BOOK ONE

ON WHAT IS PRONOUNCED OR NOT PRONOUNCED

1 In the formation of syllables, some vowels In this context, Reuchlin refers to the letters Aleph, He, Vav, and Yod, which we now call "matres lectionis" or vowel indicators. are pronounced. Others, however, are not pronounced. For whichever letters possess one of the vowel points, those are pronounced according to the sound of the point attached to them. Exceptions are made for both aspirations The letters He (ה) and Heth (ח). at the end of a syllable when a sheva A Hebrew vowel point ( ְ ) indicating a very short "e" sound or a complete lack of a vowel. is marked under them. An example of the letter he The fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet: ה. is found in the Second Book of Kings, chapter 10: וַהֲרָגָנוּ original: "וַהֲרָגָנוּ" which means: and I killed him. An example of the letter heth The eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet: ח. is in Isaiah 53: וְנֶחְמְדֵהוּ original: "וְנֶחְמְדֵהוּ" which means: and we desired him. These are not pronounced unless another vowel follows. Those letters which have no point, although they are written, are nevertheless not pronounced. Instead, the syllable itself takes its sound from the point that precedes that vowel letter in the same syllable. An exception is the final yod The tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet: י. in three specific cases. The first is when a diphthong is broken by a diaeresis The division of one sound into two distinct syllables. such as in גּוֹי original: "גּוֹי", meaning "nation". In this case, the division makes it a two-syllable word, pronounced "o-i." The second case is when it follows the vowel shurek A vowel point representing the "u" sound ( ּ )., as in תָּלוּי original: "תָּלוּי", which is a three-syllable word meaning: suspended.

The third case is when the letter yod is added as a pronoun to signify "my," as in פָּנַי original: "פָּנַי", which is a three-syllable word meaning: my face. In these three cases, the final vowel yod, although it is not marked with a point, is nonetheless pronounced with its natural sound, which is "I." In all other cases, the rule remains. To explain this more clearly, let us take the first word of the Bible as an example, which is בְּרֵאשִׁית original: "בְּרֵאשִׁית", or bereshit. In this word, you see two vowel letters, namely aleph and yod. Because if you removed the aleph from the word, you would still read it as bereshit. This is because under the consonant resh, there is a point called tzere A vowel point representing a long "e" sound ( ֵ ).. Since the resh and the tzere together make the sound "re," we see that the aleph does not necessarily add to that sound. The same must be judged regarding the vowel letter yod. If it were not written, the consonant shin and the point hiriq A vowel point representing the "i" sound ( ִ ). would still make the sound "shi." Joined with the letter tav, it would become "shit," and thus bereshit. This rule must be considered carefully not only in the middle of words but even more strongly at the end. For the second word of the Bible, בָּרָא original: "בָּרָא", which means: he created, consists of the letter bet with a qamatz A vowel point representing a long "a" sound ( ָ )., making "ba," and a resh with a qamatz, making "ra." Here, the aleph rests and is silent even though it is written. There are times when two vowel letters at the end of a word are silent no matter how often they are written, as in הִיא original: "הִיא", meaning: she. For the letter he and the point hiriq make the sound "hi," and the others are silent. It must also be noted first that the vowel he, which serves as a mark of aspiration, is never pronounced at the end of words, even if...