AN INTRODUCTORY GRAMMAR OF RABBINIC HEBREW BY
MIGUEL PEREZ
FERNANDEZ
TRANSLATED BY J O H N ELWOLDE
BRILL LEIDEN • N...
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AN INTRODUCTORY GRAMMAR OF RABBINIC HEBREW BY
MIGUEL PEREZ
FERNANDEZ
TRANSLATED BY J O H N ELWOLDE
BRILL LEIDEN • NEW Y O R K • K O L N 1997
Published with financiad support from the Direccion General del libro y Bibliotecas del KCnisterio de Cuitura, Spain. Originally published in 1992 as La lengua de los sahios, I. MorfosintajoS, by Editorial Verbo Divino, Estella, Spain. © Copyright of the Spanish edition: Editorial Verbo Divino, 1992 and Institucion San Jeronimo, 1992.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufiiahme Perez Fernandez, Miguel: An introductory grammar of rabbinic Hebrew / by Miguel Perez Fernandez. Transl. by John Elwolde. - Leiden ; New York ; Koln Brill, 1997 ISBN 90-04^10890-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is also available
ISBN
90 04 10890 4
© Copyright 1997 by Kontnklijke Bull, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Bnll provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. PRI^^rED I N T H E
NETHERLANDS
FOREWORD
This practical teaching grammar for students who already have a reasonable knowledge of Biblical Hebrew was initially developed over the period 1990 to 1992 as a handbook for courses in Rabbinic Hebrew at the University of Granada. Each unit concludes with vocabulary and twenty exercise texts re lating to the grammatical point at issue in the unit. The exercises are gener ally drawn from tannaitic literature, and the student should find everything required to deal with them in the book. Many of the early exercises come from Abot, which, although not typical of the Mishnah, is more accessible to the beginner in rabbinic language and thought. Each unit is divided into six sections: Introductory text. Morphology (including a presentation of diachronic matters). Grammar and usage. Phraseology, Vocabulary, and Exercises. The introductory texts and short explanations are designed to introduce the student to the language and con cepts of the tannaim. Each introductory text exhibits the linguistic feature covered by the unit, although it serves primarily as a starting-point for dis cussion of literary, theological, historical, and methodological issi^s. Overall, the work is divided into four parts: Nouns (including pronouns and adjectives). Verbs, Particles (including prepositions, conjunctions, and adverbs), and Clauses. The part dealing with clauses includes sentence syn tax and the use of the conjunctions, but excludes the syntax of the noun and of the verb, which are dealt with in thefirsttwo parts. The Introduction gives an account of the present state of Rabbinic Hebrev^ research, including a discussion of (1) the relationships of early—or tannaitic—Rabbinic Hebrew to its later—or amoraic—variety, to classical and later Biblical Hebrew, and to the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and (2) the nature of Rabbinic Hebrew as a spoken language in the light of mod em studies in phonetics, vocabulary, and dialect. The Bibliography at the close of the book should be helpful to readers wishing to pursue particular is sues further, although it is not exhaustive. It is not only the pedagogical orientation of this book that clearly sets it apart from M.H. Segal*s A Grammar ofMishnaic Hebrew (Oxford, 1927), but also its use of manuscripts—rather than printed editions—of the Mishnah (notably Codex Kaufmann), its general avoidance of later—amoraic—^Rab binic Hebrew, and its inclusion of texts from the early midrashim. Texts from the Mishnah follow either C. Albeck's edition or, if preceded by *K', Codex Kaufmann. For the Tosefta, the editions of M.S. Zuckermandel and S. Lieberman are followed, and for the Mekhilta, Sifra, Sifre to Num bers, and Sifre to Deuteronomy, those of J.S Lauterbach, I.H. Weiss, H.S. Horovitz, and L. Finkelstein, respectively.