Book on Verbs That Contain Weak and Lengthening Letters

“Praise be to God: to Him praise is due. He was without beginning and shall be without end, Creator and Ruler of the world. He decrees a thing, and it is established unto Him. He made man by His power, noble in form, excellent in understanding; with good qualities did He endow him, and with mercy requite him. I will exalt Him, for highly is He exalted, and His name more holy than all that is holy. I will offer Him praise that shall gain His approval, and so shall an increase of His goodness be returned to me. I will ask that I may be enlightened and enlighten others, that I may understand and teach.”

Thus says Judah son of David: My wish in this book is to gain knowledge and understanding with regard to the latent and lengthening letters of the Hebrew language, and to explain their ways, for their secrets are hidden from many of the sons of men. Manifold is their origin, wide their meaning, deep their mysteries, so that men know not the properties of the verbs that contain them. Many persons accordingly employ such in their sayings and verses in an improper way. [ . . . ]

But if in all these there are but two radicals, [ . . . ] then would the structure of the language be destroyed, its walls thrown down, and all its boundaries rooted up. For a verb with a weak letter for its first radical would exchange it for one in the second or third place; one having such for its second radical will take it in the first or third place, or in the first or second instead of the third. Then, when I saw this confusion occurring in these letters, I, with the help of the Lord, composed this book, in which I have explained all their secrets, and mentioned the occasions when they fall out, are changed, or are hardened by dagesh, after stating why they are called latent and lengthening letters and also everything else bearing on the subject. In all this, my purpose is to argue from what is contained in scripture to what is not contained therein. Thus, when I find only part of a conjugation and not the rest of it, I am guided by what is found to that which is not, if only my statements are convincing, and it is not possible to confront me with plain proofs and credible testimony. I have moreover collected together from the whole of scripture all the verbs containing these letters as radicals, arranging them in their proper order, like with like, to carry out my scheme of explanation. In so doing, I trust with God’s help to make myself useful. I have had no wish in all this to use choice language foreign to my subject; my only desire has been to make my purpose clear, to express my thoughts in suitable words, which should bring out the full meaning of the author. The reader will perchance judge me gently and kindly in this and also in any error or mistake he may himself find, or that may be revealed to him by the will of heaven. It is, moreover, the duty of us who desire to write in the holy tongue and to know its ways, to acquire it from the works of the early Hebrews, who were born in it, grew up in its ways, and established its boundaries. Especially should we imitate the language of vision and prophecy. By so doing, our language will be built upon its foundation, stand upon its base, and grow out of its roots; we shall learn what we were ignorant of and receive profit in that with which we were acquainted. [ . . . ]

Before giving an account of the latent and lengthening letters, I will explain what is meant by being in motion and at rest. I define, therefore, a letter in motion to be one employed with one of the seven vowels called kings, namely, ḳamats, pataḥ, tseri, seghol, ḥiriḳ, ḥolem, shureḳ. A letter at rest is one that is not set in motion [pronounced] with one of these. Did I not fear to be tedious, and that it would not be in accordance with the design of my book, I should have clearly explained the general use of these vowels and the position of ḳamats and pataḥ. So much however I say, that the Hebrews never begin their words with a vowelless letter nor end them with one having a vowel, and that a vowelless letter is never found except after one having a vowel.