<html><head><title>v'koyai vs v'kovei</title>
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<span style=" font-family:'Arial'; font-size: 9pt;">OK, dikduk mavens, please solve this mystery (at least for me):<br>
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From the haftara for Lech L'cha, the pasuk in Yishayahu 40:31 begins with <br>
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<span style=" font-family:'david'; font-size: 18pt;">וקוי<br>
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<span style=" font-family:'Arial'; font-size: 9pt;">How is this pronounced? <br>
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Literally, seconds before I was about to chant the haftara this morning, one of our shul's premier ba'alei kriah approached and asked how I pronounced this. Having just discovered the conundrum on leil shabbat, I was hoping no one would pay attention. That was not to be.<br>
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There is a sh'va under the first vav, a cholem vav and a tzeirei that appears under the yud in two sources I checked, including the Koren Tanach. However, I have a Mikraot Gedolot that displays the tzeirei under the second vav. That Mikraot Gedolot is based on a photographic reproduction of the Warsaw edition from 5622 - 5626. <br>
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The root is kuf - vav - heh . Thus, one might expect that the vav should be enunciated. However, if so, one would expect the tzeirei to be under the vav. <br>
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The Mikraot Hagedolot Ha-keter, which is the Bar Ilan version, online, has the tzeirei under the yud. All that Radak has to say about this (if I understand him, correctly), is that this is written with only one yud, that it is the "po-el" form, and that the second yud for the plural form is missing as written, but remains in pronunciation. <br>
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The Mechon-Mamre online Tanakh, which, supposedly is based on the Aleppo Codex, also has the tzeirei under the yud.<br>
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So, how is this word pronounced?<br>
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<span style=" font-size: 10pt;">Avi<br>
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<span style=" font-family:'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 9pt; color: #000080;">Avram L. Sacks<br>
Skokie, IL</body></html>