t ,


208  PRONUNCIATION   OF  THE   ENGLISH  VOWELS

the  subject  of  this  paper)  that  the  Oerman  instances  aff<
interesting  indications  of  Buxtorf's  German  pronunciati<
showing  him  to  have  retained  (at  least  in  the  vowels)  t
Low-German  sounds  of  his  native  country  of  Westfal
and  not  to  have  adopted  the  High-German  of  Basle,  wh(
he  lived  for  the  greater  part  of  his  life.
I  now  give  the  passages  (at  the  beginning  of  the  gramme
in  which  Buxtorf  explains  the  Hebrew  vowels,^  and  t
corresponding  ones  in  Davis's  translation.
Buxtorf,  Epitome  Grammaticab  Hebraeae.  London,  16'

Vocales.
Longae.  Breves.
Kametz    J<    A     obscurum         Pathach  K  A  clarum,  ut

T  -

quasi  cum  0  mixtum,  ut  in  F(3r^^^rpater,/Sflfm^ncollige:

Germanicis  Avend^  vespera,  Dach  tectum,  Angl.  art  ars
Samen  semen,  Angli  salt  sal,
small  ^  parvus.
Tzere  K  E  purum  et  siccum,         8egol  K   E    impurura

Uhr    honor,   Lehr    doctrina,  dilutum,  ahr^  arista,  An|

Angl.  we  nos.  an  eare  of  com,  bed  lectus.
1  Of  the  consonants  he  gives  only  three  English  sounds:  <Sajin  t,  7
lenissimnm,  Angl.  z ' ;  '  Caph  3 ,  20,  ch,  x  Crraeconun,  Angl.  c ' ;  '  Schin
300,  sc  vel  ax  ^^^  ^^  German.  Angl.  sh.'

^  This  is  Frisian ;  Dutch  is  avond.  Buxtorf  was  horn  at  Eamen  in  Westfal
and  his  German  pronunciation  here  and  in  Note  4  is  Low — not  as  one  mi^
imagine  from  his  long  residence  at  Basle  eminently  High,     It  is  clear  that

gronounced  &Yend.    ui  this  word  the  a  tends  in  many  dialects  towards  o,  as
•wiss  obed,

^  He  means  the  modem  aw  (Sw.  k)  sound  in  salty  small.  It  is  the  mod(
Jewish  pronunciation  of  kametz,  and  Buxtorf  s  teachers  were  Aahhis.  Christi
scholars  generally  treat  the  kametz  as  the  ordinary  long  &  of  father.
