Quotes About Masoretes

In addition to recording the actual changes in language ... the Masoretic pointing system also reflects the linguistic views of the Masoretes in a variety of ways, with evidence of Aramaic influence and of unduly subjective construction.

The various systems of accentuation and vocalization introduced into the text of the Bible by the Masoretes had started to develop by about the sixth or seventh century CE. As is well known, from the the tenth century one such system eventually imposed its authority over the others, spreading from Tiberias to the entire Jewish world.

There have been various attempts to reconstruct the vocalization and pronunciation of classical biblical Hebrew, which certainly differs considerably from that established by the Masoretes fifteen centuries later.