Lesson plan
Rafe
In Hebrew orthography the rafe or raphe ( , , meaning "weak, limp") is a diacritic ( ), a subtle horizontal overbar placed above certain letters to indicate that they are to be pronounced as fricatives. It originated with the Tiberian Masoretes as part of the extended system of niqqud (vowel points), and has the opposite meaning of dagesh, showing that one of the letters is to be pronounced as a fricative and not as a plosive, or (sometimes) that a consonant is not geminated; or, as the opposite to a mappiq, to show that the letters or are silent (mater lectionis). The rafe generally fell out of use for Hebrew with the coming of printing, although according to Gesenius (1813) at that time it could still be found in a few places in printed Hebrew Bibles, where the absence of a dagesh or a mappiq was noticeable. (e.g. Exodus 20:13,14,15; Deuteronomy 5:13,17,18,19; 2 Samuel 11:1; Isaiah 22:10; Jeremiah 20:17; Psalm 119:99; Zechariah 5:11) In some siddurs (e.g. those printed by ArtScroll) a diacritical symbol, typographically the same as the rafe, but utterly unrelated, is used to mark instances of "moving sheva" (Shva Na). The rafe is similar in function to the buailte (dot above, denoting lenition) in the old-style Irish alphabet.
Article summary
In Hebrew orthography the rafe or raphe ( , , meaning "weak, limp") is a diacritic ( ), a subtle horizontal overbar placed above certain letters to indicate that they are to be pronounced as fricatives. It originated with the Tiberian Masoretes as part of the extended system of niqqud (vowel points), and has the opposite meaning of dagesh, showing that one of the letters is to be pronounced as a fricative and not as a plosive, or (sometimes) that a consonant is not geminated; or, as the opposite to a mappiq, to show that the letters or are silent (mater lectionis). The rafe generally fell out of use for Hebrew with the coming of printing, although according to Gesenius (1813) at that time it could still be found in a few places in printed Hebrew Bibles, where the absence of a dagesh or a mappiq was noticeable. (e.g. Exodus 20:13,14,15; Deuteronomy 5:13,17,18,19; 2 Samuel 11:1; Isaiah 22:10; Jeremiah 20:17; Psalm 119:99; Zechariah 5:11) In some siddurs (e.g. those printed by ArtScroll) a diacritical symbol, typographically the same as the rafe, but utterly unrelated, is used to mark instances of "moving sheva" (Shva Na). The rafe is similar in function to the buailte (dot above, denoting lenition) in the old-style Irish alphabet.
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
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