Adapted, by permission, from Israel Yeivin, Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah, translated and edited by E. J. Revell. Copyright © 1980 by the Society of Biblical Literature.
Some information on gaʿya is included in the rules on the accents given in the Diqduqe ha-Ṭeʿamim (Dotan 1967, sections 14, 15, 20, and elsewhere). The statements on gaʿya in the masoretic literature and the works of the early grammarians are few and unsystematic. The most detailed treatment of the rules for gaʿya is that given by Yequtiʾel ha-Naqdan (published in Gumpertz, 1958). It was Yequtiʾel who set up different categories of the use of gaʿya, introduced the terms “light gaʿya” (gaʿya on an open syllable) and “heavy gaʿya” (gaʿya on a closed syllable).
The survey of rules for gaʿya in the Miqneh Abram of Abram di Balmes, and in Heidenheim’s Sefer Mispeṭe ha-Ṭeʿamim (45a–60b) was based on those of Yequtiʾel ha-Naqdan. Eliahu ha-Levi also gives detailed rules on the use of gaʿya — though less systematic than those of Yequtiʾel ha-Naqdan — in Ṭuv Ṭaʿam chapter 7. The same is true of Shelomo Yedidyah Norzi’s Maʾamar ha-Maʾarik.
The most comprehensive survey of the rules for gaʿya is that in Baer 1869. These rules were derived from the study of gaʿya in late manuscripts, and in some cases Baer imposes a system where none is evident in his sources. Nevertheless, Baer’s rules were adopted in scholarly grammars, such as Bergsträsser 1918 (vol. 1, num. 11).
A few surveys of the system of marking gaʿya in early manuscripts have been published. The system used in μC is briefly described in Hartom, 1952. The use of gaʿya in several manuscripts is briefly described in Greenspan, 1961. A detailed description of the use of gaʿya in μA is given in Yeivin, 1968, p. 19–194 (on the 21 books) and p. 241–277 (on the three books).
Gaʿya ( גַעְיָה or גִיעְיָה ) is the older name for this sign (a short vertical stroke under the word), and is used in the masoretic literature. The absence of gaʿya is called ḥaṭef, as in the masorah magna of μA at Prov 4:16:
איוב לֹא יִשְׁנוּ חטף משלי לֹא יִֽשְׁנוּ געי
Job לֹא יִשְׁנוּ has no gaʿya; Proverbs לֹא יִֽשְׁנוּ has gaʿya.
(Note that the word ישנו has a different meaning in the two cases.) Metheg ( מֶתֶג ), the later name for the sign, and that common today, is first known from the work of Yequtiʾel ha-Naqdan (first half of the thirteenth century). Eliahu ha-Levi (beginning of the sixteenth century) already suggests that metheg is the correct term, and that gaʿya was only a name for one of the classes of metheg (that with shewa).
Biblical references in this section: לֹא יִשְׁנוּ Job 29:22, לֹא יִֽשְׁנוּ Prov 4:16.
Gaʿya is a short vertical stroke under the word (generally on a syllable before the main stress syllable, on which most accent signs are marked). In printed texts the stroke is really vertical, and this is also the case in most manuscripts, but in some manuscripts it is slanted a little counterclockwise from the vertical, like ṭifḥa (to distinguish it from merka, which is slanted clockwise from the vertical). The Horayat ha-Qore says that bA and bN use this slanted form of the sign, but it is characteristic of only a few early manuscripts.
Gaʿya forms part of the accent system, and is generally marked only in manuscripts in which the accent signs are marked, and not in those which mark only vowel signs. Gaʿya is not easily confused with a word’s primary accent sign, even if that sign is silluq. This is because gaʿya is generally marked before the stress syllable, while most primary accent signs are marked on the stress syllable. In manuscripts that are not scrupulous about stroke angles, gaʿya can be easily confused with a merka used as a secondary accent.
Gaʿya is generally written to the left of (“after”) a vowel sign marked under the same letter. In some manuscripts, such as μA and μL, this convention is carefully maintained, with very few exceptions — and those usually due to correction, or to lack of space in the regular position. In other manuscripts, such as μC, μS, μS1, gaʿya is often written to the right of the vowel sign, without any particular reason. Gaʿya is also generally written to the left of the simple shewa sign, but there are manuscripts in which it is often written to the right. The same is generally true of ḥaṭef shewa signs, but in some manuscripts, such as μL and μS1, gaʿya may be written between the two parts of the ḥaṭef sign; אאֲֽא . This does not occur in μA and μC.
Gaʿya has no musical motif of its own, but indicates that the reading of its syllable is to be slowed down, and not slurred over, as noted in Horayat ha-Qore p. 77 (Dérenbourg, 1870, p. 385):
But gaʿya, which has the form of a stroke inclined backwards, and is found under some words, is neither a disjunctive nor a conjunctive accent, but indicates that the syllable must be lengthened a bit.
(Above, we assume “backwards” means “counterclockwise from the vertical.” See #313.)
It is probable that this slowing down of the reading of the syllable is the main function of gaʿya, not the raising or trilling of the tone. It is possible however, that, as time went on, gaʿya came to be viewed as a secondary accent, and the rules for its use were changed, so that it came to be read with a raising of the pitch, and a short motif of its own.
The use of gaʿya can be divided into two groups of categories:
It is not always possible to determine whether gaʿya is used for a musical or phonetic reason. In some cases the reason could be either musical or phonetic, but this is of no importance. Whatever the reason for using gaʿya, its function is always the same: to slow the reading of the syllable, whether this is required for musical reasons at the start of a particular motif, or for phonetic reasons, to ensure the clear pronunciation of all the sounds of a word.
The use of gaʿya in different sources differs greatly. In general, most categories of gaʿya are not marked consistently in manuscripts, while in printed texts a number of categories are marked systematically. For the study of the early manuscripts it is most important to note the categories of gaʿya which are mentioned in masoretic treatises, and those mentioned in the Sefer ha-Ḥillufim, since the use of gaʿya is the area in which bA and bN differ most often. The categories of gaʿya are as follows: