Friday, February 16, 2024

ונהפוך הוא

This week's פרשה contains many commands and thus, many instances of a וי"ו ההיפוך which changes the accent on the word. There seem to be a number of instances where the accent is not changed due to the נסוג אחור rule. Additionally, it seems the word ועשית, which appears numerous times, can never have the accent on the last syllable. As some have mentioned in the comments, this is due to the נחי ל"ה rule, which is discussed briefly here in אם למקרא ולמסורת.

In general, I do not correct misplaced accents for reasons I would like to discuss another time. (See אמת ליעקב on שו"ע הלכות קריאת התורה.) However, I don't think it would be unreasonable to do so. Nevertheless, in those cases when the accent is not changed for circumstantial reasons, like ועשית, (I.e. if someone said ve-a-see-SA instead of ve-a-SEE-sa) I find it very hard to justify a correction.

8 comments:

Lion of Zion said...

heidenheim warns about moving the accent on המלך at the beginning of the megillah, lest it become the pagan deity MO-lech

Adam said...

I think all lamed-hey verbs never push the accent forward because they are missing a consonant.

Shloime said...

Adam is correct. There is an exception in Emor 24:5.

Anonymous said...

The exception in Emor 24:5 is due to the fact that the following word (Otah) begins with a gutteral. Same with V'tzpiTAH Otah in Terumah.

Sholom90 said...

"it seems the word ועשית, which appears numerous times, can never have the accent on the last syllable. If you know why, feel free to chime in."

Adam wrote: "I think all lamed-hey verbs never push the accent forward because they are missing a consonant."

(Technically, it's a lamed-vav/yud verb.)

My understanding is that Adam is correct in the Qal form. But that the accent does move forward had it been Piel.

pennyfan87 said...

"In general, I do not correct misplaced accents for reasons I would like to discuss another time."

Could I ask you to please follow up on this....this particular issue has been causing lots of tension in my minyan.

ELIE said...

יש לציין של"ה בבניין קל לרוב אינו מלרע

אבל בבנינים האחרים הוא הופך מלרע
ָוְצִפִּית
והפליתי

Rav Sean Gorman said...

Relying entirely on memory, I think that some of what we know as lamed-heh verbs were originally lamed-mapik heh verbs. Take note specifically of Iyov 22:28. That absent mapik heh prevents the accent from moving to the last syllable.