Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihuxt.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!we13!ihnp4!ihuxt!martillo From: martillo@ihuxt.UUCP (Yehoyaqim Shemtob Martillo) Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish Subject: Re: Purim and Parschas Zachor Message-ID: <327@ihuxt.UUCP> Date: Wed, 14-Mar-84 19:08:14 EST Article-I.D.: ihuxt.327 Posted: Wed Mar 14 19:08:14 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 15-Mar-84 01:37:43 EST References: <1050@pegasus.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Lines: 33 The word zayin segol kaf segol resh almost occurs in the t"anak as the pausal form zayin qamac kaf segol resh. This is found in dibrei hayamim rishon (1 Chronicles). It is simply a man's name and has no relevance to the discussion. I have seen references to Hebrew dialectual pronunciations in which cere and shwa na` were pronounced identically and in which patax and segol were pronounced identically. Obviously, this has no relevance to current Ashkenazi mispronunciation. But there is evidence that Ashkenazim once used a different pronunciation. In the Ashkenazi yeshibot, students generally say mishnayos rather than the expected mishnoyos. If at one period the Ashkenazim used the alternate pronunciation I described, they would not have distinguished between zayin shwa' na` kaf patah resh and zayin cere kaf segol resh. In order to make certain that they would not make the error described in the Talmud in a previous response, they might have been careful to pronounce (incorrectly and purposefully) zayin segol kaf segol resh which could not be mistaken as construct for zayin qamac kaf qamac resh. Thus, the second reading is not really a correction of an error in which case only the single word would be said but rather a purposeful pronunciation error to teach us about the maxloqet (disagreement) which eventually lead to the birth of Haman and to tell us what the proper interpretation of the pasuq actually was. By the way, Sefardi minhag is of course correct, and we do not read the pasuq twice. Yehoyaqim Shemtob Martillo ATT Bell Laboratories Naperville, Illinois (312) 979-2410