Mercha

Stress mark or accent unicode block Hebrew
character	֥
Unicode	U + 05A5
Mercha (Ashkenazi)	מֵרְכָ֥א
Maarich (Sephardic)	מַאֲרִ֥יךְ
Maarich (Italian)	מַאֲרִ֥יךְ
Maarcha (Yemeni)	מַאֲרְכָ֥א

Mercha ֥ ( Hebrew מֵרְכָ֥א) also written Merka or Mereka, is a trope in the Jewish liturgy and is one of the Biblical sentence, stress and cantillation symbols Teamim , which appear in the Tanach . In the Ashkenazi tradition, the trope is called Mercha . In the Sephardic and Italian tradition it is called "Ma'arich" ( Aramaic : מַאֲרִיךְ). In the Yemeni tradition it is called Maarcha ( Aramaic : מַאֲרְכָ֥א).

description

Mercha
מֵרְכָ֥א ֥ דָּבָ֥ר
Biblical stress marks
Sof pasuq	ֽ ׃		Paseq	׀
Etnachta	֑		Segol	֒
Schalschelet	֓		Zakef katan	֔
Zakef gadol	֕		Tipcha	֖
Rewia	֗		Zinnorite	֘
Pashta	֙		Jetiw	֚
Tewir	֛		Geresch	֜
Geresch muqdam	֝		Gerzhayim	֞
Qarne para	֟		Telisha gedola	֠
Pazer	֡		Atnach hafuch	֢
Munach	֣		Mahpach	֤
Mercha	֥		Mercha kefula	֦
Darga	֧		Qadma	֨
Telisha qetanna	֩		Jerach ben jomo	֪
Ole we-Jored	֫ ֥		Illuj	֬
Dechi	֭		Zarqa	֮
Rewia gadol	֗		Rewia mugrasch	֜ ֗
Rewia qaton	֗		Mahpach legarmeh	֤ ׀
Azla legarmeh	֨ ׀		Kadma we-asla	֨ ֜
Maqqef	-		Meteg	ֽ

grammar

Grammatically, Mercha is one of the eight conjunctive teams. Every word in the Bible basically has a sign that is either disjunctive (separating) or conjunctive (connecting). The conjunctive teams like the Mercha do not dictate the grammatical structure of a sentence, but they serve to determine the intonation and the melody.

A mercha is used as the only conjunction in Sof pasuq. There is one exception to this: If the entire Sof-Pasuq group consists of only two words, as in Ex 2.1  BHS , for example , then a tipcha is used instead of a mercha. Tipcha does not develop a disjunctive role here. Very often it is used for tipcha. It also occurs as a servant to Zarqa, Pashta or Tevir, rarely for Munach legarmeh. In very rare cases it is on a word together with another accent and is then used instead of a Meteg .

Exodus 2.1
Entire verse	וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ אִ֖ישׁ מִבֵּ֣ית לֵוִ֑י וַיִּקַּ֖ח אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִֽי׃ "And a man from the Levi family went and took a daughter Levi."
1st level	וַיִּקַּ֖ח אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִֽי׃ Sof-Pasuq group		וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ אִ֖ישׁ מִבֵּ֣ית לֵוִ֑י Etnachta group
2nd level	אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִֽי׃	וַיִּקַּ֖ח just Tipcha	מִבֵּ֣ית לֵוִ֑י	וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ אִ֖ישׁ Mercha and Tipcha

In Deuteronomy 32.1  BHS the verse on the 1st level is divided into an Etnachta segment and a Sof-Pasuq segment. The second level is divided into mercha and tipcha.

Deuteronomy 32.1
Entire verse	הַאֲזִ֥ינוּ הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וַאֲדַבֵּ֑רָה וְתִשְׁמַ֥ע הָאָ֖רֶץ אִמְרֵי־פִֽי׃ "Note, heavens, I want to talk and the earth hear my mouth talking."
1st level	וְתִשְׁמַ֥ע הָאָ֖רֶץ אִמְרֵי־פִֽי׃ Sof pasuq		הַאֲזִ֥ינוּ הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וַאֲדַבֵּ֑רָה Etnachta
2nd level	אִמְרֵי־פִֽי׃	וְתִשְׁמַ֥ע הָאָ֖רֶץ Mercha and Tipcha	וַאֲדַבֵּ֑רָה	הַאֲזִ֥ינוּ הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם Mercha and Tipcha

If there are two words in a Tipcha segment and the preceding word refers to the word with the Tipcha, then this word is emphasized with the Mercha connector. The melody for Mercha in relation to Tipcha differs from the melody for Mercha in relation to Sof pasuq. The melody of a conjunction depends on the following accent.

melody

Mercha can be within different tropical groups. In the Etnachta group, in the Sof-Pasuq group and in the Tewir group. With Cohen there is no difference in the melody to Mercha in the Sof-Pasuq group before the Tipcha. Jacobson sees it the same way, he only notices a difference depending on whether Mercha is in front of Tipcha or immediately in front of Sof pasuq.

• 

  Johannes Reuchlin : mercha מֵרְכָ֥א

Occurrence

The table shows the common occurrence of mercha in the 21 books.

Part of the Tanakh	Mercha
Torah	9117
Front prophets	6917
Rear prophets	7672
Ketuvim	5235
total	28941

literature

• Peter Hamnet Mason, Hermann Hedwig Bernard: An easy, practical Hebrew grammar with exercises for translation from Hebrew into English, and from English into Hebrew, arranged in a series of letters… Hall, Cambridge 1853, OCLC 680631032 .
• Joshua R. Jacobson: Chanting the Hebrew Bible . The Art of Cantillation. The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia 2002, ISBN 0-8276-0693-1 .
• James D. Price: Concordance of the Hebrew accents in the Hebrew Bible . Volume I: Concordance of the Hebrew Accents used in the Pentateuch . Edwin Mellon Press, Lewiston 1996, ISBN 0-7734-2395-8 .
• Joshua R. Jacobson: Chanting the Hebrew Bible . Student Edition. The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia 2005, ISBN 0-8276-0816-0 ( books.google.co.uk ).
• Francis L. Cohen: Cantillation . In: Isidore Singer (Ed.): The Jewish Encyclopedia . tape III . KTAV Publishing House, New York 1906, p. 542-548 ( jewishencyclopedia.com ).
• Louis Jacobs: The Jewish Religion: A Companion . Oxford University Press, Oxford; New York 1995, OCLC 31938398 .
• Martin Sicker: Aspects of Jewish metarational thought . iUniverse, New York City 2005, OCLC 61731632 .
• William Wickes: A treatise on the accentuation of the twenty-one so-called prose books of the Old Testament. 1887, archive.org .
• William Wickes: A treatise on the accentuation of the three so-called poetical books on the Old Testament, Psalms, Proverbs, and Job. 1887, archive.org .

Web links

• Mercha on YouTube.com by Hazzan Michael Krausman www.cyBarMitzvah.com
• Mercha on YouTube.com by Hazzan Arianne Brown

Individual evidence

1. ↑ לימוד טעמי המקרא נוסח ספרדי ירושלמי Sephardic tradition on YouTube.com
2. ↑ נוסח תימן Yemenit . Tradition on YouTube.com
3. ^ Jacobson (2002), p. 59.
4. ^ Jacobson (2002), p. 56.
5. ^ Jacobson (2002), p. 59.
6. ↑ Jacobson (2002), pp. 67-68.
7. ^ Jacobson (2002), p. 60.
8. ↑ Price, Vol. 1 pp. 256-258.
9. ↑ Luther 1912 on bibel-online.de
10. ↑ Luther 1912 on bibel-online.de
11. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, this section follows the chapter Two Words in a Tippeha Segment in Jacobson (2005), p. 43.
12. ^ Jacobson (2005), p. 43.
13. ^ Cohen, p. 545 [Ashkenazi melody for Mercha before Sof pasuq].
14. ^ Cohen, p. 542 [Ashkenazi melody for Mercha before Tipcha in the Etnachta group].
15. ^ Cohen, p. 545.
16. ^ Jacobson (2002), pp. 60, 634.
17. ↑ James D. Price: Concordance of the Hebrew accents in the Hebrew Bible: Concordance…. 1st volume, p. 5.