lables and vowels, it becomes necessary to advert to an important distinction of the vowels as mutable and immutable. In denominating, however, certain vowels mutable, and certain others immutable, it is not to be understood that the terms hold true absolutely and universally of either class. Both are subject to exceptions, and yet the usage in regard to both is on the whole so fixed and prevailing as to lay a sufficient ground for the classification, which accordingly we do not hesitate to adopt.

2. Immutable Vowels.-The vowels which are most properly thus denominated, from their almost invariably resisting change, are Those in which a homogeneous semi-vowel quiesces, as

The .קום, קוֹל עִיר הֵיכָל רָאשׁ e. g. in the words ;,, י,..י,, א

The principal זְבוּל for זְבָל מָשִׁיחַ for מָשַׁחַ רָאשׁ for רָשׁ writing, as

T

rule holds good though the quiescent letters may have fallen out in

exceptions to the rule are the following: Kamets is lost in such

together rejected, and in the Future and Imperative changed into its

appears in x,; the long impure vowels are sometimes ex

.is al הִקְטַלְתָּ הִקְטִיל .Hireq in Hiph ; בָּלְתָה בְּלָה; מָצְאָה מָצָא words as

-Holem dis ; הַקְטִיל for הַקְטֵל וַיִּקְטִיל for וַיִּקְטֵל equivalent Tseri, as

or for long or short pure ,מְנוּסִים .pl מָנוֹס changed for each other, as

It would seem from the .וַיָּקָם .tone retract יָקוּם ; גְדָל־ .const

ones, as Imp. 2d pers. masc. p, 2d pers. pl. fem. ; 7,

changes above exhibited that the language regarded the vowels u and i as shorter than o and e.

(b) Short vowels in mixed syllables before Dagesh forte; as

מַלְכוּת also in the first of two mixed syllables, as ; צַדִּיק לַפִּיד בַּנָּב in ,אַתָּה To this again there are some exceptions, as .מִדְבָּר אֶבְיוֹן

77.

pause, &c.

(c) Those vowels after which a Dagesh forte should properly stand, but which on account of a Guttural has fallen out; as

3. Mutable Vowels.-As Kamets, Tseri, and Holem often appear without their respective quiescents, they, together with the short Pattah, Segol, Hireq, Kamets Hateph, and Kibbuts, constitute the class of mutable vowels, i. e. such as are liable to commutation or rejection from the influence of final increment, removal of tone, regimen, euphony, &c.

4. Synopsis of Vowel Changes.-As a general rule, the changes of vowels for each other are limited to the respective classes to

which they belong, as stated § 7. 2, 3. Consequently as each long mutable vowel has one or more corresponding short ones for which it may be exchanged, and vice versa, therefore we find, in the

Segol (:) lengthened into

SHORT VOWELS,

Pattah (-) { shortened into Hireq occasionally

lengthened into Kamets generally

5. Upon inspection of the above table it will be observed that the vowel changes are not always direct but often oblique; that is, they are not uniformly exchanged for their appropriate opposites, as Kamets for Pattah, Tseri for Segol, Holem for Kamets Hateph, &c.; but often for those of merely a kindred sound, as â for è, è for ì, è for u, &c. Of these peculiarities it will be proper to give a more detailed account.

(a) In a mixed syllable (:-) from which the tone has been removed, Pattah from an original Kamets frequently goes into Segol (::) as if it were considered a somewhat shorter sound, as

for

pecially is this the case before a Guttural with an implied Dagesk

;(כַּתָּשׁ for) כָּחָשׁ ; הָחָזוֹן ; אַחָיו for אֶחָיו in it and Kamets under it, as

and so usually with . With and Segol occurs in order to give more distinctness to the sound of the several Gutturals, as

Before and where no Dagesh is הֶעָוֹן for הֶעָוֹן הָהָרִים for הָהָרִים

implied, Kamets for the most part remains, as nix,

(though

So also in syllables ending originally .הָרָקִיעַ הָאָרֶץ occasionally

in two vowelless consonants, as for from 3, by for from 3 (Fut. Apoc. Hiph. from 3).

(b) A still more remarkable, though rare, change is that of (:

6. The dominant law, as already remarked, which governs the vowel-changes in Hebrew is, that the accession of syllables at the end of a word causes either a change or rejection of its original vowels. These accessions or augments which arise either in consequence of personal or plural ending or of pronominal suffixes, may be consid ered as of two sorts; one commencing with a vowel, and which may be termed asyllabic; the other with a consonant, which may be termed syllabic.* As to the effect of such accession, it is obvious that upon any asyllabic augment being postfixed to a word, the terminating consonant of such word must be taken in order to enounce it, otherwise it will remain silent; it being contrary to the laws of syllabication for any vowel to begin a syllable (§ 9. 1). If, for instance, we attach the asyllabic augment "., the plural masc. termination, to any word as a pure, we must necessarily take the last letter to enounce it, as bâ-rīm. If the augment be syllabic, though the vowels are often affected by it, this breaking up of syl

In words of .קְטַלְתָּם קָטָל ; בַּרְכֶם בַּר lables does not take place, as

more than one syllable these final increments cause very marked and important changes in the forms. Thus in the const. pl. and suffixed forms words of, and your words, a still further change

has taken place, leaving none of the original vowels remaining. So in the verb he killed we have the 2d pers. pl. masc. Dye have killed, and the suffixed Inf.

your killing.

7. As every short vowel is, by § 8. 3, 4, dependant on and supported by a mixed syllable only, it must consequently immediately disappear if the compound syllable is broken up by the carrying on of the second consonant to another syllable, as 37, 377, where the having entirely changed its relation to the syllable the short

*The reason of these terms is obvious. A vowel cannot commence a syllable in Hebrew ($ 9. 1.), hence augments thus commencing are termed asyllabic; those commencing with a consonant are, for a similar reason, termed syllabic.

vowel falls away. But a short vowel, if supported by the tone, may

כַּרְמֶלָה מִדְבְּרָה instead of מִדְבָּרָה remain even in a simple syllable, as

instead of . See § 8. 3, 4. The effect of the euphonic Metheg is often the same as that of a tonic accent in sustaining a short

8. Whenever a vowel falls away, Sheva, either simple or composite, which in its very nature denotes the absence of a vowel (§ 9. 2.), comes of course in its place, as in the instances above; but in case two successive vowels fall away (§ 27. 11.), as this would make an impossible syllable, short Hireq is usually employed instead

צְדָקָה ; דִּבְרֵי instead of דִּבְרֵי .const דְּבָרִים .pl דָּבָר of the first, as

py instead of p. But if one of the two vowelless letters be a Guttural, the supplied vowel is Pattah or Segol for the reason given (§ 25. 6.), as pl. D, const. ; p, const. p. In other cases, however, besides those of the Gutturals, Pattah appears re

(from, orig. 2); and where o is in the original form it always

מַלְכֵי and (יַלְךְ .orig יֶלֶד from) יַלְדֵי turning from a primitive 4, as

.(כֹּפֶר from) כָּפְרֵי (קְטל from) קָטְלו returns, as

9. Shortening the Long Vowels.-It being an invariable rule in Hebrew that a long vowel cannot stand in a mixed syllable unless it be accented (§ 9. 3.), hence whenever the tone has been for any reason removed, either forwards or backwards, the shortening of the former tone-vowel, if it do not fall away, follows as a necessary consequence. Thus,

10. Lengthening the Short Vowels.-This, on the other hand, takes place (1) When the form of a word, in the course of flexion or augment, is so changed that they stand alone, i. e. in a simple syllable, as 7, 17; 3pp, 13-bp (not 13-); 1, p. So be

(2) בְּלַי גְלָה instead of גָּלָה מָצָא instead of מָצָא fore a quiescent, as

When a Dagesh forte due is omitted either because the letter is a Guttural (§ 25. 8.) or stands at the end of a word (§ 12. 3.), as 777 instead of 72, 77 instead of 7, 37 instead of 37, y instead of

N. (3) In some cases where the article precedes; see § 29. 5. (4) In consequence of the pause accent, § 22. c.

Perhaps in the great majority of cases the vowel in mixed final syllables is to be in theory considered as having been originally short; at least so far as we can conceive of the syllable's having existed before it became the seat of the tone. But whenever the tone fell upon such syllables the natural effect was to prolong the sound of the voice in utterance; and of this a further obvious consequence would be to substitute a long or longer vowel for the short. Thus p is in all

שוא for שָׁרָא הֵיכַל for הֵיכָל יִפְקָד for וּפְקֹד בְּקֶשׁ probability so written for

צד

: T

בֵּז

and

Accordingly such cases as by, DN, T, 35, Ps. 35. 10, are very rare, though Segol and Pattah in this position are comparatively frequent, the latter of which from the ease and nativeness of its sound often supplants the former, as Ty instead of t and (as is evident from the suffixed forms and So instead of we have, though in other cases forms seem to fluctuate between Pattah and Tseri, as 33 and 37. Owing to the operation of the same cause, viz. the natural predominance of the Pattah or a-sound, when two such forms, for instance, as 3 and occur, we find that the course of flexion

שָׁאֶלְתִּי never gives rise to In like manner שָׁאַלְתִּי but always to ,שָׁאֵלְתִּי or .c& דִּבַּרְתִּי דִּבַּרְתָּ always דִּבֵּר or דִּבֶּר from

11. More detailed view of the effects of accession.-In dissyllables, which constitute most of the ground-forms of the language, if the tone be moved forwards (i. e. to the left) one syllable, then the pe

גָּדוֹל; פְּקַדְתֶּם פָּקַךְ; דְּבָרִי דָּבָר nult vowel, if mutable, falls away, as

D. If the augment be asyllabic, the second or final vowel is

If the tone be .קטְלִים, קטֵל ; יִקְטְלוּ יִקְטְל ; קָטְלָה קְטַל dropped, as

moved forwards two syllables, both the original vowels, if mutable, fall away, as 7, 7; I, DOTAR; the failing vowels being supplied according to the rule given § 27. 8. But if the penultimate vowel be immutable it of course remains unchanged, as pi, pi, 1. So also if both ultimate and penultimate are immutable, no change will take place in the vowels whatever be the suffix, as

יִירָשֵׁם ; מוֹסָרִי ; הוֹלִידוּ, הוֹלִיד ; מַקְדִישִׁים מַקְדִּישׁ

The particular cases when and where vowels are immutable, or the contrary, as they depend upon a variety of causes, can only be learned by a growing acquaintance with the etymology and general structure of the language. Thus we have in the constr. plur. chamberlains or eunuchs, Est. 4. 5, with

the first vowel immutable because it is derived from the Piel conjugation, whereas in Gen. 40. 17. we find with the first vowel fallen out, because of Kal, like, in which it is

it comes from the participial form

mutable. But the learner will find all perplexities of this nature continually giving way before his advances.