Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/505

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Hebrew-German Paraphrase of the Book Esther
501

(Symbol missingHebrew characters)=gefangen, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=ofen, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=hof, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=brief. Initially, however, (Symbol missingHebrew characters) alternates with (Symbol missingHebrew characters), as (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=vor, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=ver-, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=fasten; medially (Symbol missingHebrew characters) is always written before t, as (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=füft, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=gift, and at the end of a word after a consonant, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=hülf, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=fünf.

For the s-sound there are three different signs: (1) zayin ((Symbol missingHebrew characters)), which mostly represents the soft sound and is, therefore always used at the beginning of a word, as (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=sie, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=selb, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=söbntn, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=sechsten, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=unser, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=erloesn, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=wesen, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=gras, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=boes, but (Symbol missingHebrew characters) and (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=biz, and (Symbol missingHebrew characters) and (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=Los, and (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=müezen; (2) Seen ((Symbol missingHebrew characters)), used medially before t and at the end, as (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=sechsten, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=sünst, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=fasten, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=opez, obez, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=grôz, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=ich muoz, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=Samuels, (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=Moses; (3) the Samech ((Symbol missingHebrew characters)) occurs only once in the foreign word (Symbol missingHebrew characters)=samît or semît.

The dialect of our text is obviously Middle German, as amply proved by the following linguistic pecularities: e becomes ê when it stands near l or r, such as êlenden 593, and always in verdêrben. This fact is proved by the rhyme her(re): sêre 827. Before l, e becomes a. Thus can be explained the rhyme stalle: schelle 1115. The following rhymes also point to the same dialect:

e: i, gehengen: singen 1329, her(re): mir 1373, hêr: mir 1453, brengen: gelingen 351, henken: getrinken 1127;

œ: e, wœre: êre 63: herre 1309;

œ: i, wœr(e): mir 1009;

i: î, nit: zît 25, 71, 699, 795, 1001; mich: rîch 1237; bin: sîn 877;

iu: u, friunden: gunden 883;

anc: ant, bezwanc: lant 769;

h assimilates medially in niht, nit: zît (see i: î). Intervocalic h disappears in slagen: Haman 1259. The same happens before t, as gemaht: stat 1033, gedaht: rat 1355, and at the end of a word in hô: dô 923: gegan 1003.

(e)n disappears finally in ende: senden 145, 215, schiere: zieren 149,[1] tage: sagen 1135, finde: schinden 641, knehte: gefehten 563, genuoge: truogen 1403, unwerde: erden 591, stunde: gefunden 687, hiute: liuten 927.

  1. ↑ If our text has enden, schieren, etc., this is no doubt due to the copyist, as remarked above.
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