Massorah

Masora , mas′ō-rä, n. the tradition by which Jewish scholars tried to preserve the text of the Old Testament—a collection of critical notes on the text of the Old Testament, first committed to writing in Tiberias between the 6th and 9th cent. A.D. —the Great Ma orah was finally arranged about the 11th century; the Small Ma orah is an extract therefrom.— ns. Ma ′orete , Ma ′orite .— adjs. Ma oret′ic , Masoret′ic .— Ma or etic points and accents , the vowel-points in Hebrew furnished by the Ma orah. [Heb., 'tradition.']