B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

We observe that in
מַה נָּאווּ עַל הֶהָרִים רַגְלֵי מְבַשֵּׂר
the letter N of נאווּ NAAWU is with an, apparently unaccounted for, internal dot (dagesh.)

I think that:
1. The dagesh is not (not!) part of the NIQUD system, but rather a vestige of a much earlier reading cues system.

2. Every first letter was so marked by a dot. With time we got the habit of "hardening" the BGDKPT letters upon seeing it with an internal dot. As the writing technology improved, the dot in the first letter was removed, except in BGDKPT and in places of doubt, here, to avoid the adhesion of MAH to the following word, and the formation of the one word MANAAWU.
3. the same dagesh is found in Gen. 2:19 in MAH-YIQRA, and Gen. 3:13 in MAH-ZOT.
4. An adhered MAH is common, for instance, the מַה-אֲכָל = מַאֲכָל MA-AKAL, 'this which is for eating', of Gen. 3:6.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

It is standard to add dagesh to any letter that will take it after the word מה. The pointing of מה is affected much the same as the definite article. It takes patach with dagesh in following letter of regular consonants (הַנַּעַר - the lad; מַה נַּעֲשֶׂה - what shall we do?), kamats if the letter rejects dagesh (הָאָרֶץ - the land; מָה אֲכַלְתֶּם - what did you eat?) and segol before unaccented חָ or עָ or הָ in the following syllable (הֶעָרִים - the cities; הֶהָרִים - the mountains; מֶה עָשִׂיתָ - what have you done?).

This is how the pattern works out in the biblical pointing. Therefore, the dagesh that you found in the nun of that word is not random or unexpected. It is indeed standard pointing in the Massoretic tradition.

The phenomenon is not just with מה, but with any word that comes after a maqqef when the word preceding the maqqef ends in a short vowel. In the case of מה, the ה is a mater lectionis and, therefore, not pronounced. This means the word effectively ends in a short vowel (patah). This, however, would break syllable rules, which would require an unaccented syllable with short vowel to be closed. The closure of the syllable, however, occurs with the first letter of the word after the maqqef, which will attract a dagesh forte (a doubling dot) in order to close the previous syllable, as well as to begin the next. This just goes to show that the dagesh is very real in Masoretic pointing and functions as a doubling dot.

Remember, a syllable before maqqef cannot have specific syllable stress of its own.