Vowels Above And Below – A 16th Century Yemenite Manuscript

A 16th century Yemenite Manuscript of the Haphtarot that recently went through my hands  in is an excellent example demonstrating the different traditions regarding Nikud or vowelization of Hebrew texts that were evolving in Yemen at the time. The text of the Haphtrarot in this manuscript, is broken up verse by verse, alternating between the Hebrew and the Targum translation to Aramaic. The Hebrew text, being the Pesukim of Neviim, have the vowels below the text, similar to the way Hebrew is voweled today. The Targum though, has the vowels above the text, in what is known as the Babylonian vocalization.

The Babylonian vocalization was created between the 6th and 7th centuries, and was in use widely for several centuries. Over time, the use of vowels beneath the words, known as the Tiberian vocalization gained in popularity, with the use of the vowels above the words being found only in Yemen.
In this manuscript from the 1500s, we find a combination of the two, most likely due to the Neviim portion being copied from the text of the Ben-Asher tradition, which used the Tiberian vocalization, while the Targum used the traditional Yemenite text, thus using the vowelization above the words, which was still popular in Yemen at the time