[Mesorah] kodashim

[Elazar M. Teitz]

 <<A baal k'ria recently told me that kadashim/kodashim has a kamatz gadol
(rachav) at its start, but hakodashim has a kamatz katan.  Is this
correct?  I always thought each had a kamatz katan.  (And why would the
prefixed he make a difference?)>>

<In the expression "kodesh hakodashim," the kuf has no meteg, and the vowel under it is a chataf kamatz, which, if I'm not mistaken, is always pronounced (by those who distinguish between them) as a kamatz katan.

In the expression "kodesh kadashim," the kuf has a regular kamatz under it, meaning that since it's an open syllable, one would expect it to be a kamatz gadol.  In addition, there is a meteg on that syllable, which ought to clinch the kamatz gadol.  This is, in fact, how it appears in the "Simanim" tikkun.>

     Although the above explanation, given by RDCohen, is undoubtedly correct, it begs the question: why is it that with the hei hay'diah there is a chataf and no meseg, while "kodesh kadashim" has a meseg but no chataf? 

     Incidentally, if I am not mistaken, strictly speaking it is not a chataf kamatz under the kuf.  The chataf-kamatz symbol appears with a non-guttural consonant not because it is chatuf, but to indicate that despite its not fitting the paradigm for a kamatz kattan (closed, unaccented syllable), it is nonetheless kattan.

EMT 


 
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