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  • From: Richard Benton <rcbenton AT wisc.edu>
  • To: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] HITPAEL as mutual action
  • Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:07:17 -0500

Dear George,

Yes, it sounds like you see my point. In the past, some authors have jumped from this observation to the idea that the Hitpael is reflexive, but you can't make that leap necessarily. Often languages make clear distinctions between the middle and the reflexive, even though they are related. (Slavic languages, such as Russian, do so, as well as others on every continent.) Furthermore, often the middle overlaps with a passive function, and we see this in Biblical Hebrew. (IBHS lists some good examples.)

Cheers,
Richard Benton

George Athas wrote:
Good observations, Richard. Your distinction between the Qal and Hitpael of
HLK is very illuminating, and shows that the Hitpael is more interested in
the subject being the host of the action (i.e. Subject is the locus where the
action occurs).


Regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au

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