HEBREW INSTITUTION

Concerning quiescent letters

These four letters א ה ו י are called Iod, Vau, He, Aleph. They come sometimes in the middle, sometimes at the end. They are placed after long vowels. Sometimes they have their own vowel.

Furthermore, these five letters כ מ נ פ צ, when they come at the end of words, must be written with different figures, namely ך ם ן ף ץ, and are then called the final Caph, Mem, Nun, Phe, and Zade.

They are called the four quiescent ones because they are silent in pronunciation, and they lengthen the vowels. For example: קָם (Qam), קוּם (Qum).

All the letters of the alphabet can be called consonants, so that they do not sound by themselves, because they form a syllable when points are added. Yet these six, א ה ח ח י ע, are considered vowels because they bring nothing of a consonant sound when points are added, except that ה has a soft aspiration and ח has a strong one. Otherwise, they freely allow a hiatus of the mouth for the vowel points added to them. Vau and Iod are also not rarely used as mobile consonants among the Hebrews, just as U and I among the Latins. Vau is a consonant when it has a point underneath, as in וָ and וַ. It is a vowel, quiescent, when it has a point only in its belly or only on its head, such as the chureck וּ and the holem וֹ. Sometimes, even when it is a consonant,