Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/135

 orthographically retained), for   (cf. verse 1);  for ;   for (cf. ).

(2) In the case of the other gutturals either the virtual strengthening takes place —especially with the stronger sounds and, less often with —or the strengthening is wholly omitted. In the former case, the of the article remains, because the syllable is still regarded as closed; in the second case, the  is either modified to  or fully lengthened to. That is to say:—

A. When the guttural has any other vowel than ā or ŏ, then

(1) before the stronger sounds and  the article regularly remains ; e.g., , ,. Before, ā occurs only in  [not elsewhere],  ,   [not elsewhere]; before , always in ,.

(2) before the  is generally lengthened to, e.g. , , , plur. ; ; also in   is the better reading. Exceptions are,  , ,  ,  ,  ,   and  ,  , ; but  ,. Cf. Baer on.

B. When the guttural has ā then

(1) immediately before a tone-bearing or  the article is always, otherwise it is ; e.g. , ,  (in ) the eye, ; but (according to ) ,.

(2) before the article is invariably  without regard to the tone; e.g.,.

C. When the guttural has the article is  before  e.g. ;  (without the article  bŏḥorābhôth),  , cf. ; but before, as.

The gender and number of the noun have no influence on the form of the article.

Rem. 1. The original form of the Hebrew (and the Phoenician) article is generally considered to have been, the  of which (owing to the proclitic nature of the article) has been invariably assimilated to the following consonant, as in  from yilqaḥ,. This view was supported by the form of the Arabic article (pronounced hal by some modern Beduin), the  of which is also assimilated at least before all letters like s and t and before l, n, and r, e.g. ʾal-Qurʾân but ʾas-snă (Beduin has-sana)=Hebr. .