Diacritical dagesh

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Isaac Fried
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Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:32 pm

Diacritical dagesh

Post by Isaac Fried »

In Ps. 56:9(8) we read
נֹדִי סָפַרְתָּה אָתָּה שִׂימָה דִמְעָתִי בְנֹאדֶךָ הֲלֹא בְּסִפְרָתֶךָ
NIV: "Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll—are they not in your record?"
Today סִפְרָה SIFRAH (with a soft "F") is in use in the sense of 'mark, digit, numeral'. Otherwise, ספר- היא = סִפְרָהּ SIFRAH is 'her book', with a mapik dot in the closing heh to call attention to the fact that fused היא actually stands for 'hers'. compare
יָלְדָה YALDAH, 'she gave birth'.
יַלְדָּה YALDAH, 'girl'.
יַלְדָּהּ YALDAH (with a mapik dot in the heh), 'her son, her YELED'.
Also, סִפְּרָה SIPRAH (with a hard "P") is "she related, she told', while סָפְרָה is 'she counted'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
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