Ktiv Male

In orthography, a ''plene scriptum'' (; Latin , "fully" and ''scriptum'', plural ''scripta'', " omethingwritten") is a word containing an additional letter, usually one which is superfluous, not normally written in such words, nor needed for the proper comprehension of the word. Today, the term applies mostly to sacred scripture. Examples of ''plene scripta'' appear frequently in classical Hebrew texts, and copyists are obliged to copy them unchanged, to ensure that biblical or other sacred texts are written with universal conformity. The expression ''plene scriptum'' ( ''yater'', "excess"), sometimes simply described in Hebrew as מלא (''malé'', "full"), is often used in contrast with ''defective scriptum'' ( ''ḥaser'', deficient), the latter implying a word in which a letter that is normally present has been omitted. Together, ''plene'' and ''defective scripta'' are sometimes described using the Hebrew phrase "yeter vehaser" ().

Implications

In the Hebrew Bible'' 3:21, the name "Joshua" is written in Hebrew in '' plene scriptum'' ( ''yhwšw’''), as it possesses a superfluous vav, and which word is normally written with only one vav, as in יהושע (''yhwš’''). Other examples abound of this anomaly, such as the name "Jacob" ( ''y’qwb'') in Leviticus 26:42. The Hebrew name "Issachar" (יִשָּׂשכָר), where there is a second letter ''sin'' (ש) having no sound, is a classic example of ''plene scriptum''. The word צידה in Genesis 27:3, where the ''he'' at the end of the word has no function, is another example of ''plene scriptum'' or else a case of qere and ketiv.

The Babylonian Talmud discusses why the Hebrew Bible in writes for the plural word "booths" the Hebrew word סֻּכֹּת (in ''defective scriptum''), but in the verse that immediately follows makes use of the plural word in its usual form, סֻּכּוֹת. A biblical word's ''plene'' or defective characteristic has often been used in rabbinic hermeneutics to decide Halachic norms. The Talmud and the rabbis explain the variations in ''plene'' and ''defective scriptum'' found in the Torah as being merely a '' Halacha le-Moshe mi-Sinai'' (a Law given to Moses at Sinai).

In the Semitic languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic), paleographers often describe the addition of a ''plene'' consonantal letter, such as '' vav'' and '' yud'' (used in place of the vowels "o", "u", "i", and "ei"), as employing ''matres lectionis'' in its reading, although not all ''plene'' letters used in Hebrew words are indeed a ''mater lectionis''.

Variant readings

The ethnographer, Jacob Saphir (1822–1886), in his 19th-century work ''Iben Safir'', mentions the tradition of orthography found in the ''Halleli Codex'' of the Pentateuch, in which he laid down the most outstanding examples of ''plene'' and ''defective scriptum'' copied generation after generation by the scribes. The Catalan rabbi and Talmudist, Menachem Meiri (1249 – c. 1310), also brings down an exhaustive list of words in his ''Kiryat Sefer'', showing which words are to be written by scribes in ''plene scriptum'' and which words are to be written in ''defective scriptum'', based on the Masoretic Text. Rabbi Jedidiah Norzi (1560–1626) wrote a popular work on Hebrew orthography contained in the Five Books of Moses, and in the five ''Megillot'', with examples of ''plene'' and defective writings, which was later named ''Minḥat Shai''.

In the '' Tikkun Soferim'' (the model text for copying Torah scrolls by scribes), the word ''plene'' is always used in relation to other words written in ''defective scriptum'', not because there is necessarily anything unusual or abnormal about the word being written in such a way, but to ensure a universal layout (conformity) in scribal practices, where one word in a text must be written as though it were lacking in ''matres lectionis'', and another word in a different text (sometimes even the same word) appearing as though it was not.

Among Israel's diverse ethnic groups, variant readings have developed over certain words in the Torah, the Sephardic tradition calls for the word ויהיו (''wyhyw'') in the verse ויהיו כל ימי נח () to be written in ''defective scriptum'' (i.e. ויהי ''wyhy''), but the Yemenite Jewish community requiring it to be written in ''plene scriptum'' (i.e. ויהיו).Yihya Saleh, ''Ḥeleḳ ha-Diḳdūḳ'', San'a n.d. (in Hebrew), s.v. פרשת נח The word ''mineso'' in גדול עוני מנשוא () is written in Sephardic Torah scrolls in ''plene scriptum'', with an additional "waw", but in Yemenite Torah scrolls, the same word ''mineso'' is written in defective scriptum, without a "waw" (i.e. מנשא ''mnšʾ'').

Other usage

The word ''plene'' has also come to denote the horizontal bar or line written above the six double-sounding consonants in ancient Hebrew codices, whenever their assigned reading is to be read without a ''dagesh'', or as a non-accentuated Hebrew character. These letters are the ''bet'' (), ''gimel'' (), ''dalet'' (), ''kaph'' (), ''pe'' (), and ''tau'' (). When the accentuation dot appears in the middle of these Hebrew characters, there is no ''plene'' bar written above them.

In ancient Roman usage, the phrase ''plene scriptum'' may have simply referred to Latin characters written without abbreviation.

See also

* Mater lectionis
* Hebrew spelling
*
* Parashah
* Qere and Ketiv
* Ktiv hasar niqqud

References

External links

Vatican Library Heb. Ms. 448
11th–12th century Sephardic Torah scroll, showing in its folios the ''plene'' bar written above six of the double-sounding consonants (בג"ד כפ"ת) whenever they are to be read without a ''dagesh''.

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Rhetoric
Hebrew alphabet
Semitic writing systems
Jewish scribes (soferim)
Orthography
Language of the Hebrew Bible