Or 17057

Full text of Hakham Ezra Reuben Dangoor’s work on Hebrew grammar. Contains occasional editorial changes throughout. (Manuscript Or 17058 contains a later version of the first 14 sections, incorporating into the main text most of the relevant editorial changes noted here.)

Contents of the Numbered Sections:

1. Very brief introduction: ‘The grammar of the Hebrew language subsumes the rule of language, so that a person may know to speak and to write correctly …' / דקדוק לשון העברי הוא כולל משפט הלשון, כדי לידע האדם לדבר ולכתוב כראוי ...

2. Words and Syllables(?): ‘Words are composed of “havarot / הברות” (= syllables?); and “havarot” are composed of otiot / אותיות = letters’ (viz. consonants).

3. The 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

4. K M N P Tz / ך ם ן ף ץ: The five letters with special final forms.

5. Two pronunciations of the letter ש, either ‘sh’ or ‘s’, differentiated by the location of a diacritic mark at the top right or the top left.

6. BGD KPT / בגד כפת: the six letters with aspirated and non-aspirated variation.

7. Motsa’ ha-’otiyot / מוצא האותיות = ‘the articulators of the letters’: division of the consonants into five categories, based on the organ or part of the mouth used to form them.

8. ha-Tenu‘ot / התנועות = ‘The Vowels’.

9. Sheṿa / שוא = ‘schwa’.

10. Two types of schwa: sheṿa naḥ / שוא נח = ‘silent schwa / quiescent schwa’; and sheṿa na‘ / שוא נע = ‘vocal schwa / mobile schwa’.

11. Rules of sheṿa na‘ / שוא נע = ‘vocal schwa’.

12. Kelale otiyot Alef, Ḥ, H, ‘Ayin / כללי אותיות אח”הע = ‘rules of the letters Alef, Ḥ, H, ‘Ayin’: special application of schwa for gutturals.

13. Dagesh / דגש = the placement of a dot into a consonant, containing two types: dagesh ḥazaḳ / דגש חזק = ‘strong dot’ (Latin: dagesh forte); and dagesh ḳal / דגש קל = ‘light [i.e. weak] dot’ (Latin: dagesh lene).

14. Ofne ha-dagesh ḥazaḳ / אופני הדגש חזק = ‘scenarios (literally: manners) of the “strong dot / dagesh forte”’.

15. Otiyot Alef, H, Ṿ, Y [‘aHaṾiY] / אותיות אהו”י = The letters Alef, H, Ṿ, Y [mnemonic: ‘aHaṾiY], viz. the letters that sometimes serve as vowel-indicators rather than as consonants.

16. Alef, H, Ṿ, Y [‘aHaṾiY]: ḥiluf, ḥisaron, yitron / אהו”י: חלוף, חסרון, יתרון = ‘interchange, lack, and surplus of the letters Alef, H, Ṿ, Y [‘aHaṾiY]’.

17. Nun: ḥiluf, ḥisaron, yitron / נו”ן: חלוף, חסרון, יתרון = ‘interchange, lack, and surplus of the letter nun’. (Note: the number 17 is given in the alpha-numeric form טו’ב = ‘good’.)

18. ‘Furtive pattaḥ’ (Latin: patach furtivum): When and how is the short-a vowel pataḥ added as a glide-vowel before a final guttural consonant H, Ḥ, ‘Ayin / הח”ע?

19. Rules of BGD KPT / בגד כפת (see above no. 6), including: a BGD KPT letter that immediately follows a Y, H, Ṿ, or Alef will be aspirated; and four exceptions to that rule, indicated by the sign M-M-D-Alef / ממד”א.

20. Additional rules of BGD KPT / בגד כפת: additional exceptions.

21. Ḳamats/Ḳamets ḥaṭaf/ḥaṭuf / קמץ חטף, literally a ‘grabbed ḳamatz’ viz. one that functions as a short o-vowel rather than a long-a vowel.

22. Otiyot ha-shimush / אותיות השמוש, viz. letters that serve as prepositions attached as prefixes.

23. Shimush ha-shin / שמוש השין: the service provided by the letter shin / ש attached as a prefix.

24. Shimush ha-he / שמוש הה’א: the service provided by the letter he / ה attached as a prefix: definite article.

25. Kelale ha-he / כללי הה’א: Rules for the letter he / ה as the definite article.

26. An additional rule for the letter he / ה as the definite article: vowel modification before non-doubleable consonants.

27. Vocative he / ה.

28. Rhetorical he / ה.

29. Interrogative he / ה.

30. Shimush ha-ṿaṿ … leḥaber / שמוש הוא”ו … לחבר: the service provided by the [attached prefix] ṿaṿ … is to serve as a conjunction. What vowel it takes in various environments.

31. When the ṿaṿ is vocalized with a ḳamats/ ḳamets (= long a-vowel) / … אזי תנקד הוא”ו קמץ.

32. If the consonant after the ṿaṿ is a yod that would have been vocalized with a schwa, the yod’s vowel becomes quiescent, and the ṿaṿ is vocalized with a ḥiriḳ (= a [long] I-vowel) / ואם יבא אחר הוא”ו אות יו”ד הנקודה בשו”א אז תנוח היו”ד … והואו תנקד בחירק.

33. Ṿaṿ-conversive / וא”ו ההיפוך: An additional service provided by the letter ṿaṿ: to convert [a verb] from the past [tense] to the future, and from the future to the past / עוד הוא”ו משמשת להפך מעבר לעתיד ומעתיד לעבר.

34. Differentiation between conjunctive and conversive ṿaṿs.

35. Modification of ṿaṿ’s vowel when it precedes a guttural vocalized with a reduced vowel.

36. Shimush ha-kaf / שמוש הכ’ף = ‘the service provided by the [attached prefix] kaf’: kaf ha-dimyon / כ’ף הדמיון = ‘kaf of comparison’.

37. Kaf ha-shi‘ur / כף השיעור = ‘kaf of evaluation’.

38. Vocalizations of kaf ha-dimyon / כ’ף הדמיון = ‘kaf of comparison’.

39. Shimush ha-lamed / שמוש הלמ”ד = ‘the service provided by the [attached prefix] lamed’: moreh … ha-ḳiruv / מורה … הקירוב = ‘it indicates closeness’.

40. Shimush ha-bet / שמוש הבי’ת = ‘the service provided by the [attached prefix] bet’: bet ha-tokh / בית התוך = ‘the bet of being within; and it spatially limits the relation of being within’.

41. Vocalization of the attached prefixes K, L, B / כל”ב. 42. Three types of words: shem, po‘al, milah / שם, פעל, מלה = ‘noun, verb, conjunction (literally: word)’. Elaboration of each category.

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