Re: Hebrew punctuation marks

From: Michael Forgey (75252.1523@CompuServe.COM)
Date: Fri Aug 09 1996 - 14:40:09 EDT


>What are the following characters used for? What "script independent"
>punctuation characters are they similar to?

>HEBREW PUNCTUATION MAQAF
>HEBREW PUNCTUATION PASEQ
>HEBREW PUNCTUATION SOF PASUQ
>HEBREW PUNCTUATION GERESH
>HEBREW PUNCTUATION GERSHAYIM

Here are notes from Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar:

1. MAQAF (Maqqeph)
"Maqqeph (i.e. binder) is a small horizontal stroke between the
upper part of two words which so connects them that in respect
of tone and pointing they are regarded as one, and therefore have
only one accent. Two, three, or even four words may be connected
in this way, .... Certain monosyllabic prepositions and conjunctions
... are almost always found with a following Maqqeph ...." p.63.

2. PASEQ
"Paseq (=restraining, dividing, ...) is neither an independent accent,
nor a constituent part of other accents, but is used as a mark for various
purposes; .... See ... the reviews of E. Konig, ... showing that the
tradition with regard to the 479 or 480 uses of Paseq is by no means
uniform. The purpose of Paseq is clearly recognizable in the five old
rules: as a divider between identical letters at the end and beginning
of two words; between identical or very similar words; between words
which are absolutely contradictory (as God and evil-doer) ; between
words which are liable to be wrongly connected; and lastly, between
heterogeneous terms, as 'Eleazer the High Priest, and Joshua'. ...."
pp.59-60.

3. SOF PASUQ (Soph Pasuq)
"Soph pasuq, the verse-divider" p.59.

GERESH and GERSHAYIM I believe are both abbreviation marks,
but I don't recall their distinction.

regards,
mike
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------
Michael Forgey
2201 W. William Cannon Dr. #224
Austin, TX 78745
Tel: (512) 441-7390
Fax: (512) 441-7742
Email: 75252.1523@compuserv.com



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jul 10 2001 - 17:20:31 EDT