Why the Variation?

Limboretto
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Why the Variation?

Postby Limboretto » 2005-07-06, 15:35

In "The Song by the Sea", it goes

אשירה לה׳ כי גאו גאה
אשירה לה׳ כי גאו גאה
מי כמוך באלים, ה׳
מי כמוך נאדר בקודש


The third line goes: Mi chamocha ...

But the fourth line goes: Mi kamocha ...

Why the variation? No-one I know who speaks Modern Hebrew has been able to explain this to me. :roll:

Thanks !!!

Paragon
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Postby Paragon » 2005-07-06, 18:56

I think the right answer is that there is no answer.

The rule says that when a word that ends in אהוי comes before a word that begins in בגד כפת, the first letter of the second word is without a דגש (I hope you know that term). However, this is not a fixed rule, and there are exceptions; this verse from "The Song by the Sea" is one of the well-known exceptions, which remained unexplained, as far as I know.

(Note that this rule is not valid in Modern Hebrew)

Paragon
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ְ

Postby Paragon » 2005-07-06, 19:26

I've just checked in a book called "אוצר המדרשים" (Oxford defines מדרש as a "homiletic interpretation of Bible), and found the following explanation (which is religion-based, rather than language-based):

[rp] מי כמכה... מי כּמכה. [למה] "מי כמכה" [הראשון] רפה, "מי כּמכה" השני דגש? [ולפי הכללים כ' רפה אחרי אותיות יהוא בטעם מחבר? אלא] לפי שבתחילה היו משבחין [ישראל] בשפה רפה, ולבסוף - מקירות [מפנימיות] לבם בפה מלא.[/rp]
[לקח טוב]

Limboretto
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Postby Limboretto » 2005-07-07, 0:22

Thank you very much! I was very puzzled about the dagesh, coming and going like that. I thought it had something to do with a construct form. I had no idea one had to return to the Midrash for that!

My Hebrew is weak, to say the least. Would it be possible to render the note in English?

Thank you and Shalom!

Paragon
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Postby Paragon » 2005-07-07, 15:59

You know that a letter without a dagesh is called רפה (which is also a formal word for "weak, faint"), and a letter with a dagesh is דגושה (stressed).

What this Midrash basically says is: When the Israelites were praising God at the beginning, they were doing it in a faint voice (hence the first כ is רפה, faint), but in the end, they did it whole-heartedly (hence the last one is דגושה - stressed, emphasized).

Limboretto
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Postby Limboretto » 2005-07-07, 16:03

I would NEVER EVER have guessed that was the reason!!

Paragon
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Postby Paragon » 2005-07-07, 18:25

You see... there are always surprises...


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