<div dir="ltr">The Masorah Parva note that appears in the first Masoretic Rabbinic Bible (Venice 1524) as "Vav be-Atrafe" and in later versions (e.g. Netter) as "Zayin be-Trafe" is likely a later development of the original note. In CD Ginsburg's The Masorah, vol 2, p 409, sec 598, it appears as "Aleh: zayin be-Tarfe, dalet ketiv Yod, ve-gimel ketiv heh ve-simanhon: Gen 3,7; 8, 11; Neh 8,15 (4x)." <br>
In other words, the note was meant to tell us that "aleh" is spelled with a heh here, as well as in Gen 3,7; and with yod in Neh 8,15. (it actually appears there 5 times, not 4, which is why there was some confusion whether the letter preceding the "be-trafe" was a vav or zayin. Interestingly enough, even in that same Ginsburg volume, at the index in the end [p. 814, no. 234] the note appears with a vav). In Bar Ilan's Keter MG, the note was just re the twice with a heh (and, as interpreted by them, "bi-semikhut"). One assumes the "be-atrafe" was added to make the reference explicit: it refers to the word "aleh" meaning leaf (as trafe means in Aramaic; see Sokoloff's dictionaries); and that the word means leaf in five other cases [in semikhut! that is, with a tsere, not a segol etc], where it is spelled with a yod, was probably not the original intent.<br>
See Minhat Shai at Gen 3,7 where he give further clarifications and refers to some mss [BHK records 15 such] that spell the word al atar with a yod, but decides they are mistaken.<br><br>Shavua tov<br>Yisrael<br></div>