Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re[2]: wayyiqtol test, Gen 42:6-17

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re[2]: wayyiqtol test, Gen 42:6-17
  • Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 12:44:55 -0500 (EST)



"I couldn't have said it better myself." (Sorry, Bryan!)

A complete list of exceptions to strict sequentiality of wayyiqtol
must include hendiadys idioms, not just the "finished" one we looked
at recently which could be sequential but others for which
sequentiality is rather far-fetched. Lambdin section 173 lists
examples e.g.

way.osep )ab:rfhfm way.iq.ax )i$.fh - Gen. 25:1

This is one action, not two in sequence.

As for Young's idea, I would cut even more deeply with Occam's razor
and say that wayyiqtol in prose narrative is a preterite, period. As
we know, in this construction the verb is always first, and it always
starts with a waw, whatever significance that might have. But I would
say that any other construction is not a simple preterite but is
marked in some way e.g. marked temporal overlay.

Peter Kirk




______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
Subject: Re: wayyiqtol test, Gen 42:6-17
Author: ronning AT ilink.nis.za at internet
Date: 19/02/1999 14:48


Dear Bryan,

Thanks for your detailed response re. Gen 42:6-17. I don't
agree that I have presented a caricature of the position
that wayyiqtol is inherently sequential - I'm just assuming
that you mean what you say (like Peter does). It looks to
me like you make a good case that wayyiqtol is not
inherently sequential, but then you want to call it such
anyway, and I don't understand why.

If I may summarize what you said (as I understand it):
wayyiqtol is inherently sequential, except for
1. temporal overlay
2. paraphrase
3. leitmotif
4. slowing narrative time
5. parallel threads

<snip>

(I think you left out simple flashback, change of subject,
and probably a few other cases where wayyiqtol is not
sequential).

<snip>

I just ran across an essay for non-technical types by G.
Douglass Young, in which he says simply that wayyiqtol in
prose narrative is a preterite that is used when clauses are
joined with waw and the verb is placed first - isn't it that
simple? Doesn't Occam's razor come in here?
(simplest explanation that explains the data is to be
accepted)

Yours,

John Ronning





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page