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I owe a large debt of gratitude to everyone who helped me during the two years I spent preparing the original volume, in particular to Professor Giinter Stemberger of the University of Vienna and Professor Luis Gir6n, of the Complutensian University, Madrid, who read and annotated the first draft in detail, to my colleagues Jos6 Ramdn Ayaso and Lola Ferre, who helped me with the indices, and to my niece, Esther, for her assistance in computing matters. Dr J.F. Elwolde of the Dept. of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield, brought the Spanish original to the attention of scholars through his review in The Society for Old Testament Study Book List of 1993. His English version incorporates many minor additions and corrections as well as an improved bibliography and a greatly expanded set of indices. We are extremely grateful to Anne Lee, a student in Dr Elwolde's department, who entered the vast bulk of the exercises into the computer, and who, with Rosemarie Kossov, a graduate student, helped with the proofreading; thanks are due as well to Martin F.J. Baasten of the University of Leiden, for his help with the passage from Contini on p. 186, and Kate Dove Davis, a colleague of Dr Elwolde, who helped with the production of the camera-ready copy. We should also like to record our thanks to the publishers, E.J. Brill, especially in the persons of Hans van der Meij, who oversaw the commissioning and progress of the translation, and Anne Folkertsma and her successor, Mattie Kuiper, for their helpfulness at the beginning and end of the publishing process. The publica tion has been funded in large measure by a grant to the publishers from the Direccion General del Libro y Bibliotecas of the Ministerio de Cuitura in Madrid and was undertaken as part of a research project, Lengua y Uteratura del Judaismo Cldsico, sponsored by the Ministerio de Educaci6n y Ciencia (PB93/1161). Miguel P6rez Fem^dez Granada, March 1997
CONTENTS
Foreword Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction I, The language of the Torah by itself, the language of the wise by itself. 2. Tannaitic Hebrew (RHl) and Amoraic Hebrew (RH2). 3. RHl, a spoken language. 4. Foreign in fluence in vocabulary and the legacy of Biblical Hebrew (BH). 5. BH and RHl—two different languages. 6. RHl, LBH (Late Biblical Hebrew), and the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls. 7. Influence of BH on RHl. 8. Differences be tween manuscripts and printed editions. 9. Rabbinic He brew (RH) phonetics. 10. Traditions and dialects of RHl. I I . Conclusion.
v vi xxi 1
Part I
Nouns
Unit I
Personal pronouns 1-2. Abot 1.1: transmission of the Torah. 3. BH and RH personal pronouns. 4. The variations "•^KAD^K, 13t^/13nW 13n:, n«/nnt^, nr^/]nt^, Dn/]n. 5. Suffixed pronouns; use of *nt^pir\, t^p', for BH mbtpn and for BH I'^ptDpri (]t^pr) and ]'h^p' sometimes used). 3 - 4 . Absence of BH cohortatives (n^ppiSJ, nb^pd and jussives (|DKn). 5. Biblical and Aramaizing conjugations of 7l\T}, 6. Confusion of lamed-alef and lamed'he verbs: t^np'»7tp^. E . Other temporal adverbs: H^iiZJt^lS, n*P^nn. 9. Interjections. A. In troducing discourse: n n , ^n/^Tl/^T); -12? ''IH. B. Exclama tions: "in, •'^^H. c . D. ''^hni, E. n K i n . 10. Other interjectional forms: n^npjjpn, nil3i?n,D''pi^n, Di*:??^10n. 11. Negative propositions. A. ^b, y^r\^, ntD^nikb and fCDii^ftfi distinguished from ntoPH^l^K. B. I^b, C. ^3. D. nw, D^^3.12. Oaths and vows. 13. Wishes. A. Expression of hope, fear, desire via imperfect. B. "*t^l'?ni, ^t^lfpr«1>rK1>.C. Formulas with 14. b'0\ as inter rogative or introducing rejected opinion. IS. "}DI^31 b''^']n -©jnD.imo 3inDn 'p^iB') ,ono m i r a ' t r . 16. *?i3p3.
171
CONTENTS
xvii
Part IV Clauses Unit 24 Types of clause !• Mek 13.2: the second liberation will be superior to the first; argument in form of Icelal. 2. Nominal and verbal clauses: traditional classification; Arabic-based classifica tion; problems of analysing emphasis based on word-order, clauses of identification, clauses of classification; simple and complex nominal clauses; importance of wider context for interpretation; emphasis in veAal clauses. 3. Co-ordina tion and subordination at syntactic and logical levels. 4. Two-element syntactic construction (protasis and apodosis). 5. Expression of subordination through co-ordinate structures in RH. 6. Two-element conditional constructions in halakhot. 7. Asyndetic juxtaposition of main verb and auxiliary. 8. Negation of verbal clauses. 9. Anticipation of element in subordinate clause as object of main clause, es pecially with "1T2, ntoI?Q. 10. Modal nominal clauses (circumstantial clauses); negation of nominal clauses; atemporal nature of nominal clauses. 11. Nominative abso lute {casus pendens): as version of two-element syntactic construction; types found in RH: extraposed element re ferred to by pronoun in main clause; commencing with -2? ''D or noun + -0; resumptive use of HO + pronoun refer ring to extraposed element; in halakhic disputes; in me shalim: in statements of comparison; determination of ca sus pendens by *r^. 12. Adjectival (relative) clauses. 13. Disjunctive clauses: 1^^,-1, -2?lK... Dt^l... 0«, Di^ ... DH. 14. m y\^\ f t^l, etc.
181
Unit 25 Interrogative clauses 1. SNm 87.1: grace and law. 2-3. Interrogative particles of BH and RH. 4. The rhetorical question -Cpflirts. 5. -H, K*pn. 6. ov, "^Hj-^n no o i , i r « "DI h q 'IBO 7. u^bD. 8. Direct disjunctive questions with i«. 9. Indirect ques tions; disjunctive indirect questions with D^,-^!^. 10. - 2 ? p i r « . 1 1 . - V ] » n n , -b r^m n o , -*:»^ii{nD, etc. 1 2 .
191
Unit 26 Comparative clauses 1. SDt 8: a rabbinic 'parable of the talents*. 2. RH compar ative particles - 3 , iD3, nlQD. 3. Compounds of -^: l ? ? , "]"113, n.^, -3t^iJV3.4. RH comparative conjunctions: -9 iD3, niDD, -0 D03, -0 ^ n ? , -0 y2P3, ^*?^l^3; with
197
xviii
CONTENTS modal adverbs "^3, ^K. 5. Adjectives and comparisons of superiority, inferiority; n ? . 6. Compound prepositions. A. 1 2 5 3 , B- ^ 1 1 3 . C • -3 t^:?r3. 7. -0O2?3, -0 -^-n?, -0 yV??» 8. Formulas expressing analogy: HQ as compara tive particle. A. Gezerah shawah: ^tft... HD. B. Heqqesh: ... HD. C. G^z/ wa-homer: Dtj^ HD + -0 IDm bj?, t^^H ] n , lrH{, np3i n a p n m b v , D . '"^3y^i!!{... ''nio^ot^. 9. Equalizing comparisons: HO HT iKD^, -3 ... nitoi?*?. 10. In clusive formulas of comparison: -3t^^9'^ . . . - 3 , -'p \kb0) -2? ]"3n...-2? f 3 , ]''3 ... i^s, n n m ... nnK/int<j. nmi. 11. p iD3.12. t^-HM^n© nlD3.13. i'^'j^^ WV^-'
Unit 27 Temporal clauses 1. SNm 58.1: the thirteenth rule of Rabbi Ishmael; the harmonization of Scripture. 2-3. Lists of temporal conjunc tions in BH and RH. 4. Subordination conveyed through parataxis. 5. Simultaneous action expressed through juxta posed nominal clause. 6. Perfect, participle with tempo ral/conditional significance, 7. New conjunctions in RH due to loss of consecutive tenses. 8. -03. 9. A. With imperfect. B-C. With perfect (and IV), 10. IV, A. With imperfect. B. \kb0 IV. C. Used modally: with HKl. D. Used exegetically. 11. -C? "13 "^4?. 12.-0 C l i p , -0nnR; -0nn»*?. 13. -0 ]V3, 14. -0'nD*'^. i s . Compounds with ni?0 and ]DT. A. -0|DT*P3, -^HV^by, distributive, condi tional/modal, comparative uses. B. Temporal aspect not always central. 16. f 13 'b iZ?! 1 ? ^ " ^b^ IV,
205
Unit 28 Conditional clauses 1. Ned 3.11: circumcision. 2. Conditional particles of BH and LBH. 3. RH conditional particles: m; "h.'bt^ replaced by "ib}^, t^b^btifi, \^bob^; t>\^^ (comparative); I'PQK (conces sive); -0 13'?31. 4. Formulation of conditions without con ditional particle. A. With perfect, participle in protasis. B. -01[:iKn, "b "^^li^l. S. Two-member halakhic conditional statements: -0 ''D, etc.; -1 ^'*Hin. 6. -0 '•in introducing condi tion. 7. Uses of Dt^. A. In real conditions; apodosis with n n ; with perfect, especially indicting future perfect; with participle; with imperfect, especially of 1 ^ 1 . B. With n^l + participle, expressing pluperfect. C. I^^O^l expressing al ternative negative condition. D. In indirect questions. E. In oath formulas. F . In qal wa-homer arguments. 8. Irreal particles. A. ^b\^, B. ^"PD^/^*?"?^. C. 'ib^3, D. ^bnb^. E . 'bt^, 9. piiD^ 'tyir^b DK. lo. 3TI3 Kipp ^bnbk.
213
CONTENTS
xix
Unit 29 Causal clauses 1. Pes 10.5: reliving the first passover. 2. Table of causal conjunctions in BH and RH. 3. Disappearance of ''D and with causal force in RH. 4. -CD b^'yD^ as evidence of natural development of RH. 5. -I'^'^t^ln. 6. Causal uses of -0: explicative -0; DK0; 101^30; -0 compounded for greater expressivity. 7. -0'*3SQ. 8.'"-0Dl^-0D^D. 9. l-^Xmbv -^UDbv. 10. -0"S'?'. 1 1 . -0'*P"n05. A. With imperfect, expressing purpose. B. With participle or noun, expressing cause. 12. -0 "HIKD. 13. -0*71?. 14. -1*P''Hln. A. As fulfilled real condition. B. Marking protasis in comparison, with apodosis in n n , "^3, C. Introducing consideration in rabbinic argument. 15. nninn'ipK'l*P''t^in.
221
Unit 30 Final and consecutive clauses 229 1. Sanh 4.5: uniqueness and interdependence of human be ings. 2. Final/consecutive in LBH; table of final con junctions in BH and RH; origin of t^Q0. 3. Table of con secutive conjunctions in BH and RH. 4. Expression of finaHty through coordination with -1 in BH and RH. 5A. -h + infinitive. 5B. -h 5C. introducing exegetical infini tive. 6. Final and exegetical -0. 7 . -0b"'?05. 8. -0nD, •b n.?. A. Distinguishing uses of -0 and forms as final conjunctions. B. n ? in statements of quantity. 9. -2? rm bv, -b rap bv. lO. -0 ^KiV} bV: as adverbial modifier and as conjunction. 11. HD0/HP0: with adverbial and con junctional values; expressing fear or insecurity; replacing BH ]S. A. As negative final conjunction. B. As adverb. C. As preventive final conjunction. 12. Consecutive clauses. A. Expression of consecutive value through coordination with -1 in BH and RH. B. -0 n.D with consecutive value. C. -0, ^*P0 following exclamation or emphatic adjective. 13.
-0^«n0':f5nri. Unit 31 Concessive clauses 1. SNm 119.2: the 'liberated* tribe. 2. Concessive particles in BH and RH. 3. Conditional clauses expressing conces sion; ^^'^St^ expressing simple condition. 4. Expression of concessive value through coordination with or without -1. 5. ^*?Qt$: emphasizing unusualness of circumstance. 6.
-03 ^1^!:. 7A. -0 "B bv 7B. ]D npt!^30 nni*? npt n^^^i.
bV
8.
"•S bv ^«
239
XX
CONTENfTS
Unit 32 Adversative clauses 1. SDt 313: Abraham's love for God. 2 - 3 . Adversative, restrictive, and exceptive particles in BH, LBH, and RH. 4. Copulative -1 with adversative value. A. Linking two op posing terms or concepts. B. With different tenses in coor dinated clauses. C. With personal pronoun following -1; -^mm, 5.b:i\^AVib b'lW, b3« ... r^M*:? contrasted with KVH ... Dt^ bn^, -3 ^3». 6. A. ... fKM*P, sometimes emphasized by "T^'^^. B . t^*?^ O K^. C. ... yv^; ... nnt> TO^n O. t^^, -^t^^l^J, with out preceding negative. 7 . - 0 1 3 ^ 3 ^ . 8 . ]D p n . 9.
244
Bibliography
255
Indices Texts Hebrew and Aramaic forms Verb conjugations (binyanim) Types of verbal root Forms of the paradigm verb bop Noun patterns (mishqalim) Forms from other Semitic languages Greek forms Latin forms English glosses
267 276 303 304 304 305 305 305 306 306
ABBREVIATIONS
Mishnah tractates Abot Arakh AZ BB Ber Bes Beich Bik BM BQ Dem Eduy Erub Git Hag Hal Hor Hul kel Ker Ket Kil Ma'asrot Mak Makhsh Meg Mei Men Mid Miqw MQ MS
Abot *Arakhin 'Abodah Zarah Baba Batra Berakhot Besah Bekhorot Bikkurim Baba Mesi'a Baba Qama Dema'i 'Eduyyot *Erubin Gittin Hagigah Hallah Horayot HuUin Kelim Keritot Ketubot KiFaim Ma'a^rot Makkot Makhshirin Megillah Me'illah Menahot Middot Miqwa'ot Mo*ed Qatan Ma'aser Sheni
Naz Ned Neg Nid Ohol Orl Par Pea Pes Qid Qin RS Sanh Shab Shebi Shebu Sheq Sot Suk Taa Tarn Teb Tern Ter Toh Uqs Yad Yeb Yom Zab Zeb
Nazir Nedarim Negaim Niddah Oholot 'Orlah Parah Pe'ah Pesahim Qiddushin Qinnim Rosh ha-Shanah Sanhedrin Shabbat Shebi *it Shebu'ot Sheqalim Sotah Suickah Ta'anit Tamid Tebul Yom Temurah Terumot Tohorot *Uqsin Yadaim Yebamot Yoma Zabim Zebahim
xxii
ABBREVIATIONS Other rabbinic texts
ARN F H K L Mek PesR PRE S SDt SLv SNm j Tos W
Abot de Rabbi Nathan, 'A* text, numbered according to the 1987 translation of M* Angeles Navairo Peir6 L. Finkelstein's 1939 edition of Sifre to Deuteronomy H.S. Horovitz's 1917 edition of Sifre to Numbers Codex Kaufmann of the Mishnah J.Z. Lauterbach's 1933-35 edition of Mekhilta Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael (followed by Exodus chapter and verse reference) Pesiqta Rabbati Pirqe de Rabbi EHezer, numbered according to the 1984 translation of M. P6rez Femdndez S. Schechter's 1887 edition of Abot de Rabbi Nathan Sifre to Deuteronomy Sifra (followed by Leviticus chapter and verse reference) Sifre to Numbers Talmud Jerushalmi (Jerusalem, or Palestinian, Talmud) Tosefta (according to MSS Erfurt and Vienna) I.H. Weiss's 1862 edition of Sifra
Books of the Bible Gn Ex Lv Nm Dt Jos Jg 1 S 2 S 1 K 2 K Is Jr Ezk Ho Jl Am Ob Jon Mc Na HbZp HgZcMl PsJbPrRu CaEcLm Est Dn EzrNe 1 C 2 C Mt Mk Lk Jn Act Rm 1 Co 2 Co Gal Eph Ph Col 1 T 2 T Tit Phlm Hbr Jm 1 P 1 J 2 J 3 J Ju Rv
Other abbreviations (see also Bibliography) AH BH LBH RH RHl RH2
Archaic Hebrew (of early biblical poetry and of inscriptions) ('Classical') Biblical Hebrew (especially of pre-exihc prose) Late Biblical Hebrew Rabbinic Hebrew Rabbinic Hebrew of the tannaim ('Mishnaic Hebrew') Rabbinic Hebrew of the amoraim
INTRODUCTION
1. The language of the Torah by itself the language of the wise by itself The student who reads a Rabbinic Hebrew text for the first time will usually be surprised and somewhat disconcerted by a series of striking differences from the grammar of Biblical Hebrew, among them the following: Merger of final mem and nun, with masculine plurals usually ending in nun; Relative particle -0 instead of l??t^; Genitive particle ^0 'of, partially replacing the construct chain of classical BibUcal Hebrew; Very frequent use of JTH 'be' with participle; Complete disappearance of the w. 7. Aramaic influence is also visible in the addition to H^'^pfp-type nouns of the suffix nv, expressing verbal action (see Unit 9.10), for example n^b*'D2 'fulfilment, act of fulfilHng', m^*^©] 'elevation, act of raising up'.
6
INTRODUCTION
8. Aramaic has been instrumental in changes of gender in certain words—for example, 013 *cup' is feminine in BH, with the feminine plural niote attested in RH (Pes 10.1), but in the singular it is treated as masculine for the purpose of agreement with adjectives: ]i2?HnOi3 'first cup' (Pes 10.2). 9. Numerous Aramaic particles have entered RHl, for example l^^P 'not', generally used iti disjimctives or as an alternative—negative—ccMidition ('and if not'; see Units 23.1 IB; 28.7C). The adversative 'but rather' is simply a contracted form of Aramaic ]K—^the BH equivalent is 10. Although the relative particle is a native Hebrew fonn, the extent of its use has been influenced by the Aramaic relative '1. However, it has been emphasized that not all the Aramaisms of RH are nec essarily of recent origin, with some deriving from a common Semitic substra tum, and others reflecting a reverse influence, of RH on Aramaic. Statements about the correspondence of the two languages in other areas, such as the syntax of the verb, Ukewise have to be formulated with care.
