Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - QATAL with perfect meaning (was: YIQTOL with past meaning)

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Peter Kirk"<peter_kirk AT sil.org>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: QATAL with perfect meaning (was: YIQTOL with past meaning)
  • Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 18:33:16 -0500


Dear Bryan,

I found your definitions given below interesting. It seems that your
definition of suffixed forms is now close to that of the perfect in
English or (NT/Koine) Greek, as something like an indication of the
present result of a past action. This ties up with my feeling that
QATAL should nearly always be translated by an English perfect
(present perfect or past perfect), or by something logically
equivalent e.g. "is sitting" instead of "has sat down". This, to me,
applies equally when the QATAL is preceded by HINNE, hence my problem
with "Ariyel's Flower".

Thus whoever named the QATAL "perfect" was actually (even if
accidentally) spot on! Maybe Hebrew is not so far away from the three
aspect system found in Greek and English: QATAL corresponds to English
perfect, long YIQTOL to progressive, and short YIQTOL/WAYYIQTOL to
simple/aorist. I know this model needs more work, and that I have left
modality out of the picture.

To clarify my rough correspondences:

Hebrew Greek English

ya`aseh poiw, epoioun s/he is/was doing
(way)ya`as epoihsa (poihsw?) s/he does/did
`asah pepoihka, epepoihkhn s/he has/had done

I wonder how well this corresponds with your thinking?

I am not suggesting that WEQATAL is in any way "perfect". That, to me,
is a separate issue.

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
Subject: Re: YIQTOL with past meaning
Author: <brocine AT earthlink.net> at Internet
Date: 29/01/2000 09:13

<snip>

You must understand that I *agree* with you that all the
prefixed forms, including long, short, clause-initial,
clause-medial, and wayyiqtol share a common signification.
However, I prefer not to label that meaning as either
perfective, imperfective, or even aspectual (in and of
itself). I prefer to call it *writer's subjective
viewpoint*, something that is applied in the corpus with
great TAM flexibility. I prefer to call the prefixed forms
fientive, as expressing emerging action (as opposed to the
suffixed forms that express attributions or "the state the
subject is in at the time being talked about"). I believe
my explanation is, in fact, very close to yours, but it is
quite friendly to discourse analysis, more friendly to
comparative Semitics, and more respectful of the orthodox
terminolgy of TAM studies.

Shalom,
Bryan

<snip>




  • QATAL with perfect meaning (was: YIQTOL with past meaning), Peter Kirk, 01/30/2000

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page