Re: Hebrew spelling

On Sep 11, 2004, at 10:03 PM, az azu-thes (i myself wrote):
> As far as i know (and i'm not an expert on 'official' Hebrew vowelless
> spelling rules), both are fine, although the one with the silent _yud_
> is preferable.
> Generally, the _yud_ is just there to show you that the _vav_ is
> consonantal and not vocalic; i.e. [3axSav] and not *[3axSu], etc.
> It may be an orthographical borrowing from the _-av_ ending of plural
> masculine nouns declined for 3rd person masculine singular possession,
> for example _shulhhanav_ (shin (vav) lamed hhet nun *yud* vav), where
> the _yud_ is silent, but written to distinguish plural _shulhhanav_
> 'his tables' from singular _shulhhano_ 'his table'.
> Aside from _`akhshav_, you'll also find this silent _yud_ in other
> words ending in consonantal _vav_, like _stav_ 'Fall/Autumn', and the
> name _`Eisav_ 'Esau'.
EEEEEPPPPSSSS!!!
(OOOOOPS!)
Sorry, _shulhhan_ is irregular, its plural is _shulhhanot_, not
_shulhhanim_, so it would be _shulhhanotav_ "his tables".
Although the same principle applies, since plural feminine nouns take
the plural male endings added to their ends.

Regular masculine plural examples:
_mahhsheivav_ 'his computers'
_madafav_ 'his shelves'
_tapuhhav_ 'his apples'

> -Stephen (Steg)
>  "this early in the morning, margaret was in a daze - so with her
> uncle's urn a bit too close to the coffeemaker, she literally had a cup
> of joe."
>      ~ 'minimum wage' by jared hindman
>