In this past week's haftarah we have the pasuk (Yesh 40:31)
וְקוֹיֵ֤ ה׳ יַחֲלִ֣יפוּ כֹ֔חַ יַעֲל֥וּ אֵ֖בֶר כַּנְּשָׁרִ֑ים יָר֙וּצוּ֙ וְלֹ֣א יִיגָ֔עוּ יֵלְכ֖וּ וְלֹ֥א יִיעָֽפוּ׃
For some reason a lot of people misread that first word as "koVei," but the correct pronunciation is "koYei" (see Ibn Ezra Shmos 9:3 and Radak here).
In Tehillim 37:9 we have a similar pasuk:
כִּֽי־מְ֭רֵעִים יִכָּרֵת֑וּן וְקֹוֵ֥י ה׳ הֵ֣מָּה יִֽירְשׁוּ־אָֽרֶץ
There the correct pronunciation is "koVei," not "koYei."
Grammar is not my strong suit, so can someone offer a simple explanation of why what appears to be the same word is pronounced differently in the two pesukim and I will update this post?
(Radak addresses this issue for anyone who wants to try to summarize what he says.)
Simply put, IINM, RaDaQ (echoed by Minchas ShaY) says that the shoresh of T'hilim 37's "v'qovei" is quf-vav-heih while the shoresh of Y'sha'yahu 40's "v'qoyei" is quf-yud-heih (or, at least, that the 2nd letter of the shoresh is yud rather than vav).
ReplyDeleteWhat is the difference in meaning between the two shorashim?
Delete(BTW, that's not how I understood RD"K, but I could be wrong and am happy to run with your idea. Not sure though that it fits Ibn Ezra who says it should be a vav except sometimes a vav gets switched out for a yud.)
> What is the difference in meaning between the two shorashim? <
ReplyDeleteNot to get too deep into phonology, but especially when you consider that the "proper" pronunciation of a vav is /w/ rather than /v/, we all might be better off considering quf-vav-heih and (assuming the other two root letters are the same) quf-yud-heih as variations on one shoresh. For more on the similarity between vav and yud, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Hebrew_phonology#Consonants and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approximant#Semivowels .
> Not sure though that it fits Ibn Ezra who says it should be a vav except sometimes a vav gets switched out for a yud. <
I'm not an expert on ibn Ezra, but perhaps "ha'yud' tachas ha'vav'" (his comment on "v'qovei") doesn't mean what you think it means (and that's assuming "ha'yud'" is a correct representation of what ibn Ezra actually recorded as a comment) -- I suspect ibn Ezra is trying to tell us that the vav acts in this word as a consonant & the yud is essentially silent.