[Mesorah] Eka vs. Echa suffixes‏

[Mandel, Seth via Mesorah]

ad hoc rules can be made up by enterprising people to account for anything.  Occams' razor is based on that idea.

There are no grammatical rules in the rishonim for these forms.

Historically, they are based on the fact that a nun was added to the future form when suffixes were added.  In Aramaic this is normal, and the form with the nun is almost always the future, whereas the form without is jussive.

In Hebrew, the forms are not normal, but are used fairly often in poetic phrases.  But because of the background, the form with the waw hahippukh, which uses the jussive form rather than the future, is almost always without the nun.  So waychon'necha would be standard according to grammar.

But, as I said, these are heritage forms in Hebrew and the forms are no longer active.  So even though all the forms in Birkat Kohanim should be jussive, according to the meaning, one finds vichunekka instead of viychon'nekha.

So: if you want rules to explain all these form, go consult with the respected linguist Dr. H. Dumpty. As he explained to Alice, he makes up meanings and rules as he goes along.  So he will be happy to make up ad hoc rules for every occurrence.

Somebody in the Trump campaign should be able to give you his contact information.  Because the Donald has obviously been consulting with Dr. Dumpty: when he says something in the campaign, it means only what he wants it to mean, not what other people think it means.  So he is not lying when he says things that are contrary to objective history; he is just changing the what the words mean to him.  "Never happened" can mean "it happened, but I do not want to discuss it."

You see how your question actually has topical pertinence.

And a very joyous yontev to all the denizens of Mesorah!


Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel
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From: Mesorah <mesorah-bounces at lists.aishdas.org> on behalf of Danny Levy via Mesorah <mesorah at lists.aishdas.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2016 3:03 AM
To: mesorah at lists.aishdas.org
Subject: [Mesorah] Eka vs. Echa suffixes‏

Why do V'odeka and Arom'meka in Hallel (Tehillim 118:28) have a dagesh in the final kaf, while Vaychon'necha in Ha'azinu (32:6) and Ya'asfecha in the haftara of Yom Kippur (Yeshaya 58:8) do not?

Similarly in Birkat Kohanim why is V'yishm'recha without a dagesh and Vichuneka with a dagesh?

Is there a rule that explains all or most of these forms?

Danny Levy
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