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b-hebrew - RE: [b-hebrew] Iterative 1Sam 1:7

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  • From: Trevor Peterson <06PETERSON AT cua.edu>
  • To: hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] Iterative 1Sam 1:7
  • Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2003 14:29:17 -0400

>===== Original Message From CS Bartholomew <jacksonpollock AT earthlink.net>
=====
>R.Alter's notes (The David Story) on 1Sam 1:7 comment on the "iterative
>tense." Waltke & O'Connor (31.2.b) also cite 1Sam 1:7 as an example of the
>non-perfective used in an iterative context.
>
[snipped]
>
>Even if this negation could be sustained, it is not equal to a positive
>statement that the non-perfective encodes iterativity, is it?

Are they trying to say this? Wouldn't that mean that the yiqtol is always
iterative? I doubt that this is their point. Semantic categories like the
lists found in W&O'C are intended to show the range covered by a given
syntactic element. The point is that this is a contextual meaning. In this
particularly obvious context, the action is iterative (as explicitly marked,
which you point out). The next question is, what about other places where
yiqtol appears in a past narrative? The generalization is that it can also
refer to iterative action without adverbial marking. (In English, we can say,
"He used to walk to work every day," or, "He used to walk to work." In both
cases, the action is the same.) What the yiqtol means in and of itself, apart
from contextual factors, is a separate question.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics





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