ההבחנה בין וי"ו ליו"ד בתעודות מדבר יהודה

As the letters waw and yod have no distinct form in most of the Qumran Scrolls, there are many variant readings in the editions of the documents, e. g. יאירו/יאורו (M. 1 : 8). The writer, having examined the photographs of the Scrolls manuscripts which distinguish between waw and yod, suggests some new readings, e. g. ובזזו (instead of יבזזו. (1 Q Is.a 11 : 14); יביא (instead of יבוא. id, 34 : 4, twice); אנישי (instead of אנושי. Sa. 1 : 2, passim); חכור (instead of חכיר. Mur. 24 B8, passim); ועינוהי (instead of ועיניהו S. 5 : 5); בחוקוהי (instead of בחוקיהו S. 5 : 11); מולאת (S. 6 : 11, passim) מולואת (Sa. 1 : 10). In documents where the waw and yod are not distinct, one can ascertain the exact reading, according to the following principles: 1) One must consider the linguistic peculiarities of the Qumran tradition: if one of the possible readings re-occurs in Qumran documents, in which the waw and yod are distinguishable, this reading is to be preferred, e. g. כאיב (not כאיב. H. 5 : 28, 2 : 28, in accordance with 1 Q Is.a, 17 : 11, 65 : 14); עילול (not עולול H. 7 : 21; cf. 1 Q 15.a — 13 : 16); משוסה (not משיסה p. Hb. 8 : 14; cf. 1 Q 15.a 42 : 22, 24). 2) Where the waw/yod designates a short vowel in a closed syllable, it is probably a waw and not yod, since short u is generally represented by waw whereas yod does not generally represent short i, e. g. ריקמה (M. 5 : 6, 9, passim); משיסה (p. Hab. 8 : 14). 3) One should take into account the morphology of Hebrew. Accordingly the writer proposes to read זידן (not זודן H. 1 rag. 45 : 5) = partic. + the suffix -an, like ריוה; ליצן/לץ (not רויה. S. 2 : 14, p. Hab. 11 : 14) the poel active partic. as against the pael one, compare שווה/שוה.