# ארץ - Aretz or Eretz?



## airelibre

שלום!

I'm a bit confused by the pronunciation of the word  ארץ . I was alway under the impression that it was pronounced Eretz, as in Eretz Israel. The dictionary I use ( מורפיקס ) has nikud showing the Eretz pronunciation, so why is it the case that the newspaper  הארץ  calls itself HaAretz in its English version?

Many thanks.


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## alfio1

it is one of the four words with first guttural that take "a" as first vowel, due to influence of the definite article


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## airelibre

Thank you, could you please tell me what the other 3 are?

Thanks again


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## alfio1

if I remember well, Hebrew words for mount ('ar), people ('am), ark ('aron). This is the rule for biblical Hebrew, I am not sure this still works for Israeli Hebrew


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## Egmont

alfio1 said:


> if I remember well, Hebrew words for mount ('ar), people ('am), ark ('aron). This is the rule for biblical Hebrew, I am not sure this still works for Israeli Hebrew


But none of those start with "eh" when the definite article is _not_ present.


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## alfio1

Right. They start with patach and take qamets, because of the article. Traditional grammars (see e.g. Jouon-Muraoka §35f) maintain that eretz is in the same category


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## origumi

alfio1 said:


> it is one of the four words with first guttural that take "a" as first vowel, due to influence of the definite article


 
With exceptions, for example וְקִבַּצְתִּים מִיַּרְכְּתֵי-אָרֶץ (Jer. 31:7), וְהוֹכִיחַ בְּמִישׁוֹר לְעַנְוֵי-אָרֶץ (Isa. 11:4), כִּי לַשֶּׁלֶג, יֹאמַר- הֱוֵא-אָרֶץ (Job 27:6), כִּרְבִיבִים, זַרְזִיף אָרֶץ (Psa. 72:6), וּמִנָּהָר, עַד-אַפְסֵי-אָרֶץ (Psalms 72:8).


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## hansannoin

origumi said:


> With exceptions, for example וְקִבַּצְתִּים מִיַּרְכְּתֵי-אָרֶץ (Jer. 31:7), וְהוֹכִיחַ בְּמִישׁוֹר לְעַנְוֵי-אָרֶץ (Isa. 11:4), כִּי לַשֶּׁלֶג, יֹאמַר- הֱוֵא-אָרֶץ (Job 27:6), כִּרְבִיבִים, זַרְזִיף אָרֶץ (Psa. 72:6), וּמִנָּהָר, עַד-אַפְסֵי-אָרֶץ (Psalms 72:8).



Those examples are not exceptions.
They are 'in pause',
i.e. at the end of a sentence 
or at the end of a major clause or phrase.

The first segol of segolate nouns like erets 
lengthens to a qamats in pause.

*Gen 37:21 נֶפֶשׁ  -->  נָפֶשׁ
*​*
Gen 30:2  בֶטֶן --> בָטֶן 
*​*
*​*Gen 35:19 לֶחֶם --> לָחֶם*​


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## Abu Rashid

Could this also be related to the fact this word is re-constructed in proto-Semitic to begin with 'a'?

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Proto-Semitic/ʾarṣ́-


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## Codinome Shlomo

Is הארץ pronounced "á árets" or "*h*á arets"? In Forvo there is a girl who pronounces it as "á árets". Is there any reason not to pronounce the ה ?


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## tFighterPilot

Codinome Shlomo said:


> Is הארץ pronounced "á árets" or "*h*á arets"? In Forvo there is a girl who pronounces it as "á árets". Is there any reason not to pronounce the ה ?


No reason whatsoever. Some people just pronounce ה as a glottal stop for some reason. Many others just don't pronounce it at all.


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## hansannoin

Yes, that is exactly why segolates change in _pausa_ 
and also in _status constructus_.


At some point in their development,
these nouns found themselves with a final consonant cluster
(probably due to the loss of some case ending).


אַרְץְ נַפְשְׁ לַחְםְ


As consonant clusters are hard to pronounce,
a (very) short vowel was added.


אַרֶץְ נַפֶשְׁ לַחֶםְ


Then, for the sake of harmony, the first vowel was modified.


אֶרֶץְ נֶפֶשְׁ לֶחֶםְ


Of course, we don't write the final  ְ.


אֶרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ לֶחֶם


In _status constructus_,
we see these nouns return to their original form.


אַרְצוֹ נַפְשׁוֹ לַחְמוֹ


And in _pausa_, we see that the original vowel is lengthened.


אָרֶץ נָפֶשׁ לָחֶם


But none of this really answers why the segol
changes to a qamats after the definite article in the word _eretz_!


_Aretz_ is very unique in that respect.


It is a very good question
and one for which I have never found an adequate answer.


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## iyavor

One more thing- 

Ha'aretz always refers to Israel, and not "the country". Essentially, "Ha'aretz" and "Eretz Yisrael" are synonyms. This is why the newspaper is called "Ha'aretz"- it means Israel. 

Ha'eretz means "the country"- as in any country.

HTH.

Ilan


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## arielipi

Aretz is earth, grounds; eretz is country.
כדור הארץ - earth.


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