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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Plural -WN ending

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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: Biblical Hebrew list <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Plural -WN ending
  • Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2012 07:13:59 -0400

I agree that "adds nothing to the meaning of the word" is harsh for the Hebrew bible. 
In many instances a Hebrew variant form (due to changes over time, or to a different 
provenance) may not change the meaning of the word, unless one contrives for it a 
mutated meaning, for instance, the piel and paal forms of a Hebrew verb. 

I agree with George that it is "lingering archaic ending". It seems to me that it is the 
N that is left now in the personal pronoun הן HEN, as opposed to the M 
left in הם HEM. Still, as you say, it is יוכלו YUKL-U, and not YUKL-EM =YUKL-HEM, 
possibly as it may clash and be confused with יוכלם YOKL-EM, 'he will eat them'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Oct 26, 2012, at 1:47 AM, Pere Porta wrote:

No, Karl. In most of your examples the end nun is the so called "paragogic" nun. It adds nothing to the meaning of the word.  It is a literary "device"...
 
In 2Sa 17:17 we find יוכלו which has exactly the same meaning as יוכלון in Gn 43:32...
 
Heartly
 
Pere Porta
 

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