Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/95

 without an intermediate vowel or ; thus we have  for  and  for.

(b) in cases of assimilation (–), e.g. for yintēn.

In both these cases the is called compensativum.

(c) When it is characteristic of a grammatical form, e.g.,. In a wider sense this includes the cases in which a consonant is sharpened by Dageš forte, to preserve a preceding short vowel (which in an open syllable would have to be lengthened by ), e.g. for gemālîm; cf. and,.

This coalescing of two consonants as indicated above does not take place when the first has a vowel or. In the latter case, according to the correct Masora, a should be used, preceded by, e.g. , , &c. (cf., ). This pointing is not used before the suffix, e.g. , but the first  has a , otherwise the second  would have. Also when the former of the two consonants has been already strengthened by, it can only have a , and any further contraction is therefore impossible. This applies also to cases where has been omitted (see below, ), e.g.  properly =hal-lelû. The form  (not ) might be explained as imperat. Piʿēl=; if it were imperat. the non-contraction of the monosyllabic root would be as strange as it is in, and in the imperf. .

2. A consonant is sometimes strengthened merely for the sake of euphony, and the strengthening is then not so essential. This occurs —

(a) when two words are closely united in pronunciation by Dageš forte conjunctivum: (1) in the first letter of a monosyllable or of a word having the tone (or occasionally the counter-tone) on the first syllable, when closely connected with the preceding word, if that word ends in a tone-bearing  with  preceding, or a tone-bearing, —called  (i.e. compressed) by the Jewish grammarians.

The term monosyllable here and in (by ) includes Segholates like, , &c., as well as forms like , , , and even.