Re: Strange Hebrew plurals

On Aug 21, 2004, at 4:42 PM, David H wrote:
> Are there any segolate nouns with more than 2 syllables? If so, how are
> these treated when forming the plural?
> Also, in these patterns, what do the second ones mean?
> (e.g: < C1 [a] C2 C3 )
> C1 [E] C2 [E] C3  ( < C1 [a] C2 C3 )
> C1 [o] C2 [E] C3  ( < C1 [u] C2 C3 )
> C1 [e] C2 [E] C3  ( < C1 [i] C2 C3 )
> Thanks
There are no true segolate nouns that don't fit either of the three
patterns above.  The definition of a 'segolate' is a noun whose
original form was CVCC, with a short vowel, but then in Hebrew
developed a _segol_, i.e. the vowel [E], separating the second and
third consonants.

For instance, a word that fits the first pattern above is _melekh_
(king), /mElEk/, which seems to derive from an original /malk/.
Second pattern example: _qodesh_ /k>odES/, from /k>udS/ (compare Arabic
/quds/, with the same meaning (holiness).
Third pattern example: _seifer_ /sepEr/, from /sipr/.


-Stephen (Steg)
  "sorry i'm not home right now
   i'm walking into spiderwebs
   so leave a message and i'll call you back"
      ~ 'spiderwebs' by no doubt