Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/63

 the peculiar nature of the Hebrew, the example and pattern of the older Syrian punctuation.

See Gesenius,, p. 182 ff.; Hupfeld, in , 1830, pt. iii, who shows that neither Jerome nor the Talmud mentions vowel signs; Berliner, , p. 26 ff.; and B. Pick, in , i. 3, p. 153 ff.; Abr. Geiger, ‘Zur Nakdanim-[Punctuators-]Literatur,’ in, x. Breslau, 1872, p. 10 ff.; H. Strack, , Lips. 1873; ‘Beitrag zur Gesch. des hebr. Bibeltextes,’ in, 1875, p. 736 ff., as also in the , 1875, p. 619 ff.; ‘Massorah,’ in the 3, xii. 393 ff. (a good outline); A. Merx, in the, i. Berlin, 1881, p. 164 ff. and p. 188 ff.; H. Graetz, ‘Die Anfänge der Vokalzeichen im Hebr.,’ in, 1881, pp. 348 ff. and 395 ff.; Hersmann,, Ruhrort, 1885; Harris, ‘The Rise ... of the Massorah,’ i. 1889, p. 128 ff. and p. 223 ff.; Mayer-Lambert, xxvi. 1893, p. 274 ff.; J. Bachrach,, 2 pts. Warsaw, 1897, and esp. Ginsburg, (see § 3 c), p. 287 ff.; Budde, ‘Zur Gesch. d. Tiberiens, Vokalisation,’ in, i. 1906, 651 ff.; Bacher, ‘Diakrit. Zeichen in vormasoret. Zeit,’ in 1907, p. 285; C. Levias, art. ‘Vocalization,’ in the —On the hypothesis of the origin of punctuation in the Jewish schools for children, cf. J. Dérenbourg in the, xiii. 1879, no. 25.

4. To complete the historical vocalization of the consonantal text a phonetic system was devised, so exact as to show all vowel-changes occasioned by lengthening of words, by the tone, by gutturals, &c., which in other languages are seldom indicated in writing. The pronunciation followed is in the main that of the Palestinian Jews of about the sixth century A.D., as observed in the solemn reading of the sacred writings in synagogue and school, but based on a much older tradition. That the real pronunciation of early Hebrew is consistently preserved by this tradition, has recently been seriously questioned on good grounds, especially in view of the transcription of proper names in the LXX. Nevertheless in many cases, internal reasons, as well as the analogy of the kindred languages, testify in a high degree to the faithfulness of the tradition. At the same recension of the text, or soon after, the various other signs for reading (–, ) were added, and the accents.

P. Haupt, ‘The names of the Hebrew vowels,’. xxii, and in the, Newhaven, 1901, p. 7 ff.; C. Levias in the , Cincinnati, 1904, p. 138 ff.