# Aramaic: בַּהּ שַׁעֲתָא



## zaw

Hi,

וּמַן דִּי לָא יִפֵּל וְיִסְגֻּד בַּהּ שַׁעֲתָא יִתְרְמֵא לְגוֹא אַתּוּן נוּרָא יָקִדְתָּא

This is from Daniel 3,6. What is the meaning of בַּהּ in בַּהּ שַׁעֲתָא and what is the reason why the qametz reduced to patakh in definite form of שָׁעָה?

Toda raba


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## Abaye

See Gesenius H8160 - šāʿâ - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv).


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## Ali Smith

בַּהּ שַׁעֲתָא means "in the same moment", but I have no idea why the קמץ reduced to a פתח in the first syllable.


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## utopia

I think it might be that the patakh is the outcome of an assimilation to the sound of the hataf patah under the ע.

It happens in hebrew too: אֲנִי but ואני - the shwa under the וי"ו assimilates to the hataf under the אל"ף

vaani


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## Ali Smith

utopia said:


> It happens in hebrew too: אֲנִי but ואני - the shwa under the וי"ו assimilates to the hataf under the אל"ף
> 
> vaani


That's only because the conjunction וְ originally had a שוא נע. Under such circumstances the שוא נע does change to the full vowel corresponding to the following consonant's חטף vowel.


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## 𐎔𐎗𐎒 𐎛𐎓𐎂𐎇1

The reduction in שַׁעֲתָא (from qametz to patach) is not understood by anyone. It's just irregular. There is no Aramaic rule that can explain it.


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