4.3 Greek and Latin loanwords See Unit 12. Although there is an abundance of Greek words in RHl, which became even more pronounced in RH2 (however, it is not always clear when a form entered the language), Greek has not had any significant effect on the morphological or syntactic structure of Hebrew, but has simply enriched the lexicon of RH. The following are a few of the more obvious examples. 1. Loan-translations (caiques), translated verbatim from Greek into Hebrew, include rilQH HQ'^ 'you have spoken well (literally, 'beautifully')' (xaX&q exicaq) and DipD'^PDO 'in every case (literally, 'from every place')' (ex navxbq tp6icot>). 2. Greek words ending in -r| usually have a Hebrew plural in -a'ot, which recalls to some degree the plurals -ai and -ae of Greek and Latin (see Units 10.6; 12.5C). Some native Hebrew words have also adopted this fea ture in their plurals, for example Hit^lpD from TT)pU 'ritual bath'. 3. Various Greek words compounded with apxi- ('chief) have passed into RH, for example '•pnr"'DnH 'chief judge' (apxiiudex) (Genesis Rabbah 50.2). In Abot 1.8, there is a striking example, in which this Greek prefix has been placed before a native Hebrew word, yielding the sequence U^Tl ''DIH, found in Codex Kaufmann and later rather clumsily erased in order to Hebraize dpxi- as ^Dl1i? 'arrangers of (see Sznol 19«>). 4. Only a few verbs are taken from Greek (Moreshet 1980a lists just thirty from Greek and Latin), of which some are native Hebrew denominalizations of loanwords, for example 003 'base' (fromPdcn^ 'base'), 2^1 'join' (fromH/^et)Yo ViXirh (see Units 9.5C; 15.4A, E). A few instances of the same phenomenon are ahready attested in BH, for example t^n*? 'to bring' < KOH^ (Jr 39.7; 2 C 31.10) and 1*PID33 'in his stumbling' < fy^irq (Pr 24.17). 3. Alefai the beginning or end of a word may lose its consonantal value and function simply as a mater lectionis. For example, the verb l^ti 'remain' has given rise in RH to a Pi'el form T 0 'he abandoned', which uses the same pattern that is found in the Pi'el of Dip 'arise', namely, D'p 'he established'. Continuing the analogy with Olp, we may surmise that the Qal foim of It^S? was pronounced not 'he left', but without the alef as 'W, just like Dp 'he arose' (see Units 15.4B; 17.4B). We also find that original lamed-alef verbs can be treated as though they were lamed-he~giwing rise to such forms as ^3t^1p and ^r"1p 'we called' and IDt^^D and ^3"'2iD 'we found' (see Unit 17.5A)—and vice-versa—thus, some lamed-he verbs take an ate/when suffixes are attached, for example 'he prepared them' (Par 3.5) and ITTW^V 'they prepared him' (Toh 1.5). Similarly, at the beginning of a word alef cm alternate with he, and we cannot be sure whether the written forms and ]yT\ 'where?' or T\1M and nisn 'haggadah, legend'—in which thefirstform in each pair corresponds to the Palestinian tradition and the second to the Babylonian—reflect different pronunciations in which Aramaic influence has had an effect on the weaken ing/confusion of the gutturals. 4. There is clear evidence thsit het continued to receive a guttural pro nunciation. Even in the amoraic era, the Greek word KXe%G\>bpa 'bowl' was transcribed as ^y^O ^*?n (Genesis Rabbah 49), and in Miqw 9.4 het is con fused with fricative kaf, 'soilings of < ""Ui^^nb, 5. In respect of the bgdkpt consonants, RH has clearly taken part in a general process of spirantization evident in Hebrew and Aramaic dialects of the period, and we find Greek chi regularly transcribed as kaf for example fc^pnsn 'prefecture' ( E 7 C A P % { a ) and OIDHD'^'PIQ 'general'(7coXeM.apxo