Raised/Suspended Letters – מיער, מנשה, רשעים

תהלים פרק פ:יד

יְכַרְסְמֶ֣נָּֽה חֲזִ֣יר מִיָּ֑עַר וְזִ֖יז שָׂדַ֣י יִרְעֶֽנָּה:

The letter ע in the word מיער is raised above the other letters in the line.  Christian David Ginsburg, in his Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible, writes about the four Suspended Letters on pp. 334-345.

The suspended letters are already attested in Rabbinic literature, for example on our verse:

ויקרא רבה (וילנא) פרשת שמיני פרשה יג

יכרסמנה חזיר מיער עין תלויה אם זכיתם מן היאור ואם לאו מן היער

In the original orthography, without matres lectionis, מיער would have been spelled מיר.  This however is ambiguous, because it could be מיאר (from the River) or it could be מיער (from the forest).

The other examples of suspended letters that he writes about are:

The נ in מנשה (Judges XVIII 30)

The ע is רשעים (Job XXXVIII 13,15)

 

 

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