Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/194

 but  and  always have ē in 3rd sing.—On the  with suffixes, cf. .

3. In, , and , the being inadmissible in the middle radical, the preceding vowel, especially before ,  and , nevertheless, generally remains short, and the guttural is consequently to be regarded as, at least, virtually strengthened, cf. ; e.g.,  ,  ,   (cf., however,  ;  , but in the  and  , &c.; in verbs , e.g. ),  ,   (but cf.   from , also the unusual position of the tone in  , and in the   ); Hithpaʿēl perfect and  , &c.; in  (see , , , )  , ;  , &c.

The complete omission of the strengthening, and a consequent lengthening of the preceding vowel, occurs invariably only with (  is an exception;  also occurs, ), e g.  (in  ), ,. Before it occurs regularly in the stems, , , , and in the  of , , and ; on the other hand,  is virtually strengthened in the perfects,  (once in the imperfect, ) to commit adultery,  (in the , , , ; according to Baer, but not ed. Mant., or Ginsb., even in the   ),   (also  ) and  ; moreover, in the   , according to the best reading. On the in the  , cf. .

Rem. 1. In the verb, some forms of the appear to be based upon a secondary form middle e, which is  when the vowel of the  stands in an open syllable, cf. , ; ; but in a closed syllable, even without a suffix, , , ;  ,. Cf., however, similar cases of attenuation of an original ă,, and especially. In the first three examples, if explained on that analogy, the ĭ attenuated from ă would have been lengthened to ē (before the tone); in the next three ĭ would have been modified to ĕ. Also in the Hiphʿil-form  the  is merely attenuated from.

2. In and  the lengthening of the vowel before the guttural causes the tone to be thrown back upon the penultima, and consequently the  of the ultima to be shortened to. Thus (a) before monosyllables, according to, e.g. , , even in the case of a guttural which is virtually strengthened, , (see ). (b) after, e.g. , and frequently, , ,.