Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Vincent DeCaen <decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca>]

> From: Peter_Kirk AT sil.org
> Subject: Re: status of forms yiqtolun, etc.?
> To: decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca, b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu

> Dear Vince,
> You may see yourself as an iconoclast like Bertrand Russell.

oh, I **do**. ;-) even more so like Noam Chomsky. ;-) Noam once told
me that based on our common interests, etc, that we must have the same
genes. it often makes me smile to myself when sitting in shul.
 
> Shame about his atheism, though.

I'm a born-again atheist too. is that going to be a problem for you?
 
> But you have overstated your case re "paragogic nun". You say: "all 
> the grammars **assume** that the modern hebrew forms are basic, 
> period. hence when looking at the nonpast (aka imperfect)". But GKC 
> (section 47m) points out that this is the "older and fuller 
> termination. ... In Aramaic and Arabic this earlier UN (old Arabic 
> una) is the regular termination."

regular for Aramaic and Arabic, **not** regular for Hebrew. I'm
saying, yes, regular for Hebrew too. regular and basic,
synchronically. (in the long run, we all speak the same language.)
 
> GKC also notes that "the Chronicles often omits the Nun, where it is 
> found in the parallel passages in the Books of Kings; cf 1K 8:38,43 
> with 2Ch 6:29,33; 1K 12:24, 2K 11:5 with 2Ch 11:4, 23:4."

so we need to get cracking on a half-decent dialectology, instead of
this basic late/early thing. I could think of more than 10 diagnostics
of dialect that haven't been looked at without breaking a sweat.
 
> GKC also mentions in sections 47k, 48b the Arabic "energetic" mode 
> with an extra suffixed "n". Is this also a possible link with the 
> "paragogic Nun"?

first you do the **internal** reconstruction of Hebrew (aka
synchronics), **then** you look around. right? method, method.
 
> Is there really anything new under the Hebrew sun?

yes. my wife votes. my daughter wants to be a NHL hockey star and a
chess grandmaster. Pinochet might think something's new (at least I
know the devil exists). I can assume religious freedom, and not get
arrested for my beliefs (btw, Russell was technically agnostic: a
subtle but important difference). just random thoughts....  

V 
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Vincent DeCaen, Ph.D.  <decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca>

Hebrew Syntax Encoding Initiative
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca:8080/~decaen/hsei/intro.html
c/o Deparment of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations
4 Bancroft Ave., 2d floor, University of Toronto, Toronto ON, M5S 1A1
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The world needs open hearts and open minds, and it is not through
rigid systems, whether old or new, that these can be derived.
--Bertrand Russell