For many examples of an 'open' syllable of the first consonant of a noun, please check the Segolites - Melekh, Keter, Yeled, etc. In this case the stress is of course on the first syllable. No need to discuss here again the origin of this type of Heb. nouns.
As for the irregularity of 'Ehad', this may well be because originally here too the stress was on the first syllable. Notice the pronounciation of same word in Arabic where the stress is on the first syllable. Segol and Tseire are not marked in in ancient Semitic systems, whether Akkadian or Ugaritic, nor do they appear in the vocalization marks of Arabic. That this language definitely has the vowel 'e' is abundantly clear from its constant appearance on the colloquial pronounciations -see for example 'El-Amarna' 'El - Arish' compared with the formal 'Al-Arish'. But to return the Hebrew Het : yes, of course it is a guttural, and so if will be vowelled with a Hataf- Patah. On the other hand,it does appear with a plain Sh'wa: e.g. 'I'll think' - 'Ehshob',similarly the (Ayin: Naga(ti. In short, exception, irregularities exist. All one needs is to consult elemtary Heb. grammer books. Further, ancients, like moderns, simply made mistakes. Complaints should be directed to the masoretes twelve hundred or so years ago. Their mistakes were noted of course by other ancients who followed them. Since the texts were canonized, and could not tempered with, such mistakes were often corrected 'off text':' 'Tiqunei Sof'rim'. Incidentally the term 'virtual' must have entered the vocabulary of Heb. teachers in recent years, as result of computer use. The current term for it in modern Hebrew is 'Hazuy'. Ezov Haqqyr, Uri Hurwitz Great Neck, NY _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
