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One more question about mappik

(I don't know what happened to me, but this topic somewhat disturbs me lately :))

What is the meaning of the mappik in the following Hebrew words:

  • יָהּ
  • הַלְלוּיָהּ

I understand that הַלְלוּיָהּ is actually two words of הַלְלוּ and יָהּ, so answering just the first one is enough.

EDIT

In case the answer is that this non-regular mappik, but some sort of exception, I'm also interested to know if this is pronounced as regular mappik or ignored (or something else).

Thanks.

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  • I'll add a comment, rather than an answer, since I need to research this, but I believe it's a vestige of the case endings common in Semitic languages, which don't really exist in Hebrew, but which occasionally show themselves in certain "exceptions" that appear here and there.
    – Seth J
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 18:42
  • I thought it was the way the Shem's first two letters had always been pronounced?
    – JXG
    Commented Sep 8, 2011 at 7:06
  • @JXG what shem exactly do you mean? Tetragrammaton?
    – jutky
    Commented Sep 8, 2011 at 11:12
  • @jutky, exactly. I don't have any proof, aside from academic views on how it was pronounced, which may well be circular.
    – JXG
    Commented Sep 8, 2011 at 12:51

1 Answer 1

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Mappiq simply marks a ה which is a "real" h sound instead of a vowel a at the end of a word.

So, since יה is an abbreviation of the Tetragrammaton, the mappiq in יה points to the second letter of that word, which is a "real" h. (We don't pronounce that word at all, but that's another matter.)

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    Yud Kay is not an abbreviation of Yud Kay Vov Kay but a Divine Name Itself.
    – yoel
    Commented Sep 18, 2011 at 9:03
  • 2
    @yoel, it is and it isn't. It's an independent name of Hashem (with all of the halachos that pertain to that), true, but it is also a shortened form of YKVK (see Rashi to Ex. 17:16).
    – Alex
    Commented Sep 18, 2011 at 20:01

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