[Mesorah] Q re m'siga (a/k/a/ the "qadma" in the "qadma-qatan" ta'am)

[Yitzchak M. Gottlieb]

On Oct 27, 2011, at 6:44 PM, Poppers, Michael wrote:

> My experience with the m’siga (the sign which sometimes appears above a closed, t’nuah-q’tanah syllable of a word-unit whose primary accent is noted by the zaqeif qatan) is that it always appears above the first syllable.  I recently read that the Leningrad Codex displays the m’siga of “v’im-shlosh-eileh” (Ex 21:11) above “shlosh” rather than above “v’im,” so I’m wondering if anyone has seen a gadol bam’sorah discuss whether there is a first-syllable rule for the m’siga (or, at least, what appears to be amachloqes mss. in this matter).  Thanks in advance!

Breuer chapter 5, sections 4--6 discusses the m'tiga, and states that the m'tiga tends to avoid the beginnig of the word, but also tends to be as far as possible from the ta'am.  I believe that Yevin on his book about the Keter discusses the differences between the Keter and Leningrad Codex in this regard, but it has been some time since I read that book.  I have seen in a couple of places (I believe Da'at Mikra in B'reishit) that Breuer lists the Leningrad codex's placement of the m'tiga as an alternate but states that his chosen version "certainly" the version of the Keter.

Zuki

-- 
Yitzchak M. Gottlieb
zuki at CS.Princeton.EDU