----- Original Message Follows -----
From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk@...>
To: aramaic@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [aramaic] re: Is this a valid use of Aramaic?
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 12:46:51 +0000

> On 10/02/2005 02:08, Trevor Peterson wrote:
>
> >... By
> >contrast, the he of the -yah suffix in Hebrew compounds
> > is consonantal.
> >
>
> Trevor, this one isn't actually quite true, if we are
> talking about forms found in the Hebrew Bible (including
> in the Aramaic sections e.g. Xananya and `Azarya in
> Daniel 2:17). In the Hebrew word YAH, an abbreviated form
> of YHWH most commonly found in Hallelu-Yah, the final he
> is marked with mappiq and so consonantal. But in other
> Hebrew names ending in -yah (in traditional
> transliterations), the ending has no mappiq in he and so
> the he is a silent mater, although this ending is clearly
> an abbreviation of -yahu which has a consonantal H sound.
> The only exception to this is Yedidyah in 2 Samuel 12:25,
> which has a final mappiq.

Thanks for the correction. I was thinking of the suffix on
hallelu, as well as the longer personal name component
-yahu. In the personal names with shortened form, it
probably was treated as vocalic--at least by the time of the
Masoretes--even though it was probably consonantal
originally. In any case, it's still pretty clearly a
different animal from the Aramaic gentilic ending,
particularly since even though the consonants can be more or
less interchangeable as matres lectionis, they have distinct
origins.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics