Tuesday, 1 February 2022

Unused letter pairs in Hebrew?

Continuing with 'rare' double letters. I look at 20 pairs in this post. In subsequent posts I will look at the 37 singles and 10 double letters (which will turn out to not be rare, but only rare as the first two letters of a root. This principle is known as gemination.) 

So the 20 pairs - are they rare?  Yes and no. It's a lot of information. The lists are a somewhat random selection from the available examples.

g't - t'g score 0 hits. 't (tet) is a curious letter, a second t sound. Perhaps the fact that it does not occur adjacent to g is a hint for both of them as to their pronunciation.

gc (0) but cg is frequent where the prefix is 'c' - similar to bp but only where the prefix is 'b'.

For gx there are zero results but for xg, the root ixg exists - used 16 times across 10 books.

ixg vhxigu והציגו and exhibit Amos 5:15
ixg vhxigni והצגני he has exhibited me Job 17:6
ixg vixg ויצג and he exhibited Genesis 30:38

gq (0)

dz (0) but zd (32). Here there is an instance of a vav in a root disappearing in the word and resulting in these two consonants adjacent to each other. I have noted before the tendency of z to become d in Aramaic words. E.g. דכרניא the archives, an aspect of memory zcr in Hebrew. There seems to be some metastasis with d in Dan 2:9.
zvd vizd ויזד and stewed Genesis 25:29
zvd zdim זדים the presumptuous Psalms 119:122
azd azda אזדא has vanished Daniel 2:5
zmn hzdmntun הזדמנתון you cooked up together Daniel 2:9
adr adrzda אדרזדא with excellence Ezra 7:23

d't (0) but 'td  (10)
p+d p'tdt פטדת the topaz of Job 28:19
a+d ha'td האטד the brierpatch Genesis 50:10

hy (2,634) but zero occurrence in any root. I.e. like earlier examples, it is only the h as playing its grammatical roles.

and yh (1,814)
wmy hwmuyh השמועה the report Jeremiah 51:46
ryh riyç רעך your associate Deuteronomy 5:21
ryy ryh רעה evil Jeremiah 51:2
wby nwbyh נשבעה we will be satisfied Psalms 65:5
qrqy hqrqyh הקרקעה towards Qarqaa Joshua 15:3

z't (0), zs (0), zx (0)

ky (2) yk(0) - as suspected and will occur when we get to rarely used words, some are borrowed or are names or both.
irky irky ירחע Yarxa 1 Chronicles 2:34
irky lirky לירחע to Yarxa 1 Chronicles 2:35

'tc (0), 'tx (0)

'tt (1), t't (0)
q+t vq'tt וקטת and Qattat Joshua 19:15

cx (87) all related to the use of c as a prefix. xc (23) all arx with the pronoun suffix cm

cq (41) all related to the use of c as a prefix. qc (1) koqcm your decreed (bricks) Ex 5:14

lr (0) no uses of l with a root beginning with r! rl (138)
yrl yorltm ערלתם their foreskins Genesis 17:23
grl vgorl וגורל and the lot of Leviticus 16:8
yrl -yorlotihm ערלתיהם their foreskins 1 Samuel 18:27
grl lgorlç לגרלך in your lot Daniel 12:13

sx (0)

xt (210) 't' being a grammatical letter and a means of elision, it appears in various guises in these examples.
rvx bmruxtm במרוצתם to their own racing Jeremiah 8:6
iyx yxt עצת the counsel of Jeremiah 49:20
amx aimxtiç אמצתיך I will assure you Isaiah 41:10
qxh umqxt ומקצת and a limited number of Nehemiah 7:69
ixa vhxti והצתי and I will bring forth Jeremiah 50:32
npx vnipxti ונפצתי and I will smash Jeremiah 51:23
ixt iixtu יצתו they will be charred Jeremiah 51:58

tx(207)

xma txmau תצמאו will be thirsty Isaiah 65:13
xvm txumu תצומו you fast Isaiah 58:4
ntx vttxu ותתצו and you have broken down Isaiah 22:10
xmk txmknh תצמחנה they grow Isaiah 42:9
nxl vtxilm ותצילם and you delivered Nehemiah 9:28
ixa -txa תצא you do go forth Jeremiah 38:18
xhl vtxhlu ותצהלו and neigh Jeremiah 50:11


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