especially common in an open syllable before the tone (pretonic vowel), e.g. לָהֶ֫ם, יָק֫וּם, קָטַ֫ל, לֵבָ֫ב.[1]
Short vowels in open syllables occur:
[f] (a) In apparently dissyllabic words formed by means of a helping vowel from monosyllables, as נַ֫חַל brook, בַּ֫יִת house, יִרֶ֫ב let him increase, from naḥl, bayt, yirb; cf. also ־ַ֫יִם the ending of the dual (§ 88). But see § 28 e.
[g] (b) In the verbal suffix of the 1st pers. sing. (־ַ֫נִי me), e.g. קְטָלַ֫נִי (Arab. qătălănĭ). The uncommon form ־ַ֫נִּי, however (Gn 306, cf. § 59 f), proves that the tone-bearing Pathaḥ produces a sharpening of the following sonant, and thus virtually stands in a closed syllable, even when the Nun is not expressly written with Dageš. In cases like וַֽאדֹנָי (§ 102 m) Pathaḥ is retained in the counter-tone after the א has become quiescent.
[h] (c) Sometimes before the toneless ־ָה local (§ 90 c), e.g. מִדְבַּ֫רָה towards the wilderness; only, however, in the constr. state (1 K 1915), since the toneless suffix ־ָה does not affect the character of the form (especially when rapidly pronounced in close connexion); otherwise it is מִדְבָּ֫רָה.
In all these cases the short vowel is also supported by the tone, either the principal tone of the word, or (as in h) by the secondary tone in the constr. st., or by the counter-tone with Metheg, as in וַאֽדֹנָי above, g; cf. the effect of the arsis on the short vowel in classical prosody.
[i] (d) In the combinations ־ַֽ־ֲ, ־ֶֽ־ֱ, ־ָֽ־ֳ, e.g. נַֽעֲרוֹ his boy, יֶֽאֱסֹר he will bind, פָּֽעֳלוֹ his deed. In all these cases the syllable was at first really closed, and it was only when the guttural took a Ḥaṭeph that it became in consequence open (but cf. e.g. יֶאְסֹר and יֶֽאֱסֹר). The same vowel sequence arises wherever a preposition בְּ, כְּ, לְ, or ו copulative is prefixed to an initial syllable which has a Ḥaṭeph, since the former then takes the vowel
- ↑ That these pretonic vowels are really long is shown by Brockelmann, ZA. xiv. 343 f., from the transcription of Hebrew proper names in the Nestorian (Syriac) punctuation, and e.g. from the Arabic ʾIbrâhîm=אַבְרָהָם. He regards their lengthening in the syllable before the tone as a means adopted by the Masoretes to preserve the pronunciation of the traditional vowels. This explanation of the pretonic vowels as due to a precaution against their disappearing, is certainly right; as to whether the precaution can be ascribed to the Masoretes, see the previous note. For the pretonic vowel the Arabic regularly has a short vowel (lăhŭm, yăqŭm, &c.), the Aramaic simply a vocal Šewâ (לְהוֹן, יְקוּם, קְטַל, לְבַב); and even in Hebrew, when the tone is thrown forward the pretonic vowel almost always becomes Šewâ, see § 27. It would, however, be incorrect to assume from this that the pretonic vowel has taken the place of Šewâ only on account of the following tone-syllable. It always arises from an original short vowel, since such a vowel is mostly lengthened in an open syllable before the tone, but when the tone is moved forward it becomes Šewâ.
