Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/68

 points is determined more precisely by the vowel sign standing before, above, or within it. Thus—


 * may be combined with, ,.
 * with and Ḥōlĕm ( and ).

In Arabic the long also is regularly expressed by a vowel letter, viz. , so that in that language three vowel letters correspond to the three vowel classes. In Hebrew is rarely used as a vowel letter; see  and.

4. The omission of the vowel letters when writing, , , is called  in contrast to. , are written, ,.

Cf. Bardowitz,, 1894; Lidzbarski, , i. 182, 275; Marmorstein, ‘Midrasch der vollen u. defekt. Schreibung,’ in 1907, p. 33 ff.

So far as the choice of the full or defective mode of writing is concerned, there are certainly some cases in which only the one or the other is admissible, Thus the full form is necessary at the end of the word, for, , , , , , as well as for in  &c. , also generally with, (cf. however ), e.g. , , ,. (But the Masora requires in, ; ;  instead of ;   [perhaps an error due to the following ] for ;   [followed by ] for ;   for .) On the other hand the defective writing is common when the letter, which would have to be employed as a vowel letter, immediately precedes as a strong consonant, e.g.  (nations) for ,  (commandments) for.

That much is here arbitrary (see ), follows from the fact that sometimes the same word is written very differently, e.g. :  and also  ; cf. . Only it may be observed,

(a) That the scriptio plena in two successive syllables was generally avoided; cf. e.g. but ;, but ; , ; ;.

(b) That in the later Books of the O.T. (and regularly in post-biblical Hebrew) the full form, in the earlier the defective, is more usual.

5. In the cognate dialects, when a vowel precedes a vowel-letter which is not kindred (heterogeneous), e.g., , , , , a diphthong is formed if the heterogeneous vowel be. This is also to be regarded as the Old Hebrew pronunciation, since it