[Mesorah] ham'chadesh, ham'vorach, ...

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 11:30:37AM -0500, Michael Hamm wrote:
: Any piel or pual verb in present tense that starts with a mem-sh'va (as 
: most of them do) and is preceded by a he hay'dia ("the"), such as 
: "ham'chadesh", "ham'vorach", "ham'shubach", etc., and which appears in 
: t'fila but not quoted from Tanach, the ArtScroll (S'farad, Hebrew-only) 
: sidur writes without a dagesh in the mem, but with a sh'va-na line over 
: it.  Why no dagesh?  And if no dagesh, why the sh'va na?

I think this is a repeat of Mesorah's very first question. I'm convinced
the Gra would have had it nach. The crew tried convincing me otherwise,
but if they succeeded, it wore off.

The other rules are more complex, and require knowing where the emphasis
ought to be. I'm in over my head on the Gra, going there would be total
folly for me.

I'm attaching below notes from the late 90s listing the rules I found.
I since then internalized RSM's lesson (it only took him a dozen
go-arounds) that these rules are prescriptive, not descriptive, so I
needn't take out the chisel to record them (in stone).

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 39th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        5 weeks and 4 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Netzach sheb'Yesod: What is imposing about a
Fax: (270) 514-1507                          reliable person?



According to all:

    aleph: a sh'va in the first letter (e.g. sh'ma)

    beis: the second of two sh'va's are next to eachother in the middle
          of the word (e.g. Mord'chai)

--

The Gra's rules gimel - hei:

    gimel: after a tenu'ah *G*edolah [long vowel] (e.g. Peen'chas)
	   Except for the melupum at the begining of a word
	   (e.g. uvrachah)

    dalet: under an os *D*egushah (e.g. dab'ru)

    hei: under the first of two osios *H*adomos [identical letters]
         (e.g. ran'nu)

--

Heidenheim's rules gimel - hei:

    gimel: after a tenu'ah *G*edolah [long vowel] (e.g. Peen'chas)
	   that doesn't have the word's only trop.
	   Or perhaps: Not if the tenu'ah gedolah denotes an accent
	   mil'eil.

    dalet: under an os *D*egushah (e.g. dab'ru)

    hei: under the first of two osios *H*adomos [identical letters]
	 (e.g. ran'nu)

    vuv:   a sh'va following a meseg (mnemonic: which looks like a vuv)
	   Given RAP's "mem" for nach (below), this must mean only where the
	   meseg is alongside a tenu'ah that isn't qalah.

    zayin: after a nasag achor, where the neginah moved (*z*az)

    ches:  chatufos [the shortened patach, kamatz or segol]

    tes:   a sh'va that follows the first neginah, in a word that has two
	   t'amim (see rule gimel)

    yud:   any yud that has a sheva after a vav hahipuch; eg: vayedaber

Off another source I found the following:
According to the Razah: A sh'va immediately before an undotted b,g,d,k,p,t
			    (yaat'fu)

Heidenheim's four rules for nach (others define nach by default);
mnemonic: "miqnos":

    mem: meteg under a tenu'ah qalah (not qetanah!) the sheva after
         it is nach.  eg: vihyitem, shimu, tichyu. See rule vuv, above.

    quf: following a tenu'ah kitanah that doesn't have a meseg
         (the flip-side of gimel + vuv, above)

    nun: after a neginas ta'am, even if also after a tenu'ah gedolah
	 (see gimel)

    samech: at the end of a word, regardless of dageish or previous sh'va.

--

R' Mordechai Breuer's rules gimel - hei:

    gimel: sh'va following a trope that is "nasog achor" e.g. "yoch'lu
	   lachem" (Heidenheim's rule zayin)

    dalet: sh'va following the 1st of 2 different tropes on the same word,
	   e.g. "hama'achil'cha", "yatz'u"
	   (Heidenheim's rule tes)
	   (exception: kadma-zakeif on one word or on a hyphenated word
	   is not considered two different tropes, e.g. "v'halviim",
	   "ulchalosam")

    hei: sh'va following a meseg (but not every meseg is still printed in
	 the text, nor is every meseg in the text from the originals)
	 (Heidenheim's rule vuv)
	 Exceptions:
	 1. meseg between patach and yud-sh'va (e.g. "vayhi",
	    "vaynahageihu")
	 2. meseg on chirik or segol of binyan hispa'el (e.g.
	    "mishtachavim", "esnahalah")