katzvei eretz/afsei aretz

[Avram Herzog]

Hi All,

Shir shel Yom Sheini has קצוי-ארץ with a segol (eretz). As it's on a pausal, it should be with a kamatz (aretz).

My first thought was that perhaps this oddity was due to the meteg and therefore קצוי-ארץ being one word. (I'm not sure why that should make any difference; I was simply trying to think of a reason for this oddity).

But then I noticed that in V'zot Haberachah אפסי-ארץ has the expected kamatz, so my theory (rather implausible to begin with) was obviously not correct.

So my question is: Why does קצוי-ארץ have a segol and not a kamatz?

I'm interested in something more than a simple default answer of "ספרי אמת are an exception."

KT,

Avi Herzog