Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/94

 –), e.g. in  for . As a rule in such cases, however, the  is orthographically retained, e.g.  for . Syncope occurs frequently in the case of, e.g.  for  ( and ),  for.

Syncope of with Šewâ occurs in such cases as  for  (cf. );. On the cases in which is wholly omitted after the article, see.

Finally, the elision of and  in verbs   is an instance of syncope.—On the syncope of  between two vowels, see.

(c) At the end of a word (apocope), e.g. pr. name of a city (cf. Gilonite);, where  though really rejected is orthographically retained, &c. On the apocope of and  in verbs, see , and.

Bolder changes (especially by violent apocope), took place in earlier periods of the language, notably the weakening of the feminine ending to, see , and.

4. To avoid harshness in pronunciation a helping sound, Aleph prosthetic with its vowel, is prefixed to some words, e.g. and  (cf., ; spiritus, French esprit).—A prosthetic  occurs probably in ; cf. Arab. ʿuṣfûr bird (stem ṣafara).

5. Transposition occurs only seldom in the grammar, e.g. for   for the sake of euphony; it is more frequent in the lexicon ( and,  and ), but is mostly confined to sibilants and sonants.

6. Softening occurs e.g. in, from kaukabh=kawkabh for kabhkabh (cf. Syriac raurab=rabrab); for ṭaphṭāphôth; according to the common opinion, also in  from ʾinš, cf. however.

1. The strengthening of a consonant, indicated by, is necessary and essential

(a) when the same consonant would be written twice in succession