THE
Accents in Hebrew mitDdmcnt (Ex. xx 3-6) ing to the
l"":V.7,o;i?;
(accord-
liere subjuinc-d
is
156
.IKWISII ];N(V( l.ol'KDIA
see below):
retic section; the other extends farth<T so as lo slur over the uncomplimenlary story concerning the misor in order to conduct of IJciilx'ii, i?'*<7 ^'^-'^
I2.1S
- .I9
I
Sod.
rnns y^M
IJP9
'^?'?'-
D'cca irK
."wnn-^31 a
4.5
1»in'^ 90
S.IS
1
24
17
o^n'^
j'
IV,
5.?
'^rr'l'i
,
.'3N
91
•'pn ni;;ji
O'P'^n'^
(one divides the Decalogue into ordinary verses, the other divides it neither too long nor loo short into ten verses, one for each t'onimandmentV According to the predominance of the lower (; r ;) or upper (.',!,;) signs, one accentuation is spoken of as the "lower" r"?'^ =>", and the other as the seq.
isyNi 9
0>J3-i'
- >riixp
14
13
«s
»
I
pnnc 0'OD 1.19
IT
19 I)
!
The use
of a separate system for the three books requires nn rxplanatinn. i,uzj;attf)(in liis " Prnlegomc'iii ad Una (Truinnialica Kagionala dclla r.iiiirua Ebraica," pp. IT? it kkj. letter lo Bacr apiicndcrl to the latter's treatise, ""S.?? ~y^, p. 55) writes that the different method of chaiiling in vo^ue for those books called for a different notation. Haer ('^?i'"' f^"?? p. 3). and before him Elias l.,evita, believed that the shorter measure of the poetical verses is responsible for th<> change of the accentual system. AVickes (" Poetical Accentuation," pp. 7 ct srr/.) seems to combine both views when he .SJtys that the system of accentuation found in 'T?< involves "a retinement of a purely musical character," and that "the idea seems to have been to compensate for the shortness of the verses by a finer and fuller, more arlitiIt would seem that cial and impressive melody." Baer's opinion needs but a .slight modification to be accepted as an ade(|uatee.vi)lanation. The accentuation of the three books may be said to be designedly adjusted lo the stichic form of the poetical texts {sec lieginning of this section; also ^'M, '"?P note 1). In the majority of cases the distich was found to cover the sense-verse. 7 was the natural sign it is the sign of bisection in a verse in the other books of the Bible. Bui occasionally the sense re(|uired a sense-ver.se of three stichs. Had i been used to mark the main eesura, the rhythmical Irisec;
,
.
"
upper
would have been
entirely obliterated.
With
the introduction of ,r was kept in its place and Monothe rhythmical division left recognizable. stichs were not infre(iuently found in th<' texts. It was thought desiralile to mark them as such accentu,
The jioetical accentuation (the
- .
be found appropriate), while primarily serving the requirements of sense, aims at the same time to do justice, as far as it can, to rhythm. It could safely be employed in books like Job, Proverbs, and Psalms, which were not read in public ser'ice, and for which therefore no established method of chanting existed (as is the case with Canticles and Lamentations); there was. of course, no room ally
by avoiding
name
will
now
for it in the ca.se of Ps. xviii. and cv. 1-15, which are repeated in II Sam. xxii. and I Chron. xvi. 8-22 subjoin here Ps. in non-poetical surroundings.
=
We
1(5, which will illustrate the transposition of one sj'stem into the other:
xviii.
1(5
II
Sam.
xxii. 17, Ileb.
'•an nno'iD?'J>i " T At I
•-
• - -
I
nin> n—;vip.
'
rl^Tyy
.
I
vT
•
r"i;^i3
IBM m-i r::ir:D
A double accentuation is found in Gen. xxxv. 22 (one is intended for the verse ending at the Maso-
"
,
?"':?:: =>'?.
AVith the snjierlinear vocaliz.ition goes a ,system of superlinearaccentnalion. The signs furthe pausal Accents dilfer; someof them represent the actual or modified initial lettersof their names; they are placed The signs for the noninvaiiably above the line. pausal Accents are the same as in the onlinary system, and are infralini'ar. The system also aims at simplicity. Anibiguous signs are avoided; ; is used in the [dace (d' 1 and ! which are wanting, also in the place of : repeated, and in other cases. There is 110 separate notation for he three books. Vickes(" Prose Accents." pp. 1 42 </ '/. ) proves conclusively that the superliiiear system is derived from the ordinar}' one. Facsimiles may be founil in Oinsburg's "XV. Facsimiles of JIanuscripts of the Hebrew Bible." plate ii., London, 1897, and in Stade's " Ilelirilische Grammatik"; see also the reproduction in Baer's edition of .lob. Comjiarealso theliteratuieciuoted in article VoCAI.IZ.VTION. 5. The general belief of the Jews in the Middle Ages was that both the vocalization and accentuation oiiirinated with Ezra and the mvthical GiiE.T SvN.<ioorE. Thus Ben Asni;ii ('i"'."i';. Accentua- °?>,^i', ^5 IG and elsewhere) speaks of tion Sup- the Acccntsasintidduced by thei>rophposed to be etsand princes of the diaspora (the exI
.vi
of Divine Origin.
tion
the fanciful
idia that, in spile of his iniscondiict. Hiulxn was still cnunled with the other sons of .lacob; see liashi, ml liii-iiiii, and sources) and in the Decalogue, Ex. xx. 'S it ivf/. and Dent. v. ' (t iniiily
13
11
1.1
10
IS
<J9-
r|S nirj;^. t<^_
1.19
13
whom
the inJews in Hiibylon), to teriiretatinn of every woril (Scriptural
iled
])as.sage)
was revealed;
the accenlua-
tion which bears the .seal of the prophets is therefore inspired. Some even maintained that the Torah Pentateuch wliieh Moses received on Sinai and delivered lo Israel was furnished with vowel pointsand accentsigns, both (if which were indeed as old as the alphabet and the language (((immunicated to Adam in paradise). TheSinaitic oiit;in of the imnctuation was emphatically denied by Mar Xat.ninai II. (H.IO-SOfl), who accordinglv pnihitiited its introduction into the Scrolls (see" Mall zor Vitrv." p. ttl, Berlin. 18!I3, and Griltz,
"Gesch. der Jnden"," 2d
ed., v. 5(33).
Ben Asher's Dpinion of the sjicredne.ss of the Accents was shared by the contemporaries of Saadia (892-942). This gaon was accused liy his detractors of ascribing to himself the gift of prophecy because he had written a treatise in I5iblical style with vowelpoints and Accents. In his defense Saadia pointed to extracanonical writings (such as Siracli, Scroll of the Ilasnioneans, and others) which were jioinfed and accented. While Saadia evidently does not assign to the accentuation special sacredness, he is nevertheless far from suspecting its recent origin; for, sjieaking of Sirach's book, lii^ says that he (Siracli) furnished it with points and Accents (wj'alahu nuisammanau mut'aman). See Saadia's J^ "!??, ed. Ilarkavy, St. Petersburg, 1801, NOf: also ncp, note The recently found fragments of 2: 2:. note*. Sirach have traces of points and Accents (see "Rev. fit. Juives," xl. i. et neq.): on a text of the Scroll of the Hasmoneans with points and Accents (among the Cambridge manuscripts brought from Cairo), see
