## Sefer HaBachur, Fourth Treatise

###### Sefer HaBachur, Fourth Treatise 12:1
[Sefer HaBachur, Fourth Treatise 12:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sefer%20HaBachur/s/Fourth%20Treatise/r/12:1)

**העקר השנים עשר. בביאור השמות מהכפולים הבאים בתוספת מ"ם או תי"ו בראש:**

**Trans. Betzalel Avraham Feinstein, 2026:**
**12.** **The twelfth principle.** **An elucidation of nouns derived from *doubled roots* that occur with an added *mem* or *tav* at the beginning.**


###### Sefer HaBachur, Fourth Treatise 12:2
[Sefer HaBachur, Fourth Treatise 12:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sefer%20HaBachur/s/Fourth%20Treatise/r/12:2)

**א. דע** כי הבאים בתוספת מ"ם בראש, על הרוב היא קמוצה במשקל שמות נחי העי"ן, אבל יש הפרש ביניהם שאותם בחולם בסוף כמו; מקום, מכון, מלון, ואלו הם בקמץ או בצרי בסוף כמו; מסך, מגן:

**Trans. Betzalel Avraham Feinstein, 2026:**
**1.** **Know** that nouns which occur with an added *mem* at the beginning are, for the most part, vocalized with a *qamats* on the first letter, following the pattern of nouns with a quiescent middle letter (*naḥei ʿayin*). However, there is a distinction between them: Those nouns of the *naḥei ʿayin* class typically have *ḥolam* in the final syllable, such as *maqom*, *makhon*, *malon*. By contrast, these nouns take either a *qamats* or a *tsere* in the final syllable, such as *masakh* and *magen*.


###### Sefer HaBachur, Fourth Treatise 12:3
[Sefer HaBachur, Fourth Treatise 12:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sefer%20HaBachur/s/Fourth%20Treatise/r/12:3)

**ב.** ועוד יש הפרש כי כמו [נחי] העי"ן הם משתנים מקמץ לשוא, כמו שידעת, ואלו לא ישתנו כמו; מן נגן, תאמר מגן, מגינים, מגיני. הקמץ לא ישתנה, והטעם כי הוא במקום דגש, על כן לא יוכל להשתנות כאשר כבר אמרתי פעם ופעמים שהדגושים לא ישתנו:

**Trans. Betzalel Avraham Feinstein, 2026:**
**2.** There is a further difference: just as nouns with a quiescent middle letter (*naḥei ʿayin*) normally change from a *qamats* to a *sheva*, as you already know, these do *not* undergo such a change. For example, from *nagan* one says *magen*, *magenim*, *mageney*. The *qamats* does not change. The reason is that it stands in the place of a *dagesh*; therefore it cannot change, just as I have said repeatedly, that forms which function as if they were *dagush* do not change.


###### Sefer HaBachur, Fourth Treatise 12:4
[Sefer HaBachur, Fourth Treatise 12:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sefer%20HaBachur/s/Fourth%20Treatise/r/12:4)

**ג.** גם נמצאים מעטים במ"ם חולם על משקל נחי פ"א יו"ד, וגם באלו יש הפרש שאותם הם בקמץ, או בצרי בסוף כמו; מושב, מוקש, ואלו הם בפתח כמו; מן רדד, מעשה מורד (מלכים א ז כט). מן רכך, והבאתי מורך (ויקרא כו לו). והם מעט מזער:

**Trans. Betzalel Avraham Feinstein, 2026:**
**3.** A few are also found with *mem* and *ḥolam*, following the pattern of those whose first radical is *yod*. There is, however, a difference: in those cases the final vowel is either *qamats* or *tsere*, as in *moshav* and *moqesh*; whereas these have *pataḥ*, as in *mored* from the root *radad*, as in *maʿaseh mored* (1 Kings 7:29), and from *rakhakh*, as in *va-haveti morekh* (“I will bring faintness,” Lev. 26:36). These are very few.


###### Sefer HaBachur, Fourth Treatise 12:5
[Sefer HaBachur, Fourth Treatise 12:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sefer%20HaBachur/s/Fourth%20Treatise/r/12:5)

**ד.** אכן עם הנקבה הם רבים, והם טובים להכיר כי הם גדושי העי"ן כמו; מגילה, מחיתה, ועם תי"ו כמו; תפלה, תחנה, ונמצא אחד בתוספת מ"ם בסוף והוא חנם, מן חנן:

**Trans. Betzalel Avraham Feinstein, 2026:**
**4.** However, with feminine forms they are numerous, and they are useful for identification, since they are *dagesh*ed in the middle radical (*ayin*), such as *megillah* and *meḥittah*; and with an added *tav*, such as *tefillah* and *taḥannah*. There is also a single example with an added *mem* at the end, namely *ḥinnam*, derived from the root *ḥanan*.