. The preceding short vowel is, however, sometimes lengthened and retains the following only orthographically, e.g.   for  (cf. ), and   for ;  for ;  for ; but the contraction does not take place in. The short vowel is retained, although the consonantal power of is entirely lost, in, &c. (see ),,   for ; cf. ,,.

Instead of this which has lost its consonantal value, one of the vowel letters  and  is often written according to the nature of the sound, the former with ô and the latter with ô and î, e.g.  for. At the end of the word also is written for,  for   (see below, l).

3. When is only preserved orthographically or as an indication of the etymology (quiescent), it is sometimes entirely dropped (cf. ), e.g.   for ;   for ;  ;  ;   for ; , but  ;   for ;  , for , ;   for ;   for ;   for ;   for , and so ;   for ;    for  (cf. );   for. In