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Hi:
In Amos 5:19 we see the word וּפְגָעוֹ the last syllable is open-accented (which I thought was suppose to get a short vowel) but it has the long vowel holem-vav. What is going on in this word?
Thanxs!
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There is no rule that prevents long vowels from appearing in open and accented syllables.
The rule deals with unaccented syllables only, and there are obvious exceptions.
The rule says that in unaccented syllables, closed syllables will take short vowels and open syllables will take long vowels.
open = long
closed = short
However, there are clear exceptions. Look at the form הֶעָרִים "the cities" and הֶהָרִים "the mountains." We should expect long syllables under ה at the beginning of each word, since it is unaccented and open. However, we just place meteg there to indicate the exception. הֶֽעָרִים and הֶֽהָרִים. Similarly, we would expect בָּתִּים to be read as bottim, but it's battim. We indicate this vowel also with meteg: בָּֽתִּים.
Notice the difference between פָּגְעוֹ poḡʿô, the infinitive construct with personal suffix, meaning "his striking him," and פְּגָעוֹ pəḡāʿô, the qal perfect 3ms with personal suffix, meaning "he struck him."
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Thanxs for the info!
Does the word having a long vowel on an open-accented syllable have anything to do with the syllable is the last syllable? To ask the question another way, if you have an open-accented syllable which has a syllable after it, must it have a short vowel?
Thanxs for the two examples of "the cities" and "the mountains" - I will have to review what happens when the guttural rejects the dagesh (which is what is happening in both your examples).
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Again, there is no rule for accented syllables. The vowel can be long or short.