Prologue

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...the article or attached pronouns, about which we have spoken in the grammar. Sometimes letters are added, for the most part, to nouns for the sake of ornament; and some of them are occasionally placed in the position of vowels These are known as 'matres lectionis,' or 'mothers of reading,' letters used to indicate vowel sounds before the invention of vowel points.. Those letters that are placed at the end of verbs to denote number, person, or gender are the six that follow: וּ (Waw), י (Yod), ה (He), נוּ (Nun-Waw), ן (Nun), ת (Taw). These are contained within this mnemonic word: וְהֵינֹות original: "ve-heinot". Truly, those letters which are prefixed to denote the conjugation or the passive voice are contained in this word: הִנְהֶ original: "hinheh". Moreover, those which are prefixed in the future tense are four, contained in this word: אֵיתָן original: "eitan". Those which are placed at the end of nouns or verbs to denote pronouns composed with them are those that follow: ו (Waw), וֹ (Waw), י (Yod), נָוּ (Nun-Waw), ךָ (Kaph), ךְ (Kaph), ן (Nun), ם (Mem), נוּ (Nun-Waw), ה (He), הָ (He).

Those letters used in composition to represent conjunctions, articles, relatives, or prepositions are seven; they are contained in these two words: מֹשֶׁה וְכָלֵב original: "Moshe ve-Kalev" (Moses and Caleb). For the letter ו (Waw), when it comes at the beginning of a word, is not part of the substance of that word but is placed there for a conjunction, as will be said below. Also, at the end of a word, ו (Waw) or י (Yod) cannot be substantial letters part of the root except in very few places. And this letter ה (He) is sometimes placed at the beginning of a word in the place of an article, just as in our common language Spanish we say el, la, los, las. Sometimes it is placed as an interrogative or as an exclamation, as was said above in the grammar. And this letter ש (Shin) is sometimes placed for the relative pronoun who, which, that of every gender and both numbers. And this letter ב (Beth) is placed for the preposition in. The letter ל (Lamed) is truly the article for the dative or genitive case; it is also sometimes placed for to or toward. And this letter מ (Mem) is placed in the stead of the prepositions from, by, concerning, or out of.

Truly, the letters which are sometimes placed in the position of vowels are four: א (Aleph), ה (He), ו (Waw), י (Yod). It is to be noted that these four letters א ב ה ש Aleph, Beth, He, Shin, when they are placed in the middle or end of a word, are always substantial; but the other seven contained in these two words, מֹשֶׁה וְכָלֵב Moses and Caleb, can be accidental grammatical additions, whether they are placed at the beginning or the end of a word. The letters which are sometimes added to words for the sake of ornament are six, contained in this word: הַאֲמַנְתָּיו original: "ha'amantiv".

There are, furthermore, some verbs which in the process of conjugation sometimes lose one letter out of their three substantial letters, or even two. This happens in four ways. First, when they lose the first substantial letter. Second, when they lose the middle one. Third, when they lose the last one. Fourth, when they lose the first and the last. Truly, the verbs which lose the first substantial letter are those whose first substantial letter is one of these three: י (Yod), נ (Nun), ל (Lamed). For example: יָדַע yada, meaning 'he knew', לָקַח laqach, meaning 'he took', נָגַשׁ nagash, meaning 'he approached'. And this letter ל (Lamed) is only lost in the aforementioned verb לָקַח (laqach), namely in the future, the imperative, and the infinitive, as was said above. Those which lose the middle letter are those whose middle substantial letter is ו (Waw) or י (Yod). For example: שׁוּב shuv, meaning 'return', בִּין bin, meaning 'understand'; the infinitive of these verbs contains three substantial letters. Those which lose the last letter are those that end in ה (He), such as גָלָה galah, meaning 'he revealed', or those whose last letter is doubled, such as סָבַב savav, meaning 'he multiplied' or 'went around'. For then one of those is lost in the course of conjugation. Those which lose the first and the last are those whose first substantial letter is נ (Nun) and the last is ה (He) or נ (Nun), such as נָטָה natah, meaning 'he stretched out' or נָתַן natan, meaning 'he gave'.

And so that those things said above may be made manifest, let us place an example in some verbs and nouns, so that we may discern which letters are substantial from their primitive root, which are accidental, and which are missing. For the sake of example, take this word וַיַלְבִּשֵׁהוּ vayalbishi-hu, which in Hebrew is one composite word and signifies: and they caused him to be clothed. In this, the first letter, which is ו (Waw), is placed as a conjunction. And the second

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letter, which is ה (He), and the fifth The text says fifth, likely counting the vowel-letter, which is י (Yod), denote that the verb is of the third conjugation the Hiphil or causative stem. The seventh letter, which is ו (Waw), denotes the third person plural. The eighth and ninth letters, which are ה (He) and ו (Waw), denote the singular pronoun of the third person, namely him, which is composed with the aforementioned verb. There remain, therefore, three letters: ל (Lamed), ב (Beth), ש (Shin), which in the third person singular indicative of the first conjugation make לָבַשׁ lavash, meaning 'he clothed', which is the primitive of the aforementioned word.

Let us again set an example in defective verbs. Let this word be the example: וַיִּתֵּן vayitten, here interpreted with a suffix, meaning he will give me. In this, the first י (Yod) designates the third person of the future; and the last ן (Nun) and י (Yod) constitute the pronoun of the first person, namely me, which is composed with the aforementioned verb. There remain, therefore, two letters: ת (Taw) and נ (Nun). And because the aforementioned verb is of the nature of defective verbs, which in the process of conjugation lose the first substantial letter נ (Nun), therefore by adding נ (Nun) to the aforementioned two letters at the beginning, it becomes נָתַן natan, meaning 'he gave', which is the primitive of the aforementioned word.

Let us set an example in a single noun: הַמַּמְמֹונִי Note: The Latin describes a word beginning with Taw, likely תְּמוּנָה 'temunah' or similar, though the OCR shows a different Hebrew string, meaning increase or multiplication. In this, the first ת (Taw) is from the letters הַאֲמַנְתָּיו ha'amantiv which are sometimes added to the beginning of a noun, as said above. The final ת (Taw) denotes the feminine gender. Truly, ו (Waw) is placed in the stead of the u vowel. There remain, therefore, two letters: מ (Mem) and ן (Nun), whose primitive is מָנָה manah or מָנַן manan, meaning he multiplied. For, as was said, the final ה (He) of a primitive and a letter which is doubled are sometimes lost in derivatives.

Let another example be set in another noun: בְּמִשְׁמֶרֶת be-mishmeret, meaning 'in your custody/guard'. Its primitive is שָׁמַר shamar, meaning 'he guarded', because the first letter, which is ב (Beth), is placed for the preposition in; and the letter מ (Mem) which follows is of the letters added to the beginning of a noun, as said above. The ת (Taw) denotes the feminine gender; the final ך (Kaph) designates the pronoun your, which is composed with the aforementioned noun. And let these things spoken thus far suffice concerning the primitives of verbs.

Regarding the knowledge of the primitives of nouns and other indeclinable words which are not derived from verbs, it should be noted: that first all accidental letters are to be cast aside—those which denote number, the article, or a preposition—as well as the letters which are customarily added for the sake of ornament, or those which designate pronouns composed with them. Just as was said concerning verbal nouns, once these are rejected, the letters that remain are the substantial ones. For example: לַאֲבֹותֵינוּ la'avoteinu, meaning 'to our fathers'. Take away the ל (Lamed) of the dative, and the ו (Waw), ת (Taw), and י (Yod) designating the plural, and the נ (Nun) and ו (Waw) designating the possessive pronoun of the first person plural; the remaining letters are א (Aleph) and ב (Beth), which is אָב av, meaning 'father', the first word in the dictionary.

And because to find the primitive of any derivative word one must have knowledge of Hebrew grammar—in which those things mentioned above are more fully contained—and since this does not happen for everyone (since even among the Hebrews themselves they learn the Hebrew Bible more by use than by art, and a man learned in his own grammar is scarcely found among them), therefore, in the Bible which we have taken care to print, the primitives of words whose discovery would not be easy for everyone will be noted in the margin.

Nevertheless, in some words it will not be necessary to note the primitives in the margin; namely, in those which contain the letters of the primitive, neither more nor less, although there may be some difference in meaning or in the points vowel marks. For example: דָּבָר davar, meaning 'death' or 'pestilence', whose primitive is דִּבֶּר dibber, meaning 'he spoke'; and פָּקַד paqad, meaning 'visiting' whose primitive is פָּקַד paqad, meaning 'he visited'. Likewise, if the letters of the primitive are at the beginning of the word, even if it has other accidental letters afterward, its primitive will not be placed in the margin. For example: אָמַרְתִּי amarti, here interpreted as 'my word', though usually 'I said', whose primitive is אָמַר amar, meaning 'he said'. Likewise, if the word begins with the letter ו (Waw)...