[Avodah] Geshem or Gashem?!

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Thu, Nov 03, 2016 at 09:21:59PM +0000, Mandel, Seth wrote:
: I can only attest to facts: All the all ms. Ashkenaz siddurim that I
: have seen (about 30) from the years before printing all have geshem.
: I am not claiming what is right or wrong, I am just pointing to the facts.

So, we were recently discussing "the likes of R' Zalman Hanau and other
grammarians who impacted editions of the siddur, and whose chiddushim
weren't always without controversy" (to quote RAFolger).

IIUC, and I am not sure I do, Said grammarians "fixed" the diqduq of
the siddur by making it conform to their opinions about Leshon Tanakh
(LT). Before then, most tefillos were in Leshon Chazal (LC). As in
"modim anachnu Lakh". In LT, "lakh" is only used for femine, and the word
would be "Lekha". Which is how we end up with Sepharadim saying "vesein
chelqeinu beToratakh", but Ashkenazim are now saying "beSorasekha". The
word "beSorasekha" was "corrected" in Ashkenaz in the early 18th cent.

Also Sepharad has "sheAtah" where contemporary Ashkenaz has the
"corrected" "shaAtah".

("Sha-" is not only specific to LT, it's only used from the historical
period from seifer Yehodhua through Shemu'el. The Torah only has the full
"asher", no prefix; and later sifrei Tanakh have "she-". I have noted
this fact as counter-evidence for Document Theory. The Torah is written
in an older Hebrew than Nakh.)

So the whole "geshem" vs "gashem" thing is really about the weight
of the pause afterward. If "mashiv haruach, umorid hageshem" is
just one item in a continuing list, then the pause wouldn't justify
elongating to a qamatz -- "gashem".

But in LC, even with a pause, the word would be "geshem".

So there wouldn't have been a discussion about whether the word should
be "gashem" until after the RZH et al.

So, for someoene determined not to be poreish min hatzibbur to role
back to LC, evidence from before the switch wouldn't prove anything.
Such a person would need to deduce whether or not there was a pause;
IOW, whether to translate the LC "geshem" of the siddur up to 1700
into LT "gashem" or "geshem".

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             There's only one corner of the universe
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