[Mesorah] am vs. am

Tue May 17 17:36:07 PDT 2011

the word is spelled with páthaḥ.
note that Esther 3:8 has a masoretic note in BHS: "17 times and every zāqēph, ʼathnaḥ, and sôph-pāsûq is the same". The masora magna lists

Num 23:9		Num 23:24		Deut 4:33
Judg 9:36		Judg 9:37		II Kgs 13:7
II Kgs 15:10	Is 42:6		Ezek 33:31
Joel 2:16		Ps 18:44		Ps 62:9
Ps 72:4		Job 34:20		Prov 14:28
Est 3:8		I Chron 17:21

In other words, the rule is that the word is spelled with páthaḥ except that it is spelled with qāmeṣ after the maphsiqim zāqēph, ʼathnaḥ, and sôph-pāsûq; and the exceptions (where it is spelled with qāmeṣ but not with one of those 3 maphsiqim) are in the 17 verses mentioned.

-----Original Message-----
From: mesorah-bounces at lists.aishdas.org [mailto:mesorah-bounces at lists.aishdas.org] On Behalf Of Michael Hamm
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 1:09 PM
To: mesorah at lists.aishdas.org
Subject: Re: [Mesorah] am vs. am

R'MP wrote: << http://sites.google.com/site/torahreading/mafsiqim >>

According to this, the tip'cha is a second-level mafsik and r'vii is a third-level.  In Y'sha'ya 30:5, "am" appears with a patach and a tip'cha (in Mechon Mamre's online version; I haven't checked any other versions).  In Ester 3:8, it appears with a kamatz and a r'vii (with the same caveat about versions).  So it's not the trop that determines the vowel (unless there's something weird going on, where a m'shares gets a patach, a lower-level mafsik gets a kamatz, a higher-level mafsik gets a patach again, and a sof-pasuk gets a kamatz again.  (And I haven't checked Tanach thoroughly to see whether even that is possible)).

So if it's not the trop, what determines "am" versus "am"?

Kol tuv,

Michael Hamm